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 never releases any figures of the regular Neo brand with any Neo DX ones at the same time. 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.



The Excellent Model MILD series has begun to be issued after Neo series 4. It was at first also referred as CB series, after the codename of the 3 first waves. On July 2009, it has returned with the Mugiwara Theater sub-series, although Chopperman already made a prelude to it since November 2008, and also spawned several waves.

CB is perhaps the acronym for Chibi (small child in Japanese). As its name implies, the CB sub-series is focused on childhood rendition of characters.

The Mugiwara Theater sub-series is the adaptation of the "omake" found in the One Piece Log Books.

Excellent Model - original series
It spanned through 4 parts, series 3 and 4 being noticeably better than series 1 and 2. It's comprised of 12 distinct characters, with Nami having 2 versions, and Usopp and Chopper released on the same box, for a total of 13 distinct figures spanned through 12 released boxes. Despite the improvements in the Neo series, the original run of figures are usually more sought after than their Neo counterparts.

Series 1
Released on late April 2004 at 3,990¥ each (3,800 and VAT of 5%)
 * Luffy
 * Nami
 * Zoro
 * 8 and 3/4 in, 21.5 cm

Series 2
Released on October 2004 at 3,990¥ each (3,800 and VAT of 5%)
 * Sanji
 * Usopp and Chopper
 * Chopper's not in scale (smaller than his actual size at 1/8)
 * Nico Robin

Series 3
Released on March 2005 at 3,990¥ each (3,800 and VAT of 5%)
 * Ace
 * 8 and 3/4 in, 21.5 cm
 * Tashigi
 * Vivi

Series 4
Released on late December 2005 at 3,990¥ each (3,800 and VAT of 5%)
 * Nami (2nd version)
 * 7 and 3/4 in, 19 cm
 * Bellemere
 * Smoker

Excellent Model - Neo series
It's currently spanned through 7 parts and 2 extensions. Each part, apart from series 6, has new improved versions of figures from the original series. The improvements are really remarkable for the ones originally issued in series 1 and 2 (more robust, more faithful to the manga counterpart, more detailed), but less noticeable for the ones from original series 3 and 4. It's comprised of 17 distinct characters, with Nami having 2 versions, for a total of 18 distinct figures.

Neo 1
Released on late September 2007 at 4,200¥ each (4,000 and VAT of 5%)
 * Luffy
 * 2nd run of previous model
 * Nami
 * 2nd run of previous model

Luffy

 * The leaning post from series I is gone, replaced by some pegs on the base for the feet to attach to.
 * The painting job has improved, this is particularly visible with his skin color.
 * His head has been completely revamped:
 * Now, Luffy's face really looks like his manga counterpart.
 * His hair doesn't have this "going through the wind" feeling anymore.
 * His hat has been equally revamped:
 * Its border doesn't have the enlacing straw pattern anymore.
 * The overall circular pattern, simulating straw composing the hat, has been replaced by a more complex weaving pattern.
 * The hat string is shorter. So although that was not needed before, now you must pop Luffy's head off before to be able to put the string around his neck (in series 1 version, you can't remove the head and both arms).

Nami

 * The leaning post from series I is gone, replaced by some pegs on the base for the feet to attach to.
 * The painting job saw on overhaul revamp: her short trousers color goes from light purple to dark brown, and her skin and her hair look more natural.
 * Her face expression slightly changed.
 * Her bikini breastband has a more complex and detailed pattern.

Neo 2
Released on late October 2007
 * Ace
 * 2nd run of previous model
 * 4,200¥ (4,000 and VAT of 5%)
 * 8 and 3/4 in, 21.5 cm
 * Vivi
 * 2nd run of previous model
 * 4,200¥ (4,000 and VAT of 5%)
 * Franky
 * 4,725¥ (4,500 and VAT of 5%)
 * 9 and 1/4 in, 23 cm
 * Not in scale (he should be taller)

Ace

 * His skin color is a little more rosy, and so more natural-looking.
 * His right arm is further away from his torso.
 * The strap end loose of his bag on his left leg has an increased effect of depth.

Vivi

 * Her dress is more translucent, so her underlying skirt becomes more outstanding, and her skin coloring has slightly improved.
 * There are more pleats on her cape.
 * Her Neo rendition is looking up compared to the original run version, she's not lowering her head anymore.

