About this transcript: This is a full AI-generated transcript of The History Of Knock Off Toys from Ed's Retro Geek Out, published August 2, 2026. The transcript contains 18,190 words with timestamps and was generated using Whisper AI.
"Back in the day, the toy stores were flooded with heavily marketed cartoon show toys. Business was good, so good that any big toy line, even hyped ones, would get bootlegs or the even more interesting knockoff toys. You could bet your bottom dollar there was a knockoff toy for every vintage toy..."
[00:00:00] Speaker 1: Back in the day, the toy stores were flooded with heavily marketed cartoon show toys. Business was good, so good that any big toy line, even hyped ones, would get bootlegs or the even more interesting knockoff toys. You could bet your bottom dollar there was a knockoff toy for every vintage toy line, and you could even use that bottom dollar to buy one because they were so cheap. In today's Ed's Retro Geek Out, we're wandering down the beautiful abyss that is the 5.5 knockoffs based on the Masters of the Universe. It was a simpler time when cheap look-alike plastic could easily be misinterpreted by moms and dads looking for the real thing in supermarkets, pharmacies, and even toy stores. Although, some of these were pretty questionable. So be sure to smash that subscribe button and let's strap in for some toy history. Released in 1981, Mattel's Masters of the Universe stormed the toy market, accompanied by a very popular cartoon. Securing the success Mattel had been chasing ever since they missed out on the Star Wars toy license, which skyrocketed Kenner's sales. In 1984, they sold for over $350 million worth of $5 dolls and $20 castles. The cartoon became one of the highest-rating kit shows thanks to 166 television stations showing off the cartoon, and it was also shown in 37 other countries. It is one of the most recognizable toy lines of the 80s, and it also spawned the iconic torso that so many bootlegs and knockoffs would use. Now, another toy manufacturer called Remco created a well-received line of monster figures in 1981, but quickly saw the popularity of Mattel's He-Man line. The upcoming toy lines they had just scored licenses for were going to have to compete with He-Man. In 1982, Remco introduced toy lines for Conan, where He-Man was pretty much based on in the beginning, but it's, it's, it's, it's, it's a story for another video. And the C-Comics Warlord got its own toy line called Lost World of the Warlord, indicating on the card the toys were compatible with the Masters of the Universe toys. Later, they changed it to just 5.5 figures, and of course, Remco introduced their Warrior Beast line with Skullman. Now, it didn't take long for Mattel to see, hey, this Remco toy line is based on our Masters of the Universe. So, in 1983, Mattel sued Remco to stop production and sale of the 5.5 dolls called Warlords, which were designed to compete with the Masters of the Universe line by Mattel. Now, Mattel, heck, registered copyrights on the Masters of the Universe dolls, and the Remco dolls were in violation of these laws. It's also common law, right, to be protected against unfair competition under New York law. But they're action figures, right? Why do they keep calling them dolls in all this? It's outrageous, egregious, preposterous. Masters of the Universe had a series of action figures with different heads, clothing, and names, but all sharing a common torso, which is a sculptor's exaggerated rendering of a bodybuilder's body with shortened legs. Likewise, the Remco action figures share a body with overdeveloped muscles and short legs. The Remco dolls also have different hands, legs, names, clothing, and accessories from the Mattel ones. After all, they were based on a comic book by DC. Copyright claims stated that Remco copied the Masters of the Universe torso, which Mattel considers to be the essential part of the doll.
[00:03:46] Speaker ?: Action figure.
[00:03:47] Speaker 1: While there was a resemblance, it wasn't a copy. And Remco did give their sculptor a He-Man doll to make sure their action figures wouldn't look weaker. Even though it looked like a Master of the Universe torso, it was still just another artist's rendering of a really muscular doll. After all, the sculptor had also used bodybuilding comic book magazines and other materials to draw inspiration from. No way! You know that kind of mudslinger, you throw it up against the side of a barn, but it don't stick. And that's when the court decided that a superhuman muscle man crouching in what since the Neanderthal times has been a traditional fighting pose was an unprotectable idea. And for the second part of the case, Mattel had failed to provide sufficient evidence that Remco's toys could be confused for Masters of the Universe toys by consumers and retailers. And it's thanks to the differentiating packaging and the names from the other IPs on it that it didn't get claimed. Remco did benefit from Mattel's success in developing a market for the 5.5 figures, but Mattel failed to demonstrate that Remco was doing so in a legal way. Objection, Your Honor! With the case being cleared in favor of Remco, they could continue to create their awesome figures. And now we know the difference between a bootleg and a knockoff. A bootleg is a direct copy trying to come off as the real deal. A knockoff jumps on whatever is popular and tries to right the wave of success, but do implement some of their own creativity in the actual toys. Now the gates were opened, and this brings us to a little company called Sun Gold. Operating from Hong Kong, they created the prototype of Masters of the Universe knockoff toy lines with the Galaxy Warriors in 1983. So popular, it would spawn its own bootlegs and knockoffs. The molds were also based on the iconic Masters of the Universe torso, but with cheaper plastic and less articulation. Yet somehow still remaining some of that Masters of the Universe feel, and mainly thanks to the card art that was derived from Frank Frazetta's work. When Mattel was working on the Conan line, they had also sought some inspiration from his fantasy Sword and Sorcery art. The Sun Gold galaxy is endless, with Galaxy Warriors, Muscle Warriors, Galaxy Fighters, Galaxy Heroes, Freedom Fighters, Fearful Beasts served as vehicles like Battle Cat, and there was also a sub-line called Galaxy Warriors End of Time, or the Sword and Sorceress toy line. Sometimes the toys would be stamped with Sun Gold, then Suko, then Salido, Kamikus Toys, I think it was all just the same company reinventing itself. Because it all led to Hong Kong, and you could even hire them to make your very own knockoff brand. As we can see on this promo, the one thing people do the same is the one thing people are doing wrong, so do it right with Sun Gold. The latest in marketing trends. Quality second to none. No project too big. Manufacturing and quotes to customers' requirements. Personalized service. I'm actually thinking of making my own knockoff brand right now. Now, the toys made by Sun Gold weren't really up to standard with Masters of the Universe. Just look at these descriptions on Galaxy Warriors. Moving arms and legs. Twisting head and waist. Complete with shield, breastplate, and weapon. Well, well, they're being honest. Really honest. Or they just didn't have a good marketing guy. Or the packaging for the fearful beast from the planet Terror. Hand-painted. Non-toxic paint. Authentic details. And semi-poseable. Check in the right boxes. I want this toy right now. Whenever you see a Masters of the Universe toy lot, there will be a knockoff figure somewhere in there, and they're becoming more and more collectible. For toy stores, they sold good as well. They were cheaper, and you can find them easily in catalogs being promoted right next to Mattel's He-Man toy line. Toy stores did a little bit of their own influencing. They would also pair the toys with other compatible toys, like the Imperial Dragon animals. And it didn't take long for them to use the same Battle Cat Big Jim trick. When they added a saddle so your 5.5 figurine could ride on this animal, and of course some Frazetta-esque artwork, that would definitely get the ball rolling. The Imperial Dragon toys reinvented themselves as Imperial Dragon toys, Knights and Daggers. They would serve as a third-party company, adding to the fantasy with their compatible vehicles, beasts, and weapon packs. Later branching out in robots, lasers, and galaxies. Not only would they look great with your knockoff toys, but also with your actual Master of the Universe figurines. Now, Sun Gold and Imperial weren't the only toy manufacturers trying to ride this wave. And there's one toy line I would really like to talk about, and that is Sun Man. Created by the Olmec Corp. Somewhere in the 80s, Sun Man and the Sun People were the rulers of the sun. And the Washington Post wrote that this action figure line would give black children a sense of power that goes far beyond make-believe. Unlike J. Joe, he wouldn't use violence to defeat evil, but intelligence. The fight between good and evil would be fought through mental powers with the emphasis on self-confidence. The Sun Man toy line was really colorful and fit perfectly with your Master of the Universe action figures. The colors just definitely popped on these toys. Now, Master of the Universe did introduce their own black character as early as 1983 in the comics. Clam Champ was King Randor's royal bodyguard. And just like Sun Man gave Master of the Universe a run for their money, another toy manufacturer was called Speclatron, who also created MOTU-inspired toys with an extra gimmick. Who would have ever thought that turning your 5.5 action figure in a glitter-filled snow globe would look so... cool! The torso was cleared and filled with liquids and glitters. The toys would become so colorful with Deathlore probably being one of the best knock-off sculpts out there. Clearly mimicking Skeletor or taking a stab at doing it even better. Deathlore together with 5 or 6 other figures in the line are considered holy grails by knock-off collectors. Speclatron, the aliens from outer space battling it out for control of the universe. For magic action, press hole in back and he will become power-gized, invincible, ready for action. Seems like the only thing the knock-off lines didn't make was a play set. Sungold did plan one, but another company took it upon themselves to fight for shelf space with the almighty Castle Greyskull. The Eco Monster Castle, a German interpretation of Castle Greyskull, was manufactured by Erberlein & Co. And abbreviated, you got Eco in Nuremberg, West Germany, so they weren't manufactured in China nor Hong Kong. The play set is often confused as the official Sungold Galaxy Warriors play set. Because those figures were actually displayed along the play set on the pictures that you can see on the box art. Unlike Castle Greyskull, we only have one side to play with. You get a staircase leading to an entrance, blocked by a giant hand that could light up. Yes, the castle is alive with a face revealing itself and red eyes that also light up. And there's also some platforms to pop your figures on and there's a hole or a dungeon down below. The play set is very rare, and I don't think it's sold too well, but it is on the want list for many 5.5 collectors, as it is the perfect backdrop for their knockoff collections. I want one! The knockoff collecting is endless, with new variations popping up from different parts of the world. Every big toy line got a KO. Even Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles got their own 5.5 knockoff toy line, with the Turley Gang sporting that same torso. So, you know, the 5.5 story isn't over, but we will continue to report on it in an upcoming toy history. Cowabunga dudes! If you're an early 90s kid, you were probably just as obsessed with the Ninja Turtles like I was. The popularity seemed unstoppable for this toy line, and you could find almost anything branded with these pizza-loving samurais in a half shelf. So it didn't take too long for companies to rip off the green mean machine, or try to get a piece of the money maker that was created by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird. On today's Etch Retro Geek Out, we're taking a look at some totally tubular knockoffs, bodacious bootlegs, and more. If you like learning about vintage toys, be sure to subscribe and strap in for some toy history. The year was 1983. Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird were noodling around with some sketches of a turtle standing on his hind legs. Refining that initial sketch, they both tried to outdo each other, and the concept became known as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. A year later, the first comic appeared in 1984, and it was a success beyond belief. So much that it spawned an almost decade-long toy line. They went from the small screen to the big screen, and they even came out their shells as they went on a musical tour. There's no toy line that screams and fully embraces the 90s like the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and there's no toys apart from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles that can recall so much nostalgia in one instant for me like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles can. Now, before TMNT, Playmates' toys' main focus was dolls and plastic playsets for toddlers. But they were looking to get into the lucrative action figure market. So when TMNT's license manager, Mark Friedman, approached them, it was a perfect match. From 1988 up to 1997, Playmates produced around 400 TMNT figures, as well as dozens of vehicles and playsets. In the first four years of Turtle Mania, about $1.1 billion worth of toys were sold, making Turtles the top three selling toy figures ever at the time, behind only G.I. Joe and Star Wars. And when the news came out of the sewer of these cash-grabbing toys, you bet they got the molds for these and straight-up started bootlegging them. Turtle Fighters is the first example. The Turtle Fighters were a line of low-quality Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles bootlegs from China with incredibly poor paint jobs. The packaging imitates a real Ninja Turtles package by using a similar art style and even using the slogan "Heroes in a Half Shell". So did they ever sue them about this? The bodies of the figures all use the same original Playmates Raphael body, though the heads seem random. Now, I found these in heavy plastic as well as hollowed-down bodies. The letters indicating whether they're Leonardo or Raph, Donny or Mikey don't usually match the Turtle. But wait, they did add something new into the mix, and that is the edged pentagram on top of one of the Turtles. And it's devilishly atrocious. Now, the main giveaway for this band bootleg has got to be the paint job, for sure. The teeth are painted so randomly even Picasso would frown an eye, and it kind of looks creepy. And as you might have guessed, if they're a bootleg, they can't be too far from Galaxy Warriors. And so it's only obvious that these toys did come with some Galaxy Warriors accessories. But I guess it's not too bad to get for a buck each. Another bootleg is called the Karate Turtles Warriors. These bootlegs went a step further, not only creating toys based on the original Playmates molds of the Turtles, but also creating a splinter and other characters. The regular sized Turtles came with an extra cloth in one release and then pumping out a cheaper version duo pack as well as a Turtles watch. The most epic thing they created were bootlegs of the giant Turtles, which did look a bit off and weren't as big as the real deal. But one thing they did that was really cool is they also blew up the splinter sculpt they had, creating the only giant splinter out there and even changing the box to Karate Turtles Master. Now as Chinese bootlegs were the standard by the 90s, they're still today pretty much. You might recall the movie stars line of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles that was released in 1992 to tie in with the second movie Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2: The Secret of the Ooze. Fast forward to 2014 when Michael Bay was about to take a stab at destroying the franchise forever. I mean couldn't they have just done that? Couldn't they just have listened to the fans? All of a sudden something familiar popped up. You could get six awesome TMNT movie action figures based on the 1992 molds for only 20 bucks. Sure they didn't have the real feel rubber, but they did come with bright colors and fully colored weapons. A nice bootleg more than 20 years after the original release. Although the paint job could have been better quality controlled, Raph needs to see an eye doctor. And you might be interested to know that these bootlegs are still for sale on AliExpress. Now there's a lot more bootlegs out there, but for a collector, knockoffs is where it's at. Sure a knockoff will try to quickly cash in on a trend, but often they end up creating something so bad, it's good. Like the Turley Gang, if you remember Sungold's Masters of the Universe knockoff toys from the last episode. With the Turley Gang, the Sungold's molds got a 90s revamp to cash in on the success of Ninja Turtles. It all really comes down to, let's just brighten the colors and have a couple of figures colored green, so we don't really have to do too much work. The Turley Gang came with the slogan "Fighters of Freedom" and were released by Euro, dragged into the Underworld by a terrible earthquake. But the Five Friends didn't burn up from the unimaginable heat, instead, it turned them into steely fighters of enormous strength. The Turley Gang stirred up the lava until they were backdrafted to Earth's surface by a huge volcanic eruption. Free rejoiced the Turtle Gang, but the friends haven't made up their mind yet. The Turley Gang stirred up the lava until they were backdrafted to Earth's surface by a huge volcanic eruption. Free rejoiced the Turtle Gang, but the friends haven't made up their mind yet. The terrible forces of the Underworld have also been dragged to light by the eruption they have caused. And so, a never-ending fight of good against evil began. Now, all of these carded examples were in German, so this is a rough translation. These Turley Gang figures came out in the early 90s when TMNT was pretty much at the peak of its success. Europlay came along like many other toy manufacturers and also wanted a piece of the pizza. In order to do so, they needed something to make Sungold's and Sukho's Master of the Universe knockoff figures become associated with the Turtles franchise. Goggles were added to the sculpts to mimic the masks of the Turtle figures by Playmates. The toys were gone just as fast as they appeared in stores and seem to only have seen a release in Belgium, the Netherlands, and the country they were made in, Germany. The company, Europlay, started in early 1992 and still continues to make toys to this day. Now, the company seems to focus on manufacturing outdoor garden toys. So, maybe I gotta go pay him a visit and look in the old warehouse if I can find some, uh, some Sungold malls. Turley Gang even had some spin-offs with Bronk Der Superfighter. Nobody really knows where he's coming from, this lonesome superfighter who supports the Turley Gang as a tough fighter for justice. They just figured the Machine Force, Laser Force figures were suitable to be rebranded as a Turley Gang with the green color scheme they're rocking right now. So, just slap some green on it and let's call it Turtles. And of course, it didn't end with the Superfighter. Just like Turtles, there was a lot more merchandise like the Turley Gang branded Laser Gun toy, the Turley Sound Laser, and the Trouble Power Blade. And like any good toy line, they would even get their own knock-offs with Tortoise Warriors, using the same head sculpt with the goggles. Now, one of the knock-offs is really the worst yet most interesting toy created, the Amicable Herculean. Which roughly translates to Friendly Strong, reusing the body and head sculpts of Saturn Masters of the Abyss. These would come with a muscular figure that still had some plastic surplus, an okay paint job, and a shell you could pop around the toy. Seriously, this just looks so bad. And then we come to my favorite Heroes of the World Fighters. Yes, I remember picking some of these up in a discount store in Belgium, and knowing they weren't the real thing, I was just willing to let that slip because I needed my plastic fix, I wanted to get a new turtle, and I got a Heroes of the World Fighter. Now, if I had ooze in my eyes, the card art would have looked okay. You got the brick background, like the real cards, and some characters that are poorly drawn. This could have just been a fan drawing I had made in the 90s. Now, within this China produced line, you did have four turtle figures, and also some side characters. But for the side characters, they took something that looks familiar. Yeah, Eljan released advanced Dungeons and Dragons figures were used. Sometimes altered, but after a while, they just gave up, and just said, "Hey, this guy's Bebop, this guy's Shredder," but didn't really do any alterations to this cult. Now, I also owned some of the same molds, but with a different color scheme, where these turtles were wearing a Karategi or a Yudogi. I think I remember this came as a four-pack where you got all four turtles. I can't seem to find any info on these, apart from a bootleg plushie that looks exactly like the action figures I owned. Now, here's another well-marketed toy to confuse your grandma looking for a real turtle on their way to your birthday. The Terror Toad, not to be confused with the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Terror Toad Evil Space Alien. The Terror Toad is yet another knockoff ripoff toy. They're the Teenage Mutant Ninja Frogs? Of all the Ninja Turtle ripoffs of the late 80s and early 90s, this was probably the worst. The Terror Toad resembles the Ninja Turtle from afar by its colorful eyepatch, replacing the bandana. And instead of a shell, it has a sombrero. On the front, it is outfitted in what slightly resembles samurai armor. One thing they did do right is the historically correct curved katana blade it came with. And an oversized skateboard that does some pretty neat tricks. The box art shows the frog cruising through the sewer on a skateboard and it stunts. But the story doesn't end here for the fun-loving frog on a skateboard. Enter the Ninja Hero Rider. If it don't sell on a skateboard, just pop it on a horse. Battery-operated galloping horse with fully poseable ninja. Twisting head and waist, moving arms and legs. Bendable elbows, knees, wrists, ankles. Comes complete with a sword and battle star. How parents could ever confuse this for the real deal baffles me. And just like Terror Toads, there are actually a lot more better known TMNT ripoffs. Some concepts became their own thing, even though the resemblance was pretty obvious. Some mutant humanoids with 90s lingo getting into teenage shenanigans. And part of a team of at least 3 or 4 brothers. Here are some of my favorite Ninja Turtle inspired toy lines and cartoons. Biker Mice from Mars fit the profile just right. Starring anthropomorphic animals. They came with the right attitude. A convoluted back story. And they're one of the finest toys Galoob ever made. Next is Cowboys of Moo Mesa. Once again, we're back to the mutated animal trope. If TMNT could make something as boring as turtles look cool, you might as well try the same theory out with cows. But the most awesome one out there was probably Street Sharks. The formula was simple here. If mutant turtles could be a hit, the mutant versions of an even cooler animal would be a super hit. So Mattel Street Sharks invaded our TVs and toy stores everywhere. The show was a moderate success. And even their spin-off show, Extreme Dinosaurs, actually became the main stars of the cartoon after a while. But why stick? We're ripping off one trend when you can combine two stone protectors. This one took knock-offs to new heights. They didn't just want to cash in on the popularity of Ninja Turtles. They wanted to cash in on Ninja Turtles and the troll doll craze. And then there's the game-based ones, Battletoads were perhaps the most obvious attempt at ripping off Ninja Turtles beat for beat, um up. The Turtles had toys, so did the Toads, video games as well as a cartoon series. And then there's Cheataman, an idea by Active Enterprises which was solely created to have some sort of an IP that involved a group of teenage humanoid animals that could be turned into a cartoon, toys and a comic as part of the unlicensed Action 52 card for the NES and Sega Genesis, Cheataman 1 was its own game and would have gotten their standalone sequel, called Cheataman 2, but that game never made it past their own warehouse, as the company went under. When Ghostbusters hit the movie theaters in 1984, no one expected the supernatural comedy would end up being one of the highest grossing comedies in history. Soon after, a cartoon show was created, a movie sequel, and with all this ghost busting came cool car, firehouse proton packs, and loads of ghosts. Enough toyetic properties for Kenner to turn into a 10-wave lasting toy line. But for every toy Kenner had on store shelves, there was an imitation in a dollar store nearby. Now in this Ed's Retro Geek Out, we're not afraid of no bootlegs or knock-offs. So be sure to subscribe for more spooktacular 80s and 90s toy videos. And now it's time to sip some of that ecto-cooler, and let's strap in for some toy history. The year was 1986, when Kenner's The Real Ghostbusters toyline was