Portrait of Pirates

Portrait of Pirates (sometimes referred to by fans as One Piece: P.O.P.) is a figurine series based on various One Piece characters.

Product Information


Portrait of Pirates figures are produced by Megahouse and have high quality detailing as they're part of their Excellent Model brandline. The figure stands about 22cm/9in tall (1/8 scale) and comes with a base for support. The figures do not have any articulation, and the main purpose is for collecting or displaying. Each figure was issued with additional removable weapons and accessories. Amongst One Piece fans, they are highly sought after and often considered the best One Piece related figurines.

The series has been re-issued with the name "Neo" attached to it. The figures of the Excellent Model Neo series are identical to their original counterparts, however they feature some minor changes. Among the Neo figures are also brand new models never seen before.

On May 2009, the Neo series has returned as Neo DX with the release of Aokiji and Mihawk. It seems like Megahouse wants to brand Neo DX as a simple continuation of the more global Neo series, as the manufacturer is only releasing distinct characters under both the regular Neo brand and the Neo DX one. The jump in quality at the expense of a higher pricing range justify the new term: DX stands for Deluxe.

On December 2009, the POP brand name has spawned yet another subline, POP Strong Edition. It involves the Mugiwara in their new clothes as found in the 10th OP film, Strong World.



Some figures under the Excellent Model MILD label have begun to be issued after Neo series 4. This label focuses on rendition of around 10cm tall, half the size of figures from the regular Excellent Model label.

The first series to appear within the MILD brandline is the CB series. CB is probably the acronym for Chibi (dwarf or small person in Japanese) and is focused on childhood rendition of characters.

On July 2009, Megahouse begun to release figures under the Mugiwara Theater series, although Chopperman already made a prelude to it since November 2008. The Mugiwara Theater series is the adaptation of the "omake" found in the One Piece Log Books.



With the ever growing success of the One Piece brandname, Megahouse has begun to release some POP figures under its Excellent Model LIMITED label since early 2010. This label is entirely dedicated to one-shot limited edition releases of figures, available only on MegaTreaShop, one of the e-shop sites of Megahouse, or on temporary partner e-shop sites. Most of the times, figure availability on the Internet is foregone by a release during some events (for instance in theme parks or some editions of toy fairs).

Re-released figures
Megahouse figures aren't marked as limited releases but they are usually produced with a fixed amount of units. So, Megahouse didn't do any re-release of the original series.

In spite of this, Megahouse still has regularly re-issued figures from the Neo line. The reasons for re-issuing is quite easy to understand:
 * Among figures dedicated to One Piece, the ones from the POP line are the most acclaimed as, for a long time, all other figure lines were worse in quality. This situation changed in 2008 when Banpresto has begun to release OP high quality figures for its Ichiban Kuji lottery.
 * Because original series figures were one shot releases and the demand curve didn't slow down that much, tag prices in specialized shops and auction sites quickly skyrocketed. This has proved that, despite not being in the classical successful figure categories (namely, mecha/robots and shoujo/pretty girls), the POP line can sustain consumer needs and call for regular re-issues.

Mild CB figures didn't meet a comparable success, so Megahouse produces re-issues only from times to times, for instance when some chain stores ask for this.

