I did want to mention after watching the new video about ali Express. I don't personally believe the rocksteady and bebop figures on Ali express are k.o. they had 2 releases of them that went to Target. The first release versions were the ones that had the really bad q.c. errors on the eyes and sometimes came with a broken clip. That is how the first set I bought was from Target. I had also bought the set off of Ali Express, and it was the same as the one I got the first time from Target. I don't think they were k.o.s. I think they were probably recalls or damage claims. That's my experience.
as a Chinese TMNT collector I can confirm on this, dude. we received two release of the rocksteady and bebop also the foot soilder two pack ,when the rerelease happened there is a batch of them going to the market without legit package and outer shells I think the factory just made extras for the rats inside the corp to steal and sell and made some extra money,and this also happened to the SDCC arcade TMNT 4 pack they are not knock offs the just missing the labels . and also Mirage shredder and foot soldiers 4pack (just a small amount), if u don't care the labels and packaging legitimacy u can totally go for it bro
@@madhatterreviews6705 as a Chinese TMNT collector I can confirm on this, dude. we received two release of the rocksteady and bebop also the foot soilder two pack ,when the rerelease happened there is a batch of them going to the market without legit package and outer shells I think the factory just made extras for the rats inside the corp to steal and sell and made some extra money,and this also happened to the SDCC arcade TMNT 4 pack they are not knock offs the just missing the labels . and also Mirage shredder and foot soldiers 4pack (just a small amount), if u don't care the labels and packaging legitimacy u can totally go for it bro
A little extra info on the 08 Mirage Turtles... The KOs have come in three distinct "generations" and have gotten progressively worse throughout the years. The "first gen" KOs were very close to the originals. Paint color was very slightly off, and the front plastrons weren't as soft as the real ones. They're pretty rare themselves now, and go for a couple hundred bucks if you can even find them. Second gen was a little darker, and the plastrons were just the same harder plastic as the rest of the figure. Molds were starting to show signs of age and some of the finer details are lost. Still pretty nice. Third / current gen are very noticeably darker green. Completely different, cheaper and more brittle plastic. Very lightweight. Molds are barely holding in there - lots of flashing around seams. Joints don't hold together well at all. Tbh, they aren't fooling anyone that does the bare minimum of research. And worth noting: if they come in a clamshell with all the dio accessories, or either version of the 4-pack, or they're black and white, they're most likely real. Surprisingly, I don't think I've ever seen a KO of the b/w versions or clamshell/4-pack color versions. There were also some real ones released in the tube packaging, but not a ton of them (at least compared to the clamshells). If they have the painted bandannas, they are either KO or someone repainted the bandanas. Oh and the toon Foot Soldiers did have some KOs a while back - they would pop up on Ali and eBay for about $40-60 for two. They were solid quality. Legs were sometimes a little crooked (kinda bent sideways at the knee... hard to explain, but it's obvious if you see one) and sometimes the paint apps weren't perfect, but still really good for the price. Plastic, paint colors, and overall build quality (at least on the ones I had) was pretty much identical to the real ones. The ones I got didn't come with a box, so I'm not sure about packaging there.
Here are my personal thoughts on this.: I think the Ali Express new products like the Mirage 4-pack and April, are likely just factory overruns. For example, let's say NECA have ordered 10,000 of a particular figure to be made by a factory, and the factory starts on Monday morning and by 3:30pm Wednesday, they have produced 10,000 figures. Now they could just stop working at this point, but if the factory shuts at 5:00pm, they may as well have the workers continue to make stock until closing, and so they end up producing 11,150 figures by 5:00pm as it is more cost-effective than trying to do new set-ups on the next figure the factory plans on working on. Then what likely happens is that they inspect the figures and send the best 10,000 figures off to NECA to sell in the States and RoW, and the extra 1,150 held back will likely be the worst ones from the whole production run, with for example packaging defects, crushed and bashed boxes etc. These 1,150 the factory will just sell off cheap to local re-sellers who then sell them on Ali Express for a discount on retail price as the re-seller themselves bought them quite cheaply from the factory. There will inevitably be a higher incidence of damaged packaging occuring in the 'dregs' of the production run, but usually the figure inside should be fairly good quality like the ones in the 10,000 good quality boxes that NECA have.
your "Factory runoff" yes is a way these gets produced and sold on chinese wholesale. No, that doesn not at all mean they're authentic product. Anything being done without necas direct knowledge or permission for or generates a different revenue/profit for neca than the official production creates is a bootleg/knockoff/counterfeit.
Actually in South Asia, Knockoff is literally wild west over here, lol. On online stores like Shopee, NECA Knockoff is like dime in a dozen going for about $10-20. Also tons of SHF and Figma knockoffs as well. It's harder to find legit figures in my country, and even if there is, it's gonna be much more expensive with import tax.
I bought those early KO TMNT Comic Mirage Turtles years ago, and they are GREAT w/ good accessories, sculpt, paint and joints.. I'm a long time collector but will not pay scalper prices, so good KO's like these are a gift to the collecting community. Other KO's, like some Marvel Legends I've bought, were rubbish & I simply got a refund ... good for customs though. The current batch of Star Wars Black Series Clone Trooper figs on Ali are FANTASTIC and much cheaper than originals for army building.
