Wednesday, April 29, 2015

Those Amazing Avengers: Age of Ultron Bootleg Action Figures

I'd like to tell you the story of a guy named Robert Cop. Robert Cop was once a fully human police officer until he met a violent end. Now Robert is reborn as a cybernetic defender of the peace, sworn to bring evil doers to justice...all while avoiding the copyright put forth by the licensor that owns Robocop...because THAT'S HOW THEY ROLL IN CHINA!! These days, action figure collectors are hard pressed to tell the difference between the real thing and a Chinese knockoff...but even though the quality is up there on some items, you can still count on horrifically, hysterically incredible bootlegs to pop up in stores. Crossing DC and Marvel characters means nothing to these brave pirates and they sling toys with wonky, wandering eyes to dollar stores across America and abroad. As Avengers: Age of Ultron approaches, we'll take a look at the top bootlegs of these characters surfacing right now...

Let's start with the good..and cycle right through to the ugly. These first bootlegs are not perfect, but they aren't completely horrible abominations in plastic...as is sometimes the case (see below). Often, these nearly passable toys are poured over and examined to see if they could blend in barely noticeable among the Marvel Legends collections of my collecting brothers and sisters. Sure, the articulation is very basic, but how else am I going to get a movie style Loki for under 50 bucks??!! You'd think they'd just re-release figures like that. Hasbro does not love my money enough. The first of these beauties was found in Argentina...Buenos Aires to be exact, by our new bud Gustavo, who shot the "live" pictures at great peril, as those Chinese shop owners do NOT like picture taking of their illegal bootlegs. Thanks Gustavo!









Note that each of these has an LED light in their chest...because what toy is not made profoundly better with a chest light? We'll also note the inclusion of Batman, Superman, Spider-Man, The Thing and Wolverine in this mega movie lineup. I sometimes think the bootleggers are more hardcore geeky than we are. Their fanfic must be mindblowing. Also note Quicksilver in there...which is sorely absent from any 6 inch lines releasing this year. You'll be able to score Iron Man, Hulk and Captain America in the Thanos Build-A Figure Marvel Legends wave, then Thor, Black Widow, Hawkeye and Puny Banner in an Amazon boxed set, a Build-A-Figure movie Ultron in a Marvel Legends Ant-Man wave and a bulky movie accurate Hulkbuster Iron Man in yet another Marvel Legends wave. Nick Fury is in a current Toys R Us boxed set with Agent Coulson and Maria Hill. No word on movie Vision, Quick Silver or Scarlet Witch, but we'd gather they will be the left behind.

The next selection is...not so hot...starring a Scarlet Witch who looks like an unfortunate New Jersey stripper...you know the one...she's getting up there in age but still has bills to pay, working at that converted gas station along the highway with the free lunch buffet. Hold your head up girl...your boobs may be wonky but they are still awesome. The rest of this lot..mere poorly crafted sidekicks hoping for fleeting moments of screen time, blinded by her eerily sincere smile. Amazing.


 


Next up we'll take a peek at a selection of Hulkbusters! Currently on the toy market, you can score a hefty Hulkbuster starting at $30 to upwards of around $800...I kid u not. Hot Toys do not play. These bootleg Hulkbusters are...a bit smaller..and significantly cheaper. It's insane that, as the style gets rounder and chunkier, my desire to own it rises, though having it upscaled to Shogun Warrior size would be the ideal. Ug...the wanting.






Now we get into..the ugly. Marvel Mashers have been dominating the toy shelves and sneaking their way into the hearts of collectors with a dizzying array of oddball characters you can't even get in any Marvel Legends wave, past or present. Here's the bootlegger salute to that line....complete with Batman and Superman...and chest lights because whatever. I also like that it looks as if Iron Man did jail time and had to shank a guy so he wouldn't be anyone's bitch, earning him the teardrop tattoo.






Have you found any awesome Avengers bootlegs to add to this list? Give a shout in the comments!

3 comments :

  1. I couldn't resist and ordered that Hulkbuster. He looks awesome with the 3 3/4 figures.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I want some of those odd duck ones like Superman/Batman/Thing/Wolverine.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I just got Quicksilver today. Not bad for a few bucks. The light up chest makes no sense, though.

    ReplyDelete