Neo 3
Released on late January 2008
 * Zoro
 * 2nd run of previous model
 * 4,200¥ (4,000 and VAT of 5%)
 * 8 and 3/4 in, 21.5 cm
 * Mr. 2 Bon Kurei
 * 4,725¥ (4,500 and VAT of 5%)

Zoro

 * The leaning post from series I is gone, replaced by some pegs on the base for the feet to attach to.
 * His initial pose on his base has been tweaked with a global rotation of about 30° to his left for a better effect.
 * On the original series, he was looking straight forward, now on the Neo run, he's looking to his right.
 * The painting job saw on overhaul revamp:
 * His hair color changed for a darker green.
 * His skin looks less rosy, with some shadowing, and more natural.
 * His goggles changed from pure white parts to silver ones.
 * His red sword saw his hilt going from a vivid red enlacing pattern to a dark purple one.

Neo EX
Released on mid February 2008 at 1,890¥ (1,800 and VAT of 5%)
 * Chopper
 * 3 and 3/4 in, 9 cm

Neo 4
Released on mid May 2008
 * Sanji
 * 2nd run of previous model
 * 4,200¥ (4,000 and VAT of 5%)
 * Nami (2nd Version)
 * 2nd run of previous model
 * 4,200¥ (4,000 and VAT of 5%)
 * 7 and 3/4 in, 19 cm
 * Shanks
 * 4,725¥ (4,500 and VAT of 5%)

Sanji

 * The leaning post from series II is gone, replaced by some pegs on the base for the feet to attach to.
 * The painting job saw on overhaul revamp: clothing colors are darker and more classy, skin looks more natural.
 * His face expression slightly changed to more closely match Sanji's character.
 * His shoes are now shiny.

Nami

 * The position of her head and her eyes have slightly been changed: while, in the original series, she's lowering her head and looking down forward, in the Neo re-release, her head is straight forward and she's looking to her left.
 * She now has nailpolish.
 * Her right hand touches her right leg, in the original series, it doesn't.
 * The area of the chest between Nami's neck and breasts has been lengthened.

Neo 5
Released on mid July 2008
 * Sogeking (Usopp)
 * 5,040¥ (4,800 and VAT of 5%)
 * 8 and 1/4 in, 20 cm
 * Robin
 * 2nd run of previous model
 * 4,410¥ (4,200 and VAT of 5%)

Nico Robin

 * The leaning post from series II is gone, replaced by some pegs on the base for the feet to attach to.
 * Her initial pose on her base has been tweaked with a global rotation of about 30° to her left for a better effect.
 * The painting job changed for the better, Robin's skin looks more natural.
 * Her shoes are now shiny.
 * Her eyes have been reworked to match Oda's style more closely.
 * Her Neo rendition saw the addition of a slight bit of more detail on the backside of the trousers.

Neo 6
Released on mid December 2008, 23.5~25 cm tall
 * Brook
 * 5,250¥ (5,000 and VAT of 5%)
 * Not in scale (Brook should be twice the size of Luffy whereas the figure rendition is barely taller than Robin)
 * Rob Lucci
 * 5,040¥ (4,800 and VAT of 5%)

Neo EX 2
Released on late March 2009 at 5,040¥ (4,800 and VAT of 5%), 18 cm / 7 in tall
 * Carue

Neo 7
To be released on late June 2010, both are the 2nd run of previous models
 * Smoker
 * 5,985¥ (5,700 and VAT of 5%)
 * Tashigi
 * 5,250¥ (5,000 and VAT of 5%)

Improvements
They are cheaper

Coming POP Neo
Crocodile has been announced for a release date sometime during 2010. Boa Hancock has also been announced but without any confirmed release date yet. It's still not clear if they'll go out as regular Neo or Neo DX figures. Both have been unveiled during the Jump Festa'10 convention on December 19th-20th 2009.

Excellent Model - Neo DX series
It's currently spanned through 2 parts. They are the most expensive figures of the entire collection because of their huge size or the amount of details Megahouse gave them. This disclaimer is true if Strong Edition figures aren't taken into account and despite the fact that Smoker Neo-7 is tagged at the same price as Neo DX 1 figures.

It's comprised of 3 distinct characters.

