Author Topic: Have these plushies been pirated, and is this too good to be true?  (Read 6333 times)

I love to collect plushies. They are more durable, easier to handle, and also are cheaper then figures, though sometimes they are harder to find. I have made it my goal to get at least 1 plushie of every touhou character, even if they come from different companies, or if I may need to make custom ones as a last resort.

Anyway, I have been using N-Forza to get most of my plushies, but I just found this e-bay that has a bunch I need (Yukari, Ran, Chen, Mei Ling, Youmu, Yuyuko, and Alice

http://stores.ebay.com/shop-of-kitty/_i.html?_nkw=Touhou+Project+&submit=Search&_sid=806641468

They are 28 bucks a piece, with 3 bucks S+H... that seems like a steal. She has a 99.6% stasifaction rating with a lot of reviews. Still, I am skeptical. She says they aren't in their original Casing, but honestly I never cared for that. While I am a collector for plushies I don't care much about future value.

Have these plushies been pirated before? I have no idea where to look for that. Has anyone hear delt with this seller before?

I think I am going to buy from this user, but I want to be sure before I do.

On another note, I need to take some pictures of my touhou plushie collection. I have a lot.

commandercool

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Re: Have these plushies been pirated, and is this too good to be true?
« Reply #1 on: June 03, 2013, 03:34:42 PM »
That's a ton of red flags. Ebay store from China is, unfortunately, a red flag. Ebay store from China was abnormally great prices is almost certain bootleggery. Ebay store from China with great prices and no packaging means I would be a lot of money these are bootlegs. The listing doesn't outright say that they're bootlegs, which these often do, so this could be a very rare situation in which these are legit, but I would not buy them. You can try messaging the seller and asking directly, but best case scenario that could confirm if they are, but not really if they aren't.
I made a PADHerder. It's probably out of date though.

Re: Have these plushies been pirated, and is this too good to be true?
« Reply #2 on: June 03, 2013, 04:09:37 PM »
That's a ton of red flags. Ebay store from China is, unfortunately, a red flag. Ebay store from China was abnormally great prices is almost certain bootleggery. Ebay store from China with great prices and no packaging means I would be a lot of money these are bootlegs. The listing doesn't outright say that they're bootlegs, which these often do, so this could be a very rare situation in which these are legit, but I would not buy them. You can try messaging the seller and asking directly, but best case scenario that could confirm if they are, but not really if they aren't.

Yeah, that was the feeling I was getting as well. Shame, since they seem like great prices. I think I will send her a e-mail asking.  Right now the only ones I can get their and not on AmiAmi or Gift are Ran, Youmu, and Mei Ling.  Gift still has Yuyuko, and CHen, while AmiAmi has Alice, and Yukari.

Many Plushie collecting is hard... Though I just found that someone posted all the other doujin touhou plushies oh My figure collector.

http://myfigurecollection.net/blog/4987

I have a few of these actually, like Akaneya Guutara Tewi(WHich is damn awesome), and Phantasm Screen's Hatate. I REALLY want the Okuu and Yuuka ones... I just need to find a store that still sells them.

commandercool

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Re: Have these plushies been pirated, and is this too good to be true?
« Reply #3 on: June 03, 2013, 05:25:20 PM »
I took a gamble on a Chinese seller who swore up and down that they were selling legit Figmas at a deep discount once, and I'm 99% certain that what they sent me is a bootleg. It's a moderate quality one, but still pretty far off from being good.

And I would love to get my hands on that Myon doll. That's just what I need for my Youki cosplay. And that Kogasa is goddamn adorable too, and while I wouldn't know what to do with it I want somebody else to buy one so I can look at it.
I made a PADHerder. It's probably out of date though.

Lepetit89

  • Deranged Collector
Re: Have these plushies been pirated, and is this too good to be true?
« Reply #4 on: June 03, 2013, 07:41:54 PM »
Good grief, those are a lot of wonderful plushies!

I love them myself, but yes, older ones are hard to come by. Even if you find them, they're likely second-hand, and I have certain qualms about buying used plushies.

Re: Have these plushies been pirated, and is this too good to be true?
« Reply #5 on: June 05, 2013, 01:22:50 AM »
Good grief, those are a lot of wonderful plushies!

I love them myself, but yes, older ones are hard to come by. Even if you find them, they're likely second-hand, and I have certain qualms about buying used plushies.

Well, turns out the 2 Touhou plushes that got me in buying these touhou plushes. Reimu and Marisa, were bootlegs :(

Still, I love them, and will keep them, even after I buy the real ones.

Drake

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Re: Have these plushies been pirated, and is this too good to be true?
« Reply #6 on: June 05, 2013, 01:50:21 AM »
Why would you buy more than one if you were wary of them being ripoffs? :I
EDIT: Oops thought you meant the ones you're considering
« Last Edit: June 05, 2013, 02:25:29 AM by Drake »

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Re: Have these plushies been pirated, and is this too good to be true?
« Reply #7 on: June 05, 2013, 02:10:04 AM »
Why would you buy more than one if you were wary of them being ripoffs? :I

I bought Marisa and Reimu 4 years ago at a florida Convention. I wasn't even looking, and I just saw them while walking through the dealers room, and just bought them. Them being fake didn't even enter my mind.

EDIT: I thought you meant that, but I wanted to make sure everyone was clear. No hard feelings.
« Last Edit: June 05, 2013, 03:32:36 AM by zferolie »

commandercool

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Re: Have these plushies been pirated, and is this too good to be true?
« Reply #8 on: June 05, 2013, 02:57:26 AM »
I bought Marisa and Reimu 4 years ago at a florida Convention. I wasn't even looking, and I just saw them while walking through the dealers room, and just bought them. Them being fake didn't even enter my mind.

