How to Avoid Fake Sonic Merchandise Page 14
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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.
Fake Pencil Cases Here are some fake pencil cases. These soft-sides zipper topped cases may have matching art (especially the Tails one, with his SA1 quote) but they're just regular generic things printed with the ripped off from Sega art. Don't bother with these, when the real deal is so much cooler! Discovered by FelixFox
Stylish Fake Sonic Black Knight Shadow Who says fakes can't be stylish?
This laptop/shoulder bag certainly is. With the simplified Sonic Black Knight art, it really stands out. However, they mix the whole thing up with Shadow's symbol, and the logo from his game. The background says "Sonic Channel" which has nothing to do with anything...it's just the name of the Japanese website that has all JP Sonic news. If it wasn't for the mish-mash of everything 'Sonic related' that they could print onto here, it would be extremely convincing. This is a great lesson in fakery, because it shows that fakes can be well designed & nice looking even if they're not real. This was found at Little Star Gift for $24.00. Photo by Eneko
Suspicious Embroidered Fake Is this a fake? Is it an error? If it's fake, it's clearly trying to rip off the "Embroider Eye" official plushes. Knuckles here is embroidered as well, but look at that white stripe...it's more like a white 'bib' so whoever has made this has gotten him wrong. It does look mostly all-right otherwise. A curious case. Photo discovered by: LoganRocks Tails Bogus Black/White Balloons Boring bogus black & white balloons. These fakes feature a Tails graphic, but they're dull in grayscale. Skip these party-poopers and get the real deal on Party Supplies. Discovered by FelixFox1991
Multi Charm Keychain Fake More does not mean "More realistic". This company has added 4 of the same Sonic charm to try and make a keychain. But just look at the back card. It's a crowd mix up! You can spot Naruto, Luffy, Totoro, God of War, Bleach & others who in no way belong together. Sonic doesn't belong here either! Discovered by FelixFox1991
Risurch 1995 Failure Toxic Green
Oh Risurch, why do you always go wrong? Sonic is NOT your mascot and he does NOT wear your shady shoes! (no matter how much you want him to) In this case, they've whipped up a phony shirt and are claiming it's from 1995 to fake out fans. (it isn't) They've just replaced Sonic's regular shoe with one of theirs. Then look who else they're not afraid to rip off: NIKE! The bottom has re-colored Nike shoes they are trying to say are their own. Look at their equasion again. Shirt + Shoes = Doll. What? You combine these to get barbie or ken's rear end? Hands? Legs? Dolls in general? What does this even MEAN! Maybe they're hoping to confuse people into buying things with nonsense equasions and coloring Sonic's toungue green for no reason.
Nerdy Knuckles Fake Costume Let's sew the nerdyest costume while NOT paying attention to any of the details! Then spam it onto ebay to trick some poor parent into thinking it's a kiddie Halloween costume! BLEH. We have FINGER gloves (not the mitten!), wrong shoes, mono-eye mask, super long tail and a modified pajama. Look at poor model-kid with his big pom-pom nose. This thing is bogus. Discovered by LoganRocks No-spikes Shadow hat failure fake What's the important part of hedgehogs? This spikes! So let's leave them OUT of the design!
In an attempt to knock off the popular GE Animation Sonic theme hats, here comes fake spike-less Shadow. With triangle stripe & all-around-eye border PLUS the lack of spikes, this thing looks fake and dumb. Be sure to buy the easily available REAL THING instead! Discovered by FelixFox1991
Suspiciously Designed Riders Wallet This Riders wallet looks nice on the surface, because it was fairly carefully designed with velcro disk for opening, checkers, & matching logo. However, they forgot to color part of his shoe, board AND his EYE! Clearly, the fakers are putting in more
Suspect Slippers Sonic heads The rip-offs get bolder with these phony classic slippers. The 'logo' gives them away, as the real ones don't have it on the in-sole AND it says "Sonic Hedgehog" but in the SonicTeam logo format.
