Spotted: Bootleg Mattel Movie Masters Man of Steel

I did not see this coming, but with the recent craze over Man of Steel, it was likely a sure shot that bootlegged toys of the Man of Steel action figures would hit the flea markets. When Marvel's Avengers became a big hit, bootlegged toys of the Avengers flooded the Market. I purchased a set of that just to see the workmanship of the bootlegged toys. My entry about that can be viewed here. When Iron Man 3 was released, there were also tons of bootlegged action figures based from the molds of the Iron Man 3 toy line. I skipped that though. As for Man of Steel, all I have now are stock photos of the bootlegged figures courtesy of Jeffrey Velasquez. But I will be doing a proper review of these once I get my hands on them.

Bootlegged Movie Masters Man of Steel Superman

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The Authentic Movie Masters Man of Steel Superman

The photos of the Bootlegged Superman figure gives us brighter colors of the Man of Steel Superman costume. Personally, they look good as they closely resemble the comic book colors of Superman's costume. But I highly doubt if those colors would fit with the Man of Steel movie's direction. Man of Steel gave us a Superman in a much darker world, the movie's costume's color tone complemented that world nicely. I believe the bootlegged Superman figure also comes with lesser points of articulation. Recent bootlegged toys like that of the Avengers featured almost an exact mold of the original figure they patterned it from but lesser in articulation. As seen from the photo above, the bootlegged one does not feature ankle joints. And I highly suspect that the shoulders and hips articulation would be moved sideways. Bootleggers usually replaces them with a more traditional swivel articulation. I also think that the bootlegged one won't be having any swivel wrists, swivel biceps, and swivel thighs. I would be doing a more proper review of the figures once I get my hands on them though. Most probably side by side with the originals. As for my Action Figure review of the Original Movie Masters Man of Steel Superman, you can view it here.    

 Bootlegged Movie Masters Man of Steel Black Suit Superman

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Press photo of the Black Suit Superman

In the Man of Steel Movie, there was a dream sequence where Superman wore an almost similar black suit with that of General Zod as Zod was trying to convince Superman to join him in recreating Krypton on Earth. Mattel initially had denied that there was a variant Movie Masters Man of Steel Superman action figure featuring Superman in a black suit with red heat vision eyes. But just recently, Mattel made this variant available through their website. But of course the bootleggers beat them to it by releasing their own version as pictured above. Whoever was the brains behind these bootlegged Man of Steel figures, I've got to commend them for their creativity in milking the potential for repaints (something that Mattel is also giving us as a fourth variation of the figure) Mattel has already released four variation of the Superman figure, with the first two differentiating on the accessories department (the second release came with a Kryptonian Command Key), while the third one came as an SDCC exclusive as a two pack with Zod and featured a cloth cape and a light up heat vision. The fourth (and I hope the final variation) is a straight repaint of the original figure but comes with a new head sculpt. If I'm not mistaken, the head sculpt features an evil look and red eyes. The bootlegged one on the other hand reuses the same head sculpt of that of the original one and gave him red eyes. I have an inkling that the bootlegged one would have a light up eyes gimmick as bootlegged toys always had this trademark light up gimmick. I could be wrong though but the bootleggers better not mess up the potential of this bootlegged version of the black suit Superman.          

Bootlegged Movie Masters Man of Steel General Zod

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Press Photo of the Movie Masters General Zod

I skipped on getting the Movie Masters Man of Steel Non-Armored General Zod when I found out that there would be an Armored General Zod action figure up for release in Wave 2. To this day, I still held on my pockets and not purchase one because I think the figure is too bland for it's price. And like Superman, Zod also came in four variants with the first one being the blandest. The second variant came with a shackles accessory and featured a scar on Zod's face. The third one was the armored version (reviewed here) and the final one being the one in the SDCC two pack that featured the armored Zod's head sculpt on the armor less body. The bootlegged one on the other hand is a fail as it uses Superman's body bearing Zod's head. The bootleggers must have missed Zod's insignia and thought that since the bodies are made of the same mold, they must have been one and the same. So it ends up being brilliant in a crazy kind of way as this bootlegged Zod would mean that he is a part of Jor El and Superman's family because of the House of El symbol on his chest. Also, upon closer look at the head sculpt, the bootleggers also might have made use of the head sculpt that had a scar. I'll try to verify this once I get may hands on these figures. I believe these bootlegged figures will be a great fodder for customizers. There were remarks from Marvel fans that the Movie Masters Superman action figure's head sculpt (Superman star Henry Cavill) had an uncanny resemblance to Mark Ruffalo, who played Dr Bruce Banner/Hulk in the Avengers Movie. So it's safe to expect that Bruce Banner customs will come aplenty once these bootlegged Superman action figures hits the flea markets.          

My Movie Masters Man of Steel collection thus far

Nothing still beats the originals though. But these bootleg action figures are a quirky way to explore how far a popularity of a toy line gets you.