Weird Taobao ponies (factory extras/knock offs? Or indication of future size?

[Marigold]

I know!  Actually I'm pretty sure most of Europe has more time off all around too.   And I hear are just as productive if not more so, and are happier. 

[Galactica]

That doesn't surprise me- of course people are more productive if not completely burned out. My profession is especially wonderful at burning people out.

I ALWAYS run into people from Australia on vacation too...

[hathorcat]

Hmm....you could probably argue for and against both cases - i.e. being fakies or being Hasbro tests. I think I would come out on the latter side though.

It is odd that they are more in the size of the new FS than the old - that suggests they are very recently produced however the smaller size could also simply be explained by reverse casting if they are fakies.

That they are in the colours of the main 6 and feature the corresponding symbols [as opposed to the more normal random colours and mismatched symbols] is a little against them being fakies. Fakie companies spin very close to getting in trouble anyway but this would be as blatant as I have ever seen. They like to steal the moulds because thats the expensive part of manufacture but when they are after a different target market they normally still prefer their own interpretation.

There were an awful lot of those wingless Rainbow Dashes floating around when they first popped up on Taobao and over time more appeared so I don't think its impossible that on machine or factory test runs hundreds of the item are produced. In fact if they are going to do colour tests they will simply do the same mould rather than multiple moulds as the product is never meant for sale just for internal use. Perhaps these are the test runs when converting to the smaller FS mould? The Crystal Empire block eye [did we get this eye style on any FS pony??] combined with the Styling Size Pinkie "wink"eye did we even get this combination on any pony before? For that reason it seems an odd combo for a fakie manufacturer to pick - they would normally just copy an existing pattern rather than going to the effort of creating their own style.

[Galactica]

... if they are going to do colour tests they will simply do the same mould rather than multiple moulds as the product is never meant for sale just for internal use. Perhaps these are the test runs when converting to the smaller FS mould? The Crystal Empire block eye [did we get this eye style on any FS pony??] combined with the Styling Size Pinkie "wink"eye did we even get this combination on any pony before? For that reason it seems an odd combo for a fakie manufacturer to pick - they would normally just copy an existing pattern rather than going to the effort of creating their own style.

That's actually a good theory!  I think maybe we will learn more when the next set of FS ponies hits the market.

[lunar_scythe]

these look like they have longer tails and shorter mains than the regular fashion style ones, too, and only 2 rows of plugs?

[Violet CLM]

That they are in the colours of the main 6 and feature the corresponding symbols [as opposed to the more normal random colours and mismatched symbols] is a little against them being fakies. Fakie companies spin very close to getting in trouble anyway but this would be as blatant as I have ever seen.

Even though fakies steal molds and brand concepts, or even cutie marks, it seems very unlikely that their crop of ponies would could out look so similar to the real Mane 6, with the right cutie marks on ponies with basically the right color schemes.

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[Galactica]

these look like they have longer tails and shorter mains than the regular fashion style ones, too, and only 2 rows of plugs?

That looks to be true from the pix- but when I measured- surprisingly- the manes and tails are EXACTLY the same length as the old fashion style ponies!  So I guess the length just has to do with how curled up the hair is. 

But yes- TWO rows of hair- instead of the usual four (although the new FS fluttershy only has three rows of hair- unless you count the ribbons as a row).

I tried to compare some of the mane/tail colors to existing FS ponies as well.

DASH : The Taobao Dash Red, Yellow and Green in the mane- and blue and purple in the tail- are EXACT matches to the old FS Dash colors.  The tail has more purple in the mix than the old Dash though.  As you can see above- the color of the plastic is slightly different too (although Hasbro seems to change the tint of the plastic fairly regularly).  Of note- there is no Orange in the mane (like there is in the original FS pony)

RARITY:  The blue in Rarity's mane is NOT a match to Celestia as I had originally thought- but is an exact match to the blue streak in the FS Luna (the one with the glitter in her hair and glitter wings)  I forgot to check but I think that is actually the same blue that is in Dash's tail too.

The pink color in the assorted Taobao pony hairs is an exact match to Pinkie's.   I forgot to check that mauve/purple color in Taobao Fluttershy's mane... but since all the other colors are exact matches (same color, texture, bounce) I'd be surprised at this point if it were not MLP nylon.

