Tamashii Movie Realization Star Wars

[Comatoast]

After debating jumping into this line for a while, I took the plunge during a comic book day sale. Still not sure they're worth $90 a pop ($60 and I'd be all over them) but it is very cool looking and fairly posable.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[paintpot]

I've heard good things about the bootlegs but the three I bought have unusably loose joints or joints that slide apart when moved, etc

 

[Runnen]

I've heard good things about the bootlegs but the three I bought have unusably loose joints or joints that slide apart when moved, etc

Quality varies greatly between different types of bootlegs. The regular Stormtrooper or the Spiderman bootlegs I got were basically just like the official release except some paint flaws and some nitpicky differences, but the joints are solid and functional. The Royal Guard bootleg I got was a huge piece of crap whose leg just snapped off and the joints were mostly loose.

That said, everything can be fixed. I usually put a dab of super glue into the joint and then wait a few seconds, then move the joint a bit, wait some more, move it again, rinse and repeat until the joint is working fine. It takes a little practice, but it really works to fix the loose joints. And if you accidently overdo it well you now have a statue!

The paint defects and changes don't bother me because I only get bootlegs to work on customs and repaints, so I usually cover whatever work was done by the bootleg company.

I just grabbed a third Stormtrooper, a Sandtrooper, a Drummer/Flagbearer, a Boba Fett and a Royal Guard bootlegs for upcoming customs or army-building, and I'll let you know how I find them when they get here.

The second Stormtrooper I got was used for a Death Trooper custom, the third will be for Captain Phasma.. The Sandtrooper is for army building since I already have the regular sergeant and the SDCC corporal but I wanted another one to use the white pauldron. Drummer/Flagbearer is going to be used for parts to mix and match with Boba Fett to work on a Dengar custom and potentially an accessory for upcoming Jango Fett and white Boba Fett, and the Royal Guard will be used for a Senate Guard custom.

I'll post pictures as I finish working on these

 

[paintpot]

Quality varies greatly between different types of bootlegs. The regular Stormtrooper or the Spiderman bootlegs I got were basically just like the official release except some paint flaws and some nitpicky differences, but the joints are solid and functional. The Royal Guard bootleg I got was a huge piece of crap whose leg just snapped off and the joints were mostly loose.

That said, everything can be fixed. I usually put a dab of super glue into the joint and then wait a few seconds, then move the joint a bit, wait some more, move it again, rinse and repeat until the joint is working fine. It takes a little practice, but it really works to fix the loose joints. And if you accidently overdo it well you now have a statue! [emoji38]

The paint defects and changes don't bother me because I only get bootlegs to work on customs and repaints, so I usually cover whatever work was done by the bootleg company.

I just grabbed a third Stormtrooper, a Sandtrooper, a Drummer/Flagbearer, a Boba Fett and a Royal Guard bootlegs for upcoming customs or army-building, and I'll let you know how I find them when they get here.

The second Stormtrooper I got was used for a Death Trooper custom, the third will be for Captain Phasma.. The Sandtrooper is for army building since I already have the regular sergeant and the SDCC corporal but I wanted another one to use the white pauldron. Drummer/Flagbearer is going to be used for parts to mix and match with Boba Fett to work on a Dengar custom and potentially an accessory for upcoming Jango Fett and white Boba Fett, and the Royal Guard will be used for a Senate Guard custom.

I'll post pictures as I finish working on these

Hmm, I'll try that glue trick. So far I've been using clear paint to do that, hasn't stayed tight though. I have the Vader, stormie, and Boba.

Also I have to say I love your movie realisations customs, can't wait to see the next one

 

[ToastedFred]

Litlte repose today, and thought this picture came out great.

 

[Runnen]

Very nice picture, ToastedFred! I need to grab my wife's camera and take better pictures than my crappy iPhone 4S bleh..

Anyway, here's a glimpse at my nearly-complete Captain Phasma custom mod from a plain old Stormtrooper bootleg.

Mostly a repaint, cape was custom made from cutting cloth and painted - I found a perfect pattern on Google images, had grabbed a square meter of cloth from the store but it only took two attempts to get it right -, the crest is hardening polymer clay and the sigil was printed then shaded with pencil and coated with glossy varnish to give it a metallic gleam.

