How to Distinguish Real and Fake Touhou Figurines from Griffon Enterprises

My mom recently returned from her visit of her parents in Hong Kong. And as we probably all know, no expedition is complete with out a souvenir. Since I've been a Touhou fan for a while and since its DIFFICULT to find any goods from them, I asked her to help me look for some. Judging from the title, you will probably have the idea on what she bought.

It was a fake Marisa figure from Griffon Enterprises. Not being there myself in Hong Kong to do the purchase, I have no idea what the environment of the store was like. So I can't say that I blame my mom for such a purchase. If anything, I should be grateful, it allowed me to make a post about it.

*Note: The "real" one that I assume to be true was bought in Akihabara on my Japan trip last summer, in a store called Gamers"*

So let us begin this investigation.

First of all, we should start at the box, since that is the first thing you see when you think about buying a figurine.

There is nothing much I can really say, the box is made to mimic the official box from Griffon Enterprises. Since I don't own an official player 2 colour Marisa figure from them, I can't compare the numbers and other details. Although the box looks nearly identical, there are several things that sets them apart.

*Note: for any of the images uploaded below as a guide, the same images are also available in the gallery.*

1. The colour of the paint on the box is poorer than the official product, that is usually the case which allows the product to be sold cheaper than the original goods. However, that isn't something you can easily tell if the original box is not present.

Fake (Left) vs Real (Right)

2. In the original box, there was a sheet of paper that presents the other Touhou figurines that Griffon Enterprises was releasing along in the same batch. However I do not know if that is restricted to the mass produced models (1P colours) only. Since again, I don't have an official 2P colour version of Marisa to compare with, that is the best I can do at this point.

Fake (Left) vs Real (Right)

In terms of other features about the box, I could not tell you how to differentiate them. If you do happen to be stuck in a situation where you think it may be fake, do advise before you buy it. Or you can read the next section which talks about the differences in the figure itself.

The 2 figures changes significantly when inspected. This was not a real shocker because I didn't expect them to be anywhere near similar (as seen here). Here are what you should pay attention to:

1. Take a GOOD look at the base of the figurine, that is where you'll see the MOST difference. The official figuring has a name plaque that looks like metal and bolted onto the plastic base with 2 nuts. However, in the fake one, it looks like a sticker. Also, notice the spelling mistake.
*Note: I do not think it will be possible to see the base when the box is unopened, so this may not be helpful if you are at a store.*

Fake (Left) vs Real (Right)

2. The base connectors to attach the figure on looks different between the real and the fake, both securely fasten the figure on the base, but they still look different.

Fake (Left) vs Real (Right)

3. The fake figure tends to be more glossy, that applies to pretty much everywhere. The main distinction is from the face, arms, legs (skin area), the white apron, shoes, and hat. This seems to be a trend amongst knockoff products (refer to nendoroid petit comparison post, here)

Fake (Left) vs Real (Right)

4. The broom doesn't fit into the hand socket. Therefore the broom moves around in that general position.

Notice how the fake figure has the broom touching the base, thats because its not tightly attached to the hand (via bad mold)

5. The head position of the fake Marisa is straight while the real one is slightly bent to her right.

No, it actually looks like this. I hope you can notice the difference.

6. The fake figure is generally made with lower quality plastic or PVC (or whatever that is made with)

Fake (Left) vs Real (Right)

7. The crack at the head is much worse on the fake figure than the real one (but this might be different from one to another)

Fake (Left) vs Real (Right)

Final note: It would probably be easiest to identify the authenticity of the figure by holding it near a good light, because the main noticeable difference would be the glossy finish of the fake which would differentiate it from the real. This might be a little troublesome because of the plastic that protects the figure and keeps it from moving inside the box.

For those who are in a hurry. Though I highly encourage reading the whole thing incase I missed anything in the summary.

Summary:
- Fake figure has a glossy coat whereas the original does not
- Fake is generally lower quality for the box, the figure material
- Fake has horribly sloppy base with a sticker name tag instead of metal and has spelling errors
- Fake has a straight head whereas real has a bent one
- Probable best method to distinguish authenticity would to be bring it near a good light to check for glossy coat

*Note: In the photos with 2 items, the left is always the fake one whereas the right is real.*
Gallery: Here

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[Griffon Enterprises] Flandre Scarlet PVC Figure Review

While at home for the past week, I was able to take photos and inspect this figure thoroughly (aside other things, here and here). Full review of the figure Flandre Scarlet by Griffon Enterprises below.

