Just to give you a back story. I have a friend who's an avid fan of Yuri!!! On ice. Because I happen to figure skate, he was VERY persistent in seeing me cosplay as someone from the show. I kept resisting. We ended up having a bet where if I lost, I had to cosplay Yuri On Ice. It was a very simple bet: he had to get at least 100 people to vote on a poll “yes” that they wanted to see me cosplay from that series. Miraculously, I lost...he got over 100 votes! To honor his victory, I chose to crossplay as Yuri Katsuki.
While working on the cosplay, I wanted to complete the look as much as I can. This was where Makkachin the tissue box came to mind. Unfortunately, through a general internet search, the online shops that had the product page were sold out. Plus, since I couldn't order from the usual place due to their infamous login account issues, I had no choice but to hunt for Makkachin.
Then I came across Plamoya, a site that I have never heard of. Before committing as a first time customer, I did some research. I checked their Help Center (especially for ridiculous account rules), About Us page and Photos and Reviews section contributed by customers. I emailed them about the Makkachin product and asked if it was the official one made by Apex or fan made. They replied four days later and made clear to me that all their products are “Genuine Japanese version,” but “some items are manufactured in China.”
I started browsing through the site to see their other product offers and prices. The descriptions were short and there were plenty of stock photos. The item products had some Japanese text in the description section.
Dear lord...I came across items that I thought I could never get. It was the 5 mini signature boards, where each were randomly packed into a single exclusive gift bag for those who has a U.S. Premiere ticket for the Los Angeles Premiere event of Puella Magi Madoka Magica The Movie – Rebellion in 2013. I'm not from LA. Looking at the prices, it looked way more reasonable than the prices some fans were asking for. I double checked the prices on ebay and I'm like what? Jesus! It better be made of 100% Solid Gold if you are going to ask for $100. Plamoya is WAY more affordable...and CHEAPER!
So, my mind was set on giving the company a chance. I ordered the Makkachin Tissue Box and the 5 Mini Signature Boards. I patiently waited and the package arrived in less than a week from the date of shipping. Excited as I was, I quickly opened the box. Each item was nicely individually packaged: plastic bag & bubble wrap.
Makkachin was much bigger than I expected. He's soft, really soft. The one thing I was looking for on the product was the tag. Usually official products have something on it to authentic it, in this case a tag with the series logo and copyright. The plastic bag had a product label with the Apex logo and barcode.
Lastly, were the mini signature boards. My wish was coming true. Same as with Makkachin, each were wrapped with bubble wrap on top of another plastic covering. Each one looked to be in good condition with no scratch marks. However, there was a strange, but nice oddity. For some reason the Sayaka and Kyoko board was the only one that came with the board wrapper. At least I got one original wrapping!
Since, this was a positive customer service and product experience, I'll definitely go back and order more items. Definitely ask questions about the items before purchasing. :-) Thanks for carrying what I've seen looking for, Plamoya!
© 2017 Linda Thai
Photography by Linda Thai
For more pictures, check out the Something Deeper: Anime, Manga and Comics Page on Facebook
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