Are you a seller (or buyer) of My Little Ponies, but are not sure how to tell fakies apart from real My Little Ponies? Well, with the help of this guide, you'll be able to figure out if your ponies are real or fakies!

Introduction

     My Little Pony: it seems that a lot of people know this brand nowadays! But for those who don't, My Little Pony is a brand of plastic pony toys that were first produced in the 1980s, then brought back in 1998, and is a current production line that has run from 2003 to today! (If you would like more information on telling the different generations of My Little Pony apart, please see my other guide! My Little Pony: A guide for Non Collectors (with pictures) And if you would like information about selling and buying MLP on eBay, please see my second guide! Selling and Buying My Little Pony for Beginners )

Simple IDing: Look under the hooves!

     If you're reading this guide, then chances are you have some MLP items and are unsure if they are real My Little Ponies. Well, the first step (if you physically have the ponies) is to look under their feet! Real My Little Pony toys will have "Made in China/Hong Kong/Argentina" etc under their feet, and "(c) Hasbro" and a year, like 1983. Sometimes it will say "Hasbro Inc" or "Hasbro Pat Pend", but these are still real My Little Ponies.  

     Fake My Little Ponies will have other brand names under their hooves; for example, a popular brand of toy ponies are Lanard fakies, who are actually selling well on their own! Instead of having a brand on their hooves, Lanard has a brand in their stomach reading "(c) 19XX LANARD CHINA" (Instead of 19XX, it will have the year the pony was produced). Another popular brand of fake pony was Remco, that made a variety of pony toys. Many other fakies don't even have a brand name, and will sometimes read simply "MADE IN CHINA" on their hooves or belly, or will simply have nothing written on them. These are all fakies, and unless their hooves or belly say Hasbro, it is not a My Little Pony.

IDing ponies by sight and common exceptions and mistakes

     Now, there are some exceptions to the hard-and-fast rules I gave above! One big one is the Cabbage Patch Ponies, pictured below:

(The first pony is plastic, the second is plush [stuffed])

     Both of these ponies are NOT My Little Pony, but their belly or tag will read "Hasbro". However, Hasbro is the producer of the Cabbage Patch Kids pony line, so their name shows up on both My Little Pony and Cabbage Patch Kids. Be aware of this when checking listings and writing them, as My Little Pony collectors rarely want Cabbage Patch ponies, and Cabbage Patch Kid collectors rarely want My Little Ponies!

     Another common exception is that of the CPK (Cabbage Patch Kid) fakie! This is a fakie that looks a little like a Cabbage Patch Pony, but actually isn't! Make sure to check the belly or hooves, and chances are that this pony won't have any markings. (In the group photo, these ponies are marked with a "1") 

     Some ponies that ARE from the My Little Pony brand can be confused for fakies! In the group shot, I've marked ALL MLP items with a "2", "3" or "4".

     Some of you will say, HEY! That's not a pony, ponies are big! However, the large group of smaller ponies in that picture are My Little Ponies from McDonalds (a fast food restaurant) Happy Meals. These toys are smaller and very cheap to buy and sell, but MIP (mint in package) sets can sell on eBay. McDonalds had two seperate lines of My Little Pony toys in their Happy Meals, however: a set for the G2s (see my guide if you don't know these terms) and a set for the G3s. I've marked the G2 McDonalds ponies with a "2", the G3 McDonalds ponies with a "3", and the regular My Little Ponies with a "4a" for G1s and "4b" for the G3. There is a G3 plush in there, who I will simply mark as 4b as well.  

     The rest of the group fakies are a little harder to pin down; there are two Tara fakies (Tara is another maker of fake My Little Ponies, and their ponies will be marked with a "5"), and several fakie babies who have no marking at all, so it's almost impossible to say for certain who they were made by. For the fakies that have no brand on their bodies, I will put a number, and if anyone knows, they can feel free to send me a message and correct me!

     The last little pony there (marked with a "6") is actually a toy pony made by the Disney company. She has a hole in her back where a small princess doll (Aurora, Belle, Cinderella, or another princess) would stand and ride. These ponies look a lot like Hasbro ponies, but they will not have the Hasbro marking on their bellies or hooves.

(PS: I'm so sorry the picture came out so tiny! If you would like to see a full size picture, copy and paste this link into your browser: http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a255/Bumblesweet/fakiesexample.jpg)

Here's a quick breakdown of which pony is which:

1. Cabbage Patch Kid Pony fakie
2. G2 My Little Pony Happy Meal ponies
3. G3 My Little Pony Happy Meal ponies
4. a: G1 My Little Ponies b: G3 My Little Ponies
5. Tara fakies
6. Disney pony

       Several other companies have actually produced their own pony moulds, rather than ripping off My Little Pony or Cabbage Patch Kid pony molds, and are considered sort of seperate from fakies in that they are all established toy lines.

     One such fakie line is Remco, which came up with several variations on their main pony line, which included unicorns. Most of their ponies and unicorns had rainbow hair, and came with a small rainbow on an elastic around their necks.

     Another well-established fakie pony line is Lanard. They have a wide variety of ponies, including many different designs and colors for their ponies. Instead of looking at pictures here, go ahead and browse for some Lanard fakies in eBay!

Oddities in the My Little Pony line

     Now, all the ponies up til now have been clearly outlined as fakies. However, Hasbro made some non-pony toys in the official My Little Pony line, and if you aren't a collector, it would be easy to overlook them as real MLP items! 

     First, we have the Pony Friends. These are considered "official" My Little Ponies, even though they do not look like ponies. In fact, these animals were created to be companions to the Little Ponies, and include a moose, giraffe, camel, lion, elephant, dinosaur, zebra and llama. However, all of these Pony Friends will have "Hasbro" under their feet, so that makes things easier for you!

     Also, there were two lines of cats and dogs by Hasbro, but only one is actually considered to be officially in the My Little Pony line. My Little Kitty, My Little Puppy, and My Little Bunny sets included one parent animal, with two babies of the same species. (I'm not including links to these on eBay, because most of the links that come up are NOT any of the sets that I'm describing. Once I can find some suitable pictures, I will update this part of the guide!)

Conclusion

     The fakies listed in the above guide are a good portion of the fakie market, but are by no means a full checklist for every fakie type ever created. Especially with the recent success of the G3 line, many fakies have popped up using actual molds from Hasbro ponies, which makes it even harder to tell the fakes from the real ponies. However, I hope that in my guide I have helped you with some of the more basic differences between fakies and real My Little Ponies.

     As always, if you find any errors or have any good ideas for improving my guide, please do not hesitate to send me a private message! I am always more than happy to hear from fellow eBayers!