So, if you are new to collecting Funko Pops, or if you are a seasoned collector, you need to make sure that you look out for fake Funko Pops. There seem to be quite a few from China and Hong Kong being sold on the likes of eBay at the moment so I thought I would put together a little note to help you out on spotting if a Funko Pop is genuine or not.
The first and biggest hint for you is that if it seems too good to be true… it probably is!!! So if you find a Red Hulk on eBay for £5 plus a small amount of postage, run away! Unless of course you are ok with having fakes in your collection – in which case… don’t let me stop you.
Another main indicator of a fake Funko Pop will be if you check the foot of the figure. There should be a number stamped on the foot of your Pop which will usually look something like A142. Fake Funko Pops don’t tend to have these stamps, so if you are ever in doubt and you can bear to take the figure out of the box, then have a quick gander at the foot.
Fake Pops usually will have a difference in colouring from an original. Of course unless you can hold this up to an original it can be very hard to see. Going back to the Red Hulk, there are some pretty bad imitations of that little fella doing the rounds at the moment. Watch out for the eyes as they are usually a slightly different colour and the mouth is painted a slightly different shape to the original. Another common paint issue with fakes is they can look a little anaemic. The paintwork to the faces can be very pale and not have the full colour that the standard pop would have.
Moving to the boxes of the Funko Pop, there can be a few indicators here as to the authenticity of the product. First and foremost the colour might be a bit faded. Please don’t confuse this with a box that has been left in the sun, I know my local comic shop have a display in the window for several months and then circulate the pops back onto the shelves! But sometimes you will see the artwork is slightly fuzzy around the edges. Funko product images have very clear defined lines on their artwork. The boxes also have a stamp on the bottom. Older ones have a sticker with the production date on it, but the newer releases have an imprinted stamp on the bottom with the production date on. This allows collectors to check which release each Funko Pop is as Funko have a habit of re-releasing some of them. Obviously the re-releases are not the same value of the original release Funko Pops.
Obviously these are not a definitive list of how to tell a fake Pop from the real products, there can be many other things that differ. This article is just to draw your attention to a few of the familiar ones and help you out!
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