*New* Vintage Mexican Bootlegs

Ok back on topic.mexican bootlegs.mexico had been producing bootlegs since about 83.there has always been many different types of bootlegs made in mexico as there are many different manufactorers there.the mex s/a (semi articulated) is a specific line (the waxy type plastic ones) there are other semi articulated lines from mexico but these are not made by the same manufactorers.the manufactorers of the mex s/a line started in the 80s with a range of characters.they stopped production in the late 80s as sw wained and kids werent buying them anymore.the 80s ones are usually easy to spot because of the colour of plastic used for them.because of the type of plastic used to make these figures,the paint they used tends to crumble off very easily.especially when you throw them all in a box together.because of this most 80s figures have little oaint left on them.
In the mid 90s when sw was becoming popular again they started up production again.but some molds had been lost or destroyed.as such some characters never made it into the 90s production runs.prune face,luke farmboy,luke xwing,han bespin spring to mind.so all these are always 80s figures.for some reason a gas mask type thing was added.to the hoth trooper.so.all 80s ones dont have this mask added.in the 90s they made so many(jist like hasbro did) that it took forever to sell.them.from the first ones made in the 80s they had been sold to distributors who sold them to market traders.these distributors often packaged them in multipacks or on cards.thats why there are so.many different styles of cardbacks or header cards on the bagged figures.in the 90s it was the same.story.but as they had mass produced so many,there were stockpiles of them for years which allowed for many different types of packaging.many were sold loose and even unpainted.around the early 00s the common cardback style appeard with the jaddas scene or biker scout and rebel transport image.these were found either used as a cardback or folded and used as a header for multipacks.but this is by far the most common type of packaging as by then the internet was growing and there was the outlet to sell all this overstock to collectors around the world rather.than just.mexican markets.
Last year new ones started to appear.at first they looked like the 90s ones.purple.leias,green luke bespins etc.these went unnoticed.the alarm bells started to ring with the mini jabbas appearing.theres only a few mini jabbas known and theyre all brown.but as before they had the same molds from the 80s and 90s and had found the mini jabba one aswell(the mini jabba wasnt made in the 90s) after some investigating it became apparant that some of the molds had indeed been reused again but not all.ugnaught,wrestling chewy spring to mind.but they had made new molds aswell.like the fully articulated chewy,unarticulated gamorrean guard,unart jawa,unart biker scout mash up figure all spring to mind.but again they had.lost molds since the 90s so some characters are totally safe.it appears they had first tried to make figures that would sell.for himdreds on ebay to collectors as vintage 80s.but as they got exposed theyve had to make the figures funky or transparant to appeal to collectors as different versions to collect.they also now have had to try selling at markets in mexico to.legitamizing them.as true bootlegs.these bootlegers read our forums and know what we pay crazy money for and what we consider a bootleg and whats considered a custom.
Theres not a lot you can do to identify a purple leia if it was made last year of 1995.same mold.same colour plastic and same type.things like the cape help.the 90s capes look.like theyre made from cheap trash bags but these recent ones are even worse.if theyre in multipacks you can sometimes identify them that way.if theyre packaged with a brown jawa then its a recent one.if its packaged with an ugnaught then its a 90s one.luckily there are only a few characters that they remade recently.vader.leia bespin.luke bespin.tie pilot.lando skiff.21b.hoth trooper.waving yoda.potf c3p0.ill have to check any others.this is all from memory.but they also used different paint on the newer ones.also if the whole body is painted like the silver leia thats a definate recent one.all 80s and 90s had minimal paint.usually faces hands boots.never whole.bodys.the hoth troopers with mettalic paint are all recent.any still on a spru is recent.all the ones made recently that look like 90s ones are only the $5 figures anyway so they havent crashed the prices.hope this helps.if anybody has any more questions feel free to ask.
Daren

Daren, Great write up.

Jay is off sick at the moment. Hopefully he stops in and see's your great post.

I tend to ramble havent you noticed

emperorburns wrote:I tend to ramble havent you noticed

That's a good thing.

Great post Daren.

Hi Darren, thanks a lot for taking the effort to write down your very informative post.

No problemo.just needed to make sure i didnt put smileys after the first line again

Thanks for the information. I got these little guys just recently in Mexico. The guy who sold them to me had a lot of figures (Leias, Lukes... I don't recall how many more, but I was only interested in the snowtroopers). Their arms are articulated just as Kenner's and that's about it : ) They have unevenly-moulded legs so they have some issues standing up, so I used hot glue to affix them to some bases. The paint application seems to be quite durable. I do love these funky-looking guys.

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All recent made ones.but if you like them thats all that matters.as long as your not paying vintage 80s prices and are aware of what they are thats all that matters.i noticed they have articulated greedos and chewys on ebay aswell.they dont hold together to well so if anybody is buying those beware they tend to fall to pieces.

Daren

I paid less than three USD for each ; )

A week later I saw an assortment of most probably the same figures (the original vendor had told me that he had sold one complete box, so maybe these ones where part of that box) at a collector's bazaar at almost ten times that price.

I've stumbled on these couple of figures online, do you think they are also from that new batch of "vintage" figures? They are listed as Tie Pilots, though they look just like the AT-AT Drivers.

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After searching a bit more, the same person is also selling figures similar to these : [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

So it seems the couple of figures in my previous post also come from the same series. The seller however describes them as being vintage figures, tough if you look closely it says "era 1980-2001". Also they are asking 9.40€ each + 15.99€ for shipping...

I don't know anything about bootlegs. Hopefully some else can help with your questions.