I honestly see more listings for knockoffs that explicitly say they're knockoffs (or some variation of that) than ones that don't. Like you said, they know you could likely get your money back on the more used sites. Better to just tell you. And yeah, some people *like* knockoffs! S.H.Figuarts Dragon Ball collectors seem to embrace Demoniacal Fit, which makes knockoffs or "third-party" stuff, and they seem to have a "live and let live" policy with a side helping of "if the official company/product was better, we wouldn't do this". Sometimes the official company doesn't have the accessories, character or articulation you want, and these ones do.
And just because they are knockoffs, it doesn't mean they are terrible. I bought the knockoff Mirage turtles from eBay. Now, I cannot compare them with the real ones, but I would have to describe the quality as superior to the neca cartoon turtles (which easily break, or their accessories break when you look to hard at them). They were so durable, they survived a full year of stop motion animation, without any issues. Of course, I do not recommend anyone to buy the knockoffs if they think they are buying an original or if they want the original one. On the other hand, the X-Men knockoffs are particularly fragile (BANDAI I think?).
I got all 4 of the K.O. Mirage turtles for $100. They smelled toxic, so I had to air them out in the garage for a week. All had their mask colored like the cartoon. The Don was also missing the tie of his mask. Other than that, they were a great value. If I could get a lot of foot soldiers cheap, I would love to army build them.
I have a ko set of the mirage turtles i got from ebay. I bought them knowing they were ko, it said so plainly on the listing, but i didnt care, the "legit" ones are astonomical in price! All that said, they are still decent quality figures and i am not the least bit disappointed. If you arent buying something in the hopes that the price is going to quadrupel or more, ko are more than fine for display purposes.
Easiest way to tell: Is it a year or more after release, and a third of it's original price (while all legit retailers are sold out)? Then it's a knockoff. Most knockoffs are made in the same factories as legit figures. They're sometimes QC rejects, but back before the pandemic (when labor was cheaper, and shipping wasn't so fucked) These factories would make sloppy extras to sell cheap for "Asia Market", which really means Ali Express and eBay sales. It's much more common with Japanese import lines than NECA or Hasbro, but it still happens. Figures with simple (or no) paint apps are common marks, like Proto Boba Fett.
This helps more with my search. Although there's apparently rounds of KOs of the neca ultimate toon april. I haven't pulled the trigger on these since i do want a legit figure, but at the same time, i can't find anything different between the legit figure and the KO.
There were some arcade and mirage foot sets that sold super cheap a few months after the initial release but I’m under the impression that they were factory overruns or rejects.
I have bought KOs for figures that are going to be used for toy photography. Sometimes I use small expostion effects or will paint weathering and what not. So I tend not to care about the packaging and if its offical. As long as it looks good enough and I am able to pose them and they hold up.
everything Zach said is correct and I've said that same list a bunch of times, because the topic gets old. I wish FB had a STICKY post like old forums. especially those ppl who are so crazy about hating on Ali like the guy you spoke about. I've learned over the years that mostly those that get hardcore angry or say the same thing over and over again typically are "on the spectrum" in some way. Obviously I'm aware that's not everyone and I'm trying not to generalize over a group of individuals, but personally that's what I've found it. I made me take a step back and disengage or simply agree and carry on or delete the post. Because no matter how much you try to be civil or hope they will listen, they won't, in some cases you can't win, because they aren't able to see your end of the agrument. Hopefully if someone sees this, they see I'm trying to be awareness versus a POS commenter.
So I actually did buy those 2008 KOs years ago for $50 for all 4 turtles with the colored bands. I also have the authentic mirage clamshells as well (still sealed). To me the KOs besides the minor paint variations etc are really well done and for the price it's a steal. KOs or not they are a cool set to own!
The Mirage 4Pack is sold out, or is it.... When I first tried to purchase them, the transaction got put on hold due to insufficient funds. So I used another card to purchase them, and the following day, it was shipped out. Here's the thing, my first transaction is still pending payment. I have 9 days to complete the transaction.
I once was interested in buying a couple of revoltech turtles bootlegs because the price of the originals was out of the question, but even in the pictures you could tell the color of the ball joints was different from the rest of the body.
The price on the Revoltech is ridiculous, at the rate the price is going up I’ll never get a Leo and Donny. Years ago i got the Raph and Mikey from a online store at clearance price do to the store closing.
@@ironsquirrel9272 I preordered the Raph/Mikey set from a japanese store when they were originally announced, then tried to do the same for the Leo/Don set that came later but they sold out very quickly. That was a bummer because Leo is my favorite turtle and those were the first cartoon accurate action figures in the franchise. Yeah, with the prices, I don't think I'll complete the team neither.
I bought one of the video game turtle packs for 60 bucks and they match perfectly to atleast the single packed version of the turtles in time figures.I have a single Mikey fig and it matches the Mikey from the set perfectly and it came with all the stuff shown to come with the box set, if I could find the foot soldier pack I would 100% buy it.
For cartoon neca, tmnt logo on box would be arched. I’ve seen some logos horizontal instead. I used to think those were KO’s, but I think those un-arched horizontal logos were sold at target, necstore and costumes
seriously, I think you have so much influence that you were responsible for stopping sales of the new tmnt toys on Ali. Your viewers made sales explode. I'm Brazilian and I'm one. And the picture you put up of bebop and rocksteady is from a guy from here. The same guy who tried to sell me knockoffs with colored headbands saying they were NECA originals. hugs!
7:32 There’s still some people that swear that they remember seeing the cylinder packaging when these were first released. Whether or not that’s true 🤷♂️. To add to the bebop/rocksteady set, rocksteady’s eyes wipe off super easy.
