( 
)HOW TO SPOT FAKE FINAL FANTASY COLLECTABLES
Final Fantasy is an immensely popular game and has released a lot of merchandise. But with that, come the scammers that make inferior copies of the product and sell it to you for about 30% - 70% cheaper. These copies are bad quality, don't last as long and will often break easily. This guide will hopefully help you determine the difference between an official product and a fake when purchasing.
PERSONAL EXPERIENCE
I have been a collector of Final Fantasy for a good few years and I have bought a lot of different stuff. Obviously when I first started I didn't know the difference between real and fake and had to learn the hard way.
Now, if you want to purchase a fake product, by all means do so, but do it KNOWING that you're buying a fake and DONT PAY THE PRICE as if it was a real one. There are a lot of people out there that say "OFFICIAL" and "AUTHENTIC" in their title when they're actually lying.
FAKE JEWELLERY
Square Enix has a site on Official Final Fantasy Merchandise. On it has all the different jewellery they have made. Each item of jewellery comes with a small CERTIFICATE OF AUTHENTICITY. These are usually written in brown or black on a rectangular white card. All jewellery that is from Square Enix is 925 Silver. They will be of high quality and usually very shiny. Here are a few examples of fake and authentic jewellery:
This is a fake. Notice the black in the grooves of the jewellery. Fake jewellery will often be poorly made and mishapen and will often have imperfections.
Something like this will usually come in a small box with writing in silver "FINAL FANTASY" and a logo from whichever game it is from.
This is an authentic ring and necklace. This picture is taken straight from the Square Enix website. You will notice that the shape of the wolf head is much clearer and the black in the groves of the necklace much cleaner (as opposed to the previous picture where the black was everywhere).
This ring is valued at approx. US$120.
The fake rings buy for just over US$10 or sometimes less.
ACTION FIGURES
I must say this is one of the harder ones to pick out when shopping online. Due often to the fact that you need to see a picture of the box in order to really tell. Most sellers will get a stock standard picture off the internet and use that instead of giving you the picture of the actual item. If this happens, ask the seller for a FULL picture of the box - if they are real then the seller should be happy to oblige.
The easiest way to tell a fake is the box. A fake box will have blurred writing in a box that looks shiny all over. These have been printed out by the counterfiters. In the Advent Children Vol. 2 & Final Fantasy XII series of action figures, the boxes are black and have silver INDENTED writing on the front and a matte black finish.
This is a fake. The writing is blurred and often the printing itself will be of poor, pixelated and incorrect colour quality.With the fakes the eyes are often skewed and the plastic of the figure often feels rough or inferior. Finer details are often lost in copied ones.
The real boxes for this Series One Advent Children action figure are shiny all over, but with clear, correctly coloured writing and pictures.
This is real. Notice that the writing is in SILVER and shimmers. This is from Advent Children volume 2. The black on the box is matte finish and the pictures on the back of this box will be clearly defined and won't look like the colours are wrong.
Inside the authentic boxes should usually be a small instruction sheet demonstrating how to change the character's hands / arms.
WEAPONS
As far as I know, Square Enix has not yet released any official swords replicated from characters. There are however, other companies that have made swords and weapons in honour of favourite characters. These include: Sephiroth, Kadaj, Cloud, Paine, Tidus, Yuffie, and Squall. I haven't seen any others yet, but keep an eye out.
These swords are usually moderately priced (AU$120 - $200ish) for a decent quality. Having bought two of these swords myself, I am happy with the product and the effort people have gone to to make these weapon replicas.
I have seen some other swords that didn't look as good as the others, so if you want to buy a lifesize sword, then consider:
Plush toys are common and often very nastily made. The real ones are cute and well proportioned - and don't look like they have squashed bodies! Moogles are the most popular plush and there are a lot of different styles if you care to search them. Authentic plushes will have a Final Fantasy tag on them in white card with English and Japanese writing.
These are real. You'll notice striaght away that they look just like the creatures off the game.
This is moogle (left) obviously a fake. The make is poor (see the stitching under the face?) and looks a little squashed.
The character plushes (Sephiroth - above right) are a dime a dozen. These are everywhere on eBay and in Hong Kong. I've never bought one myself because I personally think they are poorly made and look disproportioned. They don't come with the Final Fantasy card but will sometimes have a tag saying which game they're from. Buy with caution.
