When I shop for merch I usually stay within The Netherlands, with an occasional trip to Germany or Belgium. The amount of fakies that I see is limited and I usually only spot them on fairs or tourist shops. Finding fakies outside of stores where you'd expect to see a lot of bootlegged items is rare for me. Yesterday I got an e-mail from Andrew (abydos91), which kind of shocked me. The amount of fakies in Costa Rica seems to be immense and they're even sold right next to regular MLP products in legitimate toy stores. The fact that these are bigger and much cheaper (2-5x less) does not really help Hasbro.
These fakies are the usual G3/G3.5 fakies that we see alot, but they copy the G4 logo, packaging and pony art. The lunchbox you see above looks cute, but probably consists of stolen artwork too.
This all made me think. How big is the 'bootleg fakie problem' around the world? There are obviously places that have more fakies than others. But which are the 'worst' places?
Feel free to leave a comment on how many fakies you usually see in your area.
Posts
Maryland, USA. I've hardly ever seen any fakies, you kind of have to go out of your way to find them. Usually a couple at Dollar Tree or Giant.
ReplyDeleteTexas, USA ive seen g3 fakies at kroger and other grocery stores
ReplyDeleteIn Austria and Germany, I always only seem to find them at the discounter shops like KIK or T€DI which are known for manufacturing in chinese sweatshops.
ReplyDeleteIn Finland, there are barely any fakies, at least with stolen artwork. They are very rare. Cheaper "pony brands" exist though, but I don't think they compete with real MLP.
ReplyDeleteNorth Carolina, USA. Not many fakies, but I have spotted G3 fakies in a grocery store and Toys R Us.
ReplyDeleteBritish Columbia, Canada has a lot of fakies in our dollar stores,
ReplyDeleteA small local dollar store in my town has all of those fakies that you show in the article
Dollar stores are notorious for having fakes of EVERYTHING. You aren't going to be able to buy a genuine of anything for a dollar.
DeleteCzech Republic , I found a few ( https://imgur.com/a/F3u0Y ),but the official MLP merch is much easier to find.
ReplyDeleteThis is the list of stores where I have seen them, here in Costa Rica:
ReplyDeleteExclusive Toy Stores (that only sell toys, like ToysRUs)
- Toys
- Rodolfo Leiton (that sell school stuff too)
Small Department Stores (but with presence in the main provinces of Costa Rica) Some of these are almost 100 years old.
- Universal
- La Gloria Stores
- Llobet
- Lehman Library
- Ekono Stores
Big Department Stores (with presence in other countries, mainly Central America)
- Aliss
- Carrion Stores
- Siman
Big Supermarket Stores
- Walmart Costa Rica
- Perimercados
- All the smaller supermarkets owned by Walmart, that include MasXMenos, Pali, MaxiPali, etc
And of course in dollar discount stores, chinese stores, etc
You'd be surprised how many there are in Colombia fakies!
ReplyDeleteIn Brazil, I don't see much MLP fakies. Well, I don't see any MLP fakies at all! They are however in a big portion on some virtual stores. The toy shop I got most of my pony stuff doesn't has that much fake products, however, on the far back of the store, that only gets full of people near holidays or Children's Day, there are plenty of things that I see in a LOT of stores, if not all, Monster High fakies. There are so much that I even had a dream about them one night! Devil Girls, Monster Girl, Monster Lady, Vamp Girls... Ugh, so much...
ReplyDeleteBut well, there aren't any MLP fakies around here, which is good, because if there was somebody would mistake them with the official ones and buy a fake one for me! >_<
I see lots of fakies, usually next to original MLP stuff.
ReplyDeleteIn Cumbria, here are lots of MLP fakies.
ReplyDeleteI've seen a lot of mlp Fakies especially in dollar tree and walmart
ReplyDeleteThere are TONS in the UK, like all over the place.
ReplyDeleteI see them where ever I go!!!
Sweden
ReplyDeleteThere are pony fakies, that do not look like mlp, doesn't have stolen art or replica molds. But that's about it. Cross my heart I haven't seen one of the "stolen" fakies in any store here.
Nova Scotia, Canada
ReplyDeleteNo G4 fakies in stores. Dollarama has a large one like a G3 and has carried one that's like a G4 sized G3 in the past. Wal-Mart has their own ponies with inset eyes and Superstore had some briefly cloned from G1 newborn molds.
Moscow, Russia
ReplyDeleteI have seen quite a lot of fakies, though they all were sold in kiosks. I haven't seen a single fakie being sold in stores.
I live in Wyoming and you don't find any fakes at all. In the Walmart you do find the cheap knockoffs made by kid connection.....they look more like G1 ponies. But out here you don't have to worry about fakes.
ReplyDeletei bought a dollar general rainbowdash who was made in 2013 hoof code 2 days ago
ReplyDeleteHere in France, we don't find that many G4 fakies. I've got one of them in a fair (a Pinkieshy Fashion Style).
ReplyDeleteIn some "dollar stores" we can find fakes of G1 and G3/3.5 but i never find a G4 (sadly i like them, they are great for making customs ^^)
Ok, this is quite odd but I'm actually sixteen and have over two hundred ponies (mixed from ever gen) and have NEVER seen a fakie in my life, except on your site because for some reason I can't stop looking at them (LOL). Anyway, the weird thing is, I thought I found a factory error this morning when I was at the Gig Harbor Target with my Dad, and it was being sold next to a authentic g4 in the exact same packaging as the error. So, I picked up the error one, (the error had no cutie mark) and when I lifted it up, I saw behind it a fakie in the exact same place a rainbow power pony should be, and the rainbow power ponies next to it and behind it all had the SAME real packaging...we went to the Fred Mayer's after that, where ONCE AGAIN I found the exact same thing exept the usual isle that ONLY has MLP stuff, one entire half of it ONLY had fakies...I don't know what's going on but I DID get one of the fakies (oddly it only cost me ONE dollar) and the quality is amazing, (and the ONLY reason I bought it was cause it's my fave cadance) however you know it's fake because it's a g3.5 Cadance (which I LOVE because I love her, and g3.5)
ReplyDeleteWhere I live in the US the only fakie a I see r the ones @ the Dollar Tree. Some ponie's were in a recall bin cause their heads were about to pop off:/
ReplyDeleteI am getting a pony..... You guys may think she is a ''Fakie'' but I already have Chrysalis and NMM from eBay.THOSE PONIES ARE SO DARN ASTONISHING! They even have a Princess Rarity!OMG! :p
ReplyDeleteShe looks kinda like a TrixieDash fusion. You can see Mlp fever on YouTube.
Type ''Trixie Lulamoon '' on Ebay.
There are also great resorts that you can stay on while you are on your Costa Rica Tour. You will find that you have your choice "" first of all there are the big and name brand resorts that you can stay at, where you will be able to stay in high class hotel rooms and enjoy luxurious food and other dining aspects of your tour. https://www.discoverpuravida.com
ReplyDelete