Hall of shame: Fake Miku

Many of my posts here are copies of posts I make at my usual haunt. Because of that I sometimes forget to format or reword the posts appropriately... -_-;


Earlier last month, I got my first eBay knockoff, a fake Hatsune Miku Nendo. I had a huge hunch that it's a fake upon learning I won the auction for $10. After some thinking, I came to the following conclusions: 1) The reason nobody else bid on this was because they knew it was fake somehow. 2) That reason had to be nobody would set a starting price so low for a legitimate item (it started at $7). Fortunately, I didn't lose too much; with shipping, the whole thing came to less than $20. I'd return the thing and ask for my money back except I was curious about the quality of the knock-off plus I know I'm not going to get a legit Nendo Miku at this point; GSC's obviously ain't releasing it any more and I'm not paying over 3 times market price for it on eBay. So on with the show.



The Fake Miku is surprisingly high-quality for a fake. Much of the molded parts look pretty good and if you weren't familiar with the real stuff, you might actually think you have a real Nendo. One of the main giveaways you'll notice off the bat is that her eyes are different. What they did was switch the eyes between her singing and smiling face. Other signs that she's a fake include...


The box. The moment I took the wrapper off, I knew. The color quality of the printing has that "photocopied" look to it.


The general quality of the joints. Miku's joints were on the loose side particularly at her hair joints. You can see from the pics that the plastic used for the hair, neck, and legs were of a different plastic by their color. Real Nendo's also have a slight matte look & feel to their skin as opposed to the smooth skin of the fakes. She holds her poses well enough if you don't mess around with her but she's definitely not something you'll be playing around with unless you like having pieces falling off left & right.


The stand. It's usually where you'll find the trademarks and stuff but instead here we have a simple "made in China".


Overall she's a good decoration item or novelty as opposed to a toy or action figure. Though it's kinda scary how close to the real products the imitators are getting.