What are Fantasy Pins?

Recently I discovered a new pin trend that has been taking over my entire Instagram – at first glance it appeared to be Disney enamel pins but at a closer look they are actually fan made pins! I am not an avid pin trader and don’t really think I will ever be so maybe I’m just a little behind on these trends. In fact, I own very few pins in general. I have a few from Jarrod Maruyama’s Kingdom of Cute Collection, an Oswald the Lucky Rabbit pin my nephew gave me, a Club 33 lapel pin, and a few random others gifted to me over the years. Besides that I rarely will buy enamel pins for myself even though there are a lot of great ones out there.

What I do know about pin trading in my limited experience with Official Disney Pins is the following:

· Disney makes pins in different edition sizes (so, for example, something with the edition size of 300 would be rare whereas an edition size of 3,000 is more common)

· Many pin traders will trade pins based on the edition size. You can find the size on the back (a run of 500 pins would be marked “LE 500” on the back.) So it’s possible that a LE 500 would trade for another LE 500.

· New pins are released weekly and pin traders are very excited about grabbing the latest and greatest pins!

· There are several types of pins you may not normally see – jumbo pins are giant sized pins and mystery pins are sealed in a box so you don’t know which one you are getting!

· You can trade pins with Cast Members as long as you are trading an official Disney pin

I know there is a lot more to the pin trading scene but that’s not what brought me here today. Back to the enamel pins created by Disney fans…

A huge movement of unofficial Disney pins has been sweeping the internet. Many have been calling them “Fantasy Pins” and they are inspired by Disney in some sort of way. These fan pins are not trademarked or officially sanctioned by Disney but so many people are crazy about them!

For sake of comparison I’ve compiled a mixture of Official Disney Pins and Fantasy Pins below. The ones marked as “ShopDisney” are official merchandise and the ones marked “Etsy” are fan merchandise. Take a look and see if you can spot the differences – if any – with the pins below. I’ve included links to purchase all pins in the blog post for those that are interested!

Disclosure: Some of the links in this post may be affiliate links, meaning, at no cost to you, I may earn a small commission if you click through and make a purchase. Your support to this blog is greatly appreciated and commissions go towards bringing you the best content possible!

ShopDisney

Etsy

ShopDisney

Etsy

ShopDisney

Etsy

So what do you think? Are these pins here to stay or will Disney put an end to it? Leave your comments below! And if you like fan inspired merchandise be sure to check out my post on Mouse Ears for Your Next Disney Trip!

See you in the parks!

-Lizzie

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If you need Mouse Ears for your next trip, check out my Etsy Shop: AdventurelandEarsCo

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