I have the knockoff Mirage turtles with the red bandanas. They seem more like factory rejects for whatever reason. The only thing I can point out on them is that they're slightly darker than the originals and that they obviously don't have the Neca logo on the bottom foot. Besides that they're A1.
I have the original 08 Turtles. Bought them with my first paycheck from my 1st job that summer I think. I remember they did the tube ones after that. I do love the colored bandanas on the KO's though.
there is defo a huge number of knock offs out there with people on ebay and Ali express listing the same product, description, imagery, prices, etc... i bought an aroumoured ronin and that crap was ridic, set it back straight away!
Hatter, I have been collecting TMNT in earnest only a couple years before Covid so I thankfully missed the booming KO market. To be honest I rarely order out of the USA. I still have a order an overseas retailer is sitting on🙇
My NECA Mirage Raph is a KO, a fairly good KO, but a KO none the less. The paint is slightly lighter in color and the joints are kinda loose. When I contacted the eBay seller I got no response so I ended up with a refund and getting to keep the figure.
I have the arcade tmnt figs I guess we’re the KO due to price but the quality was 100% better than most Neva figures I own. I’m guessing they were legit just without packaging
Regardless of them being knock offs or not.. they all use the same molds. From my understanding, the factory made more on the side, aka unauthorized, may lack some quality control because NECA reps left the factory. If it looks good and / or almost the same and a bit cheaper.. who cares. I bought the 2008 turtles for 45 bucks all 4 years back, and I'm happy so
I use the "FAKA" mirage turtles for the customs I make (mostly different "mirage style" Slash figures) and there actually fairly decent..I would say if you have never seen the 08 neca ones in person you wouldn't even know the difference really..mostly it's a darker green plastic the shell is more of a blue green instead of a green blue(yes they are different colors haha) and they tend to have flashing on the seem lines and they don't really clean up the spots where the sprews were..all in all 60 bucks and about an hour of clean up and you have really decent figures..I hate promoting ko's but neca really dosnt want to re release these guys and I'm just not gunna pay 800 at best for them ..if your talking using them for custom figures then everything is fair game there a solid foundation..if neca ever dose these again or releases new sculpts of the og turtles im all in ...
Yo Hatter, if an item is unavailable now, but was still available when I put in my orders… Should I be worried they won’t fulfill them even though they said they would?? 😓 My orders still haven’t shipped…
@@madhatterreviews6705 yes sir, right after. It’s just odd to me because others that placed their orders later in the evening of the same day these dropped, got their orders shipped but mine still hasn’t… Worried they may have oversold and now they’re going through their inventories and checking to see what they can fulfill and what they have to cancel…. 😓 On the PLUS SIDE… I heard local Targets are going to get these within a week or so… Debating to keep my 2 sets from AliExpress or buy at Target…. 🫣
Starting to collect NECA TMNT, what is better, foot soldier two pack or ultimate foot soldier? I wanna buy two two-packs or four ultimate foot soldiers. Thank you.
Hello Hatter, good show. I ordered through ALI and I wonder does it typically take longer than a week to ship? I read some other comments that it shipped pretty quickly. I'm thinking of cancelling. It may be because I have a PO Box...gotta protect myself from porch pirates
Those knockoffs are god send if you are in Asia. We know how insanely limited those Neca even in North America market. I hope they do more but it seems kinda stop. Probably Neca busted them out.
Got a knock off set that look paint wise exactly like the 2008 set… Only difference is that the shells on the originals are green and the KO’s have a blue tinge to them… Also it has the 2008 NECA print on the bottom of their foot, so it’s a fresh KO, rather than the super dark skinned KO’s that are rocking 2013 now on the bottom of their foot. Also extremely light yellow shell on the front pieces and dark blue tinge back shells…. Avoid those like the plague fam! Wish I could rock a set of the 08 turtles but they’re over $1200-$1800 … 🥵
@@madhatterreviews6705 you are giving genuinely constructive information while also doing it from an origin of spite. You are the TH-cam antihero and it’s awesome
@@mrallmine150 I just went onto another TH-camrs video and did a post about Ali-express but had it spelled correctly and yes, it was also deleted. Kinda funny how that key word gets your post automatically deleted everytime no matter where it's being posted
@@dumpsterfire7916 interesting…I used that web site name too and my reply disappeared…but I have seen other comments with the web sites name so who know … yay YT… not lol
Your area my local store is sitting on 7 cases of product that is not on the sales floor. My source is pretty reliable so now I wait for the imperative for the rep or an employee to stock them. Probably the Summer Geekout.
If you buy a set of the first neca Mirage turtles with multi color bandanas for 60 bucks and believe they're original, I have some swampland to sell you.
@@spaceape9606 the paint job is off, way off compared to the rest of the other monster turtles. the assembly looks somehow cheap, especially on the belt, his face and the cobra. Although I'm still waiting for an another mummy mikey.
