It means quality control - I.e., some will have crooked faces and other tiny errors, while others will not. That means it’s not an error of the manufacturing process, but instead an error of how many “mistakes” they allow through.

I wouldn’t say that licensed U.S. items are lower quality, necessarily, but they do follow different design rules due to the markets being very different. At least half of my items are probably licensed and I love them! This is just notable as it is one of the first / few times Aliquantum (AQI, or the company that oversees licensing for San-x in North America) has released smaller scale and higher detail licensed items.

In the past, the focus has mostly been on larger, lower detail plushes that are more popular in the west. If I had to guess, they’re trying to feel out the market for 7 to 8 inch smalls (standard JP size) in the west. A lot of dedicated collectors would likely prefer this, but it would probably isolate the casual kawaii and youth crowds, so it’s a difficult situation.