Fake figma alert! Let’s compare it to the real one~

Yep, I also fell victim to those cheap cheap deals on eBay 😦 When I bought figma Mikuru Asahina Cheerleader Version, I though “Well, it’s fairly new. No way they already faked this!” I was very, very wrong. When I first saw it I was like “Hmm, it doesn’t look as bad as some cheap bootleg of PVC figures I’ve seen” and to be honest it isn’t even THAT bad. However, when I got a REAL one (of a seller I’ll always trust), I noted some differences.

Here they are together! Can you already spot some differences? No? Then read the rest of the entry and I’ll show you how to spot fake figma’s!

The fake one is on the right! Granted, I tried to hide the obvious flaws in the photo :3 I’ll tell you what they are: let’s take a look at the box first!

Okay, it looks pretty nice, doesn’t it? The color is slightly off, but you won’t notice that if you don’t have a real one to compare to! However, they made a very big mistake! Let’s zoom in on the front:

Look at the shadows! For the Photoshop users: it seems they forgot to set the shade to multiply ;D To everyone else: See how you can’t see the blue through the shadow in the fake one, but how you can on the real one? It means the shading just isn’t see through! This also counts for the photo’s used on the sides and back. So if you want to buy figma’s, then THIS is the number one thing to look at!

Alright, now that we’ve found the biggest flaw on the box, let’s see the figurine itself~

Okay, the joints of figma’s are a true craftsmanship. They are really hard to recreate and that certainly shows when we look at the knees! I actually had to rotate one of the fake knees because it was there reversed, so even the people who put them together have no idea XD I’ll also note here I also have the fake of Haruhi Cheerleader, and one of her legs keeps falling off… Other than that I guess the photo speaks for itself, so let’s take a look at the arms next:

You know how your arm moves, right? figma’s arms move just the same. The fake one’s shoulder is so stiff I really couldn’t bend it further back. The lower arm however bent so far back a normal person would’ve broken it XD

Let’s take a look at the accessories!

Oh, also see how her shoulders are different? Anyway, the pom poms! They, well… They look JUST like the real ones! However, the white part inside the real ones is glued stuck, but the fakes are easily pulled out. This isn’t really a problem if you pose them, since you can shove right back inside again~ They’re not bad at all!

The cheerleaders come with extra heads for the baseball caps. The front piece of the hair doesn’t really fit perfectly on the fake, but the cap will cover that anyway. But… Whoops, looks like the fake come with Haruhi’s baseball cap instead, so it doesn’t fit at all! See that little thicker part inside the cap? That is just like the special extra head the Haruhi figma comes with. Just a cheap solution for the fakers, I guess.

Okay, a quick look to the other accessories. They look fine, don’t they? Well, the hands aren’t that great, really. Some have little pieces of plastic sticking out, like the one right under “Fake”. Some are really hard to bend, while others just hang loose in the socket. Some are also too easy to put in the arms, while some are really hard… I’m afraid they’ll snap off and render a figure useless. I won’t ever use those fake hands. The baseball bat, glove and ball on the other hand… Are PERFECT knock offs! They look exactly the same and I can use them just fine for other figures as well. Baseball match pic soon? 8D

The faces also look fine. The left one is of Haruhi to compare. The only difference I spotted was that the pink of inside the mouths was SLIGHTLY darker in the fake, but other than that they’re fine!

A quick look at the bag. You can see the text isn’t the same quality, but it still is as sturdy as the real ones. The bag isn’t airtight though. Like, when you close a figma bag and press on it, you won’t be able to press out the remaining air inside. You can with the fake one.

That only leaves the stand! It works just as fine as the real ones, so they’re great backups. The thing I noticed at the base is that it easily gets cracked when you use it for a while. Well, and of course the text is a bit different.

Here’s another thing that easily shows if a figma is fake or not. The real ones are really clear, while the fakes are blurry. You can especially see it when you look at the bubble inside.

Well, that concludes the comparison for the bootleg VS real figma! When you buy ones in a store, the first thing you should look for is the shade on the box and the pole for the figma stand! However, the cheerleaders have the poles hidden in the bottom, but some other ones that are fakes (like Mikuru Asahina School Uniform Version) have the pole clearly on the left side! I hope this little thing was helpful to you~

EDIT
I got some questions which I´ll answer here.

Minaru: What about the box flaps? can I see them too?

Here you go! Yeah it’s maybe a bit too small to see, but… They’re perfectly copied. As long as it’s vector based (lineart, colors, text), it’s perfectly cloned of the original box. The only problem it has are the photo’s.

Marschmallowpie: the fake… was there Kadokawa’s round sticker on the box?
No, but there also wasn’t one on the original. Maybe it’s the reseller I get them from, but so far the only boxes I got with a sticker were Kyon’s and Saber (normal)’s.

xxangelchanxx: Oh…your mistaken about the stand part though…My saber from HLJ didnt have a clear stand while my haruhi summer ver. from playasia did.
Oh? Well I currently have 23 different figma’s and they all have the clear stand. My Saber too. Do you have that special Saber? From the game? I know that at least the Haruhi game ver. comes with a white stand.

superchan: pfff its in mine eyes almost the same …..
Hmmyeahhhh not so much. It may LOOK nice, but the quality is actually poor. If you think they’re worth to buy, then go ahead. I myself will never suggest the fakes over the real ones though.