Anime how to spot a bootleg

Mind if I ask where you heard that? Not to say I don't believe you, but something like that kinda needs confirmation.

I know they're a kind of grey area, at least, but I didn't think they were out-and-out illegal.

 

sorry, i should have explained further.
it comes straight from the horses mouth. i asked the official R4 distributer about it and they said that you need written permission from the creators to translate and distribute a work. it doesn't matter one bit if you distribute for profit or non-profit. kinda makes sense if you think about it... . fansubbers are compramising the integrity of a title with their amature translations, alot of work would go into the scripting of the shows, and the japanese staffing oversee the official translations and wont allow a release if they're not satisfied. (and probably wont give a license to them again...)
so it would really irk the creators to know that these sorts of sub jobs are both eating into their pay checks and compramising the integrity of the show.
*edit* so i guess their only 'benifit' over bootlegs is that the money doesn't go to organized crime.

 

Even though I hate saying it, I would have to agree. I dunno, I just don't like people doing that sorta stuff to people who worked so hard to do something.


-Ian

 

what's 4kids?. is that some specialist company that handles kids anime titles or something?.

 

The thing is though fansubs are not a criminal offense unless they are done on a comercial sale that is why we still have fansubs until they are licensed then the company which got the license has the right to sue. http://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/trips_e/intel2_e.htm

This website is for TRIPS.

 

oh god 4kids...they are a bad company that totaly makes cheesy anime dubs.

i guess with bootlegs - you dont know what your getting.
i dont think the stuff from china will ever stop coming.
ive gotten good stuff and bad stuff that bootleged.
its really a gamble. i try to tell people whats real and
whats not.-since its not that hard to tell after awhile.

 

Well Once Piece Is ok.... I think it might be the only good Dubbed 4kids one

 

Speaking of bootlegs!!!

Now a days bootleggers and imitators are getting pretty much advanced, not only they bootleg DVD's, VCD's, Data CD's and Audio CD's they can totally bootleg even figures!! Sad, but true...

I'm also an anime fan and sadly in my country they only release a handful of legit anime videos, and the thing that adds to the depression is that they never release any anime audio cd's, so bootlegs are abundant everywhere!!! Before, bootleggers sell Anime DVD's made from original Japanese LD's, now they even sell Fan Subbed animes and package them in a convincing cover so that you will mistake them for originals! I must admit I also bought a handful of anime bootlegs, but I don't have any choice (even legit anime stores in my country don't import legit Anime DVD's) I just tried out to buy a few bootlegs and one of the shocking things I discovered is that they were all fansubs! Like the Maburaho DVD Box set I got, it had the Anime-Keep fansub group written all over it! and the One Piece DVD Collection also had Kaizoku Fansub logo on the commercial cut scenes! BEWARE of anime releases from 2 RATS Anime!!! They really are rats:anger2: these bootleggers are getting pretty bold!

The good thing in my country though, is even if they don't import legit DVD's they import anime toys and figures. Since those are the only anime relics that are available for collection I buy tons of them! I got my room full of anime toys and figures, but recently I have noticed that there are anime toys that were being sold cheaper than the ones I usually buy. And the surprising thing is that they really look like the originals and one more shocking thing is that there are so good imitations that they are as expesive as the originals!

ANIME FIGURE COLLECTORS BEWARE! These bootleggers are in a new ball game! If you are not sharp in identifying the fakes from the originals they can really fool you! I have a few examples I would like to show.

I have accidentally bought a bootleg without me even knowing it:dizzy2: I got his nifty figure of Saber black ver. uniform from Fate Hollow Ataraxia, it was produced by Alter and it had all the information about the figure and such. It was really an interesting piece in my collection, I just noticed a few things that were out of place when I was checking it out after I bought it. The first thing I noticed is the color of the costume, it's not as black as it should be! Luckily I also had another figure made by the same company and compared it, one more difference I noticed is the material used in the figure itself, the Saber figure is made of rubbery plastic which can easily be deformed if you place it in the display shelf for a long time, compared to the other figure which was made of sturdy PVC. Then all the imperfections seem to come out of the wood works, I noticed the points where the molds join have extra plastic in them, although the base stand was also made of yellow transparrent plastic like the original I notice there are dirt mixed inside the plastic making it look disgustingly dirty and poorly made. Although it says in the box it was made by Alter, the figure itself is shouting out "IT'S A BOOTLEG!!" a few more things I noticed are, the box itself is poorly made, the transparent plastic on the box get removed easily, and the figure itself was covered in sealed plastic all over, unlike the originals that I have bought before, Original figures are not boxed and covered with sealed plastic!!! And the figure itself easily fallsapart when you hold it!

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Another interesting bootleg is the FFVII Cloud Strife figure I got, I have tried to look for an original of this one, but it seems that it is all bootleg original. I found an online anime store that sells the same items, but I think their samples look alot more horrible than mine it says LM (limited model) on the box and that's all there is on it...

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There are also mini trading figure sets that look convincingly original, be careful of mini figures that are sold as a whole set or packaged in one, it is most likely a bootleg, to be sure look for the manufacturer logo, most bootlegs sets don't have a manufacturer logo in them.

 

thanks for the heads up Tuvs. I could actually see this coming.

It is kind of odd that they can do this. But it most be easy for them if they can make so much. Good thing I am not into action figures unless they come with a boxset.

Buying online doesn't help this. So check over the images carefully. Plus see if you can get in a local store. At least there you can really check it out.

I take it you bought a few?