shark!! warning - pic heavy

[Hedji]

Looks terrific. I embrace repros when there is absolutely zero chance of me getting the real thing. So GWS, here I come!

[MIB41]

Omigod. Just got mine delivered to the door (along with the Superfriends). Beautiful piece!! My shark was snug and secure in his box. My grandson is going to LOSE his mind!

[Vinny0026]

Looks terrific. I embrace repros when there is absolutely zero chance of me getting the real thing. So GWS, here I come!

I agree 100% - I'm not going to spend 7000 and up for a MIB one - so this comes at the right price.
I'm all for adding something I wish I could have but can't afford - I'm sure many people buying this set feel the same way. Hope mine gets here today!

[Vinny0026]

I don't have a problem with them trying to do the hands...I just feel bad for the first person, and most likely many people, that will get suckered by someone saying that it's the real deal. You know that FTC isn't marking any of their Webbed Hand versions in any way shape or form. If they do make the hands available they better come with some sort of markings. If they don't, they are not doing right by the Mego Community AT ALL. Just my 2 cents.

I doubt that if they add the hands to the store they will sit there and mark the hands.

Have you ever thought of having yours graded before the craze starts? (I would if I were you) I mean it is well known that you have had the only one know to exists. No doubt at all that people will try and pan these off as the real deal - it is a fact it will happen. Just hope people are not stupid enough to fall for it - but they will. Just the other day on ebay I saw a cared rocket firing boba fett with like 20 bids or more up to over 500 - I don't know if people are that dumb or that little informed - hate to see that guys face when someone tells him the truth about it! that it is a fake!

[Blue Meanie]

I never thought you'd have that view because your figure is the only known figure that has been known to possess webbed hands---for decades. Please correct me if I'm incorrect.

I've had it for close to 15 years. My bro told me that I should expect FTC to make the set when FTC started doing the repro Megos...so it was a forgone conclusion that it was going to happen. Nothing I could have done because you know the old saying Money talks and you know what walks. I don't have a patent on the hands or a copyright on them either. That being said it doesn't bother me at all. What DOES bother me is that there will be a lot of people that will be suckered into thinking the hands are the real deal when they aren't.

My only thing to say to FTC is this...if you CARE about the collectors in this community you may want to rethink how you go about doing your reproductions...especially when it comes to very rare figures that have distinctions about that them that WEREN'T made in the millions (Parts) If you don't care, then don't fix the problem and the collectors will know whose side you are on. Again, just my 2 cents.

For anyone that happens by this thread that is a guest or a lurker....the Webbed Hand Aquaman in the Worlds Greatest Toys book is the only one that exists, or is known to exist.

[Boywonder0]

The webbed hands in FTCs Prototype Aquaman figure looked rubbery. I think any Mego collector would tell these are fake/repro...

[mlowitt]

After seeing these pics, I cancelled my order from EE. Nothing against FTC as I love their stuff, this one just doesn't do it for me.

[Monstar]

In all fairness, I would think that anyone who would be in the market for a real Webbed Hand Aquaman is going to be a knowledgeable Mego Collector, know that there are repros out there and take caution. It's grail item, not a casual purchase.

[bondtoddbond]

I think it looks pretty good for the price and if it's sitting on a shelf in the box, it will look like the real deal until you scrutinize it. They're making some decent stuff and are really cranking out the product. I like what they're doing.

[warlock664]

In all fairness, I would think that anyone who would be in the market for a real Webbed Hand Aquaman is going to be a knowledgeable Mego Collector, know that there are repros out there and take caution. It's grail item, not a casual purchase.

No, I don't agree. Obviously a knowledgeable Mego collector would know the difference and steer clear, but an unscrupulous person is going to target the novice collector thinking they're getting a rare item at a great price.

[PNGwynne]

I don't have a patent on the hands or a copyright on them either. That being said it doesn't bother me at all. What DOES bother me is that there will be a lot of people that will be suckered into thinking the hands are the real deal when they aren't.