released, mainly based off of the cartoon show by the same name. But what was up with The Real Ghostbusters? The movie was just called Ghostbusters, right? Then again, there was also a Filmation live action comedy show by the same name, which ran on CBS in 1975. This was something Columbia Pictures had overlooked, but quickly settled with Filmation. Then, after the success of the first Ghostbusters movie, Filmation saw an opportunity to revitalize their Ghostbusters into a cartoon show with its own toyline. Columbia knew they couldn't use Ghostbusters for their cartoons, so got around that legally by just adding "real." Filmation's cartoon made their debut five days before the real Ghostbusters did, but they were immediately getting overshadowed by these real Ghostbusters, leaving many kids wondering what this Ghostbusters show and Tycho toyline was. In the end, the names were too close to each other, and there could be only one. A shame, 'cause Ghostbusters had some great toys that would often be categorized as a rip-off or a knock-off. It featured a ghost buggy, a ghost house playset, and my favorite character has got to be the Wizard Prime Evil in this toyline. When the spooks in your closet are out to play, and no one else believes you, then it's time to call the Ghostbusters. Always on guard, the work to make sure you are safe from the supernatural. Fighting the boogeyman is their job, and they do it well. Armed to the feet, with tricked-out gear, they are always ready to take on the neighborhood ghoul and put them in their place. To the average citizen, they are heroes, but to the town's terrorizers, they are a force to be reckoned with. Filmation's toyline lasted only one wave, it just couldn't compete with the real Ghostbusters. But that's where the knockoffs and bootlegs come in. Good old Sungold will surely cook up a 5.5 Motu body with some sort of Ghostbusters-esque paint job, right? Sungold had some colorful skeletons with different heads and colors that could function as a supernatural being for the Ghostbusters to fight. One could actually debate whether the underworld warriors were a way to get into the ghost and monster toys of the real Ghostbusters toyline. But no, Sungold actually went above and beyond with all new sculpts for all four of the paranormal pros, creating a new body and face sculpt for Ray Stance, Egon Spangler, Peter Fenckman, and Winston Zedmore. Egon adds the red glasses and shares the same uniform color like Winston. Ray and Peter have a yellow uniform, and they all have their little belt bag on the left side. Marked it as spook chasers and often explained as Ghostbusters knockoffs in advertisements, the card had enough resembling elements to the original line they were knocking off, like the purple background with some ghosts on one side and the four spook chasers on the other side. Ghostbusters each came with a proton pack attached to a Neutrona blaster. Just like the Kenner ones, this time in all yellow. All figures came with a companion ghost that depending on the batch they came in were yellow, orange, dark green, or a purple color. The ghosts could also be placed on the heads of the spook chasers for extra playability. So far, no other spook chasers action figures have surfaced, and there's no more promo on the back card like other Sun Gold toy lines used to have. It seems like spook chasers is one of the best executed knockoffs the in China manufactured toy company has made so far, with card examples fetching a lot of money right now. Then you had the Roy Rogers Critters, as the collectors call them. They were created by Marriott Corporation in 1989 and distributed by the Roy Rogers restaurants as part of the kids meal. Four sculpts are known to exist and each came in four colors, either translucent red, yellow, orange, or purple. They did add extra color for the eyes and tongue. What makes them a knockoff is the very big similarities with Kenner's Mini Goopers. Just like stomach stuff, these critters are made out of two parts and you could place something inside them or combine the critters top and bottoms with each other. They came out in 1990 and would blend in nicely with any Ghostbusters collection. One of the earliest knockoff pieces of merchandise has got to be the People Busters plushie dolls. Taking the Ghostbusters logo and adding a human head. Now, there were even Reagan Busters at one point, but back to the plushie Ghostbuster toy. They're believed to have been made right after the first movie came out in theaters around '84. Just a ghost plushie in multiple colors with the People Buster logo added on. Simple but effective as there wasn't a lot of merchandise out yet. And anyone collecting is always out looking for variations. Well, there's a couple bootlegs where they changed up the colors and quality of the toys. A lot of toys were recast like Pull Speed Ahead Ghost in Yetai Toys Monster Line. Now, this China-made bootleg is nowhere near the quality of the real deal, but still able to provide that friction-powered spark gimmick. These were probably meant as a dollar store item and came in lots of wacky, flashy colors. They removed the ripcord opening, changed the wheel to multiple cheaper wheels, and even the plastic is a lot lighter. In Latin America, a lot of the action figures got their bootleg incarnation, like in the Mexican Casa Fantasmas line. Here's a bootleg Fright Feature Winston Zedmore, lacking the Fright Feature and a lot of paint details. The toy does come with a ghost like Swartz Road Ghost, who wasn't actually for Winston, but for Egon. The toy comes on a yellow cart with some badly photoshopped pictures, and stapled in a plastic baggie to the cart. Fright Feature Egon was also recasted, and turns out a lot smaller than the real toy. And here we see it years later, with almost no paint left on the toy. And then there were a couple instances where the Ghostbusters bootleggers needed a little help from our toy line. For collectors, the real vampire Ghostbusters toy line are some of the most sought after. It's got a Dracula logo instead of the Ghostbusters one on the cards. The Dracula logo actually came from the card art of a Mighty Max playset. First up, we got another Fright Feature Winston Recast, this time in yellow, beige, chrome, black colors, with green eyes looking all sorts of creepy. It is unknown if the action feature works on this one. Then you have the Haunted Human X-Cob Ghost, who also got a new color scheme, mainly yellow with touches of red-green and some silver thrown in. The action feature works just like the real deal. It's impressive to see this one next to the original toy. The Frankenstein monster also got a slight repaint, and is also indicated on the card as the X-Cob Ghost. But the Fytaigan Admiral takes the cake. The packaging sets up the toy as a Ghostbusters figure, but if you know about the new Adventures of E-Man toy line, then Butthead is all you're gonna see. This time with new colors and pictures of a prototype on the back of the card, to show how the action feature works. I think the colors actually look better on the bootleg. There's something sinister about the black eyes and the brown-purple colors with white, red, and green details, making it look pretty darn good. The drawn image from the He-Man cart was added onto this cart, and makes it pretty hard to recognize this as a bootleg. But there's more! Like in this mashup with Mask, you got a red cart with some ghosts and a Ghostbusters logo on it. A sticker on the blister indicating "Ghostbuster Race" should be in this hybrid bootleg, but it's pretty much just a black recast Sonic Jet from the Mask Slingshot toy. On the toy, you can also read a sticker saying "Ectoplasmic Cabin", and of course they needed to slap a Ghostbuster logo on this vehicle. The back of the cart doesn't provide any more information, unfortunately. Now for most toy lines, logo slapping is common business. When starting out, you can rely on molds you already have, and just add your IP's logo on it to sell. So that's why it's easy for bootleggers to create toys easily mistaken for the real deal. Like this Playmobil recast called Busca Phantasmas. Just when you thought the Ecto-1 was cool, but you didn't think Chiland Plastic Manufacturing would grab an existing toy and give the Ecto-1 a real run for its money. They even added a couple of Ghostbusters Playmobil figures from the Space Explorers line to this one. The toy comes in white or orange with some sort of blaster on top and air propellers on the back. The Ghostbusters logos popped everywhere they could find a spot and it seems to have a battery-operated light gimmick. Then again, they were just ahead of their time because Playmobil now has his own Ghostbusters toy line. Who is bootlegging who? Another thing that was really big for the Kenner line were the role-playing weapons, so any bootlegger could find themselves a water gun and call it a proton zapper. Here we got a couple with the Ghostbusters 2 logo on it, and now it's time to cross the streams. The Ghostbusters? Now with Hasbro's re-releases on the shelves and a new movie on the horizon, we're gearing up for a lot more bootlegs. But the art toy community has also taken some steps in creating some of their own creations. Like Turd Busters. Made by Gut Lake Toys in Germany, it's pretty much what it sounds like. A turd and a Ghostbuster mashup limited to 30 made. G.I. Joe, the toy icon that coined the term "action figure" and fought in many toy chest battles ever since his first appearance in the mid-60s as one of Hasbro's 12-inch bestsellers. Even back then, you had copycats trying to make the cut for its platoon, with rivaling toy company efforts like Mego's Fighting Yank, Mattel's Big Jim, or R.I. Toy Companies, The Defenders, just to name a few. But if you're an 80s or 90s kid, you'll probably be more familiar with the smaller 3/4-inch comeback line, G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero. Now these toys served in a 12-year raging war against a terrorist organization called Cobra. A Marvel comic series told you the story alongside a syndicated cartoon show. And of course, you had the perfectly detailed toys with multiple weapons, the articulation to recreate any battle posts, any fleet of tanks, helicopters, and other replica-style toy vehicles. However, this video is dedicated to all the squadrons you found in your toy chest that weren't Hasbro's. In today's Ed's Retro Geek Out, let's take a deep dive into all the knockoffs, bootlegs, and the toy lines often mistaken for the real Go-Joe team. Be sure to subscribe for more 80s and 90s toy content, and let's drop in for some toy history. Now, if there is one thing that I learned from G.I. Joe, it's that knowing is half the battle. And in the battle for the toy market share, it's about knowing what sells. So, when you have a well-performing military toy line, there's always some lesser quality wannabes on the scene. With 65 million in promo being spent by Hasbro in the first six years, all you needed to do as a company trying to catch this wave was getting a toy soldier out on those shelves. Now, the bootlegger knockoff works best when it's as cheap as possible. That's why, in the bootleg's case, they pretty much just stole the molds and casted them in often funky colors, whatever was available, making them now pretty fun to collect for. Vehicles weren't too frequently available in knockoff lines, even though that's where Hasbro made most of their money on. But what my research also has shown is that the epic Cobra bad guys is something they couldn't do too well. I would have loved to have seen knockoffs taking the Cobra mutant-like characters even further. I mean, where's my Distro, my Snake Commander dude, or my Ser Pinto? Surely you would not concede, Ben, you're so sore. But then again, we did have some fun knockoff lines to choose from. During the 80s, Remco Toys had a knockoff toy line for every popular toy line. Where other toy manufacturers came up with their own IPs to pop onto easily recognizable toy types, Remco would often use a license to mix it with a toy type that was popular. So, when in 1982 the G.I. Joe team rolled out, Remco sent out Sergeant Rock into the field as a cheaper alternative that could easily fit in with the Hasbro toys. Sergeant Rock was based on the DC comics from the 50s, a veteran ready to make a comeback in toy form, with six points of articulation and a very sober pain detail. At least they came with a fun dog tag, these toys. They also had bad guys, which they matched up to G.I. Joe by calling them the bad guys, the ultimate enemy of Sergeant Rock, G.I. Joe, M.A.S.H., and all mini action soldiers. In the end, it was a fun little toy line with vehicles, but couldn't tip the real American hero off its drone. Now, if one KO line was enough, then here, have another one. Only at Kmart, you could get your Remco American Defense action figures and