How to Avoid Fake Sonic Merchandise 11

How to Avoid Fake Sonic Merchandise Page 12

Sonic Gear Main Merchandise Page * Bootlegs 1 * Bootlegs 2 * Bootlegs 3 * Bootlegs 4 * Bootlegs 5 * Bootlegs 6
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Fakery and junk abounds when bootleggers think they can get away with knocking off Sonic the Hedgehog!
Fight back by educating yourself on what NEVER to buy with these pages of photos and tips!
Remember, you vote with your money...any buying of fake junk only supports and encourages them to make more. Wouldn't you rather have awesome official items? Wouldn't you rather enjoy cool good quality stuff you know you can depend on? If you want the real deal, bootlegs are never the way to go.
Remember what a 'bootleg' item is:
It is an unofficial or unlicensed product being sold to the fans- by NON FANS. These can be home-made or made in a factory. They are not approved by the company who holds the license and are NOT made to any standard. The quality is usually low, leading to items which may break or wear out. Fake items may also be unsafe. Remember, bootleg makers are only after your money. They don't care at all about Sonic the hedgehog and are only out for a quick buck. Don't waste your money! Buy official SEGA Sonic things only, look for copyrights, and demand the real deal.

This is a 'glossy' cupcake decoration. These are simply lame paper disks glued to a tooth-pick so that people don't have to decorate cupcakes. But what's actually super lazy is stealing a bunch of Sega art & trying to profit by making low class looking 'decorations'. There are much better official Sonic items to decorate with. Discovered by: A Cat

These party favor bags are made of hand-cut foam...& CLAIM that 'a fan' made them, but all Sonic fans know Knuckles does not have blue eyes, & not to mix in Classic Sonic (then color his ear yellow while forgetting Knuckles' teeth) by tracing stock art. Do yourself a favor, & buy official favor bags. To make it worse, they STOLE Amy art from a fan: AamyPink Discovered by: A Cat

Some people or companies try to promote their items by putting famous characters on them, like with this icecream vending truck. They don't care about the character, they just want the character's popularity so that they can sell more items/be associated with something popular and cool. But whoever painted this truck did an AWFUL job. Look at that scary 1-eye Sonic! He's got a single cone-head spike, MC Eicher impossible legs...back one's not even attached, missing arm holding dubious swirl-cone, terrible ears & awful expression. Mario & Luigi look like they're holding corn-dogs, but at least they fare better. "Mind that child"...so that it doesn't see this awful art! Discovered by Fabricator of Useless Articles

Here's a tacky Sonic switch plate that they couldn't even bother to properly position the art for. The switch hole is right in the middle of Sonic's face, & just look where the other screw-hole will be! (Right in his eye! they whited it out in the photo hoping people won't notice before it's too late!) Discovered by A Cat

Here are some bootleg marbles. They're normal glass marbles with swirls of color, but someone has stolen a batch of modern stock-arts & used a device to print them onto the surface. The thing about glass is, that it's very hard

to make it keep a design on the surface. These could easily chip or rub off because bootlegs aren't kept to any standard. Discovered by A Cat.

This is certainly an unusual party favor fake...Microwave Popcorn. For some reason, a bootlegger has decided that regular bags of microwave popcorn with added fringe would be a great party favor idea if they stole a batch of Sonic art and plastered it on there. Again, it needs reminded to not eat wierd food that you have no idea where it came from, or how long it's been sitting around. Discovered by A Cat.

What is the point of having 2 logos on the same cartridge box? Is the game supposed to be on there twice? With its odd presentation, this fake S & K game doesn't even try to be convincing. Discovered by: PiplupFan77

Bootleggers may occaisonally produce something interesting, as it is in the case of this Shadow Logo swirl. This is a decal that they print with a special machine. It's like a big sticker you can place anywhere. However, just because it fills a need (there is no official sticker of this) does not mean it's not a fake item, & somone trying to profit from Sega without giving them any credit. Discovered by A Cat.

Here are two 'Super Nintendo' cartridges that are here to convince you "Sonic 4" is on there. What will you get instead? "Likely something that doesn't work" is the unfortunate answer. The left one uses Sonic 3D blast art and throws logos around, while the right is a direct rip of the Sonic 3 art with a "4" blatantly pasted over the 3. The cartridge art uses some random stock art, and the box-back doesn't even bother trying to be convincing. Photos discovered by: PiplupFan77

This fake disk is as zany as it is phony. Someone naming themself "DJ SEGA" has clearly...altered up some art to make the cover of "Rockstars vs Clubheadz" for the CD. You can see strange-expression Sonic with earrings, bracelet, random glow-stick, and odd shoes, while Knuckles is wearing striped pants (!) some kind of shirt and gothic style spiked collar/cuffs. It must be wondered what types of songs could be here, with the parental advisory on, and all. Discovered by: PiplupFan77

Just what is this strange creature? It is somewhat Knuckles-like in nature...but it is very bizzarre & somewhat frightful. Look at the fur covered eyes and that giant sinister grin. Was it some sort of "munny" doll with custom plush-work? Why are the bolts on the fronts of the shoe? Is it chao-like in some way? This is certainly a mysterious item. Discovered by: PiplupFan77