Known re-issue dates follows:
 * Ace Neo 2 and Zoro Neo 3 were re-released on mid November 2008.
 * Chopper Neo EX and Robin Neo 5 were re-released on mid February 2009.
 * Luffy Neo 1 and Franky Neo 2 were re-released on late June 2009.
 * Sanji Neo 4 and Sogeking Neo 5 were re-released on late July 2009.
 * Bon Kurei Neo 3 and Shanks Neo 4 were re-released on late September 2009.
 * Ace Neo 2 and Brook Neo 6 were re-released on late October 2009.
 * Mihawk Neo DX 1 was re-released on late December 2009.
 * The 3 Mild Mugiwara Theater 1 figures got a re-release mid-February 2010.
 * Rob Lucci Neo 6 and Aokiji Neo DX got another re-release on late March 2010.
 * Bartholomew Kuma Neo DX 2 was re-released on mid-June 2010.
 * Luffy and Chopper from Strong Edition 1 were re-released on late June 2010.
 * Shanks Neo 4 and Mihawk Neo DX 1 were re-released on late October 2010.
 * Nami and Zoro Strong Edition 2 Lawson limited version were re-released on November 3rd 2010, with mandatory pre-orders that started July 1st 2010 and quickly ended within a month.
 * The 3 Mild CB waves have been re-issued for a limited release in December 2010, available only in Don Quijote shops, a Japanese discount chain store, through lotteries, pre-orders the month before or luck if shops still had stocks for ¥1,780 each (less than original price)
 * December 3rd 2010, available figures were Luffy CB-1, Nami CB-2, Noriko CB-2, Zoro CB-2 and Vivi CB-3.
 * December 17th 2010, available figures were Luffy CB-1, Sanji CB-1, Robin CB-1, Franky CB-3 and Usopp CB-3.
 * Boa Hancock Neo DX 4 will be re-released late January 2011.
 * Nami Strong Edition 2 (i.e. the 1st regular version) will have a 2nd release late April 2011.
 * Sogeking Neo 5 will have a 3rd release in late May 2011.
 * Bartholomew Kuma Neo DX 2 will have a 3rd release on late June 2011.

Coming POP
This section contains all future POPs that has been just announced and can't be pre-ordered yet.
 * Rayleigh POP NEO-DX, announced release date for Summer 2011.
 * Hancock Ver. GOLD POP Limited Ed, recolored version of bikini Hancock.
 * Hancock WEDDING Ver. POP Limited Ed.
 * Nami Ver. PINK POP Limited Ed, another recolored bikini Nami.
 * Chopperman Metallic Pink Ver. POP Limited Ed, a recolored version of regular Chopperman.

The Toei official sticker
A lot of bootlegs are produced mainly by Chinese/HK counterfeiters. One reliable way to recognize official products is by spotting the little Toei sticker put on the figure box. However, collectors that got their figures from untrusted sources must still be vigilant as sticker faking activity is known to be true since late 2009 / early 2010. Fake stickers are easily recognizable because of their poor print quality.

Sometimes, stickers show a number on their top right corner. Nobody actually knows their meaning, apart from Bandai insiders...

Those stickers come into several flavors:
 * A golden or silver sticker with Japanese lettering shows that the figure was originally designed for the Japanese domestic market.
 * A silver sticker with English lettering indicates that the figure has been exported by Bandai for international markets (be it for remaining Asia, Europe or America).

The general consensus among fans is that stickers put on products designed for the Japanese domestic market should all have a golden background. That's why, although several kinds of stickers are put on official products, collectors prefer to search for figures with golden ones.

However, Toei stickers for the Japanese domestic market seem to appear following these rules: For instance, although nearly all POP figures do have the golden version of the Toei sticker, exceptions occured with all Neo DX and some Strong Edition figures released on the Japanese market, having the silver version as being the only figures above ¥5,500.
 * For products below ¥5,499, stickers should have a golden background with black lettering.
 * For products in the range of ¥5,500-6,499, stickers should have a silver background with black lettering.
 * For products above ¥6,500, stickers should have a silver background with red lettering.

Despite these general rules, some people seems to still get a golden sticker with black lettering, as for Neo DX Kuma, a figure of ¥8,820. But those cases are rather scarce.

The same kind of rules should be applied for stickers on products for international markets. In this case, they all retain a silver background but with several letters coloring, as black, blue, red or even green.

Moreover, genuine stickers have their backsides filled with the Toei logo as watermark. But to check this, it requires to peel stickers off boxes.

Aside from the Toei sticker, other differences between official products and bootlegs may include differences in the box, lack in overall detail and taint/hue/depth in the paint on the figure itself. The bootlegs may be priced at the same price of the original figures or priced as a cheap counterfeit version for fans. Occasionally, they are sought by collectors despite being fake. The most notable way to tell a fake straight off is usually in the face as bootlegs are often less defined/detailed. One Piece P.O.P. also carry the Korean One Piece logo, the One Piece logo over a black flag, as they are intended for a wide target audience, a common sight on non-Japanese produced products. On the bootlegs, this logo may appear but often is poorly reproduced, along with the other logos on the box.