GAMES AND SOUNDTRACKS
While no one really makes copies of the Playstation 1 & 2 games (unless you go to Bali - then you'll know straight away because they won't play on your console unless it's chipped), there have been some pirated copies being made recently that makes it harder to detect when shopping online.
As mentioned before with the action figures, boxes of the counterfeit games can be blurry, poor colour quality and printing. Fake games come usually from Hong Kong or China in the form of Nintendo DS, Gameboy Advance, Nintendo etc. (mostly the ones that aren't in disc format).
If the game is from HK / C and is going for a ridiculously low price then it's probably a fake. Note that some sellers will also try and charge you full price for a fake game as well, so be wary. Having said this - there may be some authentic games coming from HK / C but be very careful what you purchase.
Soundtracks can be easily copied, their covers cheaply printed and you pay good money for a fake. Always bear in mind that copies dont usually have the quality printed CDs and inserts.
SUMMARY
So now you've read a bit about recognising fakes, here's a few general rules when making your next purchase:
Please let me know if this guide was helpful :)
DISCLAIMER: I will not be held responsible for any actions taken upon reading this guide. It is meant as a GUIDE ONLY and information told is from MY experience of buying Final Fantasy products.
Pictures shown are given as a reference only.
Final Fantasy is copyright of Square Enix.
Final Fantasy is an immensely popular game and has released a lot of merchandise. But with that, come the scammers that make inferior copies of the product and sell it to you for about 30% - 70% cheaper. These copies are bad quality, don't last as long and will often break easily. This guide will hopefully help you determine the difference between an official product and a fake when purchasing.
PERSONAL EXPERIENCE
I have been a collector of Final Fantasy for a good few years and I have bought a lot of different stuff. Obviously when I first started I didn't know the difference between real and fake and had to learn the hard way.
Now, if you want to purchase a fake product, by all means do so, but do it KNOWING that you're buying a fake and DONT PAY THE PRICE as if it was a real one. There are a lot of people out there that say "OFFICIAL" and "AUTHENTIC" in their title when they're actually lying.
FAKE JEWELLERY
Square Enix has a site on Official Final Fantasy Merchandise. On it has all the different jewellery they have made. Each item of jewellery comes with a small CERTIFICATE OF AUTHENTICITY. These are usually written in brown or black on a rectangular white card. All jewellery that is from Square Enix is 925 Silver. They will be of high quality and usually very shiny. Here are a few examples of fake and authentic jewellery:
This is a fake. Notice the black in the grooves of the jewellery. Fake jewellery will often be poorly made and mishapen and will often have imperfections.
Something like this will usually come in a small box with writing in silver "FINAL FANTASY" and a logo from whichever game it is from.
This is an authentic ring and necklace. This picture is taken straight from the Square Enix website. You will notice that the shape of the wolf head is much clearer and the black in the groves of the necklace much cleaner (as opposed to the previous picture where the black was everywhere).
This ring is valued at approx. US$120.
The fake rings buy for just over US$10 or sometimes less.
ACTION FIGURES
I must say this is one of the harder ones to pick out when shopping online. Due often to the fact that you need to see a picture of the box in order to really tell. Most sellers will get a stock standard picture off the internet and use that instead of giving you the picture of the actual item. If this happens, ask the seller for a FULL picture of the box - if they are real then the seller should be happy to oblige.
The easiest way to tell a fake is the box. A fake box will have blurred writing in a box that looks shiny all over. These have been printed out by the counterfiters. In the Advent Children Vol. 2 & Final Fantasy XII series of action figures, the boxes are black and have silver INDENTED writing on the front and a matte black finish.
This is a fake. The writing is blurred and often the printing itself will be of poor, pixelated and incorrect colour quality.With the fakes the eyes are often skewed and the plastic of the figure often feels rough or inferior. Finer details are often lost in copied ones.
The real boxes for this Series One Advent Children action figure are shiny all over, but with clear, correctly coloured writing and pictures.
This is real. Notice that the writing is in SILVER and shimmers. This is from Advent Children volume 2. The black on the box is matte finish and the pictures on the back of this box will be clearly defined and won't look like the colours are wrong.
Inside the authentic boxes should usually be a small instruction sheet demonstrating how to change the character's hands / arms.