play sets. In the toy store, you needed your toys to be an eye catcher. You couldn't really get it any better than the original card for G.I. Joe, honestly. The explosion, and of course, your characters like beachhead dial tone, letter neck, or alpine on a blue card with stars and an awesome G.I. Joe logo. So, as a knockoff company, why not just do exactly the same thing? This is Special Force. Special Force, a team of modern army, stands out on these cards. This is the perfect example on how Sungold would confuse parents and kids. Now, this knockoff line by Sungold is just like all their other ones, only that it's not a 5.5 body. The figure, however, does have moving arms and is armed with one weapon. The toy looked apart from afar, but was far from the real deal. For Sungold, one money-making parody wasn't enough, so they also released Desert Defender and probably more three points of articulated excuses for a gel. Talking about confusion, a toy line that's most commonly confused for the real thing has got to be the Lanard's G.I. Joe knockoffs. Sometimes caught the corpse. The list pretty much keeps going on and on. They started pumping these out in 1986 and kept repackaging, renaming, and recoloring these pretty good toys. As a kid, I remember getting to choose between one real G.I. Joe action figure, or a Lanard's 12 or 16 pack of figures. Now, all of these looked pretty good, and they all came with weapons. As a six-year-old, the choice was quickly made. With Lanard's, I had an instant collection, and even though I couldn't replay the cartoon I was watching with the real Duke, Shipwreck, Storm Shadow, or Baroness, I had the next best thing. They would go on to producing actual vehicles like boats and jeeps with firing missiles, but the character molds would always be the same. During the 90s, the colors got crazier, and they would alter the name to fit with what was popular, just like in 1993's Lanard's Blade Warriors. Pretty much just the corpse, but on rollerblades. Now, obviously, Hasbro had to take some action against all these knockoffs and bootlegs. Then again, just like in the He-Man case, you probably couldn't protect the idea of creating a soldier action figure. So, they did strike back at Lanard toys with another similarity: a name. Gung-Ho, the codename for Hasbro's Marine cult Etienne Lafitte, whom they stopped producing in '85 and brought back in '87, was a first step into taking knockoff companies to court. And when Lanard also started creating and presenting figures called Gung-Ho at that year's Toy Fair, they had something to work with. Hasbro accused them of using their recognizable name for the action figure, and that this would lead to confusion in the marketplace. After all, the character was still going in the comics. The judge ruled in favor of Hasbro, but in the end, he needed more evidence on the actual confusion. So, if you're making your own knockoff line, please steer away from all the names that have already been protected under copyright. I told you not to go as G.I. Joe! And that's what the next knockoff line did. In 1992, Lucky Bell produced a series of G.I. Joe-inspired figures called Power Commandos. Those guys from the other galaxy. In duo packs, you'd get more bang for your buck, and it was once again a way to provide more quantity for less money than a real Joe. These were colorful, futuristic-looking characters, which could easily fit in with your Cobra army. Finally, the card art even had the same explosion behind the characters like a Hasbro card would, and told the Power Commando story by adding file cards on the back. In 1990, toy company Bikin from Belgium made Kaidos, and these actually went a step further quality-wise. They came in a plastic package case that kind of resembles a VHS tape. You got ten figures that were available, and I believe two vehicles were also manufactured. They threw away the O-ring, and changed it to a T-crotch, and reused most molds by simply recoloring. We do have to give them credit for at least making the heads different on each one. And did I tell you about the detailed mission passport? With top secret information. Also added in was a voice box with action sounds like the G.I. Joe Talking Commanders from 1990, and two weapons. The boxes are done really well, allowing you to reseal the package, making the collectibles pretty easy to keep in good condition. Depending on whether you got the Spanish or Dutch version, you'd see how funny the slogans are like, "You'll never catch me." You live in the midnight. The molds were also reused for other knock-off toy lines like, "Toy Max M-Pact." The M-Pact voice commands, short for multinational police against crime and turmoil, were pretty much the same thing as Kaido. Just like with Kaido, in the package you could already try it out to hear sentences like, "It's going to blow," or, "I'm going it alone." Here coming from the packaging. The figures came with a fair number of accessories, and the package was sturdy. This didn't come across as a cheap knock-off, although they were just a well-executed one. I really like the packaging on these M-Pact things. This would look great as a collectible to display. So as you can see, for your toy chest, there were reinforcements coming from all over the place. Even in 1988, Olmec sent in reinforcements with the Bronze Bombers. The company had specialized in providing African-American themed toys. Bronze Bombers came to the shelves with 12 action figures and some vehicles, like a battle copter and hovercraft, that came with a character. Who could forget Agent Telepity, Cool Breeze, or Shaka Johnson? Unfortunately, like with many of these, the quality wasn't as good as Hasbro's product, even if they stand for justice and they never lose. The Bronze Bombers, however, would make a comeback in 1997, when Olmec released a box set featuring older Hasbro molds to create the new ones, and adding newly sculpted faces for these figures. Now, these 12 figures you could have gotten for $14.99 and added in were file cards and a poster. In this set, you had the Bronze Bombers, Defenders of Justice taking it up against Pyro's Band of Thugs. The set was popular, so it sold out fast. Now, during the 80s, Galoop also took a liking to the 3/4 inch Hasbro Joes, and would produce characters with the same points of articulation, starting in 1982 with General Patch and his combat troops. Old comic vibe artwork brought the roughest, toughest soldiers in the world to life. The toys on both sides of good and evil came with their own comic book that you got in there for free. The bad guys were called the evil enemy, dreaded demons of combat where General Patch would meet his match. Both were fully poseable with 10 moving joints, and the weapons came with the smell of battle, whatever that means. The molds were repurposed for national defense, duo and single packs, and also sometimes known as American defense, featuring the same demon enemies. And they would continue to put these out in multiple card art variants through the 90s. Even when Galoop got the license for the A-Team, they took the molds and created a line that could work with G.I. Joe. Obviously, they added in some vehicles like the A-Team van, which is honestly one of the coolest toys out there ever created by Galoop. It's just too bad that the quality wasn't like the Hasbro companies. Even compared to some of the worst Joe sculpted arms and legs, these were just plain and the paint choices were weird. Yeah, I could kind of figure out who was who in the A-Team, but they just weren't the best looking toys. If we head over to the UK, you had Action Force, made by Palatoy. These toys are often mistaken for a bootlegger knockoff, but actually, they played a far greater role in introducing G.I. Joe to the European markets. Palatoy had the Action Man toy line, and also produced Kenner's Star Wars figures for the European markets. And as with everything in toy history, when Star Wars started taking over, everything changed. Their original Action Man didn't quite fit the current trend, so they shrunk him down into what was to be known as Action Force. Introduced in 1982, they featured both historical and contemporary soldiers. In Wave 2, a bigger story was created with comics in which you had factions and a pretty sweet bad guy with barren iron blood, who was leading the Red Shadows against the Z-Force, Q-Force, Space Force, and so on. The figures had the same ¾ inch height as the Hasbro Joes, but articulation-wise, fit in more with Star Wars. Some of the vehicles by Hasbro were even reworked for the line, as they smoothly switched over to G.I. Joe molds in 1985, after Hasbro bought Palatoy. First, you get G.I. Joe toys marketed as Action Force. After a while, it was the Action Force team taking it up against Cobra. In late 1989, they changed the name to G.I. Joe the Action Force, to then fully complete the merge in 1991 to just G.I. Joe. Now, despite the merger, there's a lot of really cool original creations in the original Action Force toy line, that any G.I. Joe collector would love to have in their collection. Fast forward to 1993 and '94, when there was another war going on. Not only in the arcades, but also for home consoles. The console wars were raging, but also the race to see who had the best fighting game at the time. Alongside movies being released for Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter, Hasbro actually got a hold of the licensing for both the Midway and Capcom games. They reused some G.I. Joe molds and added some sculpting to bring the video game characters to life. And so, they're collectible for fighting game fans, but also for G.I. Joe collectors. G.I. Joe or Real American Hero bootlegs and knockoffs would keep being created, even when in '94, the original line would come to an end. After a wild ride of hundreds of figures, vehicles and some of the biggest play sets ever made. Obviously, after a short hiatus, there have been new adaptations, movies and new Joes created. I do believe that before high-end adult collectible action figures were a thing, there wasn't a lot of toy lines that had the articulation, the detail and collectability of G.I. Joe. To me, they are definitely the precursor to the adult collectible. If you see masterpieces like the U.S. flag or the Defiant, there's no question about the passion they were making these with. So, imagine that explosion on the card art. And what I want to know is how you would have called your G.I. Joe knockoff line. Please leave it down in the comments, guys. At the end of 1993, you couldn't walk out on the school's playground without hearing the epic phrase, "Go go, Power Rangers." That's right, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers had aired, and nothing would ever be the same again. One of the last big toy lines and pop culture phenomenons to really stir things up, and to create a demand where toy stores were craving for more stock than they can get in. The wave of Power Ranger mania came with its own difficulties, as you had to be careful for bootlegs, knockoffs, and ripoff shows. Trying to cash in on the craze of repurposed Japanese stock footage. And that's what we're talking about on this Ezra Tro Geek Out, so sit back, relax, subscribe to the channel for more toy history, and now it's Morphin Time! Power Rangers. I have to say, at first I didn't really like it, but as the Green Ranger story unfolded, I was hooked as a kid. I needed the toys, I had my first crush, I had a crush on Kimberly, who didn't? She's an angel. My turtles had to make room for Japanese import toys. It was time to grow up, leave cartoons behind, and watch live action shows. Here's me unboxing the Ninja Zord, and here's me with my Zords in my 30s. But where did this TV show really come from? The history traces back to Saban, a TV production company. For Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, Saban drew inspiration from Japanese kid shows like Super Sentai. The show was in essence the combination of the Super Sentai stock footage and newly shot footage with American actors. These were teenagers with ninja moves and real teenage problems. They could forget whenever they morphed into the Rangers. Super Sentai had been around for decades in Japan, and had multiple seasons from which they could create the show. And the TV show always reminded me of a cool Godzilla-like movie. When the show first aired in August of 1993, it was a craze that took over right away. The actors could host TV shows, they licensed the brand for merchandise and food tie-ins to the max. As a kid, you could watch the show and read the Power Ranger magazine. By season two, they were reaching over five million kids a day. A live action movie was the next step, and even though it maybe hasn't aged well, it still holds a nostalgic place in my heart. The toys had to follow in order to support the mass demand. The action figures came in two