Finally, it should be noted that products exported from Japan by different companies than Bandai may not have the Toei sticker at all. It's generally replaced by other stickers:
 * Figures exported to the USA by AAA Anime Distribution should have both FUNimation and AAA stickers.
 * Figures exported to Europe by Abyss Corp should only have an Abyss Corp sticker, sometimes no sticker at all.

Known bootleg versions

 * Chopper - The bootleg comes in a light blue packaging and the base stand is yellow in colour. Original Chopper comes in light brown packaging and the base stand is transparent.
 * Zoro - The bootleg doesn't have a base stand. It also has a very poor paint job and the figure is actually has a glossy look and is thinner than the real version.
 * Luffy - The bootleg has a different cut to the jacket, where the abs are covered.
 * Nami and Shanks - The figures themselves were very poor quality. The plastic had visible lines and holes where it was cast incorrectly. Also, the printing on the figures (painting) was off in places. The Nami figure was cast so poorly that she can't even fit on her stand right because her legs are so bent. One leg is longer than the other. Just over-all really poor quality on top of being fakes.
 * Ace - It seems like a very cheap Ace is floating around on e-bay, most likely a bootleg as well.
 * There are also bootlegs for Franky and Ussop/Sogeking figures; they come in the brown weak cardboard without any plastic protection neither accesories, and a really bad painted Shanks as well.
 * And an imitation of Toei Stickers has been added to some bootlegs, it is a really poor quality one, since it is only a metal-coloured one without any image or text display, but from far, gives it a little bit of more credibility to the package.

The boxes were made of really weak cardboard, barely even poster board quality. The official item sticker was also missing from the box. The images on the boxes were blurry and skewed and obviously had been scanned in and reprinted on their own boxes.

In many cases for fakes, the box itself may also be the incorrect size; for instance Vivi, Nami (first version) and Zoro all come in boxes approx 11cms in height, 9cm width while the diameter is approx 5cm. The box size may vary depending on the figurine or example Shanks comes in a box that is 11.5 cm in height, 9cm width, 9cm diameter.

For more information on spotting bootleg figurines see Fake Vs Real

Trivia

 * From promotional photographs it seems the Excellent Model "MILD" figures of Nami and Nojiko were designed to go alongside the Bellemere model from the original series run.
 * From promotional photographs it seems the Excellent Model "MILD" figure of Luffy was designed to go alongside the Shanks model from the "Neo" series run.
 * From promotional photographs it seems the Excellent Model "MILD" figure of Carue was designed to go alongside Vivi.
 * Figures don't have any mention about being from the original or the Neo lineup. But it's quite easy to put them apart as both lineups have different packagings. Moreover, the disclaimer "Megahouse 200x" on the bottom left of boxes achieves to assure figure's version: if the year gives 2004 or 2005, the figure is from the original line, otherwise it's from the Neo one.
 * The same above trick can be used to put apart any original release from the re-releases when they weren't produced on the same year. Moreover, releases from 2010 onwards have the original Japanese One Piece logo while releases till 2009 had the modified logo with a black flag behind, reminiscing about the Korean logo version.
 * The poses for each figure are often re-used for other merchandise, for example the One Piece Locations Trading Figures Nami has an almost identical pose to her first figure pose, although it is mirrored.
 * Although Chopperman is part of Megahouse "Excellent MILD" brandline, it's still referred as NEO-EX in Megahouse item catalogue and not as CB-EX.
 * It seems like Megahouse used the same official pictures for the original release and re-release of Ace, Vivi, Smoker and Tashigi in their NEO form.
 * Both Nami ED Ver. Strong Edition and Boa Hancock NEO-DX are castoffable to a point. Despite it requires to break some elements and only concerns the tops, this is the first time official releases ever allow to show intimate parts.
 * On late June 2010, Megahouse added a new item to its plush series, STUFFED Collection. This time, it featured Billy from the 10th movie Strong World at ¥3,990. For the occasion, it has been retitled "STUFFED Collection feat. P.O.P" as the plush toy was produced at the same scale as POP figure one. Plushes have a "skeletton" made of a bendable wireframe, so they're fully poseable.