(IS IT A BOOTLEG OR NOT?) OUT OF THE BOX: Mr. 2 Bon Clay (P.O.P. Neo 3, Excellent Model)

Series: One Piece

Character: Mr. 2 Bon Clay (Bentham)

Copyright: ©Eiichiro Oda Shueisha Fuji TV Toei Animation

Manufacturer: MegaHouse

Category: Portrait of Pirates NEO 3, Excellent Model

Specifications: 1/8 scale, about 8.6 inches

Price: Around $150-180

Release Date: January 2008

The weather wasn't in my favor when I took these photos (I shoot outside in natural daylight) so please excuse the quality of the photos. Speaking of quality, Portrait of Pirates figures definitely do not disappoint. Here's another one from my collection.

I've always liked Bon Clay. I think he's one of the most trustworthy and loyal nakama that Luffy has despite the fact that they used to be enemies. I find his friendship with Bon Clay genuine and indestructible. I'm also an Ivankov fan as well and I would really be happy to have a Duval figure (if they ever make one) because of feels and reasons.

I owned a ton of bootlegs before because my family told me that they know an awesome place in the Philippines that sell these stuff but it seemed like they didn't know what they were talking about. My family also got it for a gift and had it shipped from the Philippines to here in the U.S. so not only did it have sentimental value, they really tried hard. #goldstar 

When I received it, I had really strong doubts that they were jipped but at that time, I was too young to afford anything and I had no idea what to expect or how to know when a figure isn't authentic so I just shrugged it off and thanked my family for doing their best.

Anyways, my friend got this for me at Pacific Media Expo when we went in 2012. I would have to say that this is officially my first Portrait of Pirates figure. He got it from this Japanese seller that was selling it for only $45 at the Expo because the item was used as a display for a showroom. 

One thing that struck me different about the packaging was that it had Roronoa Zoro on it. After searching Google for the photos of the P.O.P. Neo 3 Roronoa Zoro advertised on this box, it seems like MegaHouse designed only one box for both characters and they only change the name depending on which character is in the box. It was probably cheaper for them to design only one box that could work for two different products. 

Now that I've shown you the front and back of the box, you're probably wondering where the authentication sticker is. There wasn't a Toei sticker at the front nor a Funimation sticker at the back. I am wondering the same exact thing.

The only thing that I found on the box was these logos:

There is the Korean One Piece logo which features a black flag. According to another blog, seeing this logo is not out of ordinary as this logo targets a wider audience. However, bootleg figures might recreate this logo in a distinguishably poor way.

There's also the MegaHouse logo which cannot really mean anything since bootleggers can easily fake that. 

However, upon reading forums and blogs, I found out that even authentication stickers can be easily faked (although counterfeiters don't usually go that extra mile) and that the possible way to know if a figure is a bootleg is the price. If it's too good to be true, then it's probably fake. Considering how my friend got this for $45, it might have been fake but further research implied that the figure was available in some reliable sellers for around the $40 range.

In the end, I cannot really tell if this was a counterfeit product or not. In my video, the counterfeit products have very obvious defects that gave them away. In fact, I found some photos of the bootleg P.O.P. Neo Mr. 2 Bon Clay from another One Piece blog's forum and all of them obviously do not meet the quality of an authentic P.O.P. figure.

So how can anyone tell that a figure is authentic? Knowing that counterfeiters could fake a product so well to the point of faking an authentication sticker as well, some bloggers were only able to catch a counterfeit by comparing it to a sure authentic one. However, we can't just all buy two of the same figure especially since these figures aren't cheap. Even the counterfeits are out there for the same price.

So what's left to do? I'll just show you the figure then and you can decide.

Right off the bat, it's already obvious that the quality of this figure is different from the bootlegs I've shown. It has a matte finish as opposed to the glossy finish and cheap plasticky look that the bootlegs have.

The stand still triggers some suspicion as Bon Clay's feet are at the edges, barely fitting it. However, it's still not as severe as the bootleg one.

Aside from that, everything else is well-done especially the details and paint job.

At first, there seems to be nothing much about this figure but the swan on Bon Clay's back are actually detachable and could be interchanged with his shoes' tips.

Here's Bon Clay ready to perform his Prima technique.

Like most One Piece figures, this one also came with another head.

The other head's expression is Bon Clay's impression of Usopp.

The torso, arms and hands can be rotated slightly to create a slightly different pose.

"YO YO YO YO YO, BREAK IT DOWN!"

Below are more photos showing how the torso could be slightly played with to create an even more ridiculous gesture.

In the end, there's really no way for me to know if this figure is authentic or not unless I find someone with an authentic one to compare with me in-person. Or I could always just buy one again but that's another $150-180 I could spend on another figure that I would be more than happy to share with you all. My conclusion is, I'm still pretty happy with this figure. For me, it looks great and as well made as the authentic P.O.P.'s I own so it's really hard for me to dismiss it as a fake even though it's lacking the authentication sticker. I'm banking that this figure was released even before MegaHouse felt the need to provide authentication on their products. However, I'm not really sure if there was a time they didn't provide any stickers at all. Considering the quality though, if this was really a bootleg, then I'm not going to beat myself up too much for getting fooled.