Banpresto One Piece DXF The Grandline Lady: Nico Robin figure

 January 28, 2020  Toys

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CHARACTER DETAILS

We’ve known Nico Robin as an antagonist in one of the longest running anime, One Piece. Under significant events, she was welcomed with full arms to join the Straw Hat Pirates, together with Luffy and his crew. With the power of a devil fruit, her addition to the crew’s dazzling females made them stronger than ever.

Nico Robin isn’t your average pirate. She has a passion for archaeology which made her a threat to the World Government. Her ability to read the ancient language pose a threat to their current world order as this may change their society. Because of this, a bounty was imposed on her which eventually lead her to the pirate life.

One Piece is also known for having characters with a unique sense of style. For this reason, figure manufacturers like Banpresto would always have One Piece characters in one of their collections. Nico Robin is definitely one of a kind, and so, she really deserved to be in Banpresto’s DXF The Grandline Lady.

Prize figures such as the one mentioned aren’t as available as normal figures since, initially, you can only get them through various games in Japan. Thick-faced figure pirates see this as an opening to strike with their bootleg figures. By creating confusion online, a fake DXF Nico Robin figure has been around since 2014.

ORIGIN OF FAKE

Bought on: AliExpress
Origin: China
Vendor: Amelie
Distribution Area: Worldwide

You wouldn’t possibly find an authentic Nico Robin figure even if AliExpress is the last option you’ve got. The website’s just teeming with bootlegs, and because of that, it will bear much difficulty to even find a single authentic anime figure. Even so, getting a figure from Amelie isn’t a better idea.

With relief, Amelie has stopped selling the fake DXF The Grandline Lady: Nico Robin. However, you have to take note that these bootlegs can be shipped worldwide, and with the stocks of the fake Nico Robin figures gone, they could just be around the corner — possibly physical stores that sell anime merchandise.

You must arm yourself ready for that kind of situation though. It’s best to take a look at this fake DXF Nico Robin figure for reference.

DESCRIPTION OF FAKE

 Like many fake figures that we’ve reviewed before, this bootleg Nico Robin figure has a box of its own. What’s the catch, you say? Well, the box is not only unsealed when we got it, but the print’s quality is also blurry.

Overall, the box’s quality is very flimsy. If we would dismantle the box, it’ll very much wiggle because of the cheap cardboard that was used for it. Strangely, you can find the logos of the DXF collection and Craneking, although you’ll notice that the Craneking logo is quite rigged.

Many Banpresto figures have its logo on them, and on top of that, you’ll see authentication stickers on the top portion of the box as well. As for the fake Nico Robin, you won’t be able to find these significant logos.

The initial state of figure doesn’t look good. You’ll only see it wrapped in an awkwardly sealed plastic. 

The bootleg has a few components initially dismantled. Surprisingly, its head is attachable to its body. Very few bootlegs do this as they usually have the figure intact. As for authentic figures, you’ll very much encounter many that have parts to be attached fresh out of the box.

After we’ve attached the head to its body, we realized that the right arm isn’t an attachable, rather it was severed from the bootleg’s body. Well, this part isn’t shocking at all since we’ve already suspected this figure as a fake, though if you’re still having doubts, you might want to check out the rest.

First, the skin of the bootleg looks a little bit pale, but zooming on its face, you might notice that the lips is kind of unpolished. The hair on the right side also looks dusty and stained. If you still aren’t convinced, its messy hat can tell you that it’s the sloppiest paint job you can ever see on an anime figure.

There is nothing with the patterns on the hat, but you’ll also notice that there are paint stains of gray on some edges. This part of this figure just looks so disgusting.

The design has a touch of nude on it. For designs like this, admitted, it would be hard to spot some flaws, although you will notice that the bow’s (one on the center) paint job is already faded.

Obviously, we could point out the severed right arm again and again, but while experimenting with the left arm, we realized that the same could happen with just a quick snap — though we didn’t dare try.

There are more mishaps to come with the fake Nico Robin figure’s lower body.

The belt’s paint job is inaccurate if it’s the first one you’ll see. And if you look at the gun tied to it, you’ll see some small spots. The back of the belt isn’t looking great as well since there are a few dents on it. All in all, the dress looks faded, and if you look under it, there are a few scratches too. The bottom edge of the dress also feels unrefined.

No different than the bootleg’s dress, the legs also have some scratches on it. The shoes might look fine from the figure’s frontal view, but if you look at the back, you’ll notice that a heel of one shoe is broken. Looking closely at the details of the shoes, there are overlapping paints on and the details are just horrible.

The real The Grandline Lady: Nico Robin DXF figure is a lot different from the bootleg you just have seen. It’s very detailed and gives a more satisfying look. It may not be the best-looking figure in 2020, but it’s definitely flawless — as every authentic figure in the market.

As a prize figure that was released in 2014, it may or may not be available anymore, but if it is, then we would just have to expect that it already has a higher price than it was first released.

PRICE

Authentic Banpresto prize figures can go up to $50 USD, but luckily, we found the Grandline Lady: Nico Robin DXF figure for around $30 USD. That’s already cheap considering that the figure is an old release already. 

For $7.45 USD, the fake Nico Robin figure isn’t worth as much. You’re just going to waste money on shipping it overseas as well. For what the figure is worth, it doesn’t deserve even a dollar price tag.

WHERE TO GET REAL BANPRESTO DXF THE GRANDLINE LADY: NICO ROBIN FIGURE

The real The Grandline Lady: Nico Robin DXF figure is still available in various websites, although you still have to be careful whenever you’re trying to search for it on google since it’s very much possible to show results from shady websites.

Solaris Japan has the real figure in stock, but as you can see, the price of the figure seals at roughly $41 USD. The website though offers worldwide shipping and most definitely, it’s a trusted website by figure collectors.

If you want a cheaper choice, you might want to go over at Ninoma since they’re selling the figure in a set. Apparently, The Grandline Lady: 15th Edition set is available on the website for $60, but if you’re looking to complete the set, then it isn’t bad since you paid $30 USD for each.

Bottomline, we’re lucky enough that these iconic figures are still available in the market, and it looks like some collectors are still after these. These are the cheapest find you can get online, not to mention they’re totally authentic. The bootleg Nico Robin figure wouldn’t be able to match the quality of the real figure.

OUR VERDICT

You’ve seen it all. This fake is really tormenting to see. While the paint job is very sloppy, it has many damages that could really disappoint. Hopefully, you won’t end up with a bootleg that’s as trash as this one. This is just a horrible sight, you won’t even try looking at its hat ever again. It deserves a slap of a 95% horrible rating.