WEAPONS
As far as I know, Square Enix has not yet released any official swords replicated from characters. There are however, other companies that have made swords and weapons in honour of favourite characters. These include: Sephiroth, Kadaj, Cloud, Paine, Tidus, Yuffie, and Squall. I haven't seen any others yet, but keep an eye out.
These swords are usually moderately priced (AU$120 - $200ish) for a decent quality. Having bought two of these swords myself, I am happy with the product and the effort people have gone to to make these weapon replicas.
I have seen some other swords that didn't look as good as the others, so if you want to buy a lifesize sword, then consider:
- Is the price I'm paying fair for an unofficial product?
- Factor in shipping costs - these weapons are large and heavy and can cost more than the buying price to get to you
- Do I need a licence? This may seem like a funny thing to consider but I know that Victoria doesn't allow people to possess weapons even for display without a licence. So check before you buy!
- Ask the seller for SEVERAL pictures of the actual item - stock standard pics are usually placed in the eBay gallery and it makes it hard to decide which ones look better than the others. Sellers that are confident in the quality of the their product will often post real pictures in their listing as well as a standard pic. So you choose which you think looks best.
Plush toys are common and often very nastily made. The real ones are cute and well proportioned - and don't look like they have squashed bodies! Moogles are the most popular plush and there are a lot of different styles if you care to search them. Authentic plushes will have a Final Fantasy tag on them in white card with English and Japanese writing.
These are real. You'll notice striaght away that they look just like the creatures off the game.
This is moogle (left) obviously a fake. The make is poor (see the stitching under the face?) and looks a little squashed.
The character plushes (Sephiroth - above right) are a dime a dozen. These are everywhere on eBay and in Hong Kong. I've never bought one myself because I personally think they are poorly made and look disproportioned. They don't come with the Final Fantasy card but will sometimes have a tag saying which game they're from. Buy with caution.
GAMES AND SOUNDTRACKS
While no one really makes copies of the Playstation 1 & 2 games (unless you go to Bali - then you'll know straight away because they won't play on your console unless it's chipped), there have been some pirated copies being made recently that makes it harder to detect when shopping online.
As mentioned before with the action figures, boxes of the counterfeit games can be blurry, poor colour quality and printing. Fake games come usually from Hong Kong or China in the form of Nintendo DS, Gameboy Advance, Nintendo etc. (mostly the ones that aren't in disc format).
If the game is from HK / C and is going for a ridiculously low price then it's probably a fake. Note that some sellers will also try and charge you full price for a fake game as well, so be wary. Having said this - there may be some authentic games coming from HK / C but be very careful what you purchase.
Soundtracks can be easily copied, their covers cheaply printed and you pay good money for a fake. Always bear in mind that copies dont usually have the quality printed CDs and inserts.
SUMMARY
So now you've read a bit about recognising fakes, here's a few general rules when making your next purchase:
- Fakes will often have a poorly printed box and faulty or imperfections on the cover or on the merchandise itself.
- Always ask the seller for DETAILED pictures of the actual item (if only a stock picture is given) - if they're real then they have nothing to hide.
- Cheap jewellery is often always fake - check the Square Enix Shop website for a collection of OFFICIAL released merchandice. You'll notice the quality goes dramatically up as well as the price compared to fakes.
- If you know its a fake, and still want to buy it - don't pay full price!
- Check a seller's feedback. I have often seen something I want to buy but have then checked a sellers NEGATIVE feedback and seen that other people have commented that the items they were selling were fake.
- Serial numbers will be given on the back of Nintendo DS and inside Gameboy cartridges. So either check them before (by asking seller for a picture) or after you get them.
- Often, items coming from China and Hong Kong will be fake, and Japan will usually be authentic (since Final Fantasy was made in Japan). But this is just a guideline - I bought a whole set of Final Fantasy figures when I was in HK and they were real (I knew because of the quality and the price).
Please let me know if this guide was helpful :)
DISCLAIMER: I will not be held responsible for any actions taken upon reading this guide. It is meant as a GUIDE ONLY and information told is from MY experience of buying Final Fantasy products.
Pictures shown are given as a reference only.
Final Fantasy is copyright of Square Enix.
Guide created: 05/09/08 (updated 23/09/09)
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