I bought another set of fake Body Kun and Body Chan figures – but this time it was on purpose! Since we’re a few years removed from The Great Body Kun Tragedy, I thought that maybe the knock-offs have gotten better. They’re certainly more abundant! So I picked up a set of fake figures and even made sure they had some decent reviews on them. I also ordered a Ken Sugimori edition of a legit Body Kun and busted out the old Body Chan and Figma Archetypes!
How Did the Fake Body Kun Stack Up?
I’m finally getting back into streaming sort of regularly again, so what better way to have some fun than to stream the unboxing? For all the answers you’ve been looking for, here are the highlights!
There were body parts EVERYWHERE
If you want to see the full, unedited version, the stream is right here!
What About the Classics?
I still have my trusty old classic references, too – except the dog. Gosh I miss that weird little dog.
Over on my YouTube channel I posted a review video of some knock-off Body Kun figures and later another for the most recent run of Figma Archetype figures. Someone commented on one of them asking if there were any other figures out there similar to Body Kun that have more manga-style proportions. The Figmas are great, but they have more superhero builds and that’s not everyone’s cup of tea. If you want manga proportions from Figma, you either need to track down an earlier run of figures, which will be more expensive, or wait and see what the next run will look like.
All that aside, I responded to that user’s question with what amounted to a shrug. I really haven’t seen anything else comparable, but I also haven’t been looking that hard. I’m happy with my Figma Archetypes!
About a week after I received that comment, I coincidentally came across some art reference models on Dick Blick. Pretty sweet, right? I really wanted them to be good because I get most of my supplies from Blick and I include affiliate links (at no cost to you) whenever I list materials. Unfortunately, the figures look… wacky. The proportions are wacky, the joints are wacky, and counting all the wacky things about them won’t make the wackiness go away. They’re so wacky that I’m almost willing to waste some money to get them. Almost. 🙂
Did I Mention Wacky?
One set is called the Manga Manikins and it looks like they are no longer made (bummer!). The product page is still live on Dick Blick if you want to read about them and here’s a screenshot to check out if you don’t. They were kind enough to include two versions of the female model with different sized boobs, because I guess that’s a thing that some people needed.
If ever can find these (for some sort of reasonable price) I’ll get one in a heartbeat. Please, please give me a heads up if you see one. If Hollywood is using them (like the description says), there must be something great about them!
Now for the ones you can get. These are the Art S. Buck Anatomical Models that are described as “anatomically proportional one-sixth scale models have over 30 points of articulation”. These figures are wacky, too. They have wacky joints and big wacky heads, but are they $35 each wacky? I might grab one if I catch it on sale, because judging these things from afar really isn’t fair, right?
Good News, Everyone!
Pretty soon I’ll have a new one to review because, *GASP*, I found a REAL Body Kun for a decent price ($38)! More specifically it’s a black Body Chan (the female model) and I’m 95% it’s legit. If it’s not, you can expect a pretty awesome rant where I swear I’ll never make the mistake again (i.e. a THIRD time), but eventually I will and you can all laugh at me.
Thanks for reading! Until next time!
UPDATE!!!
The review video is live and the figure is real! Aaaaaaand there’s a special guest! Pop on over to my YouTube channel to check it out or watch here:
The case of the fake Body-Kun (FBK) figures has been resolved! Sort of. I ended up having to ship them back at my expense for twice the cost of the original shipping. I didn’t like it, but I’ll get most of my money back. Perhaps I can (begrudgingly) justify it as the cost of a lesson learned… HOWEVER, being the glutton for punishment that I am, I ordered another set of figures! It’s okay this time, really! They are authentic Figma Archetype figures and they are SO much better!
Archetype:He and Archetype:She just chillin out!
There was a deadline for sending back the FBKs, but the Figmas arrived just in time to do a comparison. The poor quality of the FBKs was even more obvious when they were next to the Figmas. It’s all covered in my unboxing video here:
Even more fun was playing with the figures afterward! The Figmas were less expensive than the FBKs, but they also came with zero accessories and not as many extra hands. That was not a dealbreaker at all since I’d rather have a few pieces that are high quality than a bunch of low quality junk. It does mean that I’ll have to be creative in finding props for the Figmas, so the first place I looked was my kid’s toy box!
There was a Power Ranger sword and a gun from one of the action figures in the action figure bin. Sadly, both were too big for the figures’ tiny hands. What more than made up for that was the slightly forgotten dinosaur set hiding under the bed! There were rocks, trees, and dinos of all sizes. I grabbed a couple of tanks, a monster truck, and some finger puppets – all in the name of seeing how good these figures really are!