sizes. You got the Zords, the role-playing weapons, and a playset that was released by Bandai. Luckily, they also had access to the toys that were already made for the original Super Sentai series. So they had a big archive to just pick toys from. You had the repurposed Super Big Post series made for the Super Sentai, and that translated to the Deluxe Power Rangers, an eight-inch set of figures. At the same time, you had four and a half-inch Shigouken-style figures that came with battle bikes, and of course, my favorites, the Zords, which were also redecos of deluxe mecha toys released by Bandai Japan for the Super Sentai series. Role-playing was also a big part for a Power Rangers fan. All you needed as a kid was a flashy colored bodysuit, a Power Ranger helmet, and one of the many role-playing toys or morphers they had out on the store shelves. And you know, when a popularity wave goes up, people try to get in on the wave. The success of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers didn't go unnoticed, so the concept was copied, keeping the parts they thought were the success to the concept. In 1994, at least three more shows slipped into kids' TV rotation with the same characteristics: a group of ninja teens, alien monsters, a Zordon-like master to guide the team, and usually another hype thing to kind of differentiate itself. Superhuman Samurai Cyber Squad from 1994 was an adaptation of a Japanese show called Gridman: The Hyper Agent. Combining guys in robot or monster suits, but within your computer. Yeah, in the 90s, computers were cool, right? Team Samurai, the good guys, are kids who are also in a band, and as they get zapped into the computer space during a power surge, they come back equipped with a strange device to their wrists, and they find out that they could transform into Servo and other parts of Team Samurai, who has to defeat the mega virus monsters. So, pretty much action-fighting footage, but within a computer. So, over here you pretty much had the Japanese action-fighting parts, and the American parts that they shot were just kids on their computers hacking in the 90s. And the toys were provided by none other than Playmates. You could even see some of the accessories from Turtles being reused for this toy line. Then came tattooed teenage alien fighters from Beverly Hills. That's a long pain. This is one, a remarkable name, and two, really the bottom of the barrel. I honestly had forgotten all about this one until I started looking up things for this video, and then suddenly it hit me. I watched this show back in the day. Back in the day, it was horrible. Now it's just hilarious. In this rip-off, each teenager was given a tattoo that would unlock the power of colorful superhero shiny spandex. And if the evil monsters they were finding was too dark, they could combine into Nitron. That was their type of sword combiner thing. Apart from a little merchandise, it doesn't seem like they got any toys made, but they definitely tried to catch the wave of success with this one. VR Troopers, also released in 1994, was the first of many shows by Saban. Set out to create even more live-action shows for kids, and when Power Rangers did so well, they decided to look into another Japanese show and localize it by combining the virtual reality trend, thanks to early CGI. It's the first official sister series to Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, so definitely not a rip-off, but definitely a way for Saban's success to cross-sell their products to kids who were already into Power Rangers. VR Troopers was also available in the toy store's video game section, and with action figures by Kenner. And I still want an Ultimate Ryan Steele action figure. Masked Rider came out in 1995 and was also developed by Saban. Masked Rider appeared in the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers and then got his spin-off show. As the Masked Rider, the main character, Dex, protects Earth and fights various monsters. He can activate his suit by yelling "Ectophase, activate!" Toys were also done by Bandai, so they looked very similar to the Power Ranger toys. Unfortunately, the show didn't perform well and the toys didn't sell enough, so they cancelled the line after the first season. In 1996, there was another effort by Saban, this time Big Bad Beetle Borgs, with toys by Bandai and some really cool role-playing toys as well. Big Bad Beetle Borgs was a later Americanization of stock footage in which three teenagers enter a haunted house and come out as superheroes, when a ghost grants them a wish. They wish to become their favorite superheroes, but in doing so, also bring the villains of their superheroes into their world. They used footage from Joku Bee Fighter and Bee Fighter Kabuto. The show was a hit, but due to there just not being enough stock footage to keep the seasons going, they had to pull the plug on this one. And it's the same problem they ran into for VR troopers after only two seasons. So by now, you couldn't even turn on a TV without watching one of these wannabe Power Rangers or the real deal. With the success of the TV show, in the first movie, the Power Rangers Powerhouse was creating shortages each holiday season. So, if you can't find nothing but Billy's and Trini's on the shelf pegs, you turn to those toys that kind of look like a Power Ranger. Now, when it comes to bootlegs or knockoffs, all you need was a couple characteristics. For Masters of the Universe, it was a barbarian with over-the-top muscles. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, any animal, as long as it was green. And Power Rangers allowed any action figure with a helmet to be turned into a toy a parent could easily mistake for the real thing. All you needed was bright blue, red, yellow, black, green, pink, with a white and black checkered scheme and a dinosaur animal on the chest. Also, there had been two decades of Super Sentai toys in Japan that could easily be modified into bootlegs and knockoffs. In the end, the bootleg and knockoff Power Rangers were everywhere. I remember standing in store having to choose between a real Power Ranger or a 5-pack, which looked almost like the real deal. But the real Power Ranger fan in me just knew something wasn't right. So that is how you ended up with Mega Rangers, who were still fully poseable. Nothing was sacred. The evil aliens desords, nothing was safe from getting a bootleg or a knockoff. And here's a couple we're gonna take a closer look at. Super Warriors bootlegged the automorphin concept and provided the same incentive for the price of one official ranger. You got a pack of five, all with a golden chest blade, coin, blaster, and Trini somehow got her own weapon. Then you had the Super Falco Power Perdue, which came released on a card with a really bootlegged Power Rangers logo, and later a blue, lesser misleading card. The toys were almost exact copies of the automorphers once again. And all the toys came with the same blaster and Zack's weapon. You could tell the floodgates were right open. Mega Rangers, action figures, mighty rangers, mighty power fighters, super robotic rangers, power hero, mega rangers. And what I really want to know in the comments down below is how you would call your own knockoff brand of Power Ranger toys. Would it be Teenage Neutron Ninja Squad Ninjas? Because two times ninja is even better. And obviously we have to take a look at some of the knockoffs, like the Sonic Rangers, where they just took a light up gimmick from a Robocop knockoff and added colors. These were released in 1994 by Soma, and as you can read on the card, they come with a light up visor, three safety weapons, and movable arms and legs. The next one is the Atomic Ranger Warriors, released by Lanard as an alternative toy to Power Rangers. And just like the Lanard toys GI Joe knockoffs, these still had their own charm with big weapons and silver or gold armor plates next to their unicolor paint scheme. Back in the day, I had so many knockoff Power Ranger toys just because the toy store where I was going, they couldn't keep the toys on the shelves. They were selling out so fast. But one of these knockoffs have been one of my favorite toys ever. These are the Power Forces, released by New Ray in 1994. They were more in scale with a GI Joe figure and had the same articulation, but they were just a bit bulkier. They matched with the Power Rangers as they were a team of bright colored heroes going by the names of Frank, Otto, Rick, Charlie, Eddie, and Sandy. I was instantly drawn to Frank, the guy with the cobra altered helmet. It was all I needed to really pique my interest to these toys, and they also came with their own story on the back of the cards. The six powerful leaders of the universe join into one to become the Power Forces, to fight against all evil invaders of the planet. The Power Forces are backed up by a special duty unit called Workbot teams. Their main duty is to reconstruct all cities destroyed by the evil invaders. Dino patrol and power bikes driven by the Power Forces are fully armed with high-tech weapons as well as the city constructors are well equipped for the site exploring and repairing. The Power Forces are ready to prevail over the evil heavy metal evil dino. That's two times evil. The evil Tyrannosaurus Parasolophus and J.R. This was definitely like a knockoff that went to the next step. Obviously the knockoff had already come out in one way or another, but they combined all of the molds they could get and toy concepts and turn it into these Power Forces. Now these toys weren't bad and it came with lots of accessories. It's actually too bad they didn't know a cartoon for these or like a live action show. The original Mighty Morphin Power Rangers would last for three seasons and after that you would get a mini-series called Mighty Morphin Alien Rangers which led into the next incarnation of the franchise. Power Rangers Zeo and a lot more incarnations would follow with their own bootlegs and knockoffs. In a galaxy far away, a story unfolds of the Star Raiders whose Star Command battle it out with the Galaxy Empire. Wait, these aren't the toys you're looking for? Or are they? Time to bring you up to light speed about these often rare and expensive knockoff Star Wars action figures. Today on Ed's Retro Geek Out we take a look at the bootleg galaxy that Star Wars created. As it rose up like a phoenix, changing the toy industry forever and bringing second life to any old space toys that could be rebranded to cash in on the success. So be sure to subscribe for weekly toy videos and let's strap in for some toy history. On the 27th of October, 1977, Star Wars was released in theaters. At the time licensing movie toys wasn't a common thing, but after a $500,000 directing pay cut, George Lucas had gotten hold of all the licensing rights for Star Wars. Kind of a gamble, but in the end I think it paid off big time for him. Even though he shopped the space western characters around to every toy manufacturer possible, most of them weren't biting. And even Kenner's CEO, Bernie Loomis, who eventually signed the deal with Lucas, didn't have fate in the movie, but saw the toyetic properties of the IP. Even if the movie didn't do well, it should have a life of its own. So they set out providing merchandise like t-shirts, masks, lunch boxes and announcing Kenner's Star Wars toys to be out by Christmas. But they sold out immediately, leaving loads of kids unwrapping a certificate on Christmas morning. A promise they would get their very own toys when the factory finally caught up. The toy line stock was depleted as soon as it was released. Nobody would have guessed this to be such a huge success. And even though Kenner had some Star Wars worthy label slapping toys up their sleeve, two can play that game. The demand was so big that other space toys got more traction. Migos Micronauts was already a successful toy line, but all of a sudden, with the interest in space robots, these were flying off the shelves. Some companies did a check on what concepts they had lying around and they could easily alter to accommodate the demand and Jedi mind trick you and your parents into getting. Star Team was Ideal's answer to Star Wars. After a deep dive in the archive, they decided to give some old toy concepts a 70s update. The line consisted of three figures and a spaceship. Zem-21 was a reimagining of Ideal's JJ Arm's body, giving that C-Tripo vibe, but choosing not to go with his color. Night of Darkness was just a Captain Action with a Dark Vader-inspired head and all the accessories that came with the Flash Gordon set. And Zeroid was just the same toy robot it was back in 1966. And oddly enough, he resembles R2-D2 quite a lot while predating him. In order to win the space race, Zeroid had the Starhawk space vessel, a starship with a cockpit dome to store Zeroid in with access to a computer panel, it had a landing