Does anyone know anything about this Bee? Is it real??

I have never seen it before, then about two weeks ago I've seen two on yja.





Sorry for all the pictures, but I just want you to get a feel for him. With the SDCC unpainted Bee (100 point card release):



without flash:





without flash:

I saw that and was wondering myself.

i thought it was just typical shitty yja pics but now i have a new top want...

they look like candy.

remember when sb.com was warning against purchasing counterfeits?

What were they talking about?

If they are fakes, they were probably made by molding an existing bee figure. So they should be slight smaller than a normal bee. But my guess is that most fakes would come from China, and that the Chinese factories haven't gotten down clear vinyl to the extent of the Japanese. So if they were fakes, they would probably come from a Japan factory- which I doubt. My guess would be that they are real. and any SB knock offs would be made of a solid vinyl.

My take on SB's comments: SB werent referring to fakes per se, more what they perceive as figth figure plagarists.

Is it possible this pink is a faded purple TWIM?

I think I need to find out more about this.......

My first thought too . . . although 2 showing up at the same time kinda knock this theory.

They don't look any smaller than the other bees, and i Figure if someone had such a good mold down we'd see other questionable bees. This is far fetched but if its not legit could it possibly be one of the half and halfs stripped and pad printed? There was a pink one wasn't there?

This is what I thought also, but his color seems to be the same all over. Doesn't look like he's faded and the print on the back looks solid.

Well it's Official; He's NOT Official:

Dear Mark Helm, Thank you for your inquiry.The Pink Skullbee is not an official. We don't know why it exists... Thank you,SECRETBASEwww.secret-b.com

Oh just to be clear I only sent SB the first two pictrues.

Interesting.

So im guessing you now own this quality looking bootleg? If so, does it feel just the same as the other SB clears, squishy and all?

hmm, I was thinking that maybe it was a twim bee dyed. But that graphic on the back looks untouched. Nice bootleg, whoever made it even duplicated the graphic perfectly.

I'm still favouring it being a faded purple rather than a bootleg . . . maybe intentionally turned regularly in a window or blasted with an infra red lamp?

I have to also agree he at one point must have been Purple. He is too spot on to be a bootleg (in my opinion).

He looks, feels and even smells like a regular SB Japanese vinyl figure. I was thinking maybe he would smell different from smoke, being dyed or something, but NOTHING different.

I would like to get my hands on one of those yja ones to compare.

ANy volunteers for testing this theory?

By the way - what a FUN thread - and thanks for mailing SB Mark!

I don't own a lamp and the sun hasn't been seen in the UK since 1997 so it's down to you C!

The two auctions I saw. Oh shit it looks like the first buyer, put him up in the second auction. So this is the same one:

http://page10.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/m65750309

http://page11.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/n69413465

This is pretty interesting.
The clear pink bee may not be an official piece, but i am almost certain that it is coming off the legit factory.
to bootleg a few pieces would have made no economic sense. the mold would have cost much more.
there is no way this is a china made as well. the quality of japanese clears simply cannot be matched by china.
there is also no way a clear purple can fade so nicely into clear pink.

i believe mark can verify, the touch & feel of the pink bee should be no different to the clear purple release.
i believe this is a NG (no good) piece or a test/trial colour before the actual run. normally these should be returned to the owner, in this case SB. But it could have leaked from the factory or SB simply forgot that they may have given out a couple of pieces to close friends and associates.
Whatever it is, I think it is a great score. The type of "background" to a toy that i like to collect. Congrats LD!

painted clear and a stencil?

My thoughts exactly Bert. But all you really need is clear colored V-color and a clear bee there you have it. Over white pad printing it will just be a pinkish white.

ACTUALLY !

You can make float on decals that look like pad printing with just the right chemicals, its very easy.

So clear colored V-color than a floated decal and that would be it.

Bert and lash,
So if I send you my clear Brain you can put a TWIM stencil on him that would look like this?? Feel, touch and smell??

I'm just curious since I don't know. Thanks

I'm positive with a little work yes. Just gotta mix the right shade of clear. And find a printer that will print white. You would also need another TWIM bee so you could find a font that matches, as well as correct size.

Since this was never really made they didn't have to match a shade of clear, just use the pink they wanted.

But yes with a little know how it can be done pretty closely.

Or this person has access to a pad printing press.

Okay, but why go through the trouble to sell for 3000 yen on yja? All that being said I don't think someone did this. I don't care what he is or isn't I'm glad I have him either way. Well I guess I do care what he is because I asked the question, but more just to know. Thanks

Hmmmm looking at the links you provided, you may see the decal that close up. I could try it and see what happens. There is a member here by the name of jumpingoncars that has done this with decals. Hit him up and see his thoughts.