The dino scene came first. The dinos on hand were too small for the figures, but the point was really to see if they would sit on the dinos without any help. They definitely did and I even got them to look half-way passable as a reference. That is, if you like giants on dinosaurs. Or people on tiny dinosaurs. Before taking it all down I put the Archetype:She on a monster truck and sent it at the Archetype:He still on a dinosaur. She didn’t stay on, but it was still fun! She even stayed in the position I put her in.
RAAAAWWWWRRRR!
After this it was time to put them on tanks! It took several tries to get the tanks to hit each other, but with every attempt the figures stayed perched on top – at least until the collision! I can also confirm that they will stand up on their own and can even handle a little extra something.
They’re wearing finger puppets almost as big as they are!
I swear, I WILL use them for drawing references. I’m also going to hit the dollar store and see if there’s anything floating around there that might make a good prop. If you have an idea or something you want me to try, let me know!
Thanks for reading! Until next time!
UPDATE!!
Things with PayPal and the fake Body Kun dispute did not end well. Not only did Canada Post lose my package, but it couldn’t be located and I didn’t insure it. Doh! Since I couldn’t prove to PayPal that the fake Body Kun company received the item (even I though I showed that it shipped), they ruled that I couldn’t get a refund. So I’m out the cost of the figures, the cost of sending them back, and I don’t even have crappy Body Kun knock offs to keep making fun of.
I tell everyone that ends up in the same boat as me to dispute with PayPal and report the company as a scam. It probably won’t make a difference, but sometimes raising a little hell can be cathartic. If I could go back I would have just kept the figures and turn them into a project to expose a company that amounts to a drop shipper for Chinese knock offs. I’m totally not still bitter about the whole thing…
To make myself feel better I order what I’m pretty sure is an authentic Body Chan. We’ll see what happens. 😀
I like to think I’m pretty careful when it comes to buying stuff online, but I can also get a little impulsive. Because of that, I found myself in a small predicament all because I saw something shiny on Instagram. If you’ve ever taken a drawing class, there’s a good chance you had to sketch one of those nondescript wooden mannekins that sort of, but not really, look like people. It’s tough to get them into any sort of natural position, but for a basic subject to sketch, they’re pretty good.
A happy little family of drawing references!
That being said, I’ve been looking around for quite some time for an alternative – something that is more natural that I can look at in real life. Picture references are fine, but it’s different than sketching from life. Odd little knick-knacks around the house are great for a challenge, but at the end of the day I really like to sketch from the human figure. So when I saw an Instagram ad for Body-Kun figures, it looked like the most perfect solution ever! The site they were (ARE) being sold from is sketchy (the first red flag), but I ignored that for this perfect thing that was the answer to all my sketching reference dreams. The projected delivery time was 3-4 weeks due to high order volume. That was red flag number two.
Seems legit?
I received tracking information about a week after the order was placed, but it didn’t budge after that. During that time, I did the research I should have done before placing the order. I found instances referencing that exact site (and others) where poorly made knock-offs were being sold.
The real product is made by Bandai S.H. Figuarts and they are not for sale just anywhere. There are certain retailers that sell them and they are not available all the time. If you aren’t getting one of those, you most likely are not getting the real product. There’s even a handy post on DeviantArt that shows the differences between the real and the fake Body-Kun figures: https://www.deviantart.com/lauraramirez/journal/Edit-BODY-KUN-REVIEW-Very-disappointed-703049537
It Took So Long…
Once the order hit the four-week mark, I contacted the company to see what was up. They said the item was backordered and I would have it by the following week. I immediately checked my tracking info again and it was gone. Big, fat, red flag number three.
I let a few days go by and decided I wanted nothing to do with any of it, so I contacted them again and requested a refund. Of course, they said the order was on the way and therefore couldn’t cancel. So I turned to PayPal, filed a dispute that I didn’t received the order, and the company replied that it was on the way. I replied that I would reject the package, at which point they would have to give me a refund, right? Sure enough, the following Friday when I was out of town, the package showed up. When did the tracking update? After the package showed up.
So now what? Well, I escalated the claim with PayPal to “item not as described” or whatever they call it. Then, for the sake of documentation, I did an unboxing video! I mean, I HAD to open them at that point to see if they were really as bad as I thought they would be. Spoiler alert: they were. In fact, I’d say they exceeded expectations on that front. The Body-Kun fakes are now sitting in a plastic bin awaiting their fate.
This pretty much captures how I feel about these. I really wanted to like them.
Depending on what PayPal does or doesn’t do, I might get a refund, I might have to send them back, or nothing happens at all. I’ll definitely keep you updated!
Don’t be like me – don’t buy junk from Instagram ads. 🙂