My only thing to say to FTC is this...if you CARE about the collectors in this community you may want to rethink how you go about doing your reproductions...especially when it comes to very rare figures that have distinctions about that them that WEREN'T made in the millions (Parts) If you don't care, then don't fix the problem and the collectors will know whose side you are on. Again, just my 2 cents.

For anyone that happens by this thread that is a guest or a lurker....the Webbed Hand Aquaman in the Worlds Greatest Toys book is the only one that exists, or is known to exist.

I welcome this reproduction--I may have held out for original Teen Titans and Peter Parker, but the GWS is an incredibly rare Mego of my favorite character. I'm glad for a placeholder.

BUT, FTC should be marking these items prominently. That, and the skin tone they use, should be signifiers. It's the right thing to do, as Blue Meanie suggests.

[PNGwynne]

No, I don't agree. Obviously a knowledgeable Mego collector would know the difference and steer clear, but an unscrupulous person is going to target the novice collector thinking they're getting a rare item at a great price.

I re-entered Mego collecting--and I collect mostly loose, bear in mind--after DM and CTVT repros had hit the market. Well-informed is well-armed IMO. Internet sites like the museum and books like Mego: WGT help foster that self-education. That said, ebay is always a landmine for fraud and FTC's recent offerings are more accurate in some ways than earlier repros.

There's no doubt t that Hasbro's own anniversary repros caused a dip in the value of vintage 12" GI Joe. But they held the copyright--and had the integrity to stamp every item "40th" or alter it slightly.

[skid14]

first off im not bashing ftc or the set...

on the webbed hands....

i will have to buy one just to have the thing in my hand. not that im anticipating selling a kidney for a real one one day or even having the chance to sell my kidney for one. i wouldnt want to find a beater floating belt aquadude with these hands in a thrift store 2 years from now and have another heart attack.

its gonna be hard to judge unless ive seen blue meanies in person or have seen the fakes in person. the ones they show on their webpage looks like handmade cast prototype stuff. the pics of the ones in this thread are production made and already appear too close by pics if they arent marked or rubbery etc. the pics ive seen of blue meanies also appear production made...proto, sales sample, one off, whatever it is and have no marks. as a community we have to closely document the differences in the hands whatever they may be in case there is another legit example out there and to keep unaware collectors from falling prey.

[ODBJBG]

Making the repro hands is no different than making repro anything. Just as they make repro over mitts. It will never be an identical copy.

If someone gets bamboozled, unfortunately, that's their own fault for not doing better research. If they spend hundreds or thousands of dollars on something and don't know that there are repros out there, they're going to get duped on a lot more than Aquaman hands. And frankly, if it's so hard to tell the difference, no one will know one way or the other.

But the webbed hands are such an obscure item that only someone who is after it would know about it and that person will know that there are repros. Because you'd have to do research to know webbed hand Aquaman even exists.

[scott metzger]

I don't have a problem with them trying to do the hands...I just feel bad for the first person, and most likely many people, that will get suckered by someone saying that it's the real deal. You know that FTC isn't marking any of their Webbed Hand versions in any way shape or form. If they do make the hands available they better come with some sort of markings. If they don't, they are not doing right by the Mego Community AT ALL. Just my 2 cents.

Considering that many collectors complain about ugly markings in conspicuous areas on figures, I can see why they wouldn't mark them up. I'm not seeing a problem here that doesn't exist with every repro ever made, and, in this case, there's only one known real copy in existence. Should they mark the extra chest symbols they include with some figures so they aren't passed off as originals, or the mittens? If a person is willing to spend a large sum on something supposedly rare and valuable in an era where repros abound, they really do need to be careful. FTC is trying to make thing as close to the originals as they reasonably can, and a lot of their pieces are very close, as are many repro parts out there. I don't see it as the repro makers responsibility to make sure people don't get fooled by the unscrupulous out there; they are just making a product that, in and of itself, is harmless.