A gallery of bootleg Superman action figures

[MegoSteve]

Another special guest submission... Marco from Mexico sent me dozens of pictures of his bootleg Superman figures, many of which I've never seen before.

http://collectingsuperman.com/?p=3210

[enyawd72]

Interesting collection to be sure.
Personally, I won't buy bootlegs. I think they're hideous.

[palitoy]

Oh my, I would buy all of these in a heart beat.

One thing though, the parachute figure is actually licensed, i have one carded.

[MegoSteve]

I'll add that to my post, Brian. Thanks for the info.

[Orlock]

I love bootleg figures. They're so weird and awesome! Great post!

[LadyZod]

Bootleg figures are awesome. Superman bootlegs are even better.

[enyawd72]

I'm very interested to know why all you guys think bootlegs are awesome. I'm not criticizing...just genuinely curious.
I just can't see the appeal of poorly made fake figures.

[LadyZod]

I think it's a cross between nostalgia and wimsy.

Nostalgia for me, since my folks used to buy me cheap knock off in chinatown growing... not that they knew better.

My husband and I have a running joke: "Just as good"

Grandma's Xmas shopping and says ,"why little Billy likes GI Joe" and picks up a Lanard or Chun Mai set and says, "oh, it's JUST AS GOOD." Then on Xmas little Billy opens the box up and says "oh wow, GI... Army Crew... thanks Grandma" Que sad trombone sound.

Kind of like that episode of I Love Lucy, where she dresses up as Superman and insists those kids will be so hopped up on cake and soda they won't know the difference... it's the JUST AS GOOD mentality adults have.



Wimsy, as these things look super silly.

[Confessional]

Few thoughts on why I dig bootleg and oddball figs as an adult collector…

Many of these pieces come from parts of the world where the western collector culture didn't or doesn't exist. That results in an entirely differently approach to toy making and distribution. It also means in many cases, the toys were played with, and few survived… especially in my case as a POTA collector, those coming from Mexico, Central and South America, Europe and the far East are wild in comparison to their counterparts. I also find fascination in the global popularity/curiosity of the Apes movies and merchandise at that time in history.

In addition, there's fun, interesting and even weird/strange interpretations of the characters. To me, that's pretty genius as it not only expands the toy line [sic], but also provides diversity in something you enjoy collecting/displaying/playing with. Sometimes there are characters revealed that never existed in the licensed lines; there can be new cultural-based traits; love that!

There's a really satisfying thrill of the hunt and discovery with these pieces as some are still undocumented or otherwise exist outside of our institutional auction-culture. Wether you network through a guy who knows a guy who knows a place where there's this guy, or you travel and are lucky enough to find a toy in a local mercado, bazaar or flea market, it's damn fun with a sense of international intrigue that mass-produced toy lines often lack.

Lastly, it's sorta the final frontier of toy collecting, meaning, as globalism deepens fewer specimens remain true mysteries. Once everything is photographed, speculated and sold on eBay, well, things are different…

While I enjoy the hundreds of Apes that line my studio, the most compelling inhabitants tend to be the weirdos, monsters and freaks.