So Sonic Gear is here to point out the fakes and the bootleggers so you only get the real deal when you're looking for Sonic the hedgehog stuff to collect!
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.
Do NOT BID/BUY from ToyGalera on Ebay. They have only FAKE ReSaurus figures. (bad quality/ they break) They also ship broken items, and leave bad feedback. These are ALL risks of dealing with fakers online. Be alert.
Here's a bootleg tag of some kind. It looks to be a nasty yellow card with some Sonic knock-off on it. Besides the terrible color, there's lots wrong with it, including Sonic having a pale face-front which makes him look like some sort of odd ape. Then, is the finger he has raised the -middle one-? Also it suffers from noodle arm, big-body and double stripy shoes. This tag is a great way to say you -heart- horrible quality!
This time they're attacking Shadow with a nasty keychain. The top bag tag may look official, but it is not. As you can easily tell, it's way off model. Shadow's shoes don't even match, one is melty, and he has a huge fat stupid potato-body. He's also semi-styled like GBA SonicBattle --which had nothing to do with the Olympic Games. Also note his red arms and scrunched up hand. This thing is totally trash! Sega has been contacted regarding these things, but apparently some nastyness is still escaping them onto Amazon and in a few stores in the USA.
This is some sort of bizzare mixture of Sonic and Tails. Stails? Taic? Who knows! The product is a toothbrush...but since it was so ordinary, they decided to spice it up with this crazy art mixture. First, they cut off all of stock-art Sonic's spikes, added 1 of Tails' tails (which is re-colored) and then tacked on some wierd hairy stuff to the edge of Sonic's face. Otherwise, he remains unchanged...it certainly makes quite a strange sight! One that most people won't buy because it's so obviously bogus. (really though, it's a bit creative to super duper mix up the characters together like that--though the result is not appealing) Photo discovered by: Rae_Logan.
This pin is HIGHLY LIKELY to be phony. It shows up on Ebay every so often, from Australia. Why? They changed almost Everything about Sonic for the pin. Real merchandise may have 'themes' but they don't generally go so far in altering his look. Gloves have bows, he has a bandanna on, he's wearing pants, a belt, and no mouth. There's also no copyrights or "Sega" stamped anywhere on it. Supposedly from 1997, but by a pin company that makes licensed Olympic Games pins. However...there were no Olympics in 1997...Pin discovered by Frizo
Again, this is some cheap bogus clockworks with a likely paper disk with the Sonic characters slapped on there, as well as whatever name. Well the Terminator is free to terminate this "Conner"! It's nothing but a phony.
Discovered by: Streakthefox
Discovered by Streakthefox
And to prove it, here's this sticker of Sonic on a motor bike of some kind. In this case, all they had to do was have someone draw some reasonable fan art, shove it on sticker-paper in a printer and start churning them out and marking up the price!
However, it seems they're always up to no-good that gives them away. First off, look at Sonic's super-tiny hands. He doesn't have enough fingers, either. Then, he's got a blue noodly arm, and one really big ear. How does his body work on the right side of the bike? And once again, there's no copyright or Sega stamp anywhere to be found. At least no one would want this bad art to be tricked into getting this sticker. Discovered by StreakTheFox
And it's this fake fishing game. Like the headphones before, someone had a totally un-interesting item & is trying to use Sonic's likeness to sell it! Here, they've taken an early Sonic Adventure-era Sonic art, eliminated a couple of his fingers, drawn splotches onto his shoes, closed his pupil & added a lame excuse for a fishing-rod to his hand. Of course, this has nothing at all to do with Sonic, they're just throwing him on. Seen at Publis Supermarket by TrueBlue149, Photo by: Rhia
Here's a "Coloring Book" where you can't even see the pages. (hint: because they're likely butchered stock-art) Billed as a "party favor" these tiny (about 5 inch) books have like...5 pages of nasty 'art' for you to color, and are personalized by a company with a printing press and a penchant for taking your money! The natural bootleg "Red Flags" show up here: Personalization, a mix of art from different eras, the obvious lack of 'sega copyright' and the refusal to show anyone what's inside.
