Dark Angel Olivia Model Resin Kit?

[sbsp13668]

So, at Fan Expo I managed to get my hands on Kotobukiya's beautiful Dark Angel Olivia statue (the original, not the variant). Out of curiosity I went on ebay to see how many other Olivias may still be available, and I found this "Dark Angel Olivia Model Resin Kit".

Looking at my Olivia statue in comparison, it looks like they just took her apart and made copies of her parts. The kit doesn't look like it'd stay together well and it's not even close to looking seamless. I was wondering, though:
Is this common? Do lots of people make these cheap kits out of popular statues?
And, is the making of these kits frowned upon? Should it violate copyright laws? Does the kit-building community enjoy this as an opportunity to try to recreate such gorgeous statues? Or is it considered by the kit-building community to be a lack of creativity on the kit creator's part?

I'm still pretty new to collecting statues, so I hope I don't sound too much like a rambling idiot!
Thanks!

[six8ten]

Bootleg copy. Took a quick look at the other items they have listed, lots of unauthorized copying of other people/companies work. Looks like they're even using the original artwork on their Huntress Bishoujo copy to try to sell it.

To answer your questions, it's definitely frowned upon by the companies that pay for the license to produce these items legitimately, frowned upon by most collectors (I've heard a very small number of collectors justify it by saying that it's the only way they can get something that has been out of production for a long time, yet it can hurt the secondary market on legitimate pieces which angers other collectors), it's illicit on a few different levels (they don't have a license from the producers of Rage of Bahamut, and they are straight-up stealing Kotobukiya's sculpting work).

A boot-leg knockoff is going to be lower quality than the original piece, as details get lost in a re-cast and generally they will use the cheapest materials possible when casting the pieces. This one's listed as unpainted, but the paint jobs on bootlegs are usually much worse than the originals, as well.

I wouldn't touch it with a 10 foot pole.

Scratch that, I might touch it with my 6 foot long bo staff if I used it for "target practice".

[jedi_don]

Some resin kits are legit as some figures are debut as resin kits before coming vinyl. But original japanese kits would be much expensive than the one in the auction. This one is a recast of the figure. One should not buy any kits from Singapore and Thailand as they produce garbage, legit or not.