gear sound, and it could open up automatically. Star Team from Ideal. Fantastic action figures that bring the future down to the Earth today. Space heroes, menacing villains, lovable robots, and space vehicles that conquer the space system. Join the Star Team and let Ideal help you capture all the sellout demand created by the science fiction boom. It even had a free Marvel comic tie-in. Now you had Space Fighters by Imperial who clearly saw a resemblance with the Stormtrooper in a couple of their products. So after a restyled logo in the pyramid style we know from Star Wars, it definitely tried to connect itself to the popular toys. For only $1.29, one of these Space Fighters can be yours. Another existing toy line thrown together as a knockoff is Star Command's Starroid Raiders from 1978 Calfax Incorporated. With jointed movable arms, legs, and head. It came with a battle axe and a battle sword. It was made by the British company Tomlund and they stood three and a quarter inch tall, five points of articulation. Yeah, they were designed to go with your real Star Wars toys. Even though none of the characters were imitating the Star Wars ones, Star Raiders on the other hand was Tomlund's eight inch line and these were way more out there horror-wise. Which is no surprise as they often used existing toys from the 60s monster craze to complete this line. Re-packaged toys from previous toy lines like Monsters of Legend, they'd end up as a Star Raider or On A Star Command interplanetary Starroid action figure card. With just a card art changing to a Space War or Thunderbirds-like image. Any monster could be a space monster and this one known as Flash probably resembles a Star Wars character the most. He hints to Chewbacca but comes with clothes and there's also Wick who does resemble a Tusken Raider but in blue and pink. With Zing they tried to recreate a C-3PO looking character but failed horribly. Then again it's the worser these knockoffs get the better. Maybe he just came from a galaxy really really far away. The face art looks like it's been drawn on at the very last minute in the factory. In the end these are just knockoff toys done right. But there's also a ton of bootlegs from existing molds, sometimes straight copies and some with scaling issues. Quality was usually an issue and most of the card art was a dead giveaway. There was a disturbance in the force. La Guerra de las Galaxias, an 80s Mexican bootleg comes on a hand-drawn piece of art. As you see all your favorite characters come back on this bootleg art and attached to it is a plastic baggie containing a fragile Luke Skywalker. Now, it wouldn't be complete without an accessory and you're in luck. Depending on the version you would get a red or blue colored Sword of Omens provided by Lino himself. Honestly, I just want this bootleg for the Thundercat sword. Storing your bootlegs or original figures was easy. You could even get a knockoff figure case. The perfect case to store these collectibles and who would have thought the knockoff case would become a collectible on its own. Like this Star World figure case that could hold up to 12 space figurines. Perhaps even a knockoff like the artwork shows. Droids, the Darth Vader-like character, and also Chewie and C-3PO get their very own representation on the artwork. For role-playing, lightsabers were the way to go. And next to Darth Vader's helmet, it was probably the most recognizable thing you could get to dress up as one of these characters. Battery-powered laser sword from 84 by Sunbeam Toys, with box art that could easily be mistaken for Star Wars. One with a Darth Vader-like character on the box and Luke-style figure that also glows in the dark after use. But once out the box, it was really more like a big plastic light-up stick with a black or blue handle. Or the Star Swords lightsabers, marketed by Skyline Incorporated as Soft Inflatable Fun in '77. No lights were built in. These were just blow-up swords, so avoid contact with any sharp objects or hot surfaces. The lightsaber played a big role in the movies and was one of the easiest role-playing toys to bootleg. Anything was perfect for your outer space duels. From the Japanese Stigbang to the Space Sword or Mighty Force weapon set. When Star Wars came out, it was a worldwide phenomenon. And so Palatoy would manufacture the toys for UK and some European markets. In different parts of the world, you could get variations of the same toys, and this was all thanks to these different manufacturers. But for some countries behind the Iron Curtain at the time, they could get their hands on the movie, but not on the toys. The import embargo and the international tensions caused toy makers in those countries to take matters in their own hands. That's how you got the Hungarian bootleg toys. Poland toys, Russia, bootlegs, and often these with Frankenstein parts together from existing toys and throw some weird colors on them. But that's the beauty of it. And with all of these lines being produced after midnight in factories that often belonged to the communist government, you knew they were taking chances to get these toys out. And there's even Turkish bootlegs! Uze's Star Wars toys. Uze's Star Wars toys were manufactured by SB Products in the late 80s and are some of the best constructed bootlegs that definitely rivaled Kenner's quality. The card art, however, was not up to standard and has become famous like the Imperial Gunner manning the calculator for all your multiplying needs. It wouldn't hurt if we could multiply these bootlegs. They are so rare that some even fetch up to $80,000 if still on card. Like Headman with the golden head, just like the movie, right? He also came with a sword and shield, and is perfect for posing on the beach as you can see on the card art. And even though these toys aren't based on the Turkish Star Wars movie, The Man Who Saved the World, the motion picture from 1982, which was also just stealing footage from the New Hope movie. Heck, they even took parts from Raiders of the Lost Ark. Nothing was sacred when it came to popularity opportunists like this. So you see, not only in the toy aisles, there were aliens appearing everywhere. In the movie theaters, everyone was trying to create the next space adventure that would do well. Even B-Movie King Roger Corman cashed in on the Star Wars craze with its own Space Opera in 1980 with Battle Beyond the Stars. Starring A-Team's Hannibal. Yeah, George Bapart taking on the Han Solo type role. And later Corman would reuse that set for Space Raiders, as you might have guessed, also a Star Wars ripoff. There was a new story to be told in movies, and the universe full of tails was brought to the big screen hoping to score as big as the Death Star with The Last Star Fighter, Message from Space, Star Odyssey, Star Crash. I can keep going, I can probably keep going on like this. On TV, you already had Star Trek and even though the Battlestar Galactica concept predated Star Wars, it would alter certain things due to the Star Wars popularity. Seeing the obvious matches, it even came to one of the many lawsuits George Lucas got himself into to protect his creation. And with most of these bootlegs and knockoffs steering right on the edge of copyright infringement, you knew it was time for the Lucas Empire to sue back. For Battlestar Galactica, they sued in 1983 for the theft of their intellectual property. But the key takeaway was that copyright doesn't protect ideas, only the expression of ideas. Except for the basic concept that there was good and evil in space, the court saw the idea being copied, but the execution didn't have enough similarities. When going after Ideal's Star Team in '77, they learned trademark infringement requires more than a general association. It wasn't enough that people were reminded of Star Wars by Star Team, they would need to associate them as part of the movie, but the characters existed way before Star Wars was a thing. Sure, they did benefit from the success by also having these toys on the shelves. In 1983, Lucasfilm even went after President Ronald Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative, that got nicknamed Star Wars in the media. But the court ruled that trademark infringement must occur regarding competitive goods or services, which was not the case here. While in most cases, Lucasfilm lost in the end, they'd end up winning as Star Wars would last longer or outsell the other toy lines to the point of bankruptcy. But even in the 90s and beyond, they're still making bootlegs. Star Knight places Darth Vader on a police motorcycle in the mid-90s, because why use the Force when you have a set of wheels with blinking lights, real siren sound, mystery bump and go action, and there's more, gunshotting sound, and voice plus real patrol motorcycle sound. Because you don't just walk around in the Death Star, that thing is huge, it would take too long. No, you cruise around on this bike with your Darth Vader. There's something oddly satisfying seeing knockoffs like this one where the concept is so out of place that it just puts a smile on your face. Galaxy Combat 2: Return of Star Walker, the special version with bomb sound effects and flashlight. Looking more like a Robocop knockoff, but hey, maybe it's both. Star Tanks, the most powerful battle car all over the galaxy, would pull back action by Happy Toys Hong Kong, and a very similar Galaxy Warriors logo. Sun Gold? Four 5-inch long Star Tanks were released, like Mighty Cannon, Air Land Destroyer, Super Laser Killer, and Speed Rescuer. Apart from the Star Wars font, they really don't have a lot to do with Star Wars. Best Toy Galaxy Warrior were GI Joe-like knockoffs, but they might as well have been Centurions or Star Trek knockoffs. The 90s knockoff line Star Attack gave you two minifigures and three mini spaceships. The card art is clearly ripped from Star Wars, and the vehicles look a lot like Thunderbirds vehicles. The Aliens came, however, from the Outer Space Men action figures, a line from 1968 whose molds have been reused over and over again for knockoff toys. They were originally produced by the Colorforms company. You do have to give props to the knockoff manufacturer to tie both the Aliens and the vehicles nicely together by the paint scheme. Then you had Galaxy Empire. These Power of the Force knockoffs from the 90s came with twistable head, waist, and movable arms and legs, but also an accessory like a big blaster, or in Darth Vader's case, a lightsaber. Most of them looked the part, but some liberty was taken colorwise, like for Chewbacca with the gray fur, or this Torb Trooper that clearly moonlights as a doctor after hours. Yeah, those blue gloves gave it away, buster. And sure, yeah, there's also episode one bootlegs. When they came to the store almost as fast as the real deal, with the usual off colors and funny names like Darth Maul, who got nicknamed Dennis the Phantom Menace, or who would forget Toby one, Emperor Daft Sirius, R2-3PO. These figures were supposed to talk, but the communication tech chip wasn't installed, and the paint schemes also didn't match up with the real deal. But honestly, from afar, these could have easily been mistaken to have been part of the movie's actual toyline. It was a real attack of the clones. What indeed, what indeed. Now the knockoff known as Universal War looks awesome. These were stormtroopers, aliens, and a dart fader with big guns and disproportioned heads. I love this stuff. And sure, all the toys mentioned in this video are merely a speck in the black hole consumers can get their bootlegs fixed from. This isn't even the tip of the iceberg, and with the Star Wars cinematic universe ever expanding, it doesn't seem like this will end very soon. Star Wars toys did something not a lot of toylines did before them. Changed the whole industry. So I do have a follow-up video in the works to see how Kenner's competitors were reacting to their success. Knowing that most of these competitor toy companies got offered the license before Kenner, but they passed on it. So there's definitely some regret, but that's for another video. Like a strike of lightning, the LJN ThunderCats line lit up the toy market in the mid 80s. You could feel the magic and hear the roar. A roar that's still remembered as one of the best lines of the 80s, despite being on shelves for only three years. This was surely not enough time to get a copy line together to capitalize on its success. But even back then, the knockoffs from Thundera were on the move, and the bootleg cats were loose. In this X Retro Geek Out, we'll take a look at some of the Cosmocat bootlegs, the knockoffs, and some very cool exclusive international variants that might be the next thing to add to your ThunderCats collection. So be sure to subscribe for more 80s and 90s toy videos, and let's strap in for some toy history. The year was 1985 when ThunderCats hit the toy market, and