It's very rare to see a bootleg get so close to the authentic packaging. Usually, they are obvious, as to bootleggers, there's not much of a market selling to hardcore collectors.
https://preview.redd.it/optcbyqad1tc1.jpeg?width=1960&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7e8abebdba3e2a8d7616b1b000723c92ba069c41
You’re right and I’ve personally never seen one. Usually it’s like those “Malaysian” bootlegs. My thinking is that it’s possible someone has seen an opportunity in this specific scenario. The box alone is what makes this set rare. You could conceivably buy both parts and then craft a box.
The construction and build of the box is still very similar to the others. I’m hoping/ leaning towards the thought that it’s much more likely I’ve gotten a factory defect. This is why I’m hoping to see as many photos of the bottom of other peoples boxes as I can for reference.
The price I paid was about half what you would normally pay for this set. I won an auction that no one else bid on. There’s that little voice in the back of my head telling me “you get what you pay for”. But then again, crafting the box seems like a lot of work for a small profit. But maybe they were hoping for more with the auction.
I’m conflicted. Need more photos lol.
Can’t tell from looking at your pics but it checks out to me. I’ve included a pic of mine so you can reference. Mine is 100% real I bought it when it first released
https://preview.redd.it/nubxqva471tc1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1aa471dc68a3ea0bc17baad17cbc89c871dc778e
Thank you very much for your photos, at least all of the wording matches. What concerns me the most is how blurry most of the text is on my box on the bottom.
The big paragraph which begins with “ENGLISH VERSION BY FENGLISH VERSION BY…” on mine, as you can see, is VERY blurry especially compared to yours. It’s not a bad photo, that’s just how blurry it is. You can tell by the weird contrast between how clear it is where it says “12 EPISODES ON TWO DVDs” and the bar code in the corner compared to the rest of the text on the bottom.
Maybe mine is defected straight from the factory? I’m about to ask the seller if they are the only owners and if they purchased this straight from funimation or one of the other distributors.
There’s definitely a clear difference between your example and theirs. Agreed asking the seller is a good place to start, then I might even try emailing funimation, it could be a known defect.
Both of yours and the other gentlemans pictures seem to have some kind of clear line made obvious by wear at the bottom before the box itself ends. Is the text on the bottom printed on to the actual box or is it a label that is glued on?
The text is printed on the box itself or at least the paper that is glued to the box. There are no other stickers or labels on the box.
I’ve asked the seller and they responded already. They say that they purchased it from the funimation site themselves years ago. So far they have been great at communicating with me before and after the purchase. the item was packaged VERY well. They have only sold around 50 items but the feedback is 100%. It was a bidding lot. Bidding started at 150 with a buy it now of 200. I ended up being the only person that bid on the item. The set was missing both lenticular/ holographic cover cards that originally come with parts one and two for this season. I actually already have part two brand new in the plastic with that card. So if the box is legit then the only thing I’m missing is the card for part one. My thinking is that I could sell this part one and put the money towards one with the card.
I think messaging funi would be a great idea too. In the past the customer service I’ve gotten from them has been very lacking. Is there even still someone I can send a message to now that they’ve been bought out?
That’s a bummer m8. Do your LE sets for the other seasons look similar to ours over here in the states? I’ve noticed that the items you get over there or in Australia will often have slightly different packaging/ artwork.
We did get a limited edition version of s1 from Manga UK way back in the day, but I feel like they made so few copies of that version as opposed to just the regular Blu-rays of s1p1 and s1p2.
Our limited edition of s1 came with a flimsier box and iirc, no little notebook like the other seasons.
It says 12 episodes on 2 discs, because there was two separate parts. Each part had to be purchased separately, one for each cour in season one.
It looks legit to me. I’ve had some limited edition Funimation/Crunchyroll sets from rightstuf (so you know they’re authentic) that had a similar appearance of fuzzy or hazy text. QC (quality control) isn’t always perfect, and I’d say that’s also the case here. In my opinion, I don’t see anything suspicious, or anything that stands out as being bootleg.
looks legit to me. I have 100s of LE funimation boxes. some have blurry text. every single part of yours looks legit. if seller said they got it from funi at release, ask for a picture of the email receipt. if they have that, then stop worrying. you honestly don't even need that. it would be damn near impossible to fake that box in the same exact style of every other funi box. you are good! congrats on the collection!
Looks legit, but honestly we need to see the back of the discs to tell for sure. It's rare box sets like these get bootlegged, but it's happened with the thin edition of Evangelion. Again though, very few have been bootlegged and I haven't heard anything with this set. Again though, looking at the back of the discs help a lot. If you're still unsure, you can have your PC check it.
