Why people buy bootlegs

source: LorraineFish

Bootleg nendoroids are  confusing issue. There are very clear reasons why people avoid bootlegs, but I will give you both sides of the argument to let you decide on what you should purchase.  Personally I do not support bootlegs. When I was new to collecting I will admit I was very tempted by the price, but after some research you see that it's not worth it and you will have lost money .


Reasons why people buy bootlegs:

• Official nendoroids are to expensive!

While rare nendoroids can get into the higher price range pre-ordering will save you a lot of money. most nendoroids release around $25-$40 with nendoroids with more parts going up to $60 or so. While this seems a lot for a toy you can find many people re-selling in very good quality and Mandarake really has some great deals for getting older figures. Also, depending on popularity characters can re-release at a the original price or only slightly higher.

• I don't care that much I just want that character

This seems like a good argument but think about it. If you don't spend money supporting the official character merch and the companies that release them, then that character may not seem popular and companies notice sales for characters declining and they won't release more merchandise for them. While it seems like you're getting what you want in the short term, you could possibly be ruining any future merchandise for that character.

• It looks just like the real one

You should be very careful of this. Many scammers and bootleggers  use official pictures of the product but still send out the bootleg. Many bootleggers won't take pictures of the actual merchandise because the quality can be very noticeable. Check out this bootleg Levi:

Wouldn't you be disappointed if you received this (left) instead of this (right)

Some bootlegs may look deceivingly good though, but that doesn't change the fact that it's a bootleg.

Sometimes neck joints won't be fitted properly, the figures are painted with lower quality paints that could contain lead, and they often fall apart after a few uses!