What CGTSJ Means on Your Tomy Figures (and Why It's NOT Proof of Authenticity)

If you flip over a first-generation Tomy figure and look at the base, you'll almost always find something like ©Nintendo · CGTSJ engraved. Those five letters aren't decoration: they're the initials of the Pokémon license holders at the time the figure was manufactured.

What each letter stands for

• C — Creatures Inc.
• G — Game Freak Inc.
• T — TV Tokyo
• S — ShoPro (Shogakukan Production)
• J — JR Kikaku

These are the five parties who, between 1996 and the early 2000s, held the rights to Pokémon merchandising. That's why the stamp appears on so many figures, cards, and toys from that window.

Variants that date the piece

Not all figures carry the same engraving, and there's information in that:

• C/G only — some of the earliest pieces carry only Creatures + Game Freak, from before the others formally joined. It's a sign of a very early piece.
• ·CR·GF·TX·SP·JK — on figures like Mew and Jigglypuff, this alternate abbreviation appears. These are the same owners, just written differently (CR=Creatures, GF=Game Freak, TX=TV Tokyo, SP=ShoPro, JK=JR Kikaku). It's not a different company or a sign of fakery.

In practice, the engraving works as a date stamp for the first wave of Pokémon merch: it places the era, and sometimes the sub-stage.

The myth almost nobody tells you

Here's the important part, where many guides fall short: bootlegs copy the CGTSJ too.

Seeing "©Nintendo/CGTSJ" on the base does NOT prove the figure is original. Counterfeiters replicate that stamp precisely because they know collectors look for it as a guarantee. A well-made bootleg mold carries the engraving right along with it.

So how is it actually decided?

What truly distinguishes original from copy is the convergence of several signals, not just one:

• Sharpness of the die-cast and the engraving itself.
• The seam from injection molding and how clean it is.
• Paint: registration, edges, shine.
• Correct plastic tone for that line.
• Expected weight and material.

A single signal — the stamp included — doesn't settle anything. The classic mistake is picking up the figure, seeing the CGTSJ, and declaring it authentic. A bootleg has it too.

Verify it, don't guess: upload a photo of your figure to the PokéFig detector and it will flag the points to check, with no hasty verdicts. Or browse all 1st-edition Tomy figures with their documented stamp.