How to Avoid Fake Sonic Merchandise Page 23
Bootlegs 18 * Bootlegs 19 * Bootlegs 20 * Bootlegs 21 * Bootlegs 22 * Bootlegs 24 * Bootlegs 25 * Bootlegs 26 *
How To Avoid Sonic Bootleg Merchandise Hub Page
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.
Iron On Transfers Submission: CLOSED (every single art on the internet can be one of these, know that it exists & if it's a transfer of any type it IS A FAKE.
How these things keep getting made is a mystery, with how rotten they consistently are. Look at how much NONattention they were paying with this thing...all his spikes are drooping down, giving the head a wierd mane-like look. The body is super long, with droopy wrinkle legs. The sleeves are also unfitting. They did at least try to get the shoes right, but the stripe didn't quite make it. The mouth is also huge, going all the way across the face for no reason. Even though the head is trying to be modern, the eyes are black.
It's not the worst example of a mascot, but it's no-one's best effort either. (Ironically the slogan for the maker is 'mascot makes life beautiful'....really it's 'mascot makes life scary and dissapointing') Discovered by A83hg
Watch out Santa, it's the "Funstation 3"! Complete with fake look, knockoff font...and what's that down there in the corner? Shadow the Hedgehog from his solo game!
Fake systems like this generally try to trick unwary gift givers into thinking it's a real system, but for less money. Do they work? Do they even do anything? Who knows! That's what fakers are all about. However, just like how real game systems love to use Sonic to promote themselves because he's so popular & fun, fake ones (naturally) do too...so they use the Shadow image. Photo by Knockoffs, discovered by Speendlex
With these bogus figures you can spot the flaws right away. Knuckles' eyes are going in completely different directions, and his shoes aren't painted correctly. Super Sonic's head isn't on properly (likely due to poor copy mold), his eyes are tiny/wrong, and they missed his shoe buckle paint & ear interiors.
These are likely supposed to be knockoffs for those gatcha-type 'figure in a ball' by Tomy. Discovered by A83hg
Not all bootleg items are terrible looking. This is one of the better ones. These are shoe charms, little rubber flat 'buttons' that snap into the holes in Crocs shoes to decorate them for kids. The Sonic classic style face looks decent here. You've really got to concentrate to spot the slip-up. The white dot for the black part of the eye is blue. It is wrong. The back ear might have also needed a bit of beige (though it's somewhat debateable, he couldn't been on-model either way)
Notice the other 'give-away' in the photo, the seller has loads of other copyrighted stuff from random companies to 'pick from'. Real items generally aren't sold like that. With Simpsons, Wall-E/Disney, Scooby Doo/Mystery Machine...that's a lot of copyrights to not have. Also, notice that each item looks pretty good though...this bootlegger is mostly paying attention, so you have to too, so you spot the fake before you buy! Discovered by A83hg
Believe it, with this strange mylar 'party balloon'. It's clearly supposed to be that Sonic X mylar balloon, but in copying it, they've gotten it wrong. The head is too big, as well as too round because they couldn't get the spikes right. Then, the eys are wrong, not only the position of the white dot, but the black pupil is way off, and to top that off, the eyes are yellow/tan instead of green.
Why would anyone bother to bootleg a balloon? It's not like they're high ticket collectible items, it is a mystery. You should go see the real one on USA Party Supplies, it's much better to look at. Discovered by A83hg
This is a bogus night light. It is an etched piece of blue-tinted clear plastic with a Sonic design & a word at the top. In this case, they're offering "Big-time bootleg tattle detail the personalization" (official items are 99.9% NEVER PERSONALIZED- personalization/ custom name things are pretty much always fakes) The blue (or clear) LED at the base shines up through the plastic at night, making the design glow.
It actually looks pretty good, but that's only because the etching machine can make anything that is line-art, so of course, they took nice looking official art to make it run. Not all bootlegs are crummy garbage, so look for copyrights & official tags, as well as the usual bootleg red-flags. Photo discovered by CrystalKitsune
You can't really see light unless it is hitting off of something, or if something is emitting the light. This works because the glass/plastic is transparent, but the etched bits & edges are not completely transparent. Because the light isn't hitting off of (but going thrrough, instead) the regular glass part, it looks dark, but it IS bouncing off of the rough etched bits, so you see them as bright. It is also escaping at the edges, which makes the border glow. It's a little like a fiber optic fiber, some long clear glass wire thing where light shines in 1 end, gets 'bounced around' inside (off the edges of the wire) and then comes out the other end instead of just flying off all over the place. It is an interesting thing.
If he was a sad, saggy sack of inaccurate potatoes! This rubbish Shadow Suit is super stupid in lots of ways. The stripe goes all the way up the arm, the shoes are totally wrong and somehow attached to the legs, the white chest piece is way too big, & you can't even tell if it has ears. Aside from the character-based inaccuracies, you've also got lame construction featuring baggy sack like fabric, noodly legs, tiny gloves, a poor attempt at spikes, and what's clearly the annoying 'pom pom nose'. The eye holes in the 'eye area', are also poorly done. Hopefully nobody is tricked by this sad suit. Photo discovered by CrystalKitsune
The watermark there shows you who to avoid too...which is good for future reference. Photo discovered by Crystal Kitsune
They make the common mistake of mixing up everything possible with classic Sonic, X Cosmo, Adventure 1 Tails, Free Riders Knuckles & random Shadow. Photo discovered by Crystal Kitsune
Look at his inacurate shoes with both buckles on the same side, and white stripe along the bottom. The hands are ugly and crumpled, with only 3 fingers. Why do the shins get fat toward the sock area? He has tye typical flappy/poorly done ears & squishy shaped head of a fake too. They're trying to add autenticity with a paper tag to trick people, (note the Fun4All logo there under the SA logo) However, because their doll is so badly made, hopefully that paper tag isn't fooling anyone for no fun. Photo discovered by Crystal Kitsune
Is this another Fun4No One plush? (see the paper tag there) They've forgotten the gold band on one of his socks & clearly forgotten how to make hands. He has literally 3 fingers and no thumb at all. Just 1 really big sort-of-finger. The white chest fur is also in the middle, as if it were a belly dot.
Notice the cord on top of his head. There's a suction cup on it so he could be a window cling plush. It's a good idea, just too bad he's phony and poorly executed. Photo discovered by Crystal Kitsune
This is a bogus copy of a real keychain. Someone is knocking off the older (but quality) flat rubber modern keychains. However, as usual they don't do an accurate job. Knuckles' eye is not colored & his shoe colors are wrong. It's typical of fakers to make mistakes when trying to copy something. They apparently got the mold almost completely right, but the missing color and wrong details give it away. It's close though...
Which is generally the worst sort of fake, because it can easily trick non fans into buying it as a gift and ruining any occaision. (As money was spent on a bootlegger, and no real fan would be caught using lame fake accessories) Discovered by regnomike
Sometimes unlicensed items have great ideas AND good execution. This...is one of those times. With the popularity of large character wall stickers graphics (Ex. "fathead" etc) it's no surprise that someone would start faking some up to sell.
However...they've done a real good job here. The photorealistic 'broken plaster wall' borders the sticker while a well shaded CG Sonic is 'leaping into' the room while Tails is in the background along with more of CG Green Hill. You'll have seen leaping over CG Sonic before, but they've put him to good use here. The only thing missing seems to be a copyright. Discovered by regnomike
FAKE ITEM: Not even a real bootleg it's a photoshop.
Fake Stretch Armstrong shows up as a "Boom Knuckles" bootleg, probably because of the long arms/case of big body that it has going on. Photo discovered by: PrincessPandaLover
