Beware of the Evangelion Bootlegs

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TitaniumViper
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Beware of the Evangelion Bootlegs

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Postby TitaniumViper » Wed Oct 22, 2014 5:57 pm

I just wanted to inform you all about the recently "cheap" Neon Genesis Evangelion Platinum Collections that are on eBay right now are actually bootlegs.

I have compiled a couple of pictures here comparing the fake to a authentic one (which I got from RightStuf). [url]http://imgur.com/a/AcKkF#0[/url]

You want to look for the following oddities:
*Clear Cases (Real one would have black cases)
*Rei is covered by an insert and Asuka is visible. (The authentic one would have Asuka covered by the insert and Rei would be visible)
*Low quality slipcase art.
*Difference of Font between the Fake and the Real one (especially on the letter G)

So please be wary since these fakes are pretty convincing and would most likely fool new fans who are trying to acquire the series.
Last edited by TitaniumViper on Sat Jan 10, 2015 8:44 pm, edited 4 times in total.

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Postby drinian » Wed Oct 22, 2014 7:45 pm

That's an impressive bootleg, if it is a bootleg. There were several different production runs of the Platinum box sets. However, if they are showing up now on eBay, then probably bootleg.

One thing I can't see in your pictures, though, do they share the same UPC?

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Postby FreakyFilmFan4ever » Wed Oct 22, 2014 8:34 pm

May not be a fake. Check the disc contents and the special features listed on the packaging. I know that ADV’s 7-disc Metal Tin edition comes in clear thin DVD cases. If that’s the case and your set somehow got switched in repackaging by a small-time seller, you might be missing an entire officially released 7th disc that contains the last three episodes.

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Postby svenge » Wed Oct 22, 2014 8:52 pm

I've never seen clear cases on the Eva 6-disc "Platinum Complete" set, but they have been used on some other ADV thinpak releases. The slight cutting misalignment on the covers is a bit off, but I've seen worse on legit products. Same goes for putting the promo sheet on the "wrong side" (re: front vs. back) outside the box.

However, the box's font kerning and serif lengths for the "Neon Genesis Evangelion" wordmark on the presumed-bootleg are all wrong. That's something that would never change between pressings, and is a dead giveaway that someone was trying to imperfectly replicate it letter-by-letter via software. It's a fake, no doubt about it.

One last thing: The promo sheet shrink-wrapped on the outside should have a aluminum-textured background, but the one on the bootleg doesn't replicate that well. Ironically, the NGE wordmark on the bootleg's promo sheet does match the legit product, but not the side of the box that it's supposed to reflect!
Last edited by svenge on Wed Oct 22, 2014 9:02 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Postby Aoren » Wed Oct 22, 2014 9:00 pm

Thats a really well made bootleg. Thanks for bringing this up.
And thanks for the clarification svenge.

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Postby Reichu » Wed Oct 22, 2014 9:29 pm

eBay really needs to take their supposed anti-bootleg policy a bit more seriously already. :p

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Postby eva14 » Thu Oct 23, 2014 3:02 pm

Whoa it looks like a really good replica of the original!

Where can I buy this bootleg? I'm curious as to how much it costs.
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Postby TitaniumViper » Thu Oct 23, 2014 4:56 pm

View Original Posteva14 wrote:Where can I buy this bootleg? I'm curious as to how much it costs.

It was on eBay for $80 (luckily though I was refunded on this purchase)

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Postby eva14 » Fri Oct 24, 2014 12:06 pm

View Original PostTitaniumViper wrote:It was on eBay for $80 (luckily though I was refunded on this purchase)


Wow, that's a lot for a bootleg or a high quality one at that.

Five years ago the Platinum Collection in UK was extremely cheap (including the tin-edition too), like £11 now it's gone up to £150. Good lord these prices have gone from really affordable to ridiculously high.
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Re: Beware of the Evangelion Bootlegs

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Postby Shamsiel-kun » Fri Oct 24, 2014 12:43 pm

View Original PostTitaniumViper wrote:I just wanted to inform you all about the recently "cheap" Neon Genesis Evangelion Platinum Collections that are on eBay right now are actually bootlegs.


