In the action figure world, bootlegs have gotten so ubiquitous that they have their very own strata of fandom, as well as certain rules for style and execution, depending on what qualities they bring to the table. Some bootlegs can be almost flawless, near carbon copies of the real thing, like those fraudulent NECA Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles figures we featured a couple of years ago. On the other hand, sometimes bootlegs can be so off the mark and unintentionally hilarious that they find a soft spot all their own.
No matter the quality, bootlegs have always been sharp about following popular trends (that is the point, right?), and nothing is more popular right now than Star Wars. Well, even under the all-knowing eye of Disney, the popular Star Wars Black Series can tick off another box in its long list of accomplishments: the toys finally have some black market copies for us to consider. After being tipped off by a friend, I grabbed up a couple of these sets because, considering the rock-bottom price (less than $20 for the lot), they were easily worth the gamble. They arrived today in fairly short order, and to cut right to it, I would call these very “middle of the road” in terms of quality: they are not hilariously horrible, but they are not as nice as, say, those TMNT figures. If you already have a Black Series collection, these guys will make some good backfill behind the authentic troops.
For the sake of full disclosure, the real reason I bit on these was for the Imperial Guard figures because, well, those don’t exist in the Black Series line yet. After some research, I am pretty sure these are copies of the Kotobukiya ArtFX figures, so the guys making these have a wider reach than just the Star Wars Black Series. The rest of the figures are stripped-down copies of the original Black Series Storm and Clone Troopers repurposed in various ways. While I would not call any of these figures “good,” some are more successful than others in what they can accomplish on the shelf. Fortunately for me, the Guards seem to work the best for what I was hoping to achieve.
When it comes to the troops, I have firsthand experience with the real thing, so I can make a pretty solid comparison between what the actual product delivers versus the knockoff; however, I am not familiar with the Kotobukiya Guards to the point of having actually handled one in person, so I can only go on the merits of what this copy brings. In a nutshell, it brings a decent sculpt in the form of a completely static figurine completely devoid of articulation. Seriously, there is not one bit, which, for the most part, is not an issue since these guys are just big robes that don’t do much, but the exposed right hand is stuck in a bit of an awkward “palm up” position, and the staff is not included. Also, these guys are technically a bit too tall to stand with the Black Series correctly, but they are so close that it doesn’t even bother me. What I wanted for these was a couple of cool-looking guys to stand behind the Emperor, and that is exactly what I got — and at a bargain-basement price. So if you are willing to forgive the static nature and small height discrepancy in these, they actually make great stand-ins for your display.
I also got a handful of Clone Troopers, some “dirty Stormtroopers (or perhaps a Sandtrooper), and a Shadowtrooper with this order, but these don’t fare nearly as well as the Guards. So all of these look to be dumbed-down and slightly bastardized versions of the true Black Series figures. There are some sculpting irregularities, such as the shape of the Stormtrooper helmet being different from the Black Series version, and the plastic used for these is definitely not on the same level as the authentic versions. It is oddly rigid in some places, but soft and gummy in others to the point that had these been real releases, collectors would have (rightly) gone ballistic.
The articulation is also stripped down, and what starts with a Black Series figure is a shell by the time it goes through the Bootlegger’s jiggery-pokery, and few points and less range of movement is all that remains. Some points, such as the rib cage floating ball joint, have been removed entirely, and others, like the double knee and elbow joints, have been reduced to a single point. All of the joints move in limited and somewhat odd fashion. What were ball hips before, now still look the same but move like a standard T-crotch, and the neck articulation is extremely limited due to cutting points and odd assemblage. It is almost like some of the joints were frozen in a “slump” and these guys were never at the top of their Trooper class because they were just kind of shabby and not at attention.
You can see the full range of movement in Robo’s video review of the set:
The paint on these is not really sloppy or what you would assume to be typical of a check knockoff, but some odd choices are there as well. There is not really any rhyme or reason to the way the color is applied to the highlights of the normal Clone’s helmet, but the Sergeant and Shadowtropper actually fare pretty well. What I assume to be the “sand” or dirtying of the normal trooper is strange as well, and it looks like those are either implied stink marks, or that these guys got caught in the exhaust of a ship, rather than having rolled on the ground on Tatooine. Nothing looks particularly horrible, but as you can see in the side-by-side comparisons, they don’t really hold up to the real thing. That being said, none of these look particularly bad; they just look like, well, bootlegs, and they move like them too. But if you are an army-builder and want some cheap recruits to fill in the background, these guys actually work pretty well.
The final verdict on these is that in true knockoff fashion, these don’t pass the eye test against the real deals, but for a total price of under $20 bucks, I am glad I got them. Sure, all of the Troops look watered down and they all come with the same two Clone weapons, but they make for some perfectly fine filler behind my real troops. The guards also serve their intended purpose and actually look great flanking the Emperor, so they were probably worth the price alone because they are filling a spot currently open in the Black Series realm.
If you are looking to supplement a collection, you might give these guys a try. If you want to build from scratch, I doubt these will cut in terms of the quality that you will want for a 6-inch Star Wars collection. They are bootlegs after all, and you take the chance just in buying them, but I am considering picking up a few more sets just to fill up some corners now that I have a realistic expectation for them. I need something to get while I wait for more official Black Series and Figuarts, so these can serve a purpose. Hey, at least you can’t beat the price.