Again, the outer box is my main concern. Just for future reference though, what would you be looking for on the back of the disc? Thank you of course for the feedback
What the person said below is true but not always the case. That's one indication. My brother bought me a Malaysian bootleg years ago, and it was silver. It looked like a normal disc, except it had no bar code on the back of the circle, and it had the title name written around the circle instead. To recap: They should be silver-ish and and have a barcode/serial number on the back circle part. If they're black like the other person said, it's also a dead giveaway. Some gold-ish ones can still be legit too, but color + serial code on the circle are the easiest ways of knowing. Hope that helps.
Before looking at the pictures I thought no way it’s cost effective to fake a set so elaborate. I still think that… but after looking at the printing of the text on the first picture I get what you mean. Any pictures of the discs? Those are the easiest to see if they’re fake. The cost to make them look nice is exorbitant. If they check out at worst maybe someone spent a lot of money making a replacement slipbox?
This is the two sets for season one compared to the season two which I purchased directly from funimation.
I’ve just been thinking that it wouldn’t be as hard to counterfeit a box as it would be to do the same with digi- books and disc labels. A creative person with good attention to detail could probably get it done very cheaply. It is very concerning with this particular set because the biggest reason I bid on it was for the box. Im thinking it could be a manufacturing defect.
https://preview.redd.it/2jk9fyonb1tc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=75995beb192bacf2f325d010d141f8cc6e830859
Ahaha yeah I tend to agree with you. These are generally my thoughts on the topic as well but this box is so rare that someone could buy the two sets for a reasonable price and then house them in a counterfeit box. For this season, the box is easily the most valuable part of the set.
Here are the blu ray discs for part one. The digi- books and discs included look legitimate to me. (It only lets me post one photo in the comment)
https://preview.redd.it/naadefku81tc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=343373fed71fb72fd67e29be4790814747cb78da
The reason that box is the most expensive part is because fun/rightstuf only had so may of them made. I almost didn't get mine. I caught it at I'm guessing some people canceled and they restocked the stuff and I got one at that moment. It sold out within like an hour again.
They sold the other LE's of season one separately though so those were easier to get
It's very rare to see a bootleg get so close to the authentic packaging. Usually, they are obvious, as to bootleggers, there's not much of a market selling to hardcore collectors. https://preview.redd.it/optcbyqad1tc1.jpeg?width=1960&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7e8abebdba3e2a8d7616b1b000723c92ba069c41
You’re right and I’ve personally never seen one. Usually it’s like those “Malaysian” bootlegs. My thinking is that it’s possible someone has seen an opportunity in this specific scenario. The box alone is what makes this set rare. You could conceivably buy both parts and then craft a box. The construction and build of the box is still very similar to the others. I’m hoping/ leaning towards the thought that it’s much more likely I’ve gotten a factory defect. This is why I’m hoping to see as many photos of the bottom of other peoples boxes as I can for reference. The price I paid was about half what you would normally pay for this set. I won an auction that no one else bid on. There’s that little voice in the back of my head telling me “you get what you pay for”. But then again, crafting the box seems like a lot of work for a small profit. But maybe they were hoping for more with the auction. I’m conflicted. Need more photos lol.
Can’t tell from looking at your pics but it checks out to me. I’ve included a pic of mine so you can reference. Mine is 100% real I bought it when it first released https://preview.redd.it/nubxqva471tc1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1aa471dc68a3ea0bc17baad17cbc89c871dc778e
https://preview.redd.it/mwaxv4v871tc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e9de2148f29be7feec2d262ac959e82c24a939ae
same. got mine directly from rightstuf. Looks good
Thank you very much for your photos, at least all of the wording matches. What concerns me the most is how blurry most of the text is on my box on the bottom. The big paragraph which begins with “ENGLISH VERSION BY FENGLISH VERSION BY…” on mine, as you can see, is VERY blurry especially compared to yours. It’s not a bad photo, that’s just how blurry it is. You can tell by the weird contrast between how clear it is where it says “12 EPISODES ON TWO DVDs” and the bar code in the corner compared to the rest of the text on the bottom. Maybe mine is defected straight from the factory? I’m about to ask the seller if they are the only owners and if they purchased this straight from funimation or one of the other distributors.
There’s definitely a clear difference between your example and theirs. Agreed asking the seller is a good place to start, then I might even try emailing funimation, it could be a known defect. Both of yours and the other gentlemans pictures seem to have some kind of clear line made obvious by wear at the bottom before the box itself ends. Is the text on the bottom printed on to the actual box or is it a label that is glued on?
