Lunar Threads

I was browsing e-bay for a nice copy of SSSC when I stumbled upon this:
Lunar 2 Eternal Blue Lucia Bromide Plaque w/ Card


I thought some of u might be interested especially Angelalex242, I also saw a plaque for Luna.

To be honest, I think this is a fan-made item. I could be wrong, and they made these without any knowledge of anyone in the US, but it'd be really hard for a piece of Lunar merchandise like that to make it through without someone picking up on it. Still, someone may be interested in it for collections sake.

It actually looks like a couple of pics copied and pasted onto a background ment to look like a plaque. It doesn't look like the actual object.

I came to the same conclusion as G1 when I saw these -- both that these plaques (there are a dozen or two) unlicensed, fanmade stuff and that someone might like it nonetheless. I'm pretty sure that the cards mentioned in the auctions are from the Saturn games, unless they're just printouts on card stock.

I figured it was a fanmade item, if it wasn't chances are we would have known about them by now. But I still think they are pretty cool, and would be a nice item to have.

Yeah I've seen a bunch of them around. I don't think they're legit. Kinda neat but nothing I'd pay for.

It looks pretty clearly like a fanmade item. I generally don't buy fanmade stuff off of eBay, since there are more than enough official things that I can put my money towards.

I'm still trying to figure out the Chinese on the lower-right. It looks like it could be a halfway-done transliteration of Lucia, but it reads "Lao-si-ying", I think.

EDIT: Scratch that. I didn't recognize the first character in the name. My best guess is something like "Shi-si-ying". KF

It's rather ugly... I don't think anyone should ever put something like this on their wall. Even if it was real, I just don't like stuff that comes from China when the production for the game took place in Japan.

Sometimes there are decent fanmade items. The Lunar snowglobe I got was really cool. It was made by someone at Working Designs though, so I guess it could be considered more legit than most fanmade items. But it still wasn't licensed or authorized as far as I know.

I once bought a mousepad off of Ebay, only to find out it was a knockoff imitation that someone was selling from stock (I had wondered why they were selling so many), rather than the Working Designs official ones. I wasn't too pleased.

While it is admittedly tempting, I could get better fanart by asking the artists around here to make Lucia pics for me.

Angelalex242 wrote:While it is admittedly tempting, I could get better fanart by asking the artists around here to make Lucia pics for me.

Yes!

... after you revived the topic, I've been looking at the other wares this seller is peddling. He plays fast and loose with the word "original" so that I'm not sure what it means.

Culprit number 1: an FF7 materia set's description claims the following: "This is an original Materia set. Beware of copies! Anyone who has played FF7 knows that all Summon Materias are red in color. This is the easiest ways to spot an original from a copy. All originals will have the symbol of Lionheart. Nothing matches the magic and quality of an original!" Original, original, original, because the seller has made them. (I've been able to find no mention of an official materia, and the orbs are obviously colored spheres; I have one at home.) I would think then that he's using the fuzzy distinction between original and official to make his products seem special.

However, when he has the proper ability to call something official, he again uses the term original: "original 1997 Vincent Bandai figure." So sometimes it can mean "official." Isn't it misleading then to use the term? To always refer to products as being from "ThePlaque Series?" That we even are made to ask the question of whether they're official means that he could be more clear.

And of course, in Lionheartsrealm's comments section, someone has been confused about the distinction when he bought one of the plaques. "Disapointed, nothing official. 100% handmade. Déçu, PAS OFFICIEL DU TOUT! /!\" it reads. The reply? "ty for emailing moron, nothing handmade, EXACTLY as described, check my feedback." Of course a seller isn't going to respond generously to a criticism, but I find it a bit much that he claims they aren't "handmade." Perhaps that's technically right, but they're certainly homemade, as opposed to official. The commenter should've been a better buyer, but Lionheartsrealm makes no effort to say that his products aren't official when he claims they're original. He makes no effort to say that they're originally from him. And he isn't nice.

I think he should be allowed to sell the items as fanworks; that's not my issue. (I'll just do as Kizyr does anyway and not bother, especially since I already have too many plaques from playing bowling and the like - too much clutter.) But I think there should be some honesty of the sort that most fan artists demonstrate, to acknowledge that their product is nothing official, but it holds value nonetheless (which his plaques and such might, though they don't for me).

Of course, LHR isn't unique in profiting from misleading word usage. I have an issue with a lot of businesses for this reason, which is perhaps why I devoted a bit of time to this.

And finally, my guess is that the Lucia Collector's Card isn't official either, Alunissage, since he hasn't gone out of the way to call it the "original card packaged with the game release" or something like that. And because plaques for other series (including the US Army) also have collector's cards, it appears to be a feature with the plaque.

Yeah, you're probably right. I was basing that comment (about the cards) on the first or second such auction I saw, which I think did have the card shown separately and looked like it was one of the game cards... but of course the SSS game cards are all bromides anyway, and it's not a good enough photo to see the part that would say Sega on it.