It's inevitable that when something easily produced becomes madly popular and wildly profitable that the knock-off versions of that thing will begin to appear in the marketplace.  We've seen counterfeit games for years, but now with Nintendo's amiibo generating such high demand we're starting to see the rise of fake versions of those.  Amiibo News has a detailed look at the first batch of amiibo that aren't on the level, and surprisingly they're not the rare characters like Marth or Ness which is what I'd expect the counterfeit community to crank out by the crateload.  Instead it's commoners like Mario, Link, and Pikachu.  Why bother, gray market?

Take Mario, for instance. The counterfeit version of Mario is missing some of the finer details from the original. The bootleg amiibo does not have a textured pattern on his pants, lacks the transparency that the legitimate amiibo has on it’s fireball, and appears to use a different color of red paint for the shirt and hat.

Some fakes are better than others, but it looks like amiibo collectors need to start paying extra attention to which figurines they're buying.  Of course, with just common characters turning up as knock-offs right now, it's doubtful that anyone would feel the need to pay scalper prices for a Mario figurine and end up with a fake.  Once the really rare characters come into play though, buying from unknown sellers on the other side of the world is going to become even more risky.  Watch for figurines that do not meet Nintendo's specifications.  Remember that Mario's hat is a specific shade of red, Link isn't commonly seen driving a fire truck, and there's no such character as Murth.  On the other hand, if you want to build an amuubo collection of fakes, the sky is the limit!

Buyer beware! Don't fall into the trap of counterfeit amiibo. Something looks off with this Pac-Man, for instance. pic.twitter.com/tYM0TmJnxC

— Matthew Green (@PressTheButtons) June 3, 2015