This information is incorrect. I was one of the guys trying to spread correct knowledge in the FB groups 6 months to a year back when various figures first started appearing on chinese wholesale sites. The following knowledge comes from years of experience as I've operated in ecommerce for nearly 20 years and have a large amount of experience sourcing products from china. Yes, chinese wholesale sites CAN have authentic and licensed goods, but it is rare and very obvious because they advertise the fact that they're distributing with authority as it's a large selling point (kingston is the first example that comes to mind.) That said, a surefire way to know (which I've done many times over to verify specifically with neca TMNT) is to request seeing their distributer license for whatever brand it is. most legitimate chinese wholesalers will say yes an item's authentic but so far I'm batting 0% for any of them actually providing their distribution license, which again if they actually had it they'd be eager to show it and obtain new wholesale customers and its standard practice. Going further, even items that are 100% like the official products in all ways (for example items coming off the official production line and walked out the back door) doesn't mean they're not Bootlegs / counterfeit / knockoff / whatever term you want to call them. Any product that diverts or bypasses any part of the process (materials, packaging, final qc, shipping, signoffs, etc,) utilizes any of the official operation (molds, paint, plastic, labor, warehouse rental, etc) without permission or creates a different result in revenue and profit distribution than the official process is NOT an authentic product. If you want to buy from ali express and don't mind ko's I have no issue with that but people need to have proper knowledge over what they're doing because ultimately it's causing both the TMNT brand and neca to lose money through labor and material theft which directly impacts the prices we pay, it may be a moral delima for some, but most importantly it can actually land people in serious legal trouble. If you run a toy store and get told this is authentic product so you go buy 1000 bootleg figures and customs decides to inspect your package it could be grounds for a massive legal headache up to and including prison, depending on the details. My biggest issue with this is you (not JUST you, figureheads as a whole "you") have decided to become a figurehead, beacon of information, and guidance for our community and as such you need to be spreading correct information because people are going to listen. Im sure you don't want to be responsible for a toy store owner losing thousands in a lawsuit or even going to prison so please read this and do your own reasearch on what bootlegs are if you still disagree.
I respect your opinion, my issue with figures sold on aliexpress being called a knockoff is so far as I’ve seen, they’re undetectable to the naked eye in any capacity I’ve seen. I am happy to compare figures that I got from AliExpress to ones that I find a target but I guarantee you I will not find a difference. And i know you weren’t necessarily saying that they were detectable, but I want to reiterate that because there’s a difference between knock offs, and for lack of a better word, unsanctioned, figures. For what it’s worth, and to all due respect to your business, I get hit up by a lot of people saying they can’t find any of these things and believe it or not, Allie has provided them to a lot of people that would have never gotten them because of the distribution and flippers and whatever is stopping them at retail. I do respect this opinion, though, and I’m simply hoping these can be available to everyone that wants them.
@@madhatterreviews6705 Thank you for the level headed reply. I fully acknowledge there's various figures that are an exact match to store bought figures but my entire point is that doesn't mean they're authentic. " there’s a difference between knock offs... and unsacnctioned figures" Yes and no. The terms bootleg / knockoff / counterfeit / unsanctioned technically have slight variations in what they mean but the underlying concept especially in this particular discussion is they all mean a license is being used to generate revenue and profit without authorization, which has legal and potentially moral ramifications. I keep pressing this because of 2 reasons: 1. as stated before it can lead to legal trouble if customs catches someone trying to buy these for profit (buying unlicensed products for personal use is legal in the US but buying it with the intent to profit is VERY illegal), and 2. supporting chinese wholesale directly impacts the prices we see as it creates revenue shrink. I'm all for helping people find a path to obtaining figures they want at prices they want to pay but please give our community members accurate information so they know what theyre are and are not supporting as well as understand the legality of what they do with the knowledge.
I did want to mention after watching the new video about ali Express. I don't personally believe the rocksteady and bebop figures on Ali express are k.o. they had 2 releases of them that went to Target. The first release versions were the ones that had the really bad q.c. errors on the eyes and sometimes came with a broken clip. That is how the first set I bought was from Target. I had also bought the set off of Ali Express, and it was the same as the one I got the first time from Target. I don't think they were k.o.s. I think they were probably recalls or damage claims. That's my experience.
Very interesting. Thanks baby boy
as a Chinese TMNT collector I can confirm on this, dude. we received two release of the rocksteady and bebop also the foot soilder two pack ,when the rerelease happened there is a batch of them going to the market without legit package and outer shells I think the factory just made extras for the rats inside the corp to steal and sell and made some extra money,and this also happened to the SDCC arcade TMNT 4 pack they are not knock offs the just missing the labels . and also Mirage shredder and foot soldiers 4pack (just a small amount), if u don't care the labels and packaging legitimacy u can totally go for it bro
@@madhatterreviews6705 as a Chinese TMNT collector I can confirm on this, dude. we received two release of the rocksteady and bebop also the foot soilder two pack ,when the rerelease happened there is a batch of them going to the market without legit package and outer shells I think the factory just made extras for the rats inside the corp to steal and sell and made some extra money,and this also happened to the SDCC arcade TMNT 4 pack they are not knock offs the just missing the labels . and also Mirage shredder and foot soldiers 4pack (just a small amount), if u don't care the labels and packaging legitimacy u can totally go for it bro
@@madhatterreviews6705 I think that Wrath of Krang don't have knock of.. What do you think on that?
Feathers *will* be ruffled. Mark my words.
A little extra info on the 08 Mirage Turtles... The KOs have come in three distinct "generations" and have gotten progressively worse throughout the years.
The "first gen" KOs were very close to the originals. Paint color was very slightly off, and the front plastrons weren't as soft as the real ones. They're pretty rare themselves now, and go for a couple hundred bucks if you can even find them.
Second gen was a little darker, and the plastrons were just the same harder plastic as the rest of the figure. Molds were starting to show signs of age and some of the finer details are lost. Still pretty nice.
