Anyone seen this before - Fake LEGO hands?

Demonhunter14

So purchased 100x Light flesh hands off bricklink the other day, only to notice straight away they didn't look right. The shade of light flesh is lighter, crack in the side and different numbers on each hand. Are these fakes or are they off of a series figure? Top ones are genuine.

Hanzo

I've got to hand it to you, I think you've single handedly caught that seller red handed. Wonder if he knows he's selling knock offs? 

Demonhunter14

I contacted him, just awaiting a response. Ive purchased other LEGO off him before with no issues, so maybe he doesn't know. The shade of the flesh doesnt really show up in the pic but in real life its very different.

mithridate

Hanzo said:

I've got to hand it to you, I think you've single handedly caught that seller red handed.

Well played!

zmarkella

@Hanzo: wow, you really went for it!

@Demonhunter14: the colour difference might not show up on your picture, but the moulding on the bottom one is down-right terrible. Had a look at some of my CMFs, but they're nothing like that. Shaggy's hand (from Mystery Mansion) has a slight line on it when viewed from the side, but it's not as noticeable as yours and there's no number on it.

CCC

I've just checked some POGO ones, none of them have a number on. I'd be hard pressed to tell the difference between those and the real thing.

AllBrick

Yeesh. .. those bottom ones look awful, so rough and there are discrepancies all over the place... Would be amazed if they are genuine.

@Hanzo - You really got a handle on that comment palming off that comment on us... 

SumoLego

CCC said:

I've just checked some POGO ones, none of them have a number on. I'd be hard pressed to tell the difference between those and the real thing.

The molded numbers are what throw me - has LEGO ever produced numbered pieces? (Other than some of the Technic parts, of course.)

CCC

I don't think I have ever seen numbers on hands. Normally the biggest giveaway for fleshie parts is the colour, the fakes are too pale and quite easy to spot. However, yellows tend to be OK, possibly a little too rich / orange.

Lyichir

SumoLego said:

CCC said:

I've just checked some POGO ones, none of them have a number on. I'd be hard pressed to tell the difference between those and the real thing.

The molded numbers are what throw me - has LEGO ever produced numbered pieces? (Other than some of the Technic parts, of course.)

A great many parts feature numbers on them, listing not only the part number but also ones that identify which mold a part came out of. For example, look on the bottom of a typical plate—it'll be there along with the part number and copyright info. Lego references those sorts of things when investigating quality errors, since they can help them track down a defective mold. I don't know if they're usually featured on hands, though...

alexwil

I got a bundle of fake hands off eBay once - probably about 3 years ago! Was somewhere in the region of 300 hands and probably half of them were knock offs, was very hard to tell the difference until I knew what I was looking for!

Bobflip

Lyichir said:

SumoLego said:

CCC said:

I've just checked some POGO ones, none of them have a number on. I'd be hard pressed to tell the difference between those and the real thing.

The molded numbers are what throw me - has LEGO ever produced numbered pieces? (Other than some of the Technic parts, of course.)

A great many parts feature numbers on them, listing not only the part number but also ones that identify which mold a part came out of. For example, look on the bottom of a typical plate—it'll be there along with the part number and copyright info. Lego references those sorts of things when investigating quality errors, since they can help them track down a defective mold. I don't know if they're usually featured on hands, though...

Could be wrong, but I think they were referring to the numbers for matching left/right parts, such as 44350 and 44351.

Istokg

Back before TLG brought out the 10219 Maersk Train in 2011, the Maersk blue construction helmets were very rare, and sold for hundreds of dollars.  So someone came out with a knockoff fake helmet back about 8 years ago... and here was how to tell the difference.  Of course the point is moot now, since new helmets cost just a fraction of their pre 2011 price.

The world of fake LEGO has been around for a while....




From my Unofficial LEGO Sets/Parts Collectors Guide chapter on LEGO Fakes & Counterfeits.

Huw

To answer the OPs question, hands moulded in China a few years ago had numbers on the side so they are probably not fake.

See
https://www.flickr.com/photos/hmillington/4500627560/in/album-72157622329075437/

CCC

^ Interesting. I've been through a number of CMFs now from earlier series, and none of them have numbers on the hands yet they are Chinese made. I have also checked all my Toy Story minifigures (I only have Buzz, Woody, Jessie, Zurg and Alien) and none of those do either.

Is there a list of Fleshie minifigs that were Chinese made?

Aanchir

CCC said:

^ Interesting. I've been through a number of CMFs now from earlier series, and none of them have numbers on the hands yet they are Chinese made. I have also checked all my Toy Story minifigures (I only have Buzz, Woody, Jessie, Zurg and Alien) and none of those do either.

Is there a list of Fleshie minifigs that were Chinese made?

Any semi-recent torso assembly with printed arms tends to be Chinese-made as far as I'm aware. That's one way to tell.

oldtodd33

@Huw  I trust your knowledge of these parts but in your pictures where you can see the number on the side of the hands, the OP's pictures have the number on the TOP of the hands and the mold quality is very bad. It makes me think that these particular hands are fake. 

CCC

oldtodd33 said:

@Huw  I trust your knowledge of these parts but in your pictures where you can see the number on the side of the hands, the OP's pictures have the number on the TOP of the hands and the mold quality is very bad. It makes me think that these particular hands are fake. 

True. It would also be hidden when inserted into the arm.

The mold quality combined with the obvious off-colour does make them look like fakes.

Bobflip

Every time I see the topic title, I'm reminded of Father Ted.