Fake Superhero Toys Exposed!

I've long been fascinated by bootleg toys. They're usually crappy, but I like the crappy. I like when they get the color on Robin's outfit wrong. I like when some company overseas mixes disparate characters together in one package, offering us juxtapositions we might otherwise never see. I want to see Snoopy hanging out with Spongebob Squarepants, the two of them using iPods. I want to see that.

One of my first bootleg toys was a Mickey Mouse figural pencil sharpener. He looked like the Japanese icon of the "salary man," with sunglasses, a business suit, and briefcase. He was pretty obese. They had a geisha Minnie Mouse as well. Most certainly not licensed by Disney.

Then there was fake Voltron, which to this day I refer to as "Foltron."

Recently my interest in these fabulous fakes was reawakened upon the discovery of action figure multi-packs that feature some really strange bedfellows:


As you can see, in this set we have Superman, a Ninja Turtle, Buzz Lightyear, Batman, and Spider-Man. All for around 6-8 dollars. What a deal! And the colorful and unique packaging promise even more wonders: The Incredibles. The Fantastic Four. Maybe even Venom!

It's heart-warming how all the companies
got together to bring this unique toy set to light.

Of particular interest is the Superman figure, which boasts a large "Superman Returns" head on a much smaller, "Justice League Unlimited" body. And his chest lights up. And they have some part fused into his hand from when they stole the mold from Mattel.

"Collections Them All!"

In this next set, called "Superman Returns," we get an army of Supermen plus Metallo. Though cartoony, the Supermen look not so much like they were stolen from the "animated series" as they resemble the Ed McGuinness version. Were they stolen from the DC Direct figures and shrunk down? Is this an original sculpt? Who knows. The only thing I know for sure is that you get not only Superman but apparently Captain Atom and Shazam as well.

Superman, Shazam, and Captain Atom - - with light-up chest action!

And the chests all light up. Because you want that in your toys.

The capes in the "Superman Returns" collection are all frayed pieces of cloth glued sloppily on the back, and Metallo is widely out of proportion with the other figures. The packaging tells us to "Collections Them All!" And, also, "Let' s Fence Against The Earth!"

Finally, we have here a picture of two Iron Man figures. Can you guess which one is the fake?

One of these figures is a big liar

Unlike the superhero sets, the bootleg Iron Man figures seem to have been created with much more care -- the fake Prada of fake action figures. The intent to fool people into thinking they are the real Hasbro product is quite evident in the packaging, which are direct copies of the originals. The only way you could really tell a fake package and a real one apart, in fact, is in the luster of the paper used. Hasbro's packaging is crisper, with a bit of a gloss, while the fakes are matte and faded.

As for the figures themselves, the originals have more joints, with crisper color. However, the fake apparently has War Machine's accessories -- and, of course, the friggin' light-up chest. Because you need that.

el fake-o

This post is not an endorsement of unlicensed superhero toys. Though many have theoretical suggested age ranges on the packaging, I would never give these toys to a child; most have sloppy production values and sometimes include sharp edges, tiny/loose pieces that could get swallowed, and even weird-smelling paint. And, in the case of the Iron Man figures, the intent was clearly to fool consumers into thinking they were buying the real thing, getting out of the realm of "camp" counterfeits completely and diving head-first into complete fraud.

However, even that cool Batman collectibles book by Chip Kidd several years ago offered us lovingly photographed images of bootleg toys. Their crappiness have seized our imagination.