Third / current gen are very noticeably darker green. Completely different, cheaper and more brittle plastic. Very lightweight. Molds are barely holding in there - lots of flashing around seams. Joints don't hold together well at all. Tbh, they aren't fooling anyone that does the bare minimum of research.
And worth noting: if they come in a clamshell with all the dio accessories, or either version of the 4-pack, or they're black and white, they're most likely real. Surprisingly, I don't think I've ever seen a KO of the b/w versions or clamshell/4-pack color versions. There were also some real ones released in the tube packaging, but not a ton of them (at least compared to the clamshells). If they have the painted bandannas, they are either KO or someone repainted the bandanas.
Oh and the toon Foot Soldiers did have some KOs a while back - they would pop up on Ali and eBay for about $40-60 for two. They were solid quality. Legs were sometimes a little crooked (kinda bent sideways at the knee... hard to explain, but it's obvious if you see one) and sometimes the paint apps weren't perfect, but still really good for the price. Plastic, paint colors, and overall build quality (at least on the ones I had) was pretty much identical to the real ones. The ones I got didn't come with a box, so I'm not sure about packaging there.
You must have read my write up at the technodrome forums 😂
This is an extremely helpful video thank you Hatter!
Glad I can help!
The 08 ko's are fantastic quality!
I seen the double pack foot soldiers going cheap on ebay 👀
Here are my personal thoughts on this.: I think the Ali Express new products like the Mirage 4-pack and April, are likely just factory overruns. For example, let's say NECA have ordered 10,000 of a particular figure to be made by a factory, and the factory starts on Monday morning and by 3:30pm Wednesday, they have produced 10,000 figures. Now they could just stop working at this point, but if the factory shuts at 5:00pm, they may as well have the workers continue to make stock until closing, and so they end up producing 11,150 figures by 5:00pm as it is more cost-effective than trying to do new set-ups on the next figure the factory plans on working on.
Then what likely happens is that they inspect the figures and send the best 10,000 figures off to NECA to sell in the States and RoW, and the extra 1,150 held back will likely be the worst ones from the whole production run, with for example packaging defects, crushed and bashed boxes etc. These 1,150 the factory will just sell off cheap to local re-sellers who then sell them on Ali Express for a discount on retail price as the re-seller themselves bought them quite cheaply from the factory. There will inevitably be a higher incidence of damaged packaging occuring in the 'dregs' of the production run, but usually the figure inside should be fairly good quality like the ones in the 10,000 good quality boxes that NECA have.
your "Factory runoff" yes is a way these gets produced and sold on chinese wholesale. No, that doesn not at all mean they're authentic product. Anything being done without necas direct knowledge or permission for or generates a different revenue/profit for neca than the official production creates is a bootleg/knockoff/counterfeit.
@@none4764 According to Mad Hatter it is all legit stuff if you are buying it in and around the time of initial release.
Actually in South Asia, Knockoff is literally wild west over here, lol. On online stores like Shopee, NECA Knockoff is like dime in a dozen going for about $10-20. Also tons of SHF and Figma knockoffs as well. It's harder to find legit figures in my country, and even if there is, it's gonna be much more expensive with import tax.
I bought a couple sets of the KO Mirage turtles a few years ago, at the time they had all red and their colors, and they are Awesome!
I bought those early KO TMNT Comic Mirage Turtles years ago, and they are GREAT w/ good accessories, sculpt, paint and joints.. I'm a long time collector but will not pay scalper prices, so good KO's like these are a gift to the collecting community. Other KO's, like some Marvel Legends I've bought, were rubbish & I simply got a refund ... good for customs though. The current batch of Star Wars Black Series Clone Trooper figs on Ali are FANTASTIC and much cheaper than originals for army building.
I honestly see more listings for knockoffs that explicitly say they're knockoffs (or some variation of that) than ones that don't. Like you said, they know you could likely get your money back on the more used sites. Better to just tell you.
And yeah, some people *like* knockoffs! S.H.Figuarts Dragon Ball collectors seem to embrace Demoniacal Fit, which makes knockoffs or "third-party" stuff, and they seem to have a "live and let live" policy with a side helping of "if the official company/product was better, we wouldn't do this". Sometimes the official company doesn't have the accessories, character or articulation you want, and these ones do.
And just because they are knockoffs, it doesn't mean they are terrible. I bought the knockoff Mirage turtles from eBay. Now, I cannot compare them with the real ones, but I would have to describe the quality as superior to the neca cartoon turtles (which easily break, or their accessories break when you look to hard at them). They were so durable, they survived a full year of stop motion animation, without any issues.
Of course, I do not recommend anyone to buy the knockoffs if they think they are buying an original or if they want the original one.
On the other hand, the X-Men knockoffs are particularly fragile (BANDAI I think?).
No doubt. I’ve bought plenty of knockoffs I love! just wanted to make folks aware
I got all 4 of the K.O. Mirage turtles for $100. They smelled toxic, so I had to air them out in the garage for a week. All had their mask colored like the cartoon. The Don was also missing the tie of his mask. Other than that, they were a great value. If I could get a lot of foot soldiers cheap, I would love to army build them.
Those knock off Mirage turtles are in my collection, I was really pleased with them as I missed out on the originals. Got them sometime ago though.
Those ko are very early works, and it seems that not many people buy them.
I got Mirage TMNT Neca knockoffs with the color headbands and they are crazy good quality 🔥💪🏽
2:20 a number of customizers actually get those also as fodder for other projects on their queue.
