Wallpapers #2
Some more wallpapers. The first is desaturated and grainy on purpose. I like the second one the best. Each wallpaper comes in three sizes:
- 1280 x 1024 for the strange 5:4 screen ratio of the most common LCD monitor. Do not use this if you have a CRT monitor, or an LCD monitor with a native resolution other than 1280 x 1024.
- 1280 x 960 for all 4:3 ratio monitors. Use 'stretch' to fill your screen.
- 1280 x 720 for widescreen 16:9 ratio monitors. Use 'stretch' to fill your screen.
04-sera-shii-1280x1024.jpg
04-sera-shii-1280x720.jpg
04-sera-shii-1280x960.jpg
05-sera-shii-1280x1024.jpg
05-sera-shii-1280x720.jpg
05-sera-shii-1280x960.jpg
06-mirei-1280x1024.jpg
06-mirei-1280x720.jpg
06-mirei-1280x960.jpg
Fake Figures
In the process of putting together this site I have become increasingly aware of just how many of my figures are bootlegs or knock-offs. All the dodgy ones came from eBay. If you are considering buying figures using eBay, I would strongly advise you to run away screaming and never look back!
Some fakes can look quite good. My Kasumi C2-ver looked good enough to hook me into collecting figures. It's technically a very good bootleg, where the manufacturer tries to make it look as much like the original as possible, right down to the packaging, with Max Factory's contact info and everything.
But most of them look like crap. When compared against a good figure like Mirei-san (pictured earlier) the difference is like night and day.
eBay is a haven for sellers of fakes and bootlegs. Most (but not all) shonky sellers are from China (Hong Kong) where both the originals and the fakes are made. eBay doesn't care - they just want the Chinese market. The makers of the original figures don't seem to care either - they are typical xenophobic Japanese companies that don't give a stuff what happens outside of Japan.
Since realising this and auditing my collection, I am sickened by the sheer number of fakes I have found.
Look at this Cammy. The black version came with the white version's base! The paintwork sucks and the joins are terrible. Fake!
If you bought a Kasumi C2-ver on eBay, check the strands of hair as shown below. If they are joined together, then it's fake. The real black version is very rare, the white and blue versions slightly less so. Yet, impossibly, eBay is flooded with them. By the way, if the strands are separated, that doesn't mean that its real. It's just a newer fake. And I'd have to admit, that if it came down only to value for money, this is one fake I'd recommend. Hop on eBay and buy a dozen in assorted colours. Your money will probably go to the Triads and people smugglers.
Here is an example of a different kind of fake. Mai Shiranui from King of Fighters, and Ryomou Shimei from Ikki Tousen, pictured below, are pre-assembled and pre-painted resin statues. They are created from unofficial recasts of limited release kits. They came in blank packaging. I can't find any evidence of any official pre-assembed resin or cold-cast release. But I like them anyway. At the time, there was no way of getting these figures in any other form. (But there are now PVC versions available, as usually becomes the case with high-demand kits.)
All the figures in older articles that I suspected were fakes actually are. Saber with beach ball? Fake. Mizuho Kazami in bikini? Fake. Kanu Unchou kneeling and pulling up top? Fake. To Heart X-Rated Tamaki Kousaka? Fake. If you bought any of these on eBay, I have one word for you. Can you guess what it is? (Fake.)
Figurephilia #3
My white Kasumi C2-ver, the very first figure I purchased, the figure that got me into figure collecting, turns out to be a dirty fake. I cried a little.