Neo DX 1
Released on late May 2009 at 5,985¥ each (5,700 and VAT of 5%)
 * Aokiji
 * 27 cm, 10.5 in
 * Not in scale
 * Mihawk
 * 23.5 cm, 9 in

Neo DX 2
Released on mid November 2009 at 8,820¥ (8,400 and VAT of 5%), 33 cm tall
 * Bartholomew Kuma
 * Not in scale (although the tallest POP)

Excellent Model - MILD series
It's currently spanned through 5 parts and 2 extensions. It's comprised of 10 distinct characters and 15 distinct figures. Their height is about 12cm/5in tall.

CB 1
Released on mid June 2008 at 1,890¥ each (1,800 and VAT of 5%), 12 cm / 5 in tall
 * Kid Luffy
 * Kid Sanji
 * Kid Robin

CB 2
Released on mid October 2008 at 1,890¥ each (1,800 and VAT of 5%)
 * Kid Nami
 * 12.5 cm
 * Kid Zoro
 * 10.5 cm, 4 and 1/4 in
 * Kid Nojiko
 * 12.5 cm

Neo EX
Released on mid November 2008 at 1,890¥ (1,800 and VAT of 5%), 10.5 cm tall
 * Chopperman

During the special event One Piece Memorial Log in Lagunasia held between March 20th and June 27th 2010, the goodies shops at Lagunasia, a theme park inside the marine resort complex Laguna Gamagori, near Nagoya, will sell the Lagunasia limited edition of Chopperman, with blue clothes instead of red ones.

More information available in Japanese at @Press.

CB 3
Released on mid January 2009 at 1,890¥ each (1,800 and VAT of 5%), 12.5 cm tall
 * Kid Vivi
 * Kid Franky
 * Kid Usopp

Mugiwara Theater
Those SD figures are an adaptation of the Mugiwara Theatre - Report Time. Released on late July 2009 at 1,890¥ each (1,800 and VAT of 5%), 10 cm tall
 * SD Luffy
 * SD Zoro
 * SD Nami

CB EX
This version of Robin is subtitled "Dereshi version" after the unique laugh of Jaguar D. Saul. Released on late September 2009 at 1,890¥ (1,800 and VAT of 5%), 7.5 cm tall
 * Kid Robin, "Dereshi" version

Mugiwara Theater 2
To be released on late January 2010 at 1,890¥ each (1,800 and VAT of 5%), 10 cm tall
 * SD Usopp
 * SD Robin
 * SD Sanji

Excellent Model - Strong Edition
With the annoucement of the 10th OP film Strong World, Megahouse will issue figures related to it under the name POP Strong Edition. It will span 6 parts, comprising 9 distinct characters for a total of 11 figures.

Strong Edition 1
Released on mid December 2009.
 * Luffy
 * 5,985¥ (5,700 and VAT of 5%)
 * Chopper
 * 2,100¥ (2,000 and VAT of 5%)

Beams also released at the same time a black and white limited edition of Chopper, called Mangart Beams T.

Lawson will also release a metallic color limited version of Luffy on July 10th 2010.

Strong Edition 2
To be released on mid February 2010.
 * Zoro
 * 5,985¥ (5,700 and VAT of 5%)
 * Nami
 * 5,565¥ (5,300 and VAT of 5%)

Lawson will also release metallic color limited versions of Zoro and Nami on March 6th 2010.

Strong Edition 3
To be released on late May 2010.
 * Nico Robin
 * 6,300¥ (6,000 and VAT of 5%)
 * Usopp
 * 7,140¥ (6,800 and VAT of 5%)

Strong Edition 4
To be released on July 2010.
 * Sanji
 * Brook

Strong Edition 5
To be released sometime in 2010.
 * Franky

Strong Edition 6
To be released during Summer 2010.
 * Roronoa Zoro Ver.2
 * Tony Tony Chopper Ver.2

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 figures didn't meet a comparable success, so they may not be re-issued at all.

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 Clay 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 was due to be re-released on late December 2009.
 * Rob Lucci Neo 6 and Aokiji Neo DX will be re-released on mid-February 2010.
 * Bartholomew Kuma Neo DX 2 will be re-released on mid-June 2010.
 * Luffy and Chopper from Strong Edition 1 will be re-released on late June 2010.

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. It may be an indication of the rarity of the figure: the highest number, the rarest figure.

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.

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.

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 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.