Are solid color tangles real? They are only 1 color.
Yes and no, depending on the seller. They can be real and they can be fake. As far as I’m aware, the only currently in-print real single-colour Tangles are the metallics and the red sample Tangle Jr Fuzzy, but there are absolutely still older single colour Tangles floating about. Additionally, there’s all the promotional companies that have some licensing deal with Tangle Creations. I don’t know if they’re made in the same warehouse as branded stock or it’s something akin to the deal Zuru made with Antsy Labs, but most of the companies I checked out here in Australia (unfortunately, nobody offered free samples) made a point of now saying their promotional Tangles are real, not imitation.
(That Stimtastic’s Tangle Jrs were reportedly more fragile makes me think it’s more akin to the Zuru situation, and those promotional Tangles aren’t made by Tangle Creations, hence differing quality whilst not being knock-offs because licensing. But I do not know for sure; I’m just engaging in my usual wild conjecture because I find this interesting. I could be incredibly wrong.)
That’s why I said there are exceptions to all my how to pick a fake rules, because all of them do have exceptions, and it can be confusing.
As a general rule, the seller will indicate to you if an item is real or not.
So. Say you see a fabulous single-colour Tangle on a site - somewhere like eBay or Amazon. Awesome. First thing to do is see who’s selling it - the eBay seller or the third-party retailer on Amazon. What you’re looking for is the name of a known seller of old and out of print branded product, like Star Magic, The Learning Shop, Toys For Hands or Tink n’ Stink. These stores, as far as I’m aware, don’t sell fakes: they’re educational, game or OT stores/companies with a reputation to uphold. Their descriptions will often give you information about what they sell in good, clear English. They’ll be stocking other items that have good descriptions, appropriate pricing and professional stock photos - if everything else they’re selling looks real, and everything is priced consistently for that item, chances are high their single-coloured Tangles are real as well.
I’ll note that descriptions may or may not reference Tangle Creations, but if they do, that’s also a good sign of real stock. Photos with the item packaged (which the imitations can’t show because that crosses even more copyright lines) and showing the Tangle Creations logos and design is also another good sign of real/branded stock.
(Many sellers overprice, of course, but if the pricing is consistent for that seller’s storefront, overpricing isn’t indicative of anything to worry about, save for your own wallet.)
If you don’t know if the seller is a reputable dealer or not, and the seller’s storefront and description doesn’t give you enough information, Google. (I could complain here about how eBay doesn’t let you link to a third-party website on your profile.) You’ll quickly find if it’s the eBay or Amazon storefront of a reputable third-party store. This post discusses the signs of a reputable online dealer, if you need help in evaluating a website.
I’d be pretty safe in considering anything on Wish or AliExpress fake, no matter its colour. On Amazon, most things are real. eBay is trickiest, so I’d be checking price, the stock photos for any sign of gaps between the links, the product description (for good, well-written, informative descriptions) and the seller.
I’ll note that with fidget cubes, this is thrown out the window. Don’t use this post for knock-off fidget cubes! A great many stim toy and OT stores are selling fake fidget cubes under a variety of brand names, and for some reason there doesn’t seem to be any need to keep to branded product. (For this reason, if you’re after real fidget cubes, look to see if the descriptions contain reference to Zuru, Antsy Labs or both.) For Tangles, though, and most other toys that aren’t spinners (the patent on spinners was released) I haven’t yet seen a reputable dealer sell imitation product (and there’s many good copyright reasons for this, especially if they’re based in Western countries with firm copyright laws) because there’s no licensing associated with the imitation Tangles. So that, for me, would be the best and firmest indication.
(I’ll mention here, of course, that knock-off Tangles are absolutely as imitation as the fidget cube, are design theft, and are taking money from the creator. No judgement on this point, of course; we need to do what suits our situation as stimmers, and I don’t want anyone on this blog shaming anyone else for their purchasing choices. I’ve bought several fakes, as you know, but I also make sure to buy and keep buying a few real Tangles between them. I know not everyone can do that. But they are theft in the same way the fidget cubes and many other cheap knock-offs are theft.)
I hope that helps you some, anon. Unfortunately, it isn’t a simple, clear-cut answer, but checking out the seller usually gives you a good indication of real or fake.