I just need to add maybe a little more paint here and there, and do the black dots on the right side of the chestplate then it should be finished. Also probably going to repaint the crest "horns" to a more chrome gold color instead of dull gold.

 

[koolkollectibleskhai]

Great pic ToastedFred!!

Damn I'm dying here waiting to hear new announcements from Bandai! At least put up Jango and Maul already!

 

[Knightstalker]

Great pic ToastedFred!!

Damn I'm dying here waiting to hear new announcements from Bandai! At least put up Jango and Maul already!

Yes, hanging to PO Maul. Jango im not as excited for seeing he's pretty much just a straight repaint but I'll still get him. The archer has to be released fairly soon, seems to have been ages since the last release of the drummer.

 

[aarxiv]

Hi everyone, so I have just bought this SDCC Exclusive Sandtrooper. The figure itself looks genuine, however I notice that the 'serial number' sculpted on the white card board (bottom half of the box) looks different to the ones from the rest of my collection; I have most of the other ones and they are all genuine Japanese version. The numbers sculpted for the exclusive Sandtrooper (the lower photo - 003213506) are much bigger compared to, for example, the ones from my original Sandtrooper (the upper one - 0003203215); photo below for comparison, all my other ones have the smaller numbers. The seller told me that this was bought directly from SDCC and was the US version, so not sure if this is a US version thing or not.
Just wondering if anyone has a genuine US version of the exclusive Sandtrooper to see if the numbers are really sculpted that way (spent quite a lot for it and want to make sure that it is genuine).



By the way, a Japanese version Akazonae Royal Guard I have just bought from the web also has bigger sculpted numbers...and the sword couldn't fit into the scabbard perfectly, so another one to worry about probably.

UPDATE: Missing part on my Exclusive Sandtrooper's backpack...

 

[Runnen]

I just checked my boxes which are definitely legit and I cannot seem to find that serial number anywhere.

 

[aarxiv]

I just checked my boxes which are definitely legit and I cannot seem to find that serial number anywhere.

It should be right here (circled at the right bottom) underneath the figure:

 

[Runnen]

Nope, just checked thoroughly and there is no such thing inside the box, but mine came from the Star Wars Celebration 2016 in London, so it's not the US version probably. Never had an issue with missing parts or the katana not sliding inside the scabbard on mine, that katana issue is generally a problem with bootlegs but there is a chance it could be a factory defect and be legit. You never know.

 

[aarxiv]

Nope, just checked thoroughly and there is no such thing inside the box, but mine came from the Star Wars Celebration 2016 in London, so it's not the US version probably. Never had an issue with missing parts or the katana not sliding inside the scabbard on mine, that katana issue is generally a problem with bootlegs but there is a chance it could be a factory defect and be legit. You never know.

Thanks for letting me know!

Playing with the SDCC figure it seems to be legit compared to my original one, no loose joints or differences in material used.
However, it suffers from 2 major defects: a) missing part on backpack b) some lousy paint app (see pic below).



I am suspecting if this is one of those which didn't pass the QC test but got sneaked out to the market, and the larger sculpted numbers imply that...
My brother has a sandtrooper with the larger serial number and it also sees some noticeable defects; while mine with smaller numbers looks perfect
The scabbard issue is from my royal guard, which also has the larger number...

Also surprised to hear that there is no serial number sculpted on yours, as all my other ones do (8 of them with smaller numbers)

 

[momaw]

My SDCC exclusive (which I know is genuine because a friend picked it up for me in person at SDCC) has the same size serial number as my Amiami and Big In Japan bought figures. No paint errors or missing parts. Sorry about yours.

...The archer has to be released fairly soon...

The 25th of this month.

 

[aarxiv]

My SDCC exclusive (which I know is genuine because a friend picked it up for me in person at SDCC) has the same size serial number as my Amiami and Big In Japan bought figures. No paint errors or missing parts. Sorry about yours.



The 25th of this month.

Thanks for verifying! Are the numbers on yours similar to the upper photo in size?

 

[momaw]

Different fist (one you used is on my fig at the moment) but it shows small numbering (same height as the first part of the armour). And it's the same size as all my other legit figs.

 

[aarxiv]

Different fist (one you used is on my fig at the moment) but it shows small numbering (same height as the first part of the armour). And it's the same size as all my other legit figs.

Thanks mate!

Yes...definitely the smaller ones there.
Guess it's likely that I have been tricked : ( ,
but at least I know where to look at for verification now..