Are the discs region free? That would be a clear indicator...

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Postby svenge » Fri Oct 24, 2014 5:55 pm

View Original Posteva14 wrote:Wow, that's a lot for a bootleg or a high quality one at that.

What's interesting about this bootleg is that this bootlegger's M.O. seems to be to counterfeit a legitimate release and try to sell it for an amount that used to be the going rate for the real version a couple years ago. Most bootleggers make no real effort to mimic legit releases in terms of disc count and/or packaging, nor try to sell them at such a high price. To wit, all the previous Evangelion DVD bootlegs bore absolutely no resemblance to existing licensed products and were sold at rock-bottom prices.

In light of this new bootleg's appearance, my advice would be to avoid buying any auction of the Platinum Complete thinpak set that doesn't have pictures of the actual item, especially if it's being listed as "Brand New" condition and not "Very Good" or "Like New". The lack of an aluminum-type texture on the box art (as well as the botched logotype font for the Neon Genesis Evangelion wordmark) are clear indicators of being a bootleg, so an bidding on an auction listing that's using only stock images of the box is quite risky.

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Postby Mario_Abel » Mon Oct 27, 2014 3:25 pm

Oh oh, mine comes in clear cases and I got it in the mail last Wednesday.. :(

I always had a hunch it was a bootleg, (Suspicious weird quality slipcover art with clear cases and packaging gave the hunch away) but I am still eligible for a return.. so I'll get on with that.
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Postby BrikHaus » Wed Oct 29, 2014 2:28 pm

Are we 100% sure that's really a bootleg? It looks like a paper slip (of Asuka where Rei should be) which is resting on the actual cardboard case but beneath the plastic shrinkwrap. Could be some kind of misguided promotional insert rather than a clear sign of a bootleg.

Back before I had a job, and before streaming/torrents/etc., I used to get my anime through bootlegs. They actually did have nice quality packaging, sometimes it was nicer than the official releases. (for the record, I have gotten rid of all my bootlegs and repurchased official versions of everything)

But they always had a reduced disc count, like 3 discs for a 26 episode series instead of the usual 5-7. This one still seems to have the correct disc count.

With the amount of packaging and discs, it seems like a lot of work and not a lot of profit margin for a bootlegger to have made this.

I would be curious to see if someone actually buys this just to confirm whether it's a bootleg or not. Plus, it could be a curiousity to add to someone's extensive Evangelion collection (I'm looking at you, Eva Monkey).
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Postby svenge » Thu Oct 30, 2014 12:22 am

View Original PostBrikHaus wrote:With the amount of packaging and discs, it seems like a lot of work and not a lot of profit margin for a bootlegger to have made this.



The sheer amount of said sets on sale in the last 10 days (with many being sold by the same few sellers) is a severe anomaly, and almost all of the listings currently up either only have eBay's stock art images and/or have images of the "suspicious" version with clear thinpak cases and incorrectly-rendered wordmarks on the boxes.

By looking at the list of recently-completed auctions of said "suspicious" box sets, I've observed that the selling price is usually between $55 to $75, which is about double that of the older, more obvious 3-DVD bootlegs. However, that range is still significantly lower than the $80 to $200 range that the set typically went for a month ago.

When you put together the cut-rate pricing (as compared to the genuine article), the glut of said items suddenly appearing on the market, and the fact that they have several obvious visual differences with the Platinum Complete set that was released 9 years ago (and has been OOP for years) that never had any known variants previously until just now, the only logical conclusion is that this is a new, highly-sophisticated bootleg that is attempting to gain much more profit per sale by closely mimicking the legit release.

While the "cost of goods sold" would indeed be higher (as Brikhaus suggests), the profit margin increase is likely an order of magnitude greater than the additional expenditures.

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Postby MKDestroyer » Mon Nov 03, 2014 9:47 pm

TC can you please provide pictures of the individual thin cases as well? Also the discs too. I'm curious as to how the rest of this bootleg looks like.

Btw I bought this set for $35 on amazon 3 months ago. Link below

http://imgur.com/a/vkXXR

Is it a bootleg? It's after the rebuild pictures. Btw, I watched the whole thing and all the DVDs worked.

