Introduction/About Me/About This Blog

Introduction
Hello,

My name is Phisch (pronounced "fish"), and welcome to my Sailor Moon Bootleg Awareness blog!  As more and more Sailor Moon 20th Anniversary merchandise comes out, I'm finding more and more bootlegs being sold (particularly eBay).  Some of the bootlegs have been pointed out on social media (such as Facebook) and on forums, but I haven't seen a single source that includes all of them.  I decided to create this blog as a way to provide collectors (new and old) with the information they need to make informed purchasing decisions.  As a collector myself, I don't want to buy bootlegs if I can help it, and I'm sure others out there feel the same.



About Me
I've been a Sailor Moon fan since the earlier 2000's when the dub was still airing on Cartoon Network.  I loved the series so much that I began trying to collect some merchandise.  Unfortunately, I was too young to be much of a collector since I still relied on my parents buying everything.  Now I'm older, out of school, and working full-time, so I can buy almost any merchandise I want (assuming it's not too expensive).  I hope to one day have a large collection like others on the Internet, but for the time being I'll be content just collecting my favorite 20th anniversary merchandise.

Outside of the Sailor Moon universe, I have various hobbies and interests.  Naturally, I love anime and manga all thanks to my introduction to Sailor Moon.  My favorite anime and manga (other than Sailor Moon) include:  Naruto, Yu-Gi-Oh!, Blood+, Full Metal Alchemist, Skip Beat, Claymore, Inuyasha, Ouran High School Host Club, Happy Hustle High, and others that I may be forgetting about right now.  My love of anime and manga has fueled me to be a fan artist.  I both love to draw and to write, though I mostly draw and write about my favorite characters (and sometimes even my original characters based in those anime and manga).

I've always been a crafty person (and by crafty I mean working with my hands, particularly on crafts).  My latest favorite crafts are crocheting and knitting.  I particularly love making amigurumi (crocheted or knitted stuffed toys).

When I'm not watching anime, reading manga, or crafting, I'm probably playing video games.  I mostly play PC games and Nintendo 3DS games, but sometimes I'll play a game or two on my PS3 or my family's Xbox.  I'm a casual gamer and as such prefer to play single player games (which don't require a lot of time or knowledge).  The Elder Scrolls series by Bethesda is my favorite, but I also enjoy the Sims series, the Assassin's Creed series, the Dead Island series, and the Left 4 Dead series.  My guilty gaming pleasure is zombie games:  I just love bulldozing through a bunch of zombies.

About This Blog
As stated above, the purpose of this blog is to document any (and preferably all) bootleg Sailor Moon items.  My hope is that collectors (new and old) or just fans in general will find this blog useful when deciding to purchase something.  I have a few bootleg items myself, so I understand the frustration and disappointment when learning something is a fake.  Hopefully this blog will provide enough information for anyone to buy the authentic item that they want.

Bootleg is a rather broad term (in terms of merchandise), and can include the following items:
- Replicated merchandise intended to be sold in place of authentic merchandise, usually for a cheaper price.
- "Knock off" items intended to look like other merchandise but is really its own