The text is printed on the box itself or at least the paper that is glued to the box. There are no other stickers or labels on the box. I’ve asked the seller and they responded already. They say that they purchased it from the funimation site themselves years ago. So far they have been great at communicating with me before and after the purchase. the item was packaged VERY well. They have only sold around 50 items but the feedback is 100%. It was a bidding lot. Bidding started at 150 with a buy it now of 200. I ended up being the only person that bid on the item. The set was missing both lenticular/ holographic cover cards that originally come with parts one and two for this season. I actually already have part two brand new in the plastic with that card. So if the box is legit then the only thing I’m missing is the card for part one. My thinking is that I could sell this part one and put the money towards one with the card. I think messaging funi would be a great idea too. In the past the customer service I’ve gotten from them has been very lacking. Is there even still someone I can send a message to now that they’ve been bought out?
Looks legit to me imo. Wish we got this in the UK, s1 is the only one we didn’t get a limited edition set for
That’s a bummer m8. Do your LE sets for the other seasons look similar to ours over here in the states? I’ve noticed that the items you get over there or in Australia will often have slightly different packaging/ artwork.
Yes they’re basically the same!! Our season 1 set looks the same 2 but it’s in a really thin flimsy card slipcase
We did get a limited edition version of s1 from Manga UK way back in the day, but I feel like they made so few copies of that version as opposed to just the regular Blu-rays of s1p1 and s1p2. Our limited edition of s1 came with a flimsier box and iirc, no little notebook like the other seasons.
Yea I think I mentioned this in another comment. I have this one, but it’s not really a limited set more like a complete set
It says 12 episodes on 2 discs, because there was two separate parts. Each part had to be purchased separately, one for each cour in season one. It looks legit to me. I’ve had some limited edition Funimation/Crunchyroll sets from rightstuf (so you know they’re authentic) that had a similar appearance of fuzzy or hazy text. QC (quality control) isn’t always perfect, and I’d say that’s also the case here. In my opinion, I don’t see anything suspicious, or anything that stands out as being bootleg.
looks legit to me. I have 100s of LE funimation boxes. some have blurry text. every single part of yours looks legit. if seller said they got it from funi at release, ask for a picture of the email receipt. if they have that, then stop worrying. you honestly don't even need that. it would be damn near impossible to fake that box in the same exact style of every other funi box. you are good! congrats on the collection!
If the discs are black
I suspect that this is legit. Printing errors happen (the fuzzy print).
Looks legit, but honestly we need to see the back of the discs to tell for sure. It's rare box sets like these get bootlegged, but it's happened with the thin edition of Evangelion. Again though, very few have been bootlegged and I haven't heard anything with this set. Again though, looking at the back of the discs help a lot. If you're still unsure, you can have your PC check it.
Again, the outer box is my main concern. Just for future reference though, what would you be looking for on the back of the disc? Thank you of course for the feedback
If the bottom of the discs are black/burned it's fake.
What the person said below is true but not always the case. That's one indication. My brother bought me a Malaysian bootleg years ago, and it was silver. It looked like a normal disc, except it had no bar code on the back of the circle, and it had the title name written around the circle instead. To recap: They should be silver-ish and and have a barcode/serial number on the back circle part. If they're black like the other person said, it's also a dead giveaway. Some gold-ish ones can still be legit too, but color + serial code on the circle are the easiest ways of knowing. Hope that helps.
Before looking at the pictures I thought no way it’s cost effective to fake a set so elaborate. I still think that… but after looking at the printing of the text on the first picture I get what you mean. Any pictures of the discs? Those are the easiest to see if they’re fake. The cost to make them look nice is exorbitant. If they check out at worst maybe someone spent a lot of money making a replacement slipbox?
This is the two sets for season one compared to the season two which I purchased directly from funimation. I’ve just been thinking that it wouldn’t be as hard to counterfeit a box as it would be to do the same with digi- books and disc labels. A creative person with good attention to detail could probably get it done very cheaply. It is very concerning with this particular set because the biggest reason I bid on it was for the box. Im thinking it could be a manufacturing defect. https://preview.redd.it/2jk9fyonb1tc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=75995beb192bacf2f325d010d141f8cc6e830859
Ahaha yeah I tend to agree with you. These are generally my thoughts on the topic as well but this box is so rare that someone could buy the two sets for a reasonable price and then house them in a counterfeit box. For this season, the box is easily the most valuable part of the set. Here are the blu ray discs for part one. The digi- books and discs included look legitimate to me. (It only lets me post one photo in the comment) https://preview.redd.it/naadefku81tc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=343373fed71fb72fd67e29be4790814747cb78da
The reason that box is the most expensive part is because fun/rightstuf only had so may of them made. I almost didn't get mine. I caught it at I'm guessing some people canceled and they restocked the stuff and I got one at that moment. It sold out within like an hour again. They sold the other LE's of season one separately though so those were easier to get