Lets start off with here I got this and at what cost. I paid 6560 yen which was equivalent to $74.78 CDN at the time of purchase. I had put in a preorder request at Amiami months in advance because I wanted it alot. (More about purchasing with Amiami here). I will point out in the gallery link at the end of the post, you can see the type of packaging Amiami uses.

On with the actual product.

First of all, the picture on the box, in my opinion, looks terrible, and at first I thought the figure itself was bad also. But when I opened it, that wasn't the case. The box itself and the plastic packaging in the box was no surprise to anyone. I hadn't expected it to be either.

The base looks normal also. I will point out a specific detail to the base though. I personally thought nothing of it except maybe a little smile at how neat it was. Do you know what I'm talking about?
Look harder!
HARDER !!
...
<-- Click But that is such a small thing, can't possibly use that as an excuse to say whether its good or not. So lets move on. Lets talk about the Lævateinn... if you're a Touhou fan, you should automatically know what it is (or maybe if you know a little about Flandre, you would know). To put bluntly, its her weapon. You know how shes kinda crazy and likes to kill everyone? That "double-edged trident" is PRETTY DAMN SHARP! You can seriously hurt someone! And I kid you not. Its comparable to a toothpick, and probably even sharper. I poked myself cause I wasn't careful.

Who thought owning figurines wouldn't hurt?

That hat and the rest of the figure can be blended together, since there was nothing unique about the hat which deserved its own analysis. I found the figure to be very well coloured, atleast in regards to the shading. The pose is also very dynamic and strikes you nearly instantly. (I don't really like dull figurines where they're just standing there to look pretty). There are some imperfections to be seen in the close up pictures. But those are understandable.

I should mention, the hat, like Marisa's, does not magnetically clip on like the Hiyori Pixie's pumpkin hat, but despite this, it is very easy to put on and once on it doesn't wiggle on the head.

The clothing on this figure looks top notch, just like Marisa's. The shading on the skirt successfully captures the motion that it is taking. I would even say Griffon Enterprises does the best shading jobs that I've seen in all the figures I own.

Lastly, I should mention the wings (OMG!). It was one of the main reasons why I bought it, Flandre Scarlet is cool, but everyone has their charm points. For sure, it has to be her wings (unless you're attached to her destructive aura, which is perfectly fine, whatever floats your boat). But the wings were very well done. Very clean. Best of all, it doesn't feel flimsy like it will break from simply blowing at it. I applied some force on the "jewels" to see if it was poorly built, but it held sturdy. I am going to see what happens when I shine light on it, I wonder if it'll reflect in different directions like a precious gem. (Probably not, since its PVC, polyvinyl chloride, some unreactive material). Sadly, again some imperfection can be seen, its not a big deal, but theres a droplet of red paint on the orange jewel. (>:)

I would surely recommend this to both Touhou fans and to people who likes to collect quality figures. Of course, I have never actually built one myself (I'm referring to those resin kits where it comes unpainted and unbuilt). I think it might be fun to buy one someday and attempt to build/paint it. But if I don't even paint my Gundams, how can I succeed in painting a figurine?!

Oh well, thats another story.

And there you have it, my take on what tries to be a review for a figure.

On a closing note, it was made in China.
...
...
Is it still worth buying? The quality of one does not equal the quality of all.

Gallery: Here

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Updated Links

I recently purchased from another online vendor, Amiami, so I updated the links section to include it as a trusted retailer. The item I purchased was a PVC figure of Flandre Scarlet from Touhou, manufactured by Griffon Enterprises.

I can't say anything about it since its at home and I'm living away from home. I may be able to get a review in a few weeks.

But I was quite surprised at Amiami's delivery speed. It was QUICK. I mean it. Much faster than other vendors I've dealt with. Facepalm to Janelee922 (NSFW). On that note, Janelee922 also have an ebay account. He sells from there also. But the shipping was SLOW, its good that shipping charges were free though.