This bogus shirt is too odd to miss...and so...ORANGE. This faker has taken the SA1 era Skii Sonic stock art and basically turned the whole thing orange for some reason. The skiis & Sonic himself retain all the detail, just everything's that quite bright orange. What is the purpose of such a pallet swap? A bootleg is still a bootleg. Discovered by: PiplupFan77

Fontana Pizza is using these Sonic drawings to try and endorse their pizza. If you have an establishment and want to post fan art on your walls, that's fine. However, making Sega characters say your products are the best is sort of a bootleg/fake thing to do. Here you can see they added Sonic, Super Sonic & Silver with some wiggly art and pictures of pizza. It's sort of a strange thing to do. Photo by Pamster Ninjana Uzumaki, submitted by Tabbo Amber Hedgehog

It didn't take long after the release of the 3DS for bootleggers to churn out a phony skin for it. Here you can see Sonic's face mostly cut off, and a rather cobbled together Team Dark (from Heroes...a game not even on the system) in the corner. Discovered by Mario&SonicLover

It isnt often that you see a fake plush. They're troublesome and expensive to get a run started, so ill-gotten profit is difficult with these. However, someone's done it here, with this nasty doll. Look at the fork-like 3 fingers, buckles on TOP of the shoes, terrible ears without borders and strange face. This doll isn't the real thing. Discovered by SuperSonic Duo

More attempts at 'birthday baskets', however this one wasn't paying attention to Sonic because everyone knows he does not have a single ear on the top of his head, & another growing out beside his eye. Abstract-ish and not licensed. Discovered by BelovedDoll

This is a fake thong underwear. It's totally generic, in that it's just a white fabric item anyone can buy in bulk. They've then simply ironed on a Sonic decal to the front to try and create a Sonic item. The result is simplistic, though the item itself is a rather unusual spot to find Sonic. Discovered by Knuckles93

This poker-chip shaped item is a 'card guard'. Apparently it is a type of weight that you put on your cards to prevent them being exposed for some reason. It can easily be turned out, because the Sonic part is basically a sticker that's then applied to the generic chip to create the item. Discovered by BelovedDoll

This is an iron on design. Someone stole some Sonic art, & printed it onto a transfer paper, & now they're trying to sell it to you. Notice how the

logo is classic styled but Sonic is not. It doesn't seem they took a Sega stock art this time...so who's did they take to make a buck? Discovered by BelovedDoll

A boring, fake wallet. It's a plain black wallet (faux leather too?) with window/hole & Sonic medallion. It's this medallion that the fakers print the back to, to give it the Sonic element on the generic item. Discovered by BelovedDoll

This is a fake 'sling bag'. The front panel is what the fakers print upon to add the Sonic element to the otherwise generic bag. This time, it seems they've stolen some Archie Comics art of Sonic in a strong wind. (but why?) Discovered by BelovedDoll

Here's a fake switch plate. It even appears they've stolen some poor fan's art to try and make a buck here. But look where the switch would go, if you applied this to your wall! It's sure proof that fakers of items are not paying any attention to their final product or what they do with the art. Discovered by BelovedDoll

For a fee, a company will print this slogan onto a shirt for you. But why? It's not TECHNICALLY a fake, as you can write "Sonic" on anything you want, but still....The WWSD is from "WWJD" which is "What Would Jesus Do"? which is meant to be a morality reminder from religion. Odd to see a morality reminder on such an item. What WOULD Sonic do? Not buy unlicensed goods. Discovered by BelovedDoll

Just another super generic looking fake watch. This one with more ripped off Sonic X art stuck in the face, as clock hands are poked into Sonic's forehead. Discovered by BelovedDoll

This is a bogus compact mirror with Tails theme. It's this medallion on the cover that the fakers print the back to, to give it the Sonic element on the generic item.

This is a keyring with Shadow graphic. It's this medallion that the fakers print the back to, to give it the Shadow element on the generic item. Mass-produced & annoying, they're never stylish. Discovered by BelovedDoll

The non-existant fake tote bag! Notice how the bag is wrinkled but the art isn't? Someone just photoshopped on any graphic of Sonic they could find to make this 'bag'. The company that makes this will 'print on demand' the art onto the tote. But for something like a bag, it must be sturdy so watching out for cut-rate print processes is a necesity. Tote & mirror Discovered by BelovedDoll

Here's a fake mascot suit from Newcosumes2008. As you can see, they tried to make a Silver in the mascot style with the big head. They didn't really have a grasp of his bangs/spikes so it's more like a fat star/tree, and his ears don't seem to have any border. Why spend a bundle on something that's not on-model? Discovered by Turbo the Hedgehog.

Someone has tried to make Sonic / Manik or maybe Scourge lego figures. However, without the detail, you can't tell exactly who it should be. Discovered by SonicFan009

An error? A fake? Whatever it is, someone tried to sell it as a "European Sonic". Most notably, he's pre broken before you get him, and he suffers from blue arms...and possibly an over-long nose. The figure just looks odd, and is clearly missing any package. It's not "Europe Sonic"...but what is it? Discovered by: DinosaurGigamix