I have a ko set of the mirage turtles i got from ebay. I bought them knowing they were ko, it said so plainly on the listing, but i didnt care, the "legit" ones are astonomical in price! All that said, they are still decent quality figures and i am not the least bit disappointed. If you arent buying something in the hopes that the price is going to quadrupel or more, ko are more than fine for display purposes.
Hatter did that April O'Neill 2.0 already sell out? I clicked the link and nothing shows up!?🎩🤔😮🤷
Easiest way to tell: Is it a year or more after release, and a third of it's original price (while all legit retailers are sold out)? Then it's a knockoff. Most knockoffs are made in the same factories as legit figures. They're sometimes QC rejects, but back before the pandemic (when labor was cheaper, and shipping wasn't so fucked) These factories would make sloppy extras to sell cheap for "Asia Market", which really means Ali Express and eBay sales. It's much more common with Japanese import lines than NECA or Hasbro, but it still happens. Figures with simple (or no) paint apps are common marks, like Proto Boba Fett.
This helps more with my search. Although there's apparently rounds of KOs of the neca ultimate toon april. I haven't pulled the trigger on these since i do want a legit figure, but at the same time, i can't find anything different between the legit figure and the KO.
There were some arcade and mirage foot sets that sold super cheap a few months after the initial release but I’m under the impression that they were factory overruns or rejects.
I have bought KOs for figures that are going to be used for toy photography. Sometimes I use small expostion effects or will paint weathering and what not. So I tend not to care about the packaging and if its offical. As long as it looks good enough and I am able to pose them and they hold up.
everything Zach said is correct and I've said that same list a bunch of times, because the topic gets old. I wish FB had a STICKY post like old forums. especially those ppl who are so crazy about hating on Ali like the guy you spoke about. I've learned over the years that mostly those that get hardcore angry or say the same thing over and over again typically are "on the spectrum" in some way. Obviously I'm aware that's not everyone and I'm trying not to generalize over a group of individuals, but personally that's what I've found it. I made me take a step back and disengage or simply agree and carry on or delete the post. Because no matter how much you try to be civil or hope they will listen, they won't, in some cases you can't win, because they aren't able to see your end of the agrument. Hopefully if someone sees this, they see I'm trying to be awareness versus a POS commenter.
So I actually did buy those 2008 KOs years ago for $50 for all 4 turtles with the colored bands. I also have the authentic mirage clamshells as well (still sealed). To me the KOs besides the minor paint variations etc are really well done and for the price it's a steal. KOs or not they are a cool set to own!
I just ordered the secret of the ooze 4 pack and was wondering why the 1990 movie figures were so cheap....makes sense
The Mirage 4Pack is sold out, or is it.... When I first tried to purchase them, the transaction got put on hold due to insufficient funds. So I used another card to purchase them, and the following day, it was shipped out. Here's the thing, my first transaction is still pending payment. I have 9 days to complete the transaction.
I once was interested in buying a couple of revoltech turtles bootlegs because the price of the originals was out of the question, but even in the pictures you could tell the color of the ball joints was different from the rest of the body.
The price on the Revoltech is ridiculous, at the rate the price is going up I’ll never get a Leo and Donny. Years ago i got the Raph and Mikey from a online store at clearance price do to the store closing.
@@ironsquirrel9272 I preordered the Raph/Mikey set from a japanese store when they were originally announced, then tried to do the same for the Leo/Don set that came later but they sold out very quickly. That was a bummer because Leo is my favorite turtle and those were the first cartoon accurate action figures in the franchise. Yeah, with the prices, I don't think I'll complete the team neither.
I bought one of the video game turtle packs for 60 bucks and they match perfectly to atleast the single packed version of the turtles in time figures.I have a single Mikey fig and it matches the Mikey from the set perfectly and it came with all the stuff shown to come with the box set, if I could find the foot soldier pack I would 100% buy it.
For cartoon neca, tmnt logo on box would be arched. I’ve seen some logos horizontal instead. I used to think those were KO’s, but I think those un-arched horizontal logos were sold at target, necstore and costumes
Even knockoffs need time to create they product and packaging
seriously, I think you have so much influence that you were responsible for stopping sales of the new tmnt toys on Ali. Your viewers made sales explode. I'm Brazilian and I'm one. And the picture you put up of bebop and rocksteady is from a guy from here. The same guy who tried to sell me knockoffs with colored headbands saying they were NECA originals. hugs!
Good info for those newer collectors out there and for the Ali deniers. Although, they will continue to deny, deny, deny.
7:32 There’s still some people that swear that they remember seeing the cylinder packaging when these were first released. Whether or not that’s true 🤷♂️.
To add to the bebop/rocksteady set, rocksteady’s eyes wipe off super easy.
I have the knockoff Mirage turtles with the red bandanas. They seem more like factory rejects for whatever reason. The only thing I can point out on them is that they're slightly darker than the originals and that they obviously don't have the Neca logo on the bottom foot. Besides that they're A1.
Even if its a ko i still like them depending
I have the original 08 Turtles. Bought them with my first paycheck from my 1st job that summer I think. I remember they did the tube ones after that. I do love the colored bandanas on the KO's though.
Hey hatter. Great video. Very helpful
Where's flip-or? Still in the works?
@MadHatterReviews Dude, thank you for recommending the colored band mirage knockoffs I like them wayyyyyyy more than the real ones
And knowing is half the battle!
Great video !🙂👍
Thank you! 👍
there is defo a huge number of knock offs out there with people on ebay and Ali express listing the same product, description, imagery, prices, etc... i bought an aroumoured ronin and that crap was ridic, set it back straight away!
