On Mon, Jan 12, 2026 at 10:35:50PM -0500, Evan Leibovitch via Talk wrote:
They might still be fakes.
There are multiple ways to tell the real article, from the barcode on the tag, to the pattern on one of the feet and even the design of those awful teeth. There are a few "how to spot a fake" videos out including some by Pop Mart themselves, and I found myself learning way more about this topic than I ever wanted to. This particular one from Ali passed all tests; if it's indeed a fake it's indistinguishable from real, which is good enough for me (and, most importantly, my granddaughter). I paid about $12 at the time, the listing for the same item has risen in price substantially since i bought. In any case I would never use the term "adorable" to describe them. Give me a Sanrio character instead -- any of them, except Kuromi. Argh, I know way more about this stuff than I should.
Some of the ones we got have working barcodes the same as the real ones, but other things are clearly wrong, like spelling errors on other tags. It's interesting to compare the details on the various ones. I also wonder of some of the fakes are run on the same production line but using lower quality materials, or perhaps in same cases using rejected parts from the official production. -- Len Sorensen