Star Wars Storm Trooper 15 inch bootleg from Mexico

(Star Wars: Episode Dos, Attack of the Hombres)

Mexico; land of great food, awesome professional wrestling and highly sought after bootleg toys. Star Wars bootlegs range from very shoddy constructed hunks of plastic to really well made toys that rival what Hasbro makes. Often these figures are considerably bigger than the originals they are molded from or modeled after. In the toy world, bigger isn't always better. Bigger figures sometimes feel kind of plain due to lack of details or paint applications. This particular figure may be big, but it doesn't disappoint in any way. Bigger than any Storm Trooper that came before it, I give you the Taco Trooper.

(Nooooooooo!)

(Carmen Miranda meets a galaxy far, far away)

I had heard of this particular bootleg several years ago when I started getting into Jumbo Machinders (Shogun Warriors). On several of the message boards, a well known collector and forum contributor posted pictures of the same bootleg I'm talking about today in it's original packaging (a cellophane baggie with a cardboard header, fairly traditional for Mexican bootlegs) standing next to a 3 ¾ inch Storm Trooper from the vintage Kenner line. I was dead set on finding and buying this bootleg but never found it. Years passed by and even though I placed the acquisition of this bootleg very high on my list of must haves, I had never come across one. In the time it took me to find this one piece I moved, got married, bought over 25 collections, four Jumbo Shogun Warriors, a Blue Snaggletooth, 3 Dinosaucers, 3 Tiger Sharks, a whole set of Bandai Tick figures on the card, a complete set of Dune figures and fleshed out my sofubi collection from one shelf to half my living room. The day I received this piece was definitely a day for celebration.

Standing a full 3 inches taller than the 12 inch Storm Trooper, this bootleg is automatically impressive. The plastic used is a little thinner than what you'd find used in a Jumbo Shogun Warrior with a very unfinished, raw texture. The white plastic is detailed with black paint, sloppily spray painted in the right spots. The only other notable thing about the figure is the scaled reproduction blaster that comes rubber banned to the leg. Back when this figure came out, toys like the Gentle Giant large scale Kenner repros were merely a dream and now they are a reality. Was this figure the inspiration for a bigger company to come out with a superior product or was it just a great toy that was forgotten before it's time? I'm rather fond of it and if you found yourself desiring one for your own collection, I wish you lots of luck.

(the next three pics are from www.theswca.com)

Mexican bootleg Ultraman by unknown maker

Viva Mexico!

Mexican bootlegs are a branch of toy collecting I wish I could get more involved in. It's such a bizarre genre of toy collecting. There's no list of what was made, so who knows if you have a complete set or not. They are meant to be a novelty of sorts, which would drive completists absolutely mad. If you find something that catches your eye, buy it quickly because who knows if they made 10 or 10,000 of that figure. I'm not one to say something like that, one of my base rules of collecting is there's rarely only one of anything; but this isn't normal toy collecting. I have friends that own small armies of Homer from the Simpsons as every DC and Marvel character imaginable and near full sets of vintage Star Wars figures made out of lead. I own a few bizarre figures myself, from “Big Chap” from Aliens to E.T (bagged as a character known only as Space Friend) and today's topic of discussion, Ultraman.

Bought off of an eBay auction in mid December, this particular Ultraman figure has no maker's marks or indentifying symbols. This isn't a surprise since most unlicensed Mexican figures are void of such markings. The figure is molded in silver plastic, possibly blow molded like most figures just like him from south of the border. No paint applications on the toy anywhere nor any traces of paint lead me to the conclusion that this figure was meant to just be a silver hunk of plastic. The only confusing thing about the figure is the gym shorts sculpted on the figure. The ridge on the head is an Ultraman trait as well as the chest piece, but the booty shorts left me scratching my head. I know toys such as him are often sold by sidewalk vendors, especially in front of Luchador exhibitions. Maybe the figure was meant to represent a certain masked wrestler, the mystery may never be solved to be honest. Enjoy!