MonColle AG

🔍How to spot the original (vs bootleg)

What a serious collector actually checks before buying.

• Base stamp✓ confirmed— The original is stamped on the base with ©任天堂 (Nintendo) + TOMY + “MADE IN CHINA”. 90s run: “CGTSJ” mark. Later run: “©Nintendo/Pokémon 2004”. A bootleg usually has a blurry, misspelled, incomplete or missing stamp.
• Seam test (strongest tell)✓ confirmed— The most reliable indicator: genuine Tomy is two glued mold halves → it has a visible seam. A bootleg is re-cast from a finished figure → the seam comes out faint or gone. Fakes are also often “shrunk” (a bit smaller) and smell of raw PVC.
• Injection point— Genuine Tomy has a clean injection point in a consistent spot (usually under the base/foot). Bootlegs often show flashing, a misplaced point, or multiple unpolished mold marks.
• Paint✓ confirmed— Original has clean, crisp application (sometimes airbrushed). Bootlegs tend to have bleeding paint, off-color tones (偏色), flash and badly painted eyes. Watch the GLOSS: XY-era MonColle are deliberately MATTE (艶消し) — a piece from that era that’s too glossy is a suspected fake.
• Plastic & weight— Originals use firm, consistent PVC. Bootlegs often feel lighter/hollow or, conversely, heavier and brittle, sometimes with cheap translucent plastic.
• Auldey (NOT a bootleg)✓ confirmed— Confirmed: “Auldey” (奥迪) is an OFFICIAL Tomy license — in 1998 Tomy licensed Guangdong Auldey to make Pokémon figures in China. NOT a bootleg. Told apart by the DOUBLE logo 奥迪+TOMY molded in, sometimes a 羚邦/Medialink stamp, and slightly different details (eyes, toes).
• Barcode & embossed stamp✓ confirmed— On the box: a barcode starting 45/49 is Japan (legit); starting 10 is a suspected fake. Genuine has a “TOMY” engraving + embossed seal (钢印/刻印) on the base; Japanese collectors date vintage pieces by the YEAR molded into the base (1997 / 2004).
• Heavily-faked species✓ confirmed— Extra caution with: Ditto, Nidoqueen, Nidorino, Gastly, Magmar, Kingdra, Mantine, Swinub, Corsola, Crobat — the most bootlegged. Worse: Magmar and Nidorino fakes CARRY a fake Tomy stamp, so the stamp alone isn’t proof — combine it with the seam test + paint.
• Sealed vs opened— Condition drives value: a SEALED piece in its original blister/box is worth far more than a loose one — and for grails the gap is huge (e.g. sealed Gold Magikarp ~$1,100 vs ~$440 loose). For rare pieces, an intact blister is part of authentication (beware re-sealed ones).