Mumra and his evil mutants weren't the only thing they were up against. Hasbro's Transformers controlled the space robots niche, their G.I. Joe Real American Heroes, the Army Toys, and Mattel's Masters of the Universe were probably the sci-fi savages they were most in line with. But thanks to a big gamble on an expensive syndicated cartoon show, these sword and sorcery space cats turned out to be one of the biggest successes for LJN. The cartoon produced by Rankin Bass was created with characters by Ted Wolf. These heroes were the perfect match for the toy maker. From 1985 up to 1989, we got 150 episodes that aired and a whole bunch of star comics by Marvel that told the tale of the ThunderCats, as it soon rose to one of the highest rated shows thanks to the moral lessons neatly tucked away in each action-packed episode. I myself found out about the awesome toys through reading the comics years and years later after they came out. But kids back then that watched the cartoon each day after school were out to find their new heroes. And like with all popular properties, someone is going to get creative and try to jump on the cosmic cat train. What does he mean? Now most of the LJN toys had very distinctive sculpts, as very few corners were cut or sculpts reused when creating this line, so I do wonder how much of it they copied or tried to imitate. A lot of bootlegs can still be found in Mexico. These Mexican bootlegs are usually mistaken for the real deal from afar, but when we look closer we realize the quality is a little less. Repurposing the LJN toy molds, the toys are almost identical, but they're held together by a screw on the shoulders and hips. When we take a look at the colors, they seem a bit off from the official release, and sometimes the paint job on the faces can create some funny expressions. And that is because the toy line by LJN really put out premium toys, multi-colored weapons, and added in that Battlematic action gimmick. The whole nine yards. The Battlematic action feature is something LJN introduced in their Dungeons and Dragons toy line, and it did very well. But for our two main characters, Lino and Mumra, that wasn't enough. They even got their power rings that made their eyes light up, added in as well. So bootleggers would have to invest a lot in creating something that was able to compete with these premium toys. Or they could just create something that looked enough like the characters from the cartoon. Another way of creating these characters was through blow molds. There's a huge panthro out there, just showing you how recognizable this character was, sometimes called Colossal Panthro. Which pretty much looks like a two-up from the actual toy, and the same thing goes for our main hero, Lino. Lino is a fan favorite amongst collectors, and there's another blow mold bootleg out there with a lot more articulation, and hints to another type of toy. He gives off the vibes of a shogun warrior, yet he's only standing 12 inches tall. This one would have come with a sword of omens, and a snap-on claw shield. The paints on the face, on the other hand, could have been better. Or just raises some questions. Are you okay, Lino? Are you okay? A few of these Lino faces have also been popping up. Was it part of a body, or is his face and wild hair iconic enough to get his own bootleg? But when it comes to bootlegs, it's always more interesting to see when they made a new sculpt of the popular character. Sometimes for better, and sometimes for worse. I was able to find this huge one that has four points of articulation, and is looking more like a grumpy cat. There's also a known younger looking lino sculpt out there. Either way, these would be a good alternative, and it's always fun to see these new sculpts come up. There appears to be loads out there for each character. Each character has their own little bootleg, their own reinterpretation of what the character could have looked like. So you could possibly just go on an endless collecting hunt trying to get all of these. But a toy line is only as strong as its villains, so they would need to cook up an ancient spirits of evil incantation to bring you Mumra's bootlegs. And this is the reason you get into bootleg collecting. Here's another brand new sculpt. Perhaps they just didn't have access to the molds, or they didn't create a copy of the LGN ones, but decided to create their own. And this could as well just have been a real release. The sculpting is exquisite. Mumra is almost smiling, and that's how he's known among Stundercats collectors. Smiling Mumra. I've seen examples of other characters where another head sculpt really reels you in, and it makes you wonder who made these in the same scale as the official releases. Then again, there's a ton of Mumra and his almighty form out there. When you go to one of the fine markets in Mexico, you can find a sculpt in almost any color. It's very tempting to pick them all up, and it's so exciting to see the sculpt in another color scheme each time. Toxic green, purple, blood red. There is not a single color that doesn't touch this mold and looks cool. And they come complete with weapons and crown. In Spain, we would see a line called HP Skeleton. Looking a lot like a Mumra knockoff in decaying paint form. These non-articulated 7-inch toys come in various paint jobs, and have just enough Mumra aesthetics to want it as a Thundercats collector. Now, the other mutants would also get their share of bootlegs, like this giant blow mold slight that even comes with the weapons. And in order to defeat Mumra, the ever-living, and his mutants, Lino and Panthro could use the Thunder Tank. Ready for Thunder Tank! An art toy vehicle work of art. But when Panthro's Thunder Tank has to go in for maintenance, he can always borrow Barney Rubble's Login Continental, or Rubble Wreck. Here we see the bootleg crossover we've always wanted, as Panthro, armed with a ball bat, is driving the famous law car from the Flintstones. The Tronco Mobile bootleg is sporting the Thundercats logo proudly, but what would be the best name for this bootleg though? Now, if you wanted a Thunder Tank to match up with your bootlegs, you could also get a fairly resembling 11-inch bootleg car. It just didn't have any of the options you'd want. Apart from the wheels rolling, you could also move the arms up and down on this one. And of course, the Tank would also get its own version in many colors for the mini versions of bootlegs. Thundercats was really an international success, remaining more popular in other parts of the world after the buyer's interest had dried up over in the U.S. There's even a Korean bootleg by Select Toys from 1988. Or at least that's what his imprint says. This lino comes with stickers, sword, crossbow, and more armor. The package reads the Invincible Prince line, but the sculpt seems very familiar. Which brings us to Select Toys' Ninja Defenders or Ninja Assassin line, whom shared a lot with the LGN toy sculpt. Like the Battlematic action is here, the toys would come with weapons and a printed cloth to be able to disguise themselves as ninja assassins. And apart from some of the line looking like mutants, there isn't a lot of similarities with Thundercats, but it proved to be a great sculpt as a basis for this Korean bootleg. And for Sungold, it was also time to let the cat out of the bag. As they came up with Sungold's Thunder Heroes. I mean, what would you call your Thundercats knockoff line? Thunder Heroes had moving arms, legs, twisting head and waist, and came complete with a sword and belt. At the time, they were also doing wrestlers' knockoffs. And this isn't very far apart from that. As they eliminated the cat features, it was perhaps easier to create these because they're basically wrestlers, right? Someone get me the eye of Thundera because you're gonna need sight beyond sight to make a Thundercat out of this one. Although Sungold had enough cat sculpts to work with from their Galaxy Fighters and our Galaxy Limes. Now, the iconic lino hair would be a determining factor for other knockoff limes that wanted to match up their toys with subliminally mixing in some Thundercats. There would always be a lino-looking character in these lines that kept pumping out more and more toy lines in different colors. In Super Ninja Invisible Warriors, he's known as General Frider. In Planet Hero, he is a powerful action figure that comes complete with interchangeable snap-on, stay-on weapons, and accessories. And in Ninja Commandos, he is part of a team of six with twistable head and waist, combined with movable arms and legs, and weapons. And you basically have your standard 5.5 knockoff. But there would be one knockoff line that actually took some of the molds and tried creating something new with it. Guerreros del Mañana. I probably said that wrong, I know. Or the Warriors of Tomorrow from Argentina threw Masters of the Universe and Thundercats together in a blender and created these daring, color-blending monsters. Released to the toy market in 1985, we can very well see the mold of slight pop through in some of these creations by Guillermo Zanoco. This knockoff line definitely captured the excitement around these sci-fi savage toys and made fans along the way, so they're still making homages to this line and still creating new ones. And like with any big property, the marketing machine wouldn't end with cartoon commercials and some toys. You have to go deeper into merchandise, fast food premiums, but also role-playing toys and tools to keep your collection together. In 1986, Tara Toys created a licensed collector's showcase shield. You could snap on your favorite figures and carry them around, or have them displayed six on each side, as the shield can also stand. Even here, you could get a cheaper alternative thanks to Woolworth's Battle Shield, the collector's showcase that holds and displays 12 fantasy figures, including Masters of the Universe, Thundercats, Blackstar, and most other 5.5 figures. Originally retailing at $4.99, this is pretty much the same thing as Tara Toys came up with, and I wonder if it stayed in stores long enough. Eventually, you would see the same company made the licensed and the unlicensed version. On the packaging, they used toys from the fantasy world by Soma, they do reference Thundercats and Master of the Universe on the packaging. Just like when Remco did it for their Conan line, it ended up getting sued. As an official release, this Battle Bones type storage toy is quite the rarity, and I think the knockoff version is even more uncommon. But this next piece of merchandise is probably the oddest, the Robocats Betsheets. A Betsheet? Trying to cash in on the Thundercats? Having the best name so far for a knockoff line, I would love to see some action figures based on these drawings, although some of the more recent bootlegs I got do resemble the lino quite well. I love how much detail went into Panthro and snarf for this one. This Betsheet is a work of art, and you really can't roleplay Thundercats without the Sword of Omens. The official release with the light-up function is one of the best ever made, so Toy Fun Max's Thunder Sword definitely found some inspiration from the Sword of Omens. This safe, flexible blade looks the part from afar, but is quite different. Perhaps part of a line called Dragon Sword? This battery-operated and up to four-color changing light-up sword doesn't really scream Thundercats, but deep inside, you know, this just wants to be the Thundercats role-playing sword you asked for Christmas back in 1986. "The Sword of Omens, come to my hand!" Now there's also a Korean version of this sword, and it has great packaging with the logo on it, Panthro amongst the tagline "Thunder Thunder" is on the blade, and the blade is somewhat oddly shaped, but this one is one of the most colorful swords out there. In 1990, the Cheng Cheng Toys Company created the Sonic Sword, which also has Thundercats written all over. From the copied logo to the Thunderbolts, it would activate its light function as you swung it around, accompanied by sounds. You can get a variety of sounds after you whip out the power of the Sonic Sword in your hands. And then there's some official variants that add localized names, so it might be easy to mistake them for a bootleg, like Cosmocats for the French-speaking countries. In Argentina, they had official releases that deviated in an interesting way. Playful got to use the LGN molds, but they would often come out differently, where the paint applications were different, or some features just weren't accentuated. Also, the plastic used for these was of a different quality, so if you're looking for more variants, check out the playful editions, like the Jaga over here. But the award for the best-looking version and deluxe packaging for a Thundercats official release goes to Brazil's Glass Light, who produced these in a cool