Tag: bootleg

Figure Spotlight – [BOOTLEG] Amberlash

OK, pre-warning: if you don’t like bootlegs, look away now. Unfortunately at the time I got this, the “real thing” wasn’t really available, and even if you could find one it’d would’ve been waayyy beyond my budget. So I went for the bootleg, as I really had to have a succubus in my collection. 

At the time, I was fairly impressed with it, barring the painting on the left-hand-side of her panties. Having a closer look today, yeah, there’s definitely a sucky paint job going on:

The official one has gold paint, this one has… bronze paint. It’s not entirely horrible, but does lack the contrast of the original. You can also see her torso doesn’t sit right – tempted to glue that up properly, and it’ll probably help a lot with her balance… oh yeah, she likes to fall over. 

Wasn’t sure if the gap was there originally, but looking at eBay, where there’s photos of the bootleg, this seems to be a regular feature of the bootleg. 

Here’s a more front-on shot showing the escaping torso:

Let’s move to the side:

Annd stare at the diseased transition from body to wing. The painting of this part is horrible on both sides, and would definitely be one of the bits I’d look at repainting, if I do. I have one plastic model figure that I plan to repaint, and if this goes well, I may look at repainting this one to some extent. As well as sortin’ that torso. 

Finally, her back:

Hm, this pic shows the least of the paint flaws! Could almost be the real thing from this angle… 

For a bootleg, it still isn’t a bad effort. The sculpt has been preserved, and there doesn’t seem to be much noticeable degradation of the mould. The paint job is very noticeably sloppy in places, so if I decide to make a foray into garage kits, this would be definitely a figure I’d look at touching up/repainting. 

Ashens!

When Stuart Ashen came to Bristol… I finally had something for him to sign! 

And being me, it had to be figure-related. I actually thought about this prior to another time of meeting him, but forgot to bring it with me – d’oh!

This time I did not forget:

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Figure to the left is the “legit” version, and the signed one is a bootleg, which I originally bought as an experiment to whether I liked swimwear figures or not. Was on the fence about buying one, so decided to go the “cheap” route to see if it’d end up in the bin within a couple of weeks, with little money lost, or I’d buy the legit version if it was still displayed. 

“Blimey” was Ashen’s reaction to seeing it:

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It may have been one of the odder things he’s been given to sign. So now this bootleg won’t be hitting the bin, lol. Had a short chat with Stuart, and had Barry sign a note for my husband – wasn’t expecting Barry to be there, but knowing my husband is a fan, I brought him a li’l love note home ;). 

Here’s Ashens being confused by swimsuit Saber:

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I’ll let the reader decide what Mentski’s (guy on the left) is doing. Barry is wisely staying out of it. 

When you can’t be bothered to put your Lego together…

… you can get bootleg lego!

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Found this in TK Maxx. This is based on the Lego set 70780, Protector of Water. Bought it as I was mildly interested to see how it compared to a real Bionicle.

Here’s the back of the packet:

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Yep, I think everyone now knows what it is called!

And just in case you do pull it apart, they were kind enough to include some instructions, located behind the figure:

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And here is the figure itself out of the packet:

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Note that its weapon doesn’t include the “gun” that the real ones do, so hey, at least I won’t be losing the 1-dot pieces. Other than that, it’s mostly faithful to the original by the looks of it, only… cheaper. The head doesn’t fire off as well as the originals I do own, and the plastic feels quite cheap. 

Here’s his back:

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Interestingly, the blue bit is pegged towards his front, instead of his back. 

So… that’s what you get for your £3.50!