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Bootlegs
Written by Matt
Bootlegs/knockoffs exist in all shapes and forms and in all toy lines, with Thundercats being no exception. I say that there is a difference between the term bootleg and the term knockoff. I define a knockoff as a toy line that is supposedly similar to the original line, but has none of the same characters an example of this in the Thundercats community would be Sparkle Warriors. These figs are very obscure and most people have no idea what they are. The Sparkle Warriors figures came with little cats. These figures look like like a combined Lion-O and a Sectaurs figure, with a guy that looks like Cobra Commander. They also came with an assortment of weapons such as axes. I define a bootleg as a figure that was made purposely to look like another and is not licensed by the original company.
There are many different kinds of bootlegs for Thundercats. These bootlegs range from pure absurdities to figures that look like the LJN releases. There are bootleg figures that some eBay seller’s claim are prototype pieces but they aren’t. Thundercats prototype pieces are extremely hard to find, these sellers either just don’t know better or are counting on the public not knowing any better. Two very well known bootlegs that are passed off as prototypes are a Monkian and Mumm-ra. The Monkian is brown and yellow and is stamped with the Playful company info on the bottom. The Mumm-ra is light green and red and also has the Playful info stamped on the bottom. These figures were not made in Argentina, which is where the Playful company is located, but were made in Mexico. As far as I know there have been no actual, Playful prototypes sold on the public market.
The most common bootlegs are often a very waxy, cheap plastic. This plastic is often full of excess pieces of plastic where it was not cut off in the creation process. Most of the bootlegs have no action features and are very poorly painted. As you can see from the pics most bootlegs are easy to spot if you are familiar with the LJN releases at all. There are some that look just like the LJN releases and these are the hardest to spot. The ones that look like the LJN versions have gaps between joints and there bodies with very dull paint jobs, and a haphazard looking action feature. Most bootlegs generally have no copyright dates or info on them unless they came from a LJN, or Playful mold. When they do come from those molds the info is usually illegible. Bootlegs can sometimes even look better than the original LJN figure.
Click the corresponding images to browse for bootleg figures, accsories and the tags that came with many of these bootlegs.