window box. Now, this is definitely something I'm going to be after, trying to get one of these in the box. It just looks deluxe. It looks great. Now, for relying to only have three years on the market, and to be able to cement itself as an icon of toys in the 80s is impressive. I hope to someday complete my Thundercats collection with all the characters I'm still missing, but I'll be keeping an eye out for more amazing knockoffs as well. Now, there's probably a lot more epic-looking bootlegs out there, but they didn't make the list today, so be sure to leave them in the comments down below, or share a picture on Instagram. So, imagine that Lion O'Hare on a figure, and I want to know how you would have called your knockoff line for Thundercats. Leave that in the comments below, please. The year was 1986, as the gross-out craze bursted out of the seams. Leading the gross-out revolution was Garbage Bill Kids and Madballs. Strangely horrific sculpted balls with a crazy backstory that will leave a lasting impact on the toy market. But for every Dr. Jekyll, there's a Mr. Hyde, and in Madballs' case, there's a ton of Hydes bouncing their way into Mom's wallet. In this, at Retro Geek Out, we're sneaking a peek at all the knockoffs and bootlegs Amtoy had to deal with. They're almost here! Let's go! So be sure to subscribe for more 80s and 90s toy videos, and let's strap in for some toy history. The story of Madball starts in the unlikeliest of places, a company called American Greetings, known for their greeting cards, that also had a division called Those Characters from Cleveland. Here, they made 80s pop culture icons, like Strawberry Shortcake, Care Bears, and Popples, but also dipped their toes into the gross-out market that was gaining popularity in the boy toy market thanks to their own My Pet Monster and Madballs. Gross sculpts weren't new, just think of the nutty mats made by Marx back in the 60s. "There's plenty of things you can do!" But combining it with a ball so you could play with it like a game of Hot Potato, that's when they knew they struck gold. Yet here, it would be due to the gruesome aesthetic of the balls. And so, the Amtoy designer team went to work on Madballs. Released in 1985, the first year would rake in 10 million sold units of the 8 original Madballs, enough to make it commercially viable for other companies to flesh out morbid orbs for cross-demand. Substitute Madballs came out in all themes, and often with an extra gimmick to give it their own trashy flavor. Next to the obvious bootlegs that just ripped the Amtoy characters and didn't bother to make any changes to the sculpts, there were also companies taking a swing at their own gross-out emporiums. Ladder Toys, never shy for a knockoff, would create Foul Ball in 1986. Collect 'em all! They're the grossest off-the-wall fouls from the sand lots of Southern California, with characters like Slime Clops, Zomball, Beetle Ball, or Trunklip. The blister card was a bit more daring with a custom cutout, but in most cases, other companies just went with the same card concept as Amtoy. Just take a look at Malapel's unofficial Weird Balls. You can miss, fumble, and strike out with these characters like Shrinkhead, Sewerface, or Spitball. The company would also take a stab at the Garbage Pail Kit's trading card market by adding in throwaway trading cards that dogs refuse to fetch. But as we will see later in the episode, Weird Balls would also venture a bit deeper with football-shaped balls like Wormskull or Warthog. This satisfaction guaranteed. Ilko Toy would bring monstrous fun for all, combining the universal monsters like Dracula, The Wolfman, The Mummy, and Frankenstein's monster into the mix. The famous monsters from all your favorite horror movies. 1986 also brought us Freak Balls made by 4star. They're gross! They're great! Throw one to a friend and they'll scream "What a Freak Ball!" With characters' names like Brains or Deadeye, it all seems a bit rushed. Even the sculpting is not that great compared to other knockoffs. But they'd also venture into Super Mad Balls territory. That's right! In order to expand the Mad Balls line, Amtoy turned to life-sized soccer, football, and basketball Mad Balls. Freak Balls would do the same with football-sized monstrosities like Skull Gore or Elter Ego. A gruesome double-headed Siamese knockoff masterpiece. But beware, there's more. Wacky Balls! Touch 'em if you dare, and if you dare, you'll want to touch 'em all. From beyond the universe of the dying planet of Grotesca comes the invasion of the Wacky Balls. Frightening fun with Freaky Footballs and Batty Baseballs. The scummiest, scuzziest, wackiest faces ever found on a ball. Like Meinstein, a Skulled Brainiac that will even haunt your daydreams. Or Stevie Slime Ball, a one-eyed mummy of a slime ball to slip through your fingers. There's certain similarities in the molds with Freak Balls, and oddly, some of these came in packaging indicating it was created and marketed by Walmart. Wacky Balls spook all your friends with this ghoulish gang, and if that wasn't enough you could take home a wacky ceramic beverage mug for the ultimate gross-out drinking experience. All your favorite characters like Mudbrain or Wrinklewort in a mug form. Thinkway Trading Corporation came in hot with 12 flaming crazy balls that just look too much like the real Mad Balls. They didn't even bother for character names, but did switch around the card art after a while. And then there's also Horror Balls, Allie Balls, Snot Balls, Fun Balls, Wacky Balls, Gooley Balls, whatever balls. But what I want to know is what you would call your Mad Ball knockoff line. Leave it in the comments down below. By the end of 1986, Amtoy had successfully licensed their horror orbs to anything you could imagine. From knee pads to cartoons, comics, soaps, and even Halloween masks that would turn you into a character from the Garbage Pail Kids movie, it seems. And venturing into more toy forms like Freaky String or Mad Ball wind-ups. Which is a concept Soma would copy in their wind-up jumping monster balls. Some toy companies wanted to leave their impression on the gross-out revolution by introducing another gimmick. What's another fun thing for kids? Water guns! So Eljan came up with Spit Balls, which were cartoony, friendly versions in the gross-out genre. With quick reloads spitting water up to 18 feet, you don't just say it, you spray it. Eljan's subline Entertech, known for their automatic water guns, also secured licensing deals for Freddy Spit Balls, Friday the 13th, Monster Spit Balls, and even Ghostbusters got a whole line of these tiny scary squirters. Or was it Laner that came up with Spit Balls? In 1986, well, Trash had Spit Balls. Another hint to Garbage Pail Kids: "Collect 'em all, they're the grossest off-the-wall fouls from the country's back alley." That sounds a bit familiar. That's right, they kept the same descriptions as foul balls. But it didn't always have to be water spraying from these gruesome spheres. ERTL's Spauraci, or Blurp Balls, had a fun gimmick where if you pressed a ball, a tiny projectile would jump out. Blurp Balls! Made in 1991, Blurp Balls! They make you want to blurp! With eight characters including Boney Tosteat, Sharky Skull Squirt, or Count Ava Heart. These are some amazing sculpts and exquisite color schemes. But you know, what about adding a little hair into the mix? With Hairy Hurlers, made in 1992 by Kodeiko. The hairy balls that you hurl, thanks to nine inches of hair. Six crazy characters with wild locks of outrageous hair. Dandruff, Moldy Locks, Doc Hairline Fracture, and other character names would have the kids want to collect them all. Flying Screamers added in a squeaky gimmick as you threw them, you could hear them scream on impact. 1994 brought these colorful characters going through some very unfortunate events, like Lungs Louie or Whacket Whiner. Deadheads had slime on the inside, but enough about these substitute goods. What about the utter cross demand? What about complementary goods? Mal Appel went all in on the Madball craze, copying everything Amtoy did and going beyond. For Super Balls, they had their own Weird Ball Football, Spitball, Punt and Grunt, amongst others, but also a character called Yumongasaki. A snotty soccer ball that is just the best thing to come out of the Weird Ball toyline. It came wrapped in plastic, but was indicated by a sticker on the plastic that it was a Weird Ball. But why stay big? Let's make some muscle men, which they called Minicoleptums. The Weird Ball characters would also be produced in full body form, in PVC, like Bonehead, Sludgehead, or Spitball Louie Jr. here. And then, there's the Grunt Team, the best thing ever made. Yes! The Grunt Team stands for "Gruesome, Repulsive, Ugly, Nasty, Terrible Team". So, you know, you're in for a treat. These were action figures somewhat swinging into the wrestler toy market as well as the Madball's head poppers that came popping up in 1986. The Grunt Team has six Weird Ball favorites turned into articulated gross-out action figures. But what about the toy opportunities that Amtoy hadn't seen themselves yet? Roundhill Industries saw a gap in the Madball market. Kids needed bodies to display their Madballs on, so they created creepy bods and weren't making any excuses to match up with the Madballs, by going for the same logo style, color scheme, and even attaching the already existing Madballs colors to their creepy bodies. These were nicely sculpted, non-articulated pieces of plastic that would balance your favorite horror balls, calling out the complimentary nature by even naming them. For ages 4 and up, Headless Bodies to display are Madballs, Weirdballs, Foulballs, and other ball heads. While Dr. Guts is perhaps based on an RK Online, Mr. Mummy is made for wrapping things up with Dustbrain. Ooze is a dead ringer for Slobulus, with the eyes poking out in the sculpt. And Stitch can stitch things up with ARG. Now you know what we're looking for. I love the detail with the rat on the back over here. This has got to be some of the best third-party Madball product out there. A perfect addition for any gross-out fan. It's really too bad we didn't get any more of these. Aside from throwing the Madballs to each other, you could also bat them. But would any plain wooden bat suffice? Heck no! You needed the Screaming Meanie Bat, which I believe was a licensed product. Or you could get one of the many knock-off bats out there that did to bats what Amptoy did to balls. Make them gruesome. Take, for instance, the freak bat that came with two balls and on the back you could even store your Madballs. This purple freak monster was a combination of colorful, slimy stickers with excellent sculpting. Made by Big Time back in 1999. There's also color variants and bats in different sizes. And sometimes these are also called monster bat. But even in the 80s they tried with the Ghoulville bat. This greenish ghastly sculpted bat would have come with a ball attached on some cardboard. There had been bat decorations like this in the past, but none were ghoulishly disgusting decorations like the Ghoulville bat. Worms crawling through the sculpt and skeleton fingers sculpted for a better grip make this one of the coolest toys out there. And then lastly another 1986 release which was by Axelon who created Rude Ralph a totally gross head with orange hair that when you yanked Ralph's eyeball would make rude noises. An eyeball? Now that's the way to make a pull string toy. That was totally disgusting. Can your parents deal with rude Ralph wretchedness? Will your teachers and neighbors be totally grossed out? Is Ralph too rude for you as he makes burp, fart and vomit sounds? Yes we're gonna have to buy one to find out. The Madball formula is definitely here to stay with 90s toy lines making it part of their rollout. Just look at the TMNT sport balls or Tales from the Crypt Keeper taking on the toy application amongst their official lines. It's just too bad that Amtoy couldn't replicate their 10 million units sold in the first year's success. The line was already cancelling announced series 2 head poppers and other products they announced in the 1987 Toy Fair catalog. As you can see in Toy History episode 51. Perhaps it was the oversaturation of the craze in 1986 that there just wasn't enough demand for it. Parents who put their concerns on paper in the form of a petition. Now Madballs and knockoffs have made their comebacks in subsequent years and they will keep on being produced. They've become a must have for new brands to connect to nostalgia while still having the playability for a modern kid and an 80s kid can have just as much fun. When hunting for these toys at conventions you're bound to find some type of Madball influence on the vendor floor. Hopefully you enjoyed this deep dive on the Madballs knockoff galaxy. Be sure to subscribe for more toy history videos.