How to Distinguish Fake and Real Nendoroid Petits

As you may already know, I went to G-Anime back in Feb 6 and 7, 2010. While I was there. I made a few small purchases, including a FAKE Nendoroid Petit from the Vocaloid Series. I later bought a real one from a store in Ottawa, comicbookshoppe. So here I will compare the two with images.

First of all, the boxes as far as I could see, looked exactly the same. It was unfortunate, since when you buy Nendoroid Petits, they all come in a fully enclosed box. You can't see whats in it.

I don't have pictures of it, but the fake nendoroid petit doesnt have anything for you to build. Just the figure, the base, and the rod to hold it up. It is also just one piece where as the real one has movable pieces (head, arms, waist).

So lets begin by looking at the front. Fake is on the left, real is on the right.
As you can see, the skin tone is completely different, so is the hair colour. The eyes aren't coloured properly either. You can also see the lack in colouring on the clothes and the detached sleeves.

And a close up if you cannot see it clearly.
Though I must say, in poor lighting (this is the best I can do inside a room). Taken early evening. Its a basement by the way. So I don't have much sunlight.

And now for the back shot, again left is fake, right is real.
Again, you can see colouring is lacking on the fake nendoroid petit. It is expected because of the cheep costs. Though since labour is cheap anyway. Why not make a good job out of it? Beats me...

And for the side shot. Same orientation as previous pictures.
I kinda bent the support on the real nendoroid. orz
So it doesn't exactly stand straight. I don't want to risk breaking the rod, so I didn't bend it back. BUT I would assume if the rod wasnt damaged (by me) it would be able to stand straight. Also, notice the base and the rod are not the same between the two. The real one has a smaller base and a more unique rod which has 2 bends instead of just one 90 degrees bend. Also, the one on the right has a ball joint with the base and the figure, so it is possible to change the angle of the figure (ie, to make it slanted like in the picture). The one on the left has no flexibility, it just goes in and stays in. No movement.
It might be also good to note that the hand positions aren't the same, because the real one is movable, while the fake one is stiff. I didn't take pictures of different poses. (Perhaps I should have...)

And time for the biggest difference....
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orz

Another image.

For those who didn't feel like reading.

Summary:
- Real one has more colour than the fake
- Posable vs imposable
- Pantsu vs nopan

Hope this helped.

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G-Anime Convention

G-Anime convention was held in Gatineau, Quebec. It was relatively close to the Quebec-Ontario border and Ottawa, which was why I was able to attend. The event was held on February 6 and 7, 2010.

First impressions:
After seeing the opening ceremony, I wasn't quite sure if this event was very well planned. Although I did not understand much of French (which was the main language there), I heard a bit of stuttering. But, people were laughing from time to time, so it might just be myself whos paranoid. The event turned out to be much like the conventions in Toronto, (ie. Anime North). Only smaller. But that was expected. There were quite a lot of people, considering it was only their 2nd time hosting this convention.

What was there:
There was your standard dealers room, game room, panels, showings, masquerade, dancing, karaoke, and something I hadn't seen before, Manga Library. To much of no surprise, the panels and showings were of otaku things (manga, cosplay, anime, doujin games).

What surprised me:
There were a few things. There was a negative one though. Starting with the negative, I got sold some fake nendoroid petite! That was disappointing. I should have known... well I didn't. It was the nendoroid petite for vocaloid, (this link here).

The positive surprise at this convention was the popularity of Touhou. (Not very, mind you) But still more than Anime North! In any case, there was a panel dedicated to talking about Touhou! Too bad it was in French, so I didn't attend. There were also merchandise of Touhou (just keychains and pins and wallpapers though).

Another nice surprise was their gaming room. They had an ATARI... HOLY SMOKES! ATARI?! They had other old consoles too, such as Super Nintendo and Game Cube. I few more, I forgot without looking back, so I won't bother posting. Of course, newer consoles were available too. (For further details, please refer to photos).

What I did there:
Well, to my dismay, I did not do much. I took pictures and videos of cosplayers, of the environment, of the events. I bought some things. Typical stuff.

I did however visit panels I was somewhat interested in. ie. Doujin games and 4chan.
Doujin Games panel was talking about how they crossed over from Japan. Atleast that was the intention. However the English lady talked mainly about how its not just men who plays visual novels. She also mentioned several titles and briefly talked about them. But nothing about actually how the games crossed over from Japan. ie. the politcal aspects, or what kind of restrictions were applied to make this game distributable. Since we all know the western audience here and the Asian audience are completely different. Most people would call us freaks if we said we have dolls of anime girls in our cabinets. But unfortunately, the part I wanted to know most, wasn't included in the presentation.

I may have been well informed in the news about Japan and their anime/otaku section, because I read up on it regularly at kotaku and sankakucomplex (NSFW). But at the panel, she also mentioned something interesting. She mentioned the ban on rape games in Japan which started with Amazon caught selling the game on their website. I already knew about the whole ordeal but I'm sure it was a nice informational session for the other people who may not know.

But all in all, I found that panel to be pretty useless. Probably more useful if I walked in without any knowledge on doujin games. Looks like a wrong choice for me.

I also walked into the 4chan one. That panel was just some spontaneous question and answer. Nothing much was planned and it was just the audience asking about memes and the host would explain where they came from. Somewhat useful, except I've never heard any of the memes before. I wasn't very educated in 4chan when I walked in. After I went to the panel, I'm still not very educated in 4chan. LOL!

Conclusion:
All in all, the convention was worth going. The people were friendly. I got alot of photos/videos taken. I got to try new games. I got to buy some Touhou stuff (That doesn't exit in Anime North). There were things to do. Its just that I didn't participate in alot of them, since I didn't know French.

For the second time being hosted, I believe this convention would be considered a success.

Here are the links for photos and videos (Videos will be removed when space is needed to upload more photos).

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Writing on the go: G-Anime Convention

I'm waiting in line right now. Site says 8:00am opening but the people there says 9:00am. Atleast I know when to come tomorrow.

I'll try to do what I can do with my phone as a camera. To capture the aspects of this convention, versus Anime North held in Toronto.

- Written on the go from iPhone 3GS

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