Faster than a speeding bullet!!! More generic than Soda Cola... Able to mimic major brands to a negligible degree... IT'S.....
BOOTLEG TOYS!!!
These gems surfaced this week as I was shaking ebay down for new releases and checking regional distributions. I went in looking for Zod but came out having seen the very depraved edge of toy copydom.
This beautiful set features the Man of Steel himself in his classic colors, Zod in his trademark black, and Superman in his dream sequence black costume. What is peculiar about this release is that the actual Black Suit Superman is only hitting markets just as recently as this week so it is quite the coincidence that this makes its appearance when it does.
First we'll take a look at Superman. At first he looks like a pretty faithful copy of the original we are seeing in stores. On closer inspection the details start to betray the figure as we loose about 50% of the articulation. It appears that we are left with swivel hips, waist, and neck, along with hinge elbows and knees. I would not count on these figures featuring balljoint necks or shoulders.
The "S" Glyph as it will now be referred tois also a smoothed version without all the texturing that we see on the legitimate model. a peculiar change being that may have actually required some extra effort outside of simply recasting the figure. But hey... bootleggers can take pride in their work as well I guess.
Second we have our Superman in Black Suit. This is quite a treat since of course this figure is being released currently so that means this effort was underway for quite some time. Pointing towards factory insiders who may find themselves privy to paintmasters or paint schematics. This doppleganger even features the blackened "Heat Vision" eyes that were included with the official release for some weird reason. The same articulation applies here as the body is identical to the original version.
We've seen the good.. we've seen the bad... now we have the fungly. Zod is the most special of this set as the bootleggers chose to use a blackened Superman torso instead of a new mold for the Kryptonian baddie. Times are tough... cut corners. Zod features all the same articulation of the other 2 figures but atleast features his own unique head cast. This is a funny set to have run into and I'll probably order a couple for novelty sake. If there was a rating system for bootlegs I would give it 4 out of 5 Derps.
While identity is key in this set, I'll let the SuperZod slip. The casting thus far seems to be pretty faithful though it will be subject to the pitfalls of EXTREMELY CHEAP manufacturing as seen in most bootlegs. While I have been schooled countless times on the difference between bootlegs, fakes and reproductions I will always call unofficial mass produced figures and products bootlegs.
