We can all learn from fake smurfs!

Do you collect fake smurfs? In the beginning I didn’t collect fake smurfs but I do now. It’s all part of increasing my knowledge and understanding of smurfs.

I started collecting fake smurfs so I could study them and become more knowledgeable about how to detect others. It also enhanced my knowledge on markings on smurfs.

Now some of you maybe thinking – how could you? These are smurfs that are not genuine, an imitation, produced without a licence or even worse a smurf that has been altered to make it look like a rare smurf.

Like a lot of things once something becomes highly collectible and sought after the more likely there will be those who want to try to replicate it. The smurfs are no exception to this rule.

There are large variety of fake smurfs out there in big bad world. Some quite lovely and some are quite grotesque. Some look extremely like the original version making it hard to tell the difference and others look like nothing like a smurf.

I first came across fake smurfs in around 2007 or 2008 where there was a large volume of fake smurfs for sale. These smurfs were coming out of China and were sold really cheap online.

An example of these were the fake McDonalds smurfs that were sold with a Schleich tag attached. These smurfs were made out of a very hard material, had strange looking eyes and the paint work was sloppy.

It was also around this time that the Indian and Halloween sets released by Schleich were replicated and sold as fakes. Some of these fakes that came out of China had even misspelt the word China on their markings, to the amusement of many.

Around this same time I started reading about fake smurfs from Spain often referred to Comic No Toxico (CNT) smurfs. These were not ugly smurfs like the fake Chinese smurfs it was quite the opposite these smurfs were quite beautiful.

CNT smurfs are generally smaller than your average Schleich smurf and are really well painted. These smurfs can be quite rare in some parts of the world, which makes them more valuable than your average smurf.

Then there are the smurfs that have been repainted or altered to make it look more like a rare smurf. Papa Captain (Schleich ref# 20141) is a really good example of this.

Papa Captain can generally be found with red trousers, white jacket with gold buttons, a white cap with a red trim and a black brim. He is holding up a gold telescope to his eye.

This one is the most commonly found one, though Schleich also released two different versions of one with a navy blue jacket. Navy blue jacket with yellow buttons and white trousers and navy blue jacket with gold buttons and red trousers.

As the versions with the navy blue jacket are considered rare, I have heard of collectors who have been burnt. The seller sold them a version that had the white jacket repainted navy blue. It was only when they received the actual smurf that they noticed the paint work under the jacket flap was not fully painted.

There will never be a shortage of fake smurfs, as there are a growing number of people who are happy to collect them. There are some collectors who actually enjoy collecting fakes more than the genuine licensed ones.

We can learn a lot about smurfs from studying fake smurfs. They can also be something that makes you laugh because of how ridiculous they look and that can’t be a bad thing.

Keep on Smurfin

Kath B

2016 Smurfs – From Work to the Jungle

In 2015 the smurfs had a work like theme with each smurf representing a different occupation. The 2016 smurfs will have a jungle theme with each smurf representing jungle like activities. So I ask you what happened in 12 months to go from work to the jungle.

When the 2015 smurfs were released there was a real mixture of opinions about whether the majority of collectors liked them or not. There were some like myself that was just a little surprised on the chosen theme – jobs.

Don’t get me wrong I like them I just thought the theme was a little unusual. Though sometimes I have to remind myself I am an adult buying kids toys so my opinion is not as significant as a little kid or a parent buying smurfs for their children.

Now with 2016 Smurfs, Schleich has decided to release eight smurfs as part of a Jungle theme. I really like them however like any new releases there is always those who like them and those who don’t.

For those who love their classic smurfs, they maybe a little disappointed that none of them have white hats or trousers. But then there will be those who have fond memories of Jungle Smurf (20069) who is sometimes also referred to as Swoof. See this for further information on Swoof

For others there has already been some who have commented on the similarities on Papa Smurf being a copy of Manager Papa Smurf (Schleich ref# 20769) first released in 2015 as part of the job themed smurfs.

The eight jungle themed smurfs will be all made in China like 2015 job smurfs. This is not major thing for me as 80% of toys are made in China. The interesting thing I find with both of these sets is that their eyes are joined together.

The list of the Jungle theme smurfs are:

20776 Jungle Smurfette
20777 Jungle Papa
20778 Jungle Brainy
20779 Exhausted Jungle
20780 Jungle Exploxer
20781 Jungle Nature Watcher
20782 Jungle Adventurer
20783 Jungle Native

It has also been announced that in 2016 Schleich will be releasing eight soccer themed smurfs around May for the EUFA Euro tournament taking place in France. These all appear to be repaints of Playmaker (Schleich ref# 20527). Though no doubt these will be highly collectible.

For those of you who are curious to know if they will be releasing new smurfs with the next smurf movie that was originally due to be released in August 2016. From my understanding the movie has now been rescheduled to be released in 2017. But hey who knows!

For those who can’t wait for the new release of smurfs, unfortunately you will have to wait until after Christmas as the 2016 Smurfs – jungle themed smurfs – are expected for release in January 2016.

Keep on Smurfin

Kath

Brainy Smurf – Papa Smurf’s apprentice

There are not too many people who do not know who Brainy Smurf is. Brainy Smurf is one of the most recongnisable smurfs, famous for wearing his glasses and long boring lectures.

Brainy Smurf is one of the main characters of the comic books, the NBC cartoon series and more recently the two smurf movies released in 2011 and 2013. There are not many smurfs that can claim this kind of fame.

