How to differentiate Original Lego with imitation/knock off brand

Let's do an eye test =)

which one of these do you think is from original lego?

Ok, keep your answer first. i'll reveal it below. Today i would like to share and to remind myself how to differentiate original lego with imitation. I'm a bit worried because i myself buy only minifigure (instead the sealed complete set) from the internet. So its really important you don't get cheated. Lego is expensive (at least for me) and knock off brand is soooo cheap.

Let's start with Mr.Clark Kent that i have. 

Original is on the right, Shang Yuan brand is on the left.

You can see the part that i highlight in red are those really obvious sign. The printing on the torso and face is bolder and the leg design is different too.

But do not forget now we have other KO (knock off) brand too like Decool. Let's compare them in more detail. you can only differentiate them if you have original to compare. let's see what to look if you only have only one minifigure to determine the authenticity. 

Previously i only have 5 ironman, being the 2nd guy from the right is the most expensive, about RM70 because he's exclusive to Quinjet Aerial Battle set number 6869. All figure in the picture cost me roughly RM200.

and these is my KO ironman; 14 in total. Shang Yuan on the top, and Decool at the bottom. All these only RM70.

eh, say what? so with the 5 original ironman lego, i can get equal to 3 set of 14 KO figure = 42 ironman!!

But the finishing of those KO ironman is not really nice. Let's compare one of the ironman here.

I prefer to have original Lego on the right, Decool at the middle and Shang Yuan on the left. Remember about the mask for the eye test that i ask you on top of the post? Yes, the mask on the right is the original lego. sorry, no  reward for you to get it right. hehe.

As you can see, first thing that you notice is the pattern. the fake one has bolder pattern. Second thing to notice is about the colour. Shang Yuan on the left has too obvious glittering red and Decool in the middle has darker red colour.. and also not even. the arm has darker red from the torso.

Let's break them into smaller parts.

Now we get clearer difference. For the torso, you can easily point out shang yuan's because the inside torso pattern is different from the rest 2 torso. For the leg assembly, it's easier to slash out which one is Decool because it's different with the other two leg.

The quick and easier way is actually to find word "LEGO" on each parts =). 

I'll use another figure to compare. let's use Ironman with Heart Breaker Armour.

For these figure, the pattern look almost like the same for all three, no obvious bold line. but we still can differentiate by the colour. Shang yuan has glittering red and Decool at the middle has darker red.

This time, try to focus on the word "LEGO".yup, it's there =)

This is only the first year knock off brand imitate lego, so let's wait and see what will happen. i hope they make KO Mr.Gold. I want to do army of Mr.Gold. heheh