Fake Cards Can Sparkle Too: What I Saw When I Put W4, W5 and W6 Under the Light

I put the W4, W5 and W6 cards under the same light to see what changed as I moved them, and what I could only feel with the cards in hand.

At the start of the video, I held two HAPPY Ponies cards with the same artwork in front of the camera and gave everyone three seconds to guess which one was counterfeit.

Both cards caught the light. Both looked bright when I tilted them under the lamp. If the only question is “Does it sparkle?”, there is no answer yet.

After three seconds, I looked again

Once I brought the cards closer, the shine and fine lines around the eyes no longer looked quite the same. On the authentic card, the sparkle followed details in the artwork. The counterfeit was shiny too, but on camera it looked more like white lines and flat glare. The useful question was not which card looked brighter, but how the shine related to the original artwork.

The colour difference was easy to spot as well. One card leaned more blue-purple, while the other looked pinker. Authentic cards can also have small colour shifts or printing flaws depending on the ink and print run, so colour cannot settle the question on its own. An unusual colour is a reason to look again, not a verdict.

When I turned the cards over, I ran my fingers across both surfaces. One felt rougher, although that is something a screen cannot confirm. What the camera could show was the small KAYOU mark and smiley detail beneath the balloon. In this pair, the counterfeit did not reproduce the smiley detail seen on the authentic card, and the small mark also sat in a different position.

I then looked at the KAYOU lettering, the ® symbol and the copyright text along the bottom. Their shapes, sizes and spacing also differed between these two cards. These are observations from this particular pair. One odd-looking letter on its own still is not enough to call a card counterfeit.

There is also a yellow starburst beneath the My Little Pony logo. On this pair, the starburst on the counterfeit is larger and fuller, while the matching one on the authentic card is smaller. The difference is easier to follow in the moving clip than in a single still frame.

I am only comparing the W4, W5 and W6 physical cards I had in front of me, so these details are not rules for every card.

W4: Both cards shine, but the ripple pattern moves differently

I started the W4 section with one counterfeit card on its own. When I touched the signature, it felt slightly recessed and flat. Some of the black outlines around the wings, tail and character were incomplete as well. The card still shone under the lamp, but the reflection looked as though the whole surface was lighting up beneath one shiny layer.

I then brought the authentic card into the same strong light. With a small movement, its water-ripple pattern and other textures began to appear. The counterfeit beside it was bright too, but its gold surface changed more like one broad reflective area.

The authentic card also had a small line defect of its own. One uneven edge or tiny colour flaw does not automatically make a card counterfeit. A small isolated printing flaw is different from linework and texture problems that keep appearing across the card.

Other W4 cards showed different issues in different places. One Applejack card was missing part of the black outline near her tail. On a Cadance card, some of the gold and black lines around the crown and wings did not continue cleanly. Other cards had outlines or gradients that looked uneven. These were separate cards. I did not find every one of these problems on a single counterfeit.

W6: It looks like resin, but the effect comes from a pearlescent finish

When I reached the fish-themed group, I moved the jellyfish area into strong light. On the authentic card, the jellyfish had a resin-like sense of depth. I ran my finger across it, though, and the surface was still flat. It was not covered in real resin. The pearlescent finish was creating that raised-looking effect under the light.

The counterfeit from the same pair also felt smooth, but it did not show the same visual depth around the jellyfish. The difference was in what the light revealed, not in a genuinely raised layer on the card.

Later, I picked up a W6 counterfeit featuring a Pinkie scene. It sparkled, but the shine looked more like a layer sitting over the artwork. The pearl motif also appeared darker than the authentic effect I described in the video. I keep the same W6 counterfeit in hand throughout this clip.

I also looked at other W6 cards for differences in the clarity of pearl details, the raised or recessed feel of signatures, and the thickness of the borders. Those observations came from different cards, so they do not all belong to the first jellyfish card. Strong light can reveal the pearlescent finish and broad surface shine. Whether a signature is raised, or whether the surface feels sandy or papery, can only be checked with the card in hand.

W5: Do the strawberry details and gold lines follow the artwork?

In the Sweet / SC group, I first looked at a Rainbow Dash family card. The gold outline near the eye did not sit neatly against the artwork, making it look as though the character had an extra eyelid. The fine sparkle in the hair was incomplete too and looked more like a bright layer floating over the surface.

I also said in the original video that the eye detail was difficult to capture clearly on camera. I could see it on the card in person, but the camera did not capture it clearly.

The next W5 counterfeit was much easier to see on screen. When I pointed below the strawberry, a small detail that should have appeared there had not been reproduced clearly, leaving that part of the artwork looking flatter.

Beside it, the green fill of the star no longer lined up with its gold outline. I brought the same card, already identified in the video as counterfeit, closer to the camera so the gap between the colour and the gold line could be seen directly.

The W5 cards also included observations around raised eye details, fine sparkle in the hair and the feel of certain areas. Some only became visible while I moved a card under strong light; others could only be checked with my fingers. I saw these details on different cards, not all together on one counterfeit.

The silver mark, card edges and texture are only part of the picture

Near the end of the video, I turned one card back under strong light to show how the small silver holographic mark reveals a “double K” as the angle changes. Because there is a cut before the close-up, I cannot use this shot to say which series the card belongs to or whether it is authentic. It only shows how the silver mark changes under the light. I treat the mark as a reference point, not proof by itself.

From our day-to-day experience handling these cards, authentic silver marks can also vary between print batches. Some look crisp, while others are lighter or slightly blurred. A less distinct mark is not an immediate reason to panic. It makes more sense to consider it alongside the rest of the card.

At the end, I also checked the edges of the W5 cards. The authentic card in the video had a more visible white edge, while the counterfeit showed very little. The two cards were not held at exactly the same moment and angle, so I would only treat the edge as one small extra detail from this pair.

The same applies to the feel of the signature and surface. The video can show where my fingers moved, but it cannot send that texture through the screen. Raised or recessed details, roughness and smooth areas are things you can notice once the card is in your hand. You still need the card in hand for those.

No single detail told the whole story

The differences made much more sense once I watched the cards move. The W4 ripple texture, the resin-like depth of the W6 pearlescent finish, broad surface glare, and the way gold or black outlines follow the original artwork all behaved differently in these cards. Lettering, small marks and misaligned lines can sometimes be seen directly. Raised signatures and surface texture still need to be felt in person.

Collecting is supposed to be enjoyable. There is no need to turn every pack opening into a search for counterfeits. But if the price looks unusually low, the listing photos are blurry, or the colour, linework, shine and texture on the same card all begin to feel wrong, pause and compare it with an authentic card from a source you trust. That tells you far more than asking whether it sparkles.