Yeah, I'm not usually that paranoid of bootlegs at a con. Did you at least get a deal on them? If it turns out there are people charging nearly full con price for bootlegs at American conventions I'll go into full-on paranoia mode and probably never buy anything again except from the two sites I trust. :ohdear:
I made a PADHerder. It's probably out of date though.

Re: Have these plushies been pirated, and is this too good to be true?
« Reply #9 on: June 05, 2013, 03:28:50 AM »
Yeah, I'm not usually that paranoid of bootlegs at a con. Did you at least get a deal on them? If it turns out there are people charging nearly full con price for bootlegs at American conventions I'll go into full-on paranoia mode and probably never buy anything again except from the two sites I trust. :ohdear:

Hmm, it's been so long, but I think they were 20-30 each?  A steal compared to what you see online. Still, worrying about bootlegs at a con will ruin the con experience.

commandercool

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Re: Have these plushies been pirated, and is this too good to be true?
« Reply #10 on: June 05, 2013, 01:34:04 PM »
Hmm, it's been so long, but I think they were 20-30 each?  A steal compared to what you see online. Still, worrying about bootlegs at a con will ruin the con experience.

Given how needlessly careful I usually am, I probably would not have bought something that cheap under the assumption that it was probably a bootleg or had something else wrong with it. If people were selling nearly full-priced stuff and it was turning out to be bootleg, that would be a much larger concern for me.
I made a PADHerder. It's probably out of date though.

Re: Have these plushies been pirated, and is this too good to be true?
« Reply #11 on: June 05, 2013, 05:49:04 PM »
Given how needlessly careful I usually am, I probably would not have bought something that cheap under the assumption that it was probably a bootleg or had something else wrong with it. If people were selling nearly full-priced stuff and it was turning out to be bootleg, that would be a much larger concern for me.

To be fair, I had no idea about bootlegs or anything back then. I only got into plushie collecting because I found that Reimu and Marisa there. Before I bought Plushies, but of only a few characters I liked and rarely. Now, I have expanded it a bit. My goal is to get one of every pokemon and one of every touhou.

commandercool

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Re: Have these plushies been pirated, and is this too good to be true?
« Reply #12 on: June 05, 2013, 06:02:14 PM »
To be fair, I had no idea about bootlegs or anything back then. I only got into plushie collecting because I found that Reimu and Marisa there. Before I bought Plushies, but of only a few characters I liked and rarely. Now, I have expanded it a bit. My goal is to get one of every pokemon and one of every touhou.

Oh yeah, I'm not accusing you of doing it intentionally. If you don't know in advance what everything should be priced at it would be basically impossible to know. And even then since this stuff rarely comes up for sale outside of Japan it wouldn't be easy to tell. For all I know every figure I own is a bootleg. And for better or worse, accidentally buying a bootleg is probably not a bad introduction to collecting the real thing.
I made a PADHerder. It's probably out of date though.

t0k

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Re: Have these plushies been pirated, and is this too good to be true?
« Reply #13 on: June 06, 2013, 03:57:08 PM »
Does it really matter if they're bootlegged if they look nice?

Lepetit89

  • Deranged Collector
Re: Have these plushies been pirated, and is this too good to be true?
« Reply #14 on: June 07, 2013, 04:22:09 AM »
Bootlegging is a practice that must not be supported in any way. Buyers buy products under the assumption that they are made by a certain manufacturer, which they aren't, which not only attributes possible (and likely) design- and material flaws to the supposed manufacturer, but also decreases the item's value should the buyer ever decide to sell them again. It's disrespectful towards both the buyer as well as the original manufacturer. Of course, it depends on your moral code, but to me it matters a lot.

Speaking of which, I don't think I could ever buy something at a convention,  unless it happens to be the booth of a shop I frequent. Way too many bootlegs around.
« Last Edit: June 07, 2013, 04:29:05 AM by Lepetit89 »

Re: Have these plushies been pirated, and is this too good to be true?
« Reply #15 on: June 07, 2013, 01:41:27 PM »
Does it really matter if they're bootlegged if they look nice?

Well, It matters to me because I thought they were the real thing. Sure, I love my Marisa and Reimu, and will not get rid of them because I found out they were bootlegs.

Bootlegs, even if they look good, hurt the company that first made them. ZUN gets nothing from me buying a Bootleg. Now, I am not sure if they guy selling knew it was a bootleg or anything. He didn't even know who the characters were I think, and only had a few, so I bet he got it as a deal, and he was the one that got scammed by the bootlegger.

Bootlegging is a practice that must not be supported in any way. Buyers buy products under the assumption that they are made by a certain manufacturer, which they aren't, which not only attributes possible (and likely) design- and material flaws to the supposed manufacturer, but also decreases the item's value should the buyer ever decide to sell them again. It's disrespectful towards both the buyer as well as the original manufacturer. Of course, it depends on your moral code, but to me it matters a lot.

Speaking of which, I don't think I could ever buy something at a convention,  unless it happens to be the booth of a shop I frequent. Way too many bootlegs around.

It matters a lot too, but one must take into account that sometimes the sellers at these cons may not know they are selling bootlegs. Some of them don't know all the characters they sell, and get them from Japanese sources. Those people may be the ones selling them bootlegs, and the people at the cons may think they are real.

As for shopping at cons... I just enjoy it too much not to do it because of a fear of bootlegs. Sometimes you can find really rare stuff that you can't find online anymore. Plus with a little research, you could tell if something is bootlegged. Like I asked about those Nendroids I bought, and got answers quick here. The con I am going to tommorow has that store there as well, and I may pick up the Sanae one, since I heard she is rare, and 70 bucks for her is a steal.