By the way, any credible sites online that you think I can get a genuine SDCC exclusive from? (Royal Guards as well)

 

[momaw]

Thanks mate!

Yes...definitely the smaller ones there.
Guess it's likely that I have been tricked : ( ,
but at least I know where to look at for verification now..

By the way, any credible sites online that you think I can get a genuine SDCC exclusive from? (Royal Guards as well)

I think BBTS got some SDCC's in. Not sure if they still have stock. As for the guards, Not sure. All the Japanese places pre-sold out (I get exclusives from Big In Japan and non-exclusives from Amiami). The exclusives generally sell out from Japanese retailers. BBTS gets them as well in the US so again, maybe try there. These are being bootlegged so widely (just look through this thread) I wouldn't be confident of anything on the secondary market any more. I know plenty on here like the bootlegs but I'm not a fan. I think they are hurting the line which is why we haven't seen a PO go up since January last year and that fig is only releasing at the end of this month. Sure there's stuff being shown at shows, but it's not converting to PO's. We are still waiting on a PO for the Spear trooper shown a couple of years ago and it's just a trooper variant.

 

[aarxiv]

I think BBTS got some SDCC's in. Not sure if they still have stock. As for the guards, Not sure. All the Japanese places pre-sold out (I get exclusives from Big In Japan and non-exclusives from Amiami). The exclusives generally sell out from Japanese retailers. BBTS gets them as well in the US so again, maybe try there. These are being bootlegged so widely (just look through this thread) I wouldn't be confident of anything on the secondary market any more. I know plenty on here like the bootlegs but I'm not a fan. I think they are hurting the line which is why we haven't seen a PO go up since January last year and that fig is only releasing at the end of this month. Sure there's stuff being shown at shows, but it's not converting to PO's. We are still waiting on a PO for the Spear trooper shown a couple of years ago and it's just a trooper variant.

Thanks for the recommendations and totally agree with you. I think they definitely need to add more verifications to the outer box (the knockout boxes seem to look 100% the same).

What bugs me even more is that I am paying good money for one that claims to be genuine, yet recieving something that fails the QC... when you see one priced extremely low, you will know it is a bootleg. But this one priced like a genuine one, looks genuine ( can't tell from the outside), yet with major defects. It is ridiculous that one has to bear the risk of getting something ingenuine even though he is willing to pay the fair amount.

Guess the best way to avoid this now is to buy the fig right after it comes out (looking at you, archer trooper).

 

[Runnen]

I know plenty on here like the bootlegs but I'm not a fan. I think they are hurting the line which is why we haven't seen a PO go up since January last year and that fig is only releasing at the end of this month. Sure there's stuff being shown at shows, but it's not converting to PO's. We are still waiting on a PO for the Spear trooper shown a couple of years ago and it's just a trooper variant.

I disagree that the bootlegs are hurting this line in particular, for two reasons :

1) in my personal case, I have every single figure released so far and all of them are official figures, so from Bandai's perspective, all those figures "worked".
2) most people use the bootlegs for custom mods or army building, which they wouldn't have done at all with the official prices because those figures are VERY expensive (80-90€ in Europe for instance), so those mods and army-builds would never have happened with the official prices and as such no extra figures would have been bought from Bandai. Some people also buy bootlegs to replace figures they "missed" because they aren't available anymore, and as such, that also means Bandai wouldn't have seen that money either, or that money would have gone to a scalper selling on a secondary market, and again no profit for Bandai.

I think this line is taking its time because it's an offshoot of Star Wars, it's an interesting and original concept but it's not something that draws crowds. I have seen tons of websites showcasing these figures and most people comment "Oh that's new.. looks cool.. but I'll pass". I too wish we had more frequent releases and preorders, but I collect so many other things I don't mind lines giving us time to breathe between releases.

And the very high price isn't helping this line either, they should be slightly more expensive than your average NECA 7" figure, not double the price.

I don't usually defend bootlegs and tend to prefer official figures in all the lines I collect (which are many!), but this is the first line where I do custom mods and those figures are simply too expensive to sacrifice for a mod every time, so I'll be happy they keep making them, as I don't think it hurts Bandai in the long run (they're not making any more Stormtroopers, so I don't see how me buying 4 knockoffs of them is hurting them, ya know?).