[Zackmak]

I have a great time going back and looking at all the things that took place within the Smurfs universe, and I recently started reading up on the Unicef/50th Anniversary event of 2008, and its white 8" paintable figures. They used that same figure in 2013 (but factory-painted to look like a normal Smurf) for their Global Smurfs Day events around the world.

I'm wondering how these 2013 Smurf figures were distributed to the public. I know the marketing team set up 'scenes' where they placed these figures at key points within the participating cities, and from my guess, they were not to be removed by the public. This would be different from how they distributed the Unicef Smurfs, where the whole idea was for people to find these figures and take them home and paint them. Thus, they were free if you were lucky to find them. Or, they were also available for sale at 10 euro dollars.

So, with these 2013 figures, were only a select amount available to people? Were they given away as a 'first come, first serve' basis if you showed up to the event? Were they given out as free promotional material or prizes? Could you buy them from some store, nonetheless, if you wanted more, or didn't get a free one (just like the Unicef version)? What happened to all those that were in the city displays?

Hopefully someone has the answer. I notice since 2013, there have been many other colours of these exact figures (Gold, Silver, Bronze - both shiny and dull -; yellow, red, black, etc.) Would you happen to know what year each one was distributed and how? I believe they were all part of Global Smurfs Day, but only 2011 and 2013 were very large parties with huge promotion... the other years I haven't read anywhere that they did a very big thing for them, internationally. So if they were small events (or no event at all - and just a date on the calendar that people recognized in June every year), how were these other coloured 8" figures distributed? By online orders from an official Smurfs site?

I know many know that answers, but I can't find any online reports that touch on my specific questions, unfortunately.

[paolo]

Actually all the white global smurfs were first seen in 2008 for the 50th anniversary. IMPS did a widespread tour around Europe where they gave away the smurfs by putting them in particular places and letting people take them for free.
In Italy they came on May 16th 2008 in Milano:
https://www.newsfood.com/i-puffi-compio ... no-milano/
and I was there. I was also filmed by the local news (I had to sign a disclaimer to let them use me in the footage) while gathering them from the ground.
Previous cities were kept secret, so fans could not go there in advance, but in the case of Italy they let know in advance, so I was able to go from where I live near Venice to Milano the night before and be in Piazza Duomo as soon as they where liying the smurfs in the ground.
During the same events some white smurfs were sold if I remeber correctly for 10 euros sealed in plastic bags with revenues going to Unicef. And I also bought two of them that I still have sealed!


They then used regularly colored smurfs for other events in the years after.
I believe the best palce where to buy them is from bluedwarfs.com (that's where I bought the gold, silver. bronze, red, yellow, black ones).

[The Smurf Collector]

Hi Paolo, that sounds like it was amazing experience. Something your average Smurf collector would not experience everyday.

From my understanding in 2013 Leblon Delienne and Artoyz teamed up together to produce three coloured movable 20cm Smurfs. These were made out of a single colour - orange, blue and pink and were made out of a plastic vinyl material. I am not sure if this had anything to do with the Global Smurfs Day promotions.

The shiny bronze, gold and silver movable Smurfs were available in 2017 by Puppy S.A from Belgium. These are the same size and mould as the regular 20cm blue and white Smurf.

In 2019, Puppy S.A produced siz of these 20cm Smurfs. This time they used more matte colours on the bronze, gold and silver Smurfs. Along with producing a red, yellow and black Smurfs (colours used on the Belgian flag).

[Zackmak]

Some great variations of the original Unicef Smurf! Would have loved to experience the celebrations.

A couple things to add. I researched that the shiny Gold, Silver, and Bronze figures were official products sold off of the smurfs.com website, in addition to them being given away as prizes in online smurfs contests. Here is a link to one example:

https://smurfsforums.popreach.com/forum ... -announced

As for the other differently-coloured Smurfs (dull gold, silver and bronze; red, yellow, black), my belief is that they are unofficial product, as I have yet to discover through my online research that they were produced by IMPS, Puppy, or given away for any sort of Global Smurfs Day event, unfortunately. Yes, they might have 'Puppy' or 'IMPS' on the bottom of their foot, and they come with a tag, but now-a-days, anything can be re-produced without licensing. Plus, the only places I have ever seen these sold are through obscure, shady websites that sell other skeptical items. BlueDwarfs.com is the only legitimate Smurfs site that sells them too, but because they also sell knock-off items, I put these coloured smurfs in that category too. And why is BlueDwarfs the only legitimate website that sells them, and not other Smurfs/Toy/Collectible online stores? Especially, since they were produced relatively recently.

This is just my opinion, of course. I really like the differently coloured smurfs and I was looking to buy a couple...but I only buy officially licensed items, and because I've yet to find any proof these are authentic, I resist buying them. I haven't found any website, blogs, news articles, etc. that say these are authentic or distributed by Puppy or IMPS. But to be fair, I haven't found any websites/articles that say these are 100% fake, either. If they are official, why are they so hard to find online to purchase, or not many know about them? Just curious. I hope someone on these boards can authenticate them. Did the smurfs.com website or even the Puppy.eu website ever sell these directly to the public?

And secondly, regarding the 2013 Global Smurfs Day painted figure, I'm still trying to research if these figures were only available through purchase, free to those attending the Global Smurfs Day event, or through contests/promotions.

Any thoughts?

[paolo]

I read somewhere that the shiny gold - silver - bronze were discontinued from production in favour of the matte coloured ones because of health hazards of the paint they used.