The symbols are interesting because they are so high quality- but are smaller and slightly different shades than any of the original FS ponies. 

The darker purple in  actually appears to be a match to the blue in the glitter-haired Luna, as does the purple (the darker purple for all of the Taobao ponies matches the glittery Luna purple). 

I guess Hasbro could be getting tests of the smaller sizes, hair colors/mixes, symbol sizes-  maybe even testing out how two rows of hair looks vs. the four. 

I actually have never seen fakies this nice-  I don't think they would hesitate to use the same color scheme or re-cast the mold- but usually re-casts look slightly off, and these dont.  Also- re-casts have blurry or obscured branding (the dates and things inscribed in their feet) and these are crispy clear.

Those G3.5 fakies look pretty good above-  does anyone have them?  I am curious to know whether they are clearly branded on their feet - whether the hair feels the same- whether they have rooted tails (common of fakies)

[Rhini]

Haha good point Violet! I'm very clearly labeling them as fakies, the colors are close ,but they're not right. Most of the hair colors are wrong, and though they have different cutie marks, all their eyes are exactly the same and they're all using exactly the same molds. You can get surprising amounts of detail recasting, so I wouldn't count that out, and the whole some of them having rooted tails and the tials/manes not being consistent with hasbro length or method is all just too many red flags for me.

These to me are just the product of a higher quality fakie maker, possibly a current/former hasbro factory employee who knows sort of what each one should look like and possibly supplied some to work from.

All that being said I want a set so bad!! I love G4 fakies, especially good ones like these. Curses why must I be so poor ;___;

[Galactica]

Haha good point Violet! I'm very clearly labeling them as fakies, the colors are close ,but they're not right. Most of the hair colors are wrong, and though they have different cutie marks, all their eyes are exactly the same and they're all using exactly the same molds. You can get surprising amounts of detail recasting, so I wouldn't count that out, and the whole some of them having rooted tails and the tials/manes not being consistent with hasbro length or method is all just too many red flags for me.

These to me are just the product of a higher quality fakie maker, possibly a current/former hasbro factory employee who knows sort of what each one should look like and possibly supplied some to work from.

All that being said I want a set so bad!! I love G4 fakies, especially good ones like these. Curses why must I be so poor ;___;

But the hair colors do match MLP hair colors- exactly-  or do you mean right hair colors for the right ponies?  Since they are doing so much "Rainbowified" stuff- I'm not sure inconsistent hair colors is a good enough clue...

The hair length is also exactly the same-

The tails are not actually rooted- they are identical to the regular Hasbro pony tails-  except some of them have an extra plug or two?  I am wondering if they are experimenting with ways to make the tails less spindly (a major complaint)

Certainly not ruling out factory knock offs though-  just want to analyze every issue possible for clues 

[Shiromisa]

Haha good point Violet! I'm very clearly labeling them as fakies, the colors are close ,but they're not right. Most of the hair colors are wrong, and though they have different cutie marks, all their eyes are exactly the same and they're all using exactly the same molds. You can get surprising amounts of detail recasting, so I wouldn't count that out, and the whole some of them having rooted tails and the tials/manes not being consistent with hasbro length or method is all just too many red flags for me.

These to me are just the product of a higher quality fakie maker, possibly a current/former hasbro factory employee who knows sort of what each one should look like and possibly supplied some to work from.

All that being said I want a set so bad!! I love G4 fakies, especially good ones like these. Curses why must I be so poor ;___;

But the hair colors do match MLP hair colors- exactly-  or do you mean right hair colors for the right ponies?  Since they are doing so much "Rainbowified" stuff- I'm not sure inconsistent hair colors is a good enough clue...

The hair length is also exactly the same-

The tails are not actually rooted- they are identical to the regular Hasbro pony tails-  except some of them have an extra plug or two?  I am wondering if they are experimenting with ways to make the tails less spindly (a major complaint)

Certainly not ruling out factory knock offs though-  just want to analyze every issue possible for clues 

I don't think the hair color matching is proof positive of Hasbro's involvement--after all, if customizers can get MLP nylon, I'm sure fakie makers can too.