In the comics and cartoon series we continually see Brainy being seen as a bit of a know-it-all which the other smurfs find annoying. He also considers himself the second in command within the smurf village. Strangely though his best friend is Clumsy Smurf.

Due to the success of Brainy, Schleich have also made a number of different smurf figurines featuring Brainy over the past fifty years or so. This has also spilled over to other promotions involving the smurfs such as Kinder Surprise, Chupa Chumps and McDonalds.

Schleich made their first version of Brainy (ref# 20006) in 1969, the same year as Papa Smurf. Like a lot of early smurfs released by Schleich this was based on the character in the comics. Brainy stands with his hands out to the side wearing white pants & hat and black glasses. This can be found with only Peyo on the arm or without markings as it was used for promotions.

It is thought that Bully started painting the glasses red, when they were manufacturing the smurfs between 1974 to 1979. When looking out for this smurf, it can be found with W.Germany Peyo (emblem removed) markings under the feet. There is no version of Brainy made with Bully markings.

The version with the yellow glasses is considered extremely rare and was originally only sold in the UK by National Petrol. When looking out for this smurf look for the markings W.Germany Peyo (emblem removed) and mustard paint dot under the feet.

When sold in the USA, Brainy was sold under the name of Scholar. It was also sold with black or red glasses. For those of you who collect smurfs based on their markings you can find both of these with Made in Hong Kong and Made in Hong Kong W. Berrie markings.

For those of you who like their Brainy Smurfs, there are few different ones you can collect.

After Brainy was released, Bookworm (ref#20094) was released by Bully in around 1977. Bookworm Brainy Smurf wears his famous black rimmed glasses while carrying a red book in his left hand and points his right index finger to make a point about something.

Brainy Referee (ref# 20191) was released around 1985/86 and can be found wearing a black & white striped outfit while blowing his whistle. This figurine can be found on a variety of different grass bases.

In 2005 when Schleich released their Classic Series, there was no surprise to see Brainy Smurf (ref# 20536) included in the set. Brainy Smurf wears his famous black rimmed glasses while he points his left index finger to make a point about something.

When the Smurfs Movie was released in 2011, Brainy Smurf played a big part in the story. Because of this Brainy with book (ref# 20734) was also released as part of the movie.

I will let you judge whether you feel Accountant (ref# 20772) released in 2015 is Brainy in disguise.

For those of you who want to find extra information on Brainy please find a link to Smurfs Wiki – Wikia

Keep on Smurfin

Kath B

Quality Control – the smurf way

Don’t be alarmed if you come across a smurf that has a coloured paint dot under their foot. This was something Schleich introduced to smurfs around 1978 as a way of quality control. This practice continued right through to 2004.

The paint dots can be found on the feet or base of the smurfs to indicate which country the smurf was painted in and then later on if the smurf was made out of a new PVC formula.

Some say that the paint dots were introduced to smurfs after a National Benzole promotion in the UK in 1978.Upon where Schleich was accused of using high levels of lead in the paint used for their smurfs.

At around this time, Schleich had also opened up a new factory in Hong Kong due to demand for smurfs. By doing this it also allowed Schleich to produce smurfs at a lower production cost.

The story goes that some children were becoming sick after playing with their smurfs. The paint used for the smurfs contained higher levels of lead that was above the specified limit for the UK but not considered dangerous.

To avoid this type of thing happening again Schleich introduced the paint dots to smurfs as a method of quality control. This appears to include only smurfs painted outside the EC and sold within the EC that received a paint dot.

There are a number of different paint dots that can be found, one of the most interesting ones is the mustard paint dot. Mustard paint dots represent smurfs painted in Portugal. These are probably the most commonly found ones.

What makes the mustard paint dot ones the most interesting is that they can vary in size and colour (light yellow to mustard). This makes me think that within the mustard paint dot there were other key quality control indicators that were used.

In the beginning the factory in Portugal was used just to paint smurfs though as the demand increased for smurfs, Portugal also started making smurfs.

Between 1978 to 1987 smurfs painted in Portugal were given a mustard paint dot. After 1987 Portugal started using a black or white paint dot.

Red paint dots represent smurfs painted in Sri Lanka. Due to the high demand for smurfs in the USA, the Sri Lanka factory was opened to assist the operations in Hong Kong around 1982. This continued right through to 1987.

The red paint dot is generally smaller and does not vary in colour like the mustard paint dots that can be found.

Green paint dots represent smurfs painted in Tunisia. These were smurfs painted between 1982 through to 1987. A number of Bully marked smurfs can be found with a green paint dot.

The green paint dot is generally smaller and does not vary in colour like the mustard paint dots that can be found. Smurfs given a green paint dot are generally considered the hardest to find.

Between 1988 and 1999, black and white paint dots were used for smurfs painted in Portugal and Tunisia. The small black paint dot was used for smurfs that had a white or coloured foot/base. The white paint dot was used for smurfs that had a black foot/base.

Between 2000 and 2004 smurfs were given a blue paint dot to indicate a new pvc formula was used. It was around October 2000 the old type of PVC could no longer be used to manufacture in Europe, so a new pvc was introduced.

It was also around this time that Schleich started making smurfs in China again. This was between 2001 to 2004 and then stopped. However since 2013 new smurfs have be made out of China.

Who would have thought that the introduction of the paint dot used for quality control would become something that adds to the thrill of collecting smurfs.

Keep on Smurfin

Kath B