I had Battled Damaged Shredder and April in my aliexpress cart and slept on it and they are now gone😭
Hatter, I have been collecting TMNT in earnest only a couple years before Covid so I thankfully missed the booming KO market. To be honest I rarely order out of the USA. I still have a order an overseas retailer is sitting on🙇
1..2.. Buckle my shoe…
My NECA Mirage Raph is a KO, a fairly good KO, but a KO none the less. The paint is slightly lighter in color and the joints are kinda loose. When I contacted the eBay seller I got no response so I ended up with a refund and getting to keep the figure.
The 90 turtles also don’t have the ab bend
I have the arcade tmnt figs I guess we’re the KO due to price but the quality was 100% better than most Neva figures I own. I’m guessing they were legit just without packaging
Regardless of them being knock offs or not.. they all use the same molds. From my understanding, the factory made more on the side, aka unauthorized, may lack some quality control because NECA reps left the factory. If it looks good and / or almost the same and a bit cheaper.. who cares. I bought the 2008 turtles for 45 bucks all 4 years back, and I'm happy so
I use the "FAKA" mirage turtles for the customs I make (mostly different "mirage style" Slash figures) and there actually fairly decent..I would say if you have never seen the 08 neca ones in person you wouldn't even know the difference really..mostly it's a darker green plastic the shell is more of a blue green instead of a green blue(yes they are different colors haha) and they tend to have flashing on the seem lines and they don't really clean up the spots where the sprews were..all in all 60 bucks and about an hour of clean up and you have really decent figures..I hate promoting ko's but neca really dosnt want to re release these guys and I'm just not gunna pay 800 at best for them ..if your talking using them for custom figures then everything is fair game there a solid foundation..if neca ever dose these again or releases new sculpts of the og turtles im all in ...
Idk.. all the toon rocksteady sets I’ve seen at target have bad crossed eyes
Yo Hatter, if an item is unavailable now, but was still available when I put in my orders… Should I be worried they won’t fulfill them even though they said they would?? 😓 My orders still haven’t shipped…
Nah you’re good man. You got the order confirmation I assume
@@madhatterreviews6705 yes sir, right after. It’s just odd to me because others that placed their orders later in the evening of the same day these dropped, got their orders shipped but mine still hasn’t… Worried they may have oversold and now they’re going through their inventories and checking to see what they can fulfill and what they have to cancel…. 😓 On the PLUS SIDE… I heard local Targets are going to get these within a week or so… Debating to keep my 2 sets from AliExpress or buy at Target…. 🫣
Starting to collect NECA TMNT, what is better, foot soldier two pack or ultimate foot soldier? I wanna buy two two-packs or four ultimate foot soldiers. Thank you.
Hello Hatter, good show.
I ordered through ALI and I wonder does it typically take longer than a week to ship?
I read some other comments that it shipped pretty quickly. I'm thinking of cancelling. It may be because I have a PO Box...gotta protect myself from porch pirates
Those knockoffs are god send if you are in Asia. We know how insanely limited those Neca even in North America market.
I hope they do more but it seems kinda stop. Probably Neca busted them out.
I'm going to hold off trying out Ali until one of the sellers has a knockoff Flip-Or.
Great video and very helpful! Would love to pick up some 2008 mirage turtles. Could be tough, though...
Got a knock off set that look paint wise exactly like the 2008 set… Only difference is that the shells on the originals are green and the KO’s have a blue tinge to them… Also it has the 2008 NECA print on the bottom of their foot, so it’s a fresh KO, rather than the super dark skinned KO’s that are rocking 2013 now on the bottom of their foot. Also extremely light yellow shell on the front pieces and dark blue tinge back shells…. Avoid those like the plague fam! Wish I could rock a set of the 08 turtles but they’re over $1200-$1800 … 🥵
@@danielaguilera7413 have the original ones in the clamshell package still sealed and looking to buy the knock offs with the red bandana!
I love this new arc
LOL, phase 2?
@@madhatterreviews6705 you are giving genuinely constructive information while also doing it from an origin of spite. You are the TH-cam antihero and it’s awesome
@@reiddutchess9955 LOL, love that!
a lot of those were hard to tell
thanks, i'll be buying these bootlegs lolol
Umm why are my posts being deleted... Am i missing something???
It’s the great shitty TH-cam, not Hatter…my comments are being deleted too sometimes…it’s a pain in the ass…I am not even sure this one will post…smh
@@mrallmine150lmao happened again... Might be getting deleted when referencing ali-express,idk.... Regardless it's pretty lame
@@mrallmine150 I just went onto another TH-camrs video and did a post about Ali-express but had it spelled correctly and yes, it was also deleted. Kinda funny how that key word gets your post automatically deleted everytime no matter where it's being posted
@@dumpsterfire7916 interesting…I used that web site name too and my reply disappeared…but I have seen other comments with the web sites name so who know … yay YT… not lol
Yeah man, def not me. I already talked to youtube about it and tehy gave me some BS answer about filters or what not. Ugh, sorry.
as long as it doesn’t look like a $1 store figure, then who cares? honestly? Who is going to know and who are you hurting? NECA? pfft!
Just sharing what I know in case anyone wants the info
@@madhatterreviews6705 your honesty is refreshing. No shilling and honest opinions are alway appreciated.
appreciate that bud!
