Play Arts Kai Bootlegs : Guide to Serial Numbers

Remember when the absence of serial numbers at the bottom of the box is a clear indication of a bootleg/knock-off/overrun figure for Play Arts Kai? Well, I DO, after all, i first brought it up here when i was an unfortunate victim of a local bootlegger HERE and also during another unfortunate close brush with the infamous "Zombie Snake" HERE. After those incidents i dedicated a portion of my time to guarding fellow collectors from bootlegs, establishing a database of tell-tale signs with the help of my PAK comrades. I got a happy ending though somehow since i was refunded by those 2 sellers and the vigilance never stopped from that point onwards...

AUTHENTIC SOLID SNAKE - Similar to Cyborg Ninja, Fakes either don't have those serials or they are a lot bigger.

Battle Dress Snake from Peacewalker. Fakes don't have those serials.

We are aware that for quite some time the bootleggers have upped their game; they now do their own engravings on their cheap bootleg boxes to dupe buyers relying on the serials to check figure authenticity. However, with a sharp eye and thorough familiarization with how the serials should look like you can avoid being a victim. With the help of a good friend, Uzi Enriquez and additional help from Mik Gawaran and Jerome Lim - my comrades from Play Arts Kai Philippines Trading Group - i came up with a guide on the serials of the more popular PAK lines and figures. We'll include samples of the fake serials also for reference, please feel free to refer to the list anytime. P.S. The Final Fantasy 13 figures are exempted from serials since their serials are located inside the box and it's printed in blue/black ink.

FAKE RESIDENT EVIL 6 - notice how the serials look like they've been manually etched on the box, the font used is bigger as well. Photo from Mik Gawaran.

COMPARISON SHOT OF DMC3 PAKs: Authentic on the LEFT - deeper and smaller font and FAKE on the RIGHT - larger and shallower fonts.

Here's another look on the DMC3 PAKs from Jerome Lim. AUTHENTIC on TOP, FAKE on the BOTTOM

COMPARISON SHOT OF PAK LARA CROFT BOXES. Lighting edited to make the serials more prominent. Authentic on TOP - notice the deep engraving. FAKE BELOW - large, shallow font.

The following pictures are from AUTHENTIC Play Arts Kai figures courtesy of Uzi Enriquez. We stuck with lines sine individual shots of each boxes would be too tedious. More or less all the serials before Metal Gear Rising look like these.

Assassin's Creed 2

The older Play Arts Kai lines employ the Serials you just saw above which are very easy to fake especially if you are not that familliar with how they should look. As for the NEW SERIALS below (currently used by Metal Gear Solid, Metal Gear Rising, DC Universe, HALO 4, etc.)...

They are a lot more difficult to fake so what do the bootleggers do? They sell the figures LOOSE and attempt to cover the lack of boxes with ridiculous stories about termites eating them and all that shitty stuff. So if a new, just released or yet to be released figure is being sold loose be wary of it since SQEX never sell loose figures not even exclusives. Rules of other toylines like Marvel and DC doesn't always apply to Play Arts Kai.

In closing let me remind you to always be careful before buying and don't hesitate to ask around if you have doubts on the figure you are about to purchase. Share what you learn also to other collectors especially newbies so that those bootleggers will have less and less customers or targets.