Cast member pin trading pins- what I learned
Captain Fartbeard
World Showcase Snacking Champion
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Hey everyone! Inspired by my last post and eager to learn more (as well as explore the recently brought back cast member pin trading) I got myself as many starter pins as I could and hit the hidden mickeys at 3 parks in 2 days. I wanted to practice looking for fakes as well as acquire some more (legitimate) traders for the next trade arcade. You can see here the fruits of my effort, as I managed to trade every single one of my traders (and some more than once.) I also want to post my observations and what I learned, and see if my suspicions are correct. Some I think are real, some are probably fake, and some I have no idea about.
Here are the pins I got!
An interesting case study are these two Minnie pins I found. Pin and Pop lists them as "Epic" and indeed on the back it says 1 out of 500. However I saw 3 of them while trading so I knew something was fishy. I got two of them just to study (and maybe 1 of them is real though I doubt it.) You can see just from these two alone that the coloring is different. (the difference in shine is more likely from the camera angle) On the back, the one on the right has a distinct border, which means it's a fake if my understanding's correct. The one on the left has a little bit of a border but it's more subtle and could be bad QC. My hypothesis though is that both of them are fake.
Another interesting example are the Mickey expression pins. This series seemed to be the easiest to tell which was real and which was fake (and there were so many fakes out there, despite being available at most Mickeys I found 1 or 2 legit ones) (also sorry for the upside down image)
The red scared expression on the right is the one I'm most certain is real. It has a heavier weight than the fake pins, a serial number on the back, and a flawless waffle pattern. The pink one I'm 100% sure is fake. It feels thin as paper, the nubs are different, and there's no border. As for the 2 in the middle, I'm not sure. The angry one has the weight of the red one and a serial number, but the waffle pattern on the back is smudged. (it's 2nd from left in the below photo, red is far left, then purple then pink on the far right) Purple is skinnier than the red and blue ones (but thicker than pink) but otherwise looks legit.
I'm curious to see y'alls thoughts on this, am I tripping or are my rationalizations justified? I'd also appreciate any insights on the other pins I acquired, since I'm not sure about the rest of them. I'd love to know which ones are real! I can upload more pics if needed as well.
(also should I post any pins I'm concerned about on this thread or make a new thread for them?)
Here are the pins I got!
![IMG_1303.jpg](https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1146109601742331954/1228017931523457064/IMG_1303.jpg?ex=662a83d2&is=66180ed2&hm=8ae780d1237aa9ea7cb9dad2f2369d7f9dd388e553fb4070c2fed783a48c2604&)
An interesting case study are these two Minnie pins I found. Pin and Pop lists them as "Epic" and indeed on the back it says 1 out of 500. However I saw 3 of them while trading so I knew something was fishy. I got two of them just to study (and maybe 1 of them is real though I doubt it.) You can see just from these two alone that the coloring is different. (the difference in shine is more likely from the camera angle) On the back, the one on the right has a distinct border, which means it's a fake if my understanding's correct. The one on the left has a little bit of a border but it's more subtle and could be bad QC. My hypothesis though is that both of them are fake.
![IMG_1305.jpg](https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1146109601742331954/1228018955717972080/IMG_1305.jpg?ex=662a84c6&is=66180fc6&hm=5a96c67dbe0699111f9a88c87160f9fdb51e08b9af4535f971714d8d380a7d62&)
![IMG_1306.jpg](https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1146109601742331954/1228018956636520448/IMG_1306.jpg?ex=662a84c6&is=66180fc6&hm=d99d3cddd10cbe6f3455a4a2b0c2c0c01d70b26a91ae33a1b795f77caead7d48&)
Another interesting example are the Mickey expression pins. This series seemed to be the easiest to tell which was real and which was fake (and there were so many fakes out there, despite being available at most Mickeys I found 1 or 2 legit ones) (also sorry for the upside down image)
![IMG_1307.jpg](https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/1146109601742331954/1228018957353750608/IMG_1307.jpg?ex=662a84c6&is=66180fc6&hm=fd02bc5d0f97fce99d78b921145b6c43cd211b3d08aa6214a7bdd02bc76d14f0&=&format=webp&width=802&height=601)
The red scared expression on the right is the one I'm most certain is real. It has a heavier weight than the fake pins, a serial number on the back, and a flawless waffle pattern. The pink one I'm 100% sure is fake. It feels thin as paper, the nubs are different, and there's no border. As for the 2 in the middle, I'm not sure. The angry one has the weight of the red one and a serial number, but the waffle pattern on the back is smudged. (it's 2nd from left in the below photo, red is far left, then purple then pink on the far right) Purple is skinnier than the red and blue ones (but thicker than pink) but otherwise looks legit.
![IMG_1308.jpg](https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1146109601742331954/1228018958368641187/IMG_1308.jpg?ex=662a84c7&is=66180fc7&hm=8ff356c8fbd02b614d041a59aa6d67f80862823bc54c1e70c187b28cce92c6b4&)
I'm curious to see y'alls thoughts on this, am I tripping or are my rationalizations justified? I'd also appreciate any insights on the other pins I acquired, since I'm not sure about the rest of them. I'd love to know which ones are real! I can upload more pics if needed as well.
(also should I post any pins I'm concerned about on this thread or make a new thread for them?)