I’m happy with a knock of. But Ali express is selling it for the same or more now so fK that too
Are you the real Mad Hatter? I’ve a feeling you’re a knockoff! 😉
I’m the real Had Matter dude. Oh crap….bye
@@madhatterreviews6705 😂😂😂
By the way hatter, the lawson and splinter figures are hitting targets. Those are the only 2 I found. I sent you Instagram pics
Your area my local store is sitting on 7 cases of product that is not on the sales floor. My source is pretty reliable so now I wait for the imperative for the rep or an employee to stock them. Probably the Summer Geekout.
Pretty sure the guy in the video is a knock off
Indistinguishable from the real thing, but the sticker is on the wrong side!
@@ioncewasmikey 😂
@@NostalgiaUnboxed 😆
If you buy a set of the first neca Mirage turtles with multi color bandanas for 60 bucks and believe they're original, I have some swampland to sell you.
I think it's just Not the thing I want!
i have purchased a Mummy Mikey from China...i think it is definitely a KO.
Doubt it. That's a recent figure.
@@spaceape9606 the paint job is off, way off compared to the rest of the other monster turtles. the assembly looks somehow cheap, especially on the belt, his face and the cobra. Although I'm still waiting for an another mummy mikey.
I don’t care if I got knock offs or not lol i got the 4 1990 movie turtles free
Don't waste your time with haters. I like ali express
This information is incorrect.
I was one of the guys trying to spread correct knowledge in the FB groups 6 months to a year back when various figures first started appearing on chinese wholesale sites. The following knowledge comes from years of experience as I've operated in ecommerce for nearly 20 years and have a large amount of experience sourcing products from china.
Yes, chinese wholesale sites CAN have authentic and licensed goods, but it is rare and very obvious because they advertise the fact that they're distributing with authority as it's a large selling point (kingston is the first example that comes to mind.) That said, a surefire way to know (which I've done many times over to verify specifically with neca TMNT) is to request seeing their distributer license for whatever brand it is. most legitimate chinese wholesalers will say yes an item's authentic but so far I'm batting 0% for any of them actually providing their distribution license, which again if they actually had it they'd be eager to show it and obtain new wholesale customers and its standard practice.
Going further, even items that are 100% like the official products in all ways (for example items coming off the official production line and walked out the back door) doesn't mean they're not Bootlegs / counterfeit / knockoff / whatever term you want to call them. Any product that diverts or bypasses any part of the process (materials, packaging, final qc, shipping, signoffs, etc,) utilizes any of the official operation (molds, paint, plastic, labor, warehouse rental, etc) without permission or creates a different result in revenue and profit distribution than the official process is NOT an authentic product.
If you want to buy from ali express and don't mind ko's I have no issue with that but people need to have proper knowledge over what they're doing because ultimately it's causing both the TMNT brand and neca to lose money through labor and material theft which directly impacts the prices we pay, it may be a moral delima for some, but most importantly it can actually land people in serious legal trouble. If you run a toy store and get told this is authentic product so you go buy 1000 bootleg figures and customs decides to inspect your package it could be grounds for a massive legal headache up to and including prison, depending on the details.
My biggest issue with this is you (not JUST you, figureheads as a whole "you") have decided to become a figurehead, beacon of information, and guidance for our community and as such you need to be spreading correct information because people are going to listen. Im sure you don't want to be responsible for a toy store owner losing thousands in a lawsuit or even going to prison so please read this and do your own reasearch on what bootlegs are if you still disagree.
I respect your opinion, my issue with figures sold on aliexpress being called a knockoff is so far as I’ve seen, they’re undetectable to the naked eye in any capacity I’ve seen. I am happy to compare figures that I got from AliExpress to ones that I find a target but I guarantee you I will not find a difference. And i know you weren’t necessarily saying that they were detectable, but I want to reiterate that because there’s a difference between knock offs, and for lack of a better word, unsanctioned, figures. For what it’s worth, and to all due respect to your business, I get hit up by a lot of people saying they can’t find any of these things and believe it or not, Allie has provided them to a lot of people that would have never gotten them because of the distribution and flippers and whatever is stopping them at retail. I do respect this opinion, though, and I’m simply hoping these can be available to everyone that wants them.
@@madhatterreviews6705 Thank you for the level headed reply. I fully acknowledge there's various figures that are an exact match to store bought figures but my entire point is that doesn't mean they're authentic.
" there’s a difference between knock offs... and unsacnctioned figures"
Yes and no. The terms bootleg / knockoff / counterfeit / unsanctioned technically have slight variations in what they mean but the underlying concept especially in this particular discussion is they all mean a license is being used to generate revenue and profit without authorization, which has legal and potentially moral ramifications.
I keep pressing this because of 2 reasons: 1. as stated before it can lead to legal trouble if customs catches someone trying to buy these for profit (buying unlicensed products for personal use is legal in the US but buying it with the intent to profit is VERY illegal), and 2. supporting chinese wholesale directly impacts the prices we see as it creates revenue shrink.
I'm all for helping people find a path to obtaining figures they want at prices they want to pay but please give our community members accurate information so they know what theyre are and are not supporting as well as understand the legality of what they do with the knowledge.
I DON’T KNOW ABOUT THAT ARCADE 4 PACK ,.. I’ve never seen that
Knock offs and defective figures. These are Figures meant to be Disposed of. Not for reselling.
Why?
What up Hatter! I still want those og Mirage turtles honestly I don't care if there KOs lol
@madhatterreviews6705 Hey! I'm in a youtube video. I made the list used here. Good looking out for everyone.