Mirage has never been reissued. Any Mirage claiming to be a reissue will likely be a counterfeit.
Packaging Guide:
- There are two versions of counterfeit box for Mirage - version 1(v1) and version 2 (v2),
see boxes
- See
e3nine's box guide on TFW. (note this is the v1 box). The v2 box has fixed the missing colon next to AGES:
- The misalignment of the figures artwork with the right side of the box (additional space next to left foot wheel and gird showing left arm wheel ) is probably the most obvious tell on both KO boxes.
- Additionally the v2 box has the very tip of the artworks missile positioned in the heading box (Transformers from....), this text area should have a space of 12x2 , but on the counterfeit it is 13x2, so 2 additional grid squares.
Figure Guide:
- Wheels, some counterfeits have branding of Dunlop instead of the correct Goodyear, while some have no branding at all.
- Early counterfeits are missing the circular imprint for the engine intake.
See comparison.
- Copyright - very similar, the counterfeit will have the T in LTD under the Kanji characters, it should not be.
See comparison. The copyright sign in front of Hasbro is also too small - any Diaclone or Takara only stamped Mirages are authentic
- Color variants: Normal, Black, Red, Clear, Clear Black, also variant Gold Chrome (usually on the red KO) and gold chrome weapons.
- Excellent
YouTube review of the counterfeit red mirage by Ghost prime reviews