TrackMaster Bert & Arry Chinese knockoffs

[Muddy Poppins]

As I was looking at the poor quality and off colors of the TrackMaster little friends Bert & Arry that are being sold on eBay (from a 3rd party), it finally donned on me why they look so shabby...
These Chinese knock-offs are actually the painted shells from the 2012 re-release of a FisherPrice Diesel!!
They also barely green and more like a mossy brown color as well.
I’ve put them all together, along with Dodge, Splatter, and the original 2009 version of Diesel.



2012 FisherPrice Diesel
2019 Chinese Knockoff Bert & Arry

[Super]

What a great piece of detective work Muddy. I wanted to check the knockoffs I have but the Future World storage bins are buried under tons of Toilet Paper, Paper Towel and Kleenex Tissue packages

[Mister No]

I saw many knockoffs like these on eBay. They are cheap, but I like some of them, for example, this Hank (it says: unbranded, but it looks like Motorized FP Hank to me) looks pretty good:



But what about their running quality? Are they poor runners, as I suppose? 
It also says: "Can run on Tomy blue rail & Trackmaster rail", but can they really?

[Muddy Poppins]

Yes Mr, No they run great!
We have many that run no differently than the real ones.
I’ve never opened our Bert & Arry, Donald & Douglas, or Dennis, but the ones that I have run (D-10, James w/bees, and Liberated Gordon) were awesome.

[Super]

Thinking about it...I believe that the term 'Knockoff' really doesn't fit for these Chinese copies as they are pretty much exact down to the plastic, the motors the look, feel and the packaging. They are not like cheaply made knockoff toys that are different, use cheap plastic, cheap motors and flimsy construction. I have both Bert and Arry and also Hank and although I knew when I bought them from China that they weren't authentic, to most anyone they would be very hard to tell a difference between whats real and whats not.

Muddy...I now will look at every Bert and Arry I see in the auctions just to see if they are the copies or real because of your discovery.

[DuckGWR]

They are not like almost any other knockoff, it definitely seems like after Mattel canned classic TrackMaster the factory that had been making them held on to molds, packaging plans, paint layouts, etc and started pumping them out. They are basically just late Mattel era Trackmaster stuff, with some oddities like liberated tender James having the old HiT James Goes Buzz Buzz design applied, and some having the wrong wheels - I think it's Dennis that has the wrong shade of wheels that actually belongs to one of the logging twins. Interesting that they had all the packaging layouts and plans too, and that they put out things like the Stephen with no tender simply titled Rocket

[Muddy Poppins]

@DuckGWR Yes it’s Dennis that has Bash’s blue grey wheels and with standard side rides.
@ Super Yes exactly more like counterfeit than knock-offs...I only called Bert & Arry knockoffs because they are so far from accurate, aren’t even from the proper mold, painted sloppy, and have “ironworks” slapped across them even though the lettering does not fit the surface area.

[Super]

I am now curious to the their faces. In the real Bert and Arry don't they each have a different expression? If so what about the Chinese copies...are they different? If I remember correctly isn't Diesels face part of the shells mold and can not be removed? Are the copy cats removable? Also the mold of Paxton also looks to be a match for the copy cats in switch position and grates on top.

[chrisjo]

The original Diesel, Dodge, Splatter, Bert and 'Arry all used the same mould except for their faces, which were an integral part of the body shell, and on Bert and 'Arry the ladders were removed. (Switch on right side of engine covers, open cab rear windows, smooth finish).

Paxton and subsequently the revised Trackmaster Fisher Price Diesel used a new mould, the different faces being secured by a screw. (Switch on right side of cab roof, no cab rear windows, matte finish). This is the mould being used for the Chinese copies described above, for which different removable faces appear to have been specially made.

It is interesting to note that up until the end of 2018 the authoritative Thomas Motorized Wiki (as it is now known) believed that Bert and 'Arry also existed in two legitimate versions, as per Diesel. This was the text used (as per the 'Arry page revision history):

TrackMaster model (2009-2011 - US; 2010-2011 - UK)
TrackMaster by Fisher-Price model (new body design and motor) (2012-2014 - UK/US)

Thus giving apparent legitimacy to the Chinese copies.

At the start of 2019 the Wiki was edited to simply say:

TrackMaster model (2009-2014 - US; 2010-2014 - UK)

...and the title of the relevant image was changed from 'TrackMaster (Fisher-Price) Arry 2012 box' to 'TrackMaster Knockoff Arry box'.

[Mister No]

I am now curious to the their faces. In the real Bert and Arry don't they each have a different expression? If so what about the Chinese copies...are they different? 

I don't have them, but the "unbranded" Bert & Arry look like this (picture from eBay):

[chrisjo]

I don't have them, but the "unbranded" Bert & Arry look like this (picture from eBay):

However, there is little if any control over which face you'll get. I have two of these copies with Bert stamped on the chassis, but one has one face and one has the other. In the picture above 'Arry is on the left, and Bert on the right.

These are the genuine article (per Motorized Wiki again):

'Arry


Bert

[Mister No]

However, there is little if any control over which face you'll get. 

They are selling them as a Arry + Bert Set too; I suppose buying them in a set assures you don't get two Arrys or two Berts...

[Super]

@Chrisjo
Must be just me again but I can't see your pictures

@Mr-No
That picture clearly shows how the faces are removable as opposed to the first Diesel version. Thanks