Discovered by Streakthefox
They've ripped the art off of the Shadow game, complete with his pose and gun. This is a higher-end bootleg too, as the keychain appears solid with the graphic fairly well integrated. But this is no guarentee that the metal won't flake and get ugly really fast, or the design could be frail and chip off all over the place. (Plus, what about lead?) The sellers of this have a ton of other copyright infringing items on their other keychains (obviously they're some sort of factory) so just avoid this when you see it on ebay. It's not an official Sega collectible. Photo discovered by: larryinc64
Throwing STOLEN art everywhere on some lame item doesn't make it the real deal. These guys aren't even TRYING. They ripped off literally ANY Sonic graphic they could find...from SA1 Sonic to 3D 360-era Shadow mingling horribly with ancient Sonic Drift GameGear graphics (running over his foot, no less) to make this junky, cluttered pillow...with "your names" on it. Yeah, the Engrish really polishes this off...onto the "Do not want" list! Discovered by: catalanoarts
They can 'embroider this on a pillow case with your name'. Well, a machine can! Embroidery is the art of tiny stitching to make pictures. Ordinarily, it's very difficult and time consuming. However, newer model sewing machines can download a photo and make it for you. That's what's going on here.
This is another thing that waffles the line between 'fan' and 'factory', they're still turning out un-offiical Sonics for a profit...but they're doing it rather slowly. Still, they're also ripping off Mickey Mouse & Disney on other auction items, so they won't be around long...Discovered by: catalanoarts
They're simple tough-plastic stickers that give your consoles or portables a new look. However, companies with sticker machines can easily turn out low-quality company-un-approved fake ones...like this! Here's a Shadow skin for your GBA SP.
You can tell it's fake right away, becaue of the 'color invert' art (yeah, his eye is beige!) that official products wouldn't use.
What are the dangers of fake skins? They come off easily, aren't worth the money, may harm system-paint, may be frail/easy to ruin, and are usually tacky. Photo discovered by Memeki
Sonic ReSaurus Fake Spotter's Guide
DO NOT BUY "No accessories" or "open item" or "NEW" ReSaurus Sonic figures on Ebay. It is 99% likely that they are fake and will have 0 collectibility worth. They also have problems. Pirate companies have gotten ahold of the moulds and are going wild ripping people off on Ebay. Don't become a victim by losing your money! Use this guide to spot phony figures and report the seller to Ebay ASAP.
1. The fakes are almost always sold in the set of Ski Sonic, Amy, E102, and Big.
2. Like you mentioned, they are all without their accessories (skis, fishing pole, Piko hammer, hover pack, bases, etc)
3. They are ALWAYS without a box. ReSaurus' box was too hard to duplicate
4. Sonic almost always has horrible wacko eyes & a PVC head.
5. Amy always has that stupid crack where they didn't fill her eye all the way down to her mouth.
6. E102 is missing the octagonal blue circle thing near his swingplate... it should be to the top right of it, and there's just a hole where it should be. This was how I was able to tell that my E102 was the real deal... mine had an open box, and I was afraid they may have slipped a bootleg in there, but no, he has everything that the fake doesn't. That includes his hover pack, the octagonal thing, and of course his base and power ring.
7. E102 also always has incredibly bent-up feet. He's never standing upright in any of the ebay photos, because he can't.
8. E102 is *sometimes* missing his "third eye" camera. I have seen bootlegs with it though, so that may be misleading. It may be because it falls off so easily, even the real E102's cameras fall off super easily.
9. Big has a horrible paint job... it looks like they paint him with acrylic. It's grubby, dirty, and possibly lead-packed paint that looks to flake all over the place by merely breathing on it.
Guide by: Memeki Photo found by: Memeki