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Postby svenge » Tue Nov 04, 2014 6:59 pm

View Original PostMKDestroyer wrote:Btw I bought this set for $35 on amazon 3 months ago. Link below

http://imgur.com/a/vkXXR

Is it a bootleg? It's after the rebuild pictures. Btw, I watched the whole thing and all the DVDs worked.


From the pictures below, it looks like the seller took the 8 DVDs from the old "Perfect Collection" box set (I can tell since the covers for Vol. 1-2 are clearly the second-pressing variant) and put them in the box that came with the Vol. 1 of the later Platinum DVD singles release. The Platinum box was intended to hold 7 DVDs w/ slipcovers but is the exact right size to hold 8 DVD cases w/o slipcovers.

Given that the outer Platinum box was much easier to obtain (as it came w/ Vol. 1 of the Platinum singles) than the Perfect Collection outer box (which was normally only sold as part of the boxset, but also very briefly by itself via Right Stuf), it's not unheard of for people to do this cobbling-together of the original DVDs and Platinum box on their own (either to replace the original box that got damaged, or just have any box for them). I've seen several auctions in the past of used copies that had this exact same DVD+box configuration.

So ignoring the incongruous (but legit) box, the covers for all 8 DVDs are correct and the paper insert and "disc art" on Vol. 1 (the only one whose contents are displayed) are also correct. Also, the DVD cover for Death+Rebirth is correct, and since the poster insert is also present there's no reason to worry about its authenticity.

TL;DR summary: The DVDs look perfectly fine to me.

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Postby MKDestroyer » Tue Nov 04, 2014 9:39 pm

Thanks for the response svenge. I figured that's what happened but it does put my mind at ease now. After seeing that amazing looking Platinum bootleg, I started wondering how legit mine was since apparently now they can make them pretty close.

Hopefully the TC comes back here with some pictures of the thin cases and disc art. I would really love to see how it looks.

I feel bad for some of the legit sellers though. I saw a couple that looked like legit Platinums, judging by the pics provided by the TC, sell for less than $40. I was tempted to buy one but I missed one that sold for only $27. Looked like a real one. Black thin cases. These bootlegs are really bringing down the value of the legit copies.

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Postby svenge » Wed Nov 05, 2014 6:54 pm

View Original PostMKDestroyer wrote:I feel bad for some of the legit sellers though. I saw a couple that looked like legit Platinums, judging by the pics provided by the TC, sell for less than $40. I was tempted to buy one but I missed one that sold for only $27. Looked like a real one. Black thin cases. These bootlegs are really bringing down the value of the legit copies.


Yeah, if I were a seller of a legit copy of the Platinum Complete thinpak or the Holiday Edition brick sets I'd hold off for a while. While the Holiday Edition hasn't been bootlegged yet to my knowledge, it occupies the same market niche as the thinpak (namely budget-minded people who also know that the Platinum releases have better A/V quality) and so its price in the secondary market is likely to decline somewhat in the short term in response to the new bootleg's introduction.

The Platinum singles (especially if they still have their slipcovers and outer box) will still occupy their current high price point due to having more attractive packaging and the informational booklets, and the original pre-Platinum DVDs will still remain the domain of fans that are either broke or don't know any better.

All that said, now is an excellent time to buy a legit copy of the Platinum Complete box if you know exactly what to look for and what sellers/listings to avoid.

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Postby MKDestroyer » Wed Nov 05, 2014 8:20 pm

When I bought my copy it was on Amazon and the seller said it was the platinum collection. It was listed under where it should have been just the box and volume 1. It was around the same price but it was the only one that said it had all DVDs. So I had to take a risk on it at only $35. I still think that was a good deal even if the quality isn't that good.

But yeah I don't see anymore legit Platinums on Ebay right now selling for that low. So I bet they're gone now.

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Postby Nuclear Lunchbox » Wed Nov 05, 2014 9:19 pm

I don't know about you, but I did a quick google search and found some copies on Ebay. There are also other sites that are selling platinum collections. I mean, you'll have to lay down some cash for them, but they're there.


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