Also, Amiami is having a sale right now. After shipping and stuff, it turned out to be $74.78 CDN. The strange thing about Amiami however I found was that, you had to send them money through paypal. Normally, at other vendors, I would give them my paypal account and they would take money from there. Charging the cost to my linked credit card. But in this case, paypal took out money from my savings account to pay. Doesn't matter much for me, but for other people who didn't like their bank accounts to paypal, I'm not sure if Amiami will work for you.

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Catching up. Some Figurines

I'll talk briefly about the following figurines as I have gotten them some while back but failed to post them due to time constraints.

[Alter] Beat Blades Haruka Narika Figurine
[Orchid Seed] Suku-Mizu Mecha Nurse Girl Nana
[Griffon Enterprises] Marisa Kirisame
[Good Smile Company] Hiyori Pixie

PS. They have all been sitting on my shelf for some time now. I am still building my GP-01 Gundam =x.

This is pretty old. Bawahahaha. I mean I got this a while back. Ordered it from hobby search. Its just that I've been so busy to do anything else. It took so long to post it.

All in all, great fig. Love the face and pose. A little bit of trouble with moving that "blade" (or whatever you'd call that) into place. Kinda like the Suku-Mizu Mecha Nurse Girl Nana. But atleast this one has an instruction on how to do it.

Price-wise, kinda costly. Don't remember anymore but probably around $100 CDN. Well, I do find most of Alter's figurines do cost a bit. Well, they do make good ones though.

Gallery: Here

The Suku-Mizu Mecha Nurse Girl Nana figurine from Orchid Seed was very appealing to me because I like mechas ALOT. I bought the Triggerheart Exelica by Alter (OUCH $$!). So I should get this as well. On first look, it looks very nice, the box is plastic instead of cardboard. The whole thing is transparent, I liked that. Did I mention theres lots of parts? >w< ! The wings were hard to put together. And I mean that. I don't have pictures of the process but I can link you to how its done, via nekomagic (The link is NSFW because the figurine itself is NSFW). While we're talking about that, I might as well mention. I won't be posting (atleast not now), the 18+ images of the figurines I talk about. Reason is because I will need to censor them so my a*s doesn't get banned by Google. If you know what I mean. Censoring takes time and I'm not sure if its worth the effort.

The figure is castoffable, meaning something can be taken apart, in this case clothes (and generally in all cases). Underneath, the figure isn't so great. Some of the clothing are stuck on the figure leaving imperfections like this (NSFW). So I just keep the clothes on and place it on my shelf. Great match for my other mecha figurines.

Gallery: Here

Next, we reach the Marisa Kirisame figurine by Griffon Enterprises. Theres nothing much I can say. It looks solid. The pose is strong. The only thing I might not like would be the skin tone, it looks kinda pale in daylight. Could be just me though.

Unlike the previous figure, this isn't castoffable. Other than the hat and broom which can be put on and off easily (broom, not so much, require bending of sorts).

Oh. I bought it from Gamers. A store known for their mascot, Dejiko from the anime DigiCharat. I watched it a long time ago.

Gallery: Here

Lastly we've reach the last figurine in the discussion, Hiyori Pixie by Good Smile Company. As always, another nice work on by them. Nothing much I can say. I don't know why, I first saw it on HobbySearch, loved the face, wanted to buy it. But I didn't cause I bought that instead. Then I saw it in Japan, I didn't actually plan to buy it, but for only 4000 yen @_@. Couldn't resist. That was the first thing I bought in Japan. At the east Ikebukuro area. At one of the smaller stores near the big Animate.

This is castoffable, the head is the only part of the body that's removable then the "belt" or whatever you would call that, can be removed. You also need to take apart the semi-transparent bit surrounding the leg. Hard to explain, but theres a picture of the instruction. My parents has a problem with me owning this (for good reason, I know). But hey, atleast its still covered. I haven't proved it (nor planning to) but I think the pumpkin hat is magnetically attracted to the head (so it doesn't fall). The hat is somewhat heavy for its size.

Gallery: Here

Well thats all I have to say. I wrote quite a bit. I am satisfied with what I bought. Although there are times where what you see and what you buy are completely different. Glad that didn't happen yet. If you want to ask anything, just drop by the comments. Thanks!

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