effort into their items, not just pinching art from Sega and plastering it all around. However, fortunately for the fans, you can still spot their mistakes to know what to avoid. Watch out! Discovered by FelixFox1991
Real items don't cross-mix their logo styles like this, so it gives it away as bogus. However, were it not for that slip up on the slippers...they would have been very hard to spot! Discovered by FelixFox1991
Print out fake cake icing These are fake cake toppers. Made from more of that lame 'edible ink' it makes it easy for bootleggers to rip off art and then pass it off as decorations. Look at the corner of the sepia tone one: they've BLOCKED OUT copyright / Sega info while ripping off the rest. Notice how they put 'sample' on the art so no one can do...just what they did! And steal it again! Photos discovered by: myfishie62 Secret Rings Fake Cake Top
F4F Knockoff Keychains
BEWARE of bogus figures during 'figure flood times' such as the fall of 2011. Bootleggers love to dump fake figures into the market during a toy frenzy, hoping people will mistake them for the real thing in the fuss. This bad set happens to be a knock-off of the "First 4 Figures Classic mini figures" instead, they've added keychains to their heads (likely stolen molds/recasts--the sculpts look...off somehow, especially Tails) The big give-away here is Sonic's nose is unpainted so he stands out from the crowd, letting you know right off these things are fishy. Don't be fooled by fakes, always do your figure research. Photo discovered by Berzerker
Earless Sonic Ugly Hat It wasn't enough to leave off Sonic's iconic spikes from this hat, they had to leave off his EARS too! The dumb designers behind this thing aren't even trying. Anyone who mistakenly gets this will get nothing but dissapointment. Only buy real hats! Discovered by FelixFox1991 Fake Tails head hat The same bogus company (Cute Sense) that's responsible for the nonsense hats made this Tails one too. However, it looks
slightly better because they couldn't think of what to leave off the design. Discovered by FelixFox1991
Suspicious keychains S & K Here are some suspicious keychains. They seem off model, with Sonic's low ears, small feet & long arms. Knuckles has the same mouth as Sonic, and his feet are huge, but his arms/fists are tiny. When you see something suspect Olympic Mario Sonic Fakes This is supposed to be a 'complete set' of Mario & Sonic Olympic games keychains but look closely: NO SONIC! Mario is known for rampant fakery, (sad for his fans too!) but it looks like they're just
ASK the seller about it. Tags & official things aren't hard to come up with, if an item is the real deal. REAL sellers won't mind proving their wares. Discovered by FelixFox1991
using the Mario/Sonic label to sell this 'set' of keychains, but they've mixed in MarioParty 6 art. The Mario Figures actually seem to be the ones here Popco/Goldie and Set 2 but the fakers drilled holes into the heads to fake up these "Keychains". Adding bogus keychain loops (that could fall out) to repurpose old 2008/09 figures doesn't make them official or Olympic. Discovered by SonicToast, info added by Koopa120
Boring bogus nail clipper Another boring generic stupid item with easy-switch area to apply stolen art? Check. This time it's a keychain nail clipper (which is gross, no one wants nail clippings all over public areas) This is easily spotted as a phony due to plain-ness. Discovered by FelixFox1991
Poorly Made Fake Gashapon Figures
Mixed up GBA cartridge Oh look it's uh Sonic 2 Advance Battle ...nonsense mix up! They removed 'battle' from the logo, and tried to convince buyers of a Sonic 2 for the GBA. Who knows what you'd get if you bought this
With the release of Sonic Gashapon figures to many different countries, Sonic fans can enjoy collecting fun. However, some bootleggers took advantage to try & trick people with these poorly sculpted strange little figures. The paint may be ok (except the white patch for Silver & Shadow) but the sculpts are wierd & there's no Sonic. The clear blue figure is a Shadow. They're always pretty expensive too, when they appear on ebay or online at some shifty sellers--a costly mistake for anyone not on the look-out! Avoid it!
Discovered by Berzerker
phony 'game'. Notice how they just repeat the exact same art on all sides of the box, even though it crops oddly. Discovered by SuperSonicRosstifer
Boring Fake Mugs Dool Keychain Wrongness Oh no, it's the return of the Dool! That mis-spelled 'doll' & subsequent 'doolbag' made
Here are some boring fake mugs. A ceramic mug is a generic item that bootleggers can apply stolen graphics to easily. The personalization there makes it an even more obvious fake. Official mugs are always much cooler than these boring white things with easily chipped art. Discovered by:
from it. This time, the same lame fake pattern is used to make this plush, who has a keychain topper. But that's not all! He has no ear border, vertical mouth, & extra shoe stripes (falling off before you get him!) Every release of 'the dool' is bogus. Photos discovered by FelixFox1991
Faceplate art mix up garbage These are fake faceplates. You've seen switch-cover fakes before, but these add outlet covers to the mix of nasty. Trying for a "Sonic & Mario Olympics" style theme, they fail with distorted art, classic & modern mixtures, & bizzarre cuts which chop off half of faces to wreck the look. These are easy to spot, but are still an odd item to fake. Photo discovered by Harukaze Doremi 2 inch F4F fakes figures collection Apparently attempting to learn from their keychain 2 inch figure imitation set (above) they've removed the keychains...but never fixed Sonic's nose. *Fortunately!* or else the slightly poor sculpting to this knock off set would be the only distinguising feature...that and
the fact that they only appear loose (never with box) Without Sonic's beige nose give-away for this it could trick people, so keep an eye out! Photo discovered by: FelixFox1991
Golf Hat Clip Fake This is a "Golf Hat Clip Marker" Based on the fakery principal of 'easily printable item fits in generic metal clip' that's also used for buckles, pins & etc. they've made this obscure clip by stealing Sonic X artwork. Photo discovered by: FelixFox1991
Suspicious Kaleidoscopes Old Fakes Judging by the colors & art used here, these kaleidoscopes are likely old fakes. Sonic CD & Sonic Drift Game Gear art are used on rainbow swirl backgrounds. What do the tops say? Discovered by Toxic the Skunk
Fake Sonic theme lollypops Here are some fake 'heroes' lollypops. They're not even Sonic themed, it's just the cheap paper wrapper. Remember, the dissapointment may continue once these 'sweets' are opened if you buy food from some unlicensed company that uses no standards to store or make it.
Oddball Orange Shadow The camera does not decieve you...this Shadow plush is actually orange instead of red. To make matters worse, his shoes have no detail, and he's a bit cross-eyed. Photo discovered by: Toxic The Skunk