U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) have reportedly caught a consignment of counterfeit Pokémon goods that were on their way to Skyder County, Pennsylvania. Officers in Harrisburg seized 15 boxes-worth of figurines arriving from Hong Kong and marked "plastic furnishing articles" according to a report on the CBP website.
The report cites that these Pokémon had a potential worth of "nearly $604,000" had they been the real deal. Evidently, the fake figurines were seized for violating US intellectual property rights. As you can see from the images provided by the CBP itself, you don't have to be a Pokémon expert to spot that these might not be genuine Pocket Monsters. Arbok and Wailmer in particular are looking a little worse for wear in the image below. Maybe they're Dittos having an off day?
We're sure The Pokémon Company will be pleased to see CBP doing their best to catch 'em all. However, if we know anything about Pokémon, it's that there are always more on the way. We're sure CBP will have its hands full tracking down the entire national Pokédex for the foreseeable future.
$7 for a dodgy Delibird or a fake Fennekin? We're not sure we'd have paid that much, but over 86,000 figures must have been worth a tidy sum.
[source cbp.gov, via gonintendo.com]
Comments 41
That Combusken is something truly special.
Very funny... Seems people enjoy taking it out on everything Nintendo owned properties 😁( from hacking to figurines).
Where'd they get that valuation from? My guy Chan on the corner, got them 2 for 5 dollas, legendaries included
Maan, I would be so cheesy working in customs.
"Excuse me sir, open the briefcase."
click, click
"Uh-huh, what are these sir?"
"They are Pokémon."
"I'm afraid they're Poke-mine now sir."
...and that Gengar needs to find a different shade of lip-stick!
omfg I had heaps of these. parents told me they were authentic because nintendo wouldn't let this happen. dead XD
Can’t they do something more useful with their time? Like actually ending corrupt businesses or stop wanton murderers/psychopaths from harming innocents? Seizing counterfeit toy production seems idiotic and completely unnecessary.
@NoNoseNosferatu Intellectual property seems idiotic and completely unnecessary? [removed]
Almost every game and collectible shop around where I live has a tub of these things on the counter. Cheap knockoffs are so common. $1 a piece. They probably seize loads of this stuff every day. They can’t catch all of these shipments and clearly don’t.
Love the Border Patrol wants to catch 'em all! LOL!
Therapist: Counterfeit Exploud isn't real, it can't hurt you
Counterfeit Exploud:
Just looking at some of these is incredible. You certainly get what you pay for. Pikachu's mouth in the first picture just looks so funny to me.
What this article fails to mention is that all the toys were found in some dudes ass
@Judgedean @NoNoseNosferatu Alright, that's enough, both of you stop. I'm going to delete some comments.
What are the Pikachu and Celebi doing...
It's also a case of pokémon abuse! Check out that malnutritious Giratina. Poor thing hasn't had a poffin since quarantine started
These remind me of the blatant knockoff Pokemon cards you can get at the Chino supermarkets in Spain. €1 for a pack of 50.
Wish I could be the very best
but these figurines won't
imagine this being sung in
Origami Peach's font
my voice is a garbled mess
like a glitch gone haywire
good luck sleeping with success
your dreams will soon be dire
Sometimes the Pokémon catch you...
They should so the same thing with console modding pcb's.
Why though?
Why fake 86k Pokemon toys? Why does border control have to deal with this, don't they have real issues to worry about? I don't understand why any of this happened. It's just silly.
I am going to be seeing that Gengar in my nightmares.
...I actually kinda want that fake Flareon recolor.
Most of these look like they're incredibly ill or from the Poké-Twilight Zone.
Border patrol
aka POKÉMON MASTERS
That Wailmer has seen some... um... stuff.
It shouldn't really be about the copyright protection, it's about the danger to children who play with these toys that haven't been safety tested
If we can pirate and illegally download gaming roms with no consequences what's wrong with a little counterfeit pokemon. BTW I don't agree with illegal games, but just saying emulation is widely excepted by people, this is same thing really.
& people thought Shiny Pokémon from the first two generations were ugly.
counterfeit toys have a certain charm to them. like theyre so ugly they are cute kinda charming
@ummyeahnintendo As long as they don't speak! My dad once bought my niece some figure from a random mall cart seller, and it played some song (surely unlicensed) with surely the cheapest and most ear-offending sound chip China had to offer. "Please never touch the button that makes it talk again."
But see, if this was the police in the Pokemon world, they'd send a traveling child to break up this crime ring.
I know these are sold in at least one dollar store in town. I bought one because it was an armored Mewtwo, but white and yellow. It actually looked pretty cool. Low quality, but still cool
one of them looks like a playdough lol
Cool. More landfill. Painful to see.
I could understand counterfeits looking this bad in the 90s but why do they still look so awful?
Wow, these are just awful, they must've missed all those 1:1 copies you can get online.
Personally I don't have any counterfeit pokemon figurines, but plushies are a different story.
Cya
Raziel-chan
this seems like a relative waste of time for border patrol. i dont remember seeing issues of purchasing goods counterfit or not of any kind being detained on its way too me if i bought online. What if the buyer just wanted all of those CUSTOM monster figures for his collection. there was no caught selling these with a listing or whatever. This was someone legitimate property. i dont feel this was right by the border patrol. if i want to buy 100s- or a 1000 knockoff pokemon figs, thats my right to do so with my money. weres the proof the buyer was gonna resell them???...i see no crime here. All i see is a collection of art detained for no good reason without proof that they would or will be resold.
I’ll take them!
@NoNoseNosferatu
... but they're BORDER officers...?
It's kind of their jobs to... you know... intercept illicit goods... Not catch "wanton murderers"...
Scyther never skips leg day
You used to be able to buy a bag of 100 of these for $10 off eBay. They’re nothing special. My 4 year-old son loved them though!
@Kiryon useless sods, the lot of them.
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