[Rhini]

Haha good point Violet! I'm very clearly labeling them as fakies, the colors are close ,but they're not right. Most of the hair colors are wrong, and though they have different cutie marks, all their eyes are exactly the same and they're all using exactly the same molds. You can get surprising amounts of detail recasting, so I wouldn't count that out, and the whole some of them having rooted tails and the tials/manes not being consistent with hasbro length or method is all just too many red flags for me.

These to me are just the product of a higher quality fakie maker, possibly a current/former hasbro factory employee who knows sort of what each one should look like and possibly supplied some to work from.

All that being said I want a set so bad!! I love G4 fakies, especially good ones like these. Curses why must I be so poor ;___;

But the hair colors do match MLP hair colors- exactly-  or do you mean right hair colors for the right ponies?  Since they are doing so much "Rainbowified" stuff- I'm not sure inconsistent hair colors is a good enough clue...

The hair length is also exactly the same-

The tails are not actually rooted- they are identical to the regular Hasbro pony tails-  except some of them have an extra plug or two?  I am wondering if they are experimenting with ways to make the tails less spindly (a major complaint)

Certainly not ruling out factory knock offs though-  just want to analyze every issue possible for clues 

I mean the right hair colors for the right ponies yes, but I suppose that the rainbow power line does throw a wrench in there somewhat. Although then I'd think all their hair would reflect that and have the extra color streaks. And yes I was talking about the extra plugs, I don't see why on earth hasbro would do that, which they've NEVER done versus just making the hole bigger.

But I'm with you I'm just curious, it doesn't really matter to me one way or another.  It's clear enough theyre something weird and 'other'.

[Galactica]

Right- I don't think that exact matching hair isn't proof of Hasbro's involvement either- just wanted to note that the colors themselves are identical- just not placement.

The extra holes in the bum is a LOT more difficult to understand- (although they aren't rooted like the knock offs- oddly enough)  as does the use of a 2010 mold.

If they aren't test shots than I suspect they are probably being made by the same factory that makes the ponies for Hasbro.  Pretty common practice- (See http://www.qualityinspection.org/china-factory-taobao/) 

[SeashellnBubbles]

Right- I don't think that exact matching hair isn't proof of Hasbro's involvement either- just wanted to note that the colors themselves are identical- just not placement.

The extra holes in the bum is a LOT more difficult to understand- (although they aren't rooted like the knock offs- oddly enough)  as does the use of a 2010 mold.

If they aren't test shots than I suspect they are probably being made by the same factory that makes the ponies for Hasbro.  Pretty common practice- (See http://www.qualityinspection.org/china-factory-taobao/)

Here's a thought: perhaps these ponies are just testers to make sure everything is aligned properly for QC? They run a bunch through each day or so to just make sure the stamps are crisp, the holes are cut clean, the hair is woven correctly...it would explain why they're all the same with no extra expensive bits to add to expense, like wings or horns. They're the cheapest way to do a test run! The 2 rows of hair would make sense for that, too, as it would be less expensive.
It does bode well for an AJ release, if that's what these are

[hathorcat]

That they are in the colours of the main 6 and feature the corresponding symbols [as opposed to the more normal random colours and mismatched symbols] is a little against them being fakies. Fakie companies spin very close to getting in trouble anyway but this would be as blatant as I have ever seen.

Even though fakies steal molds and brand concepts, or even cutie marks, it seems very unlikely that their crop of ponies would could out look so similar to the real Mane 6, with the right cutie marks on ponies with basically the right color schemes.

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ROFL good point! However...they are pretty much the exception to the rule. You really don't see fakie companies doing this too often. And in addition they are a style which the main 6 were never and will never be officially released in by Hasbro. So while they may match in colour and in symbol...they dont even come close to a G4 fakie in style.

[SeashellnBubbles]

Wasn't there someone from the Arena or the other site that did glue tests to verify authenticity? Maybe there's a way to do a scan of an ink scraping for comparison, or the glue inside the head of the ?fakie? Vs an actual FS pony? Really, a chemical analysis would put any question to rest...though it may be hard to explain at work...