If you've spent any time looking for Pokemon stuff on eBay, you've seen them. Bootlegs. Shipped out of Hong Kong in most cases, cheap bootleg stuff is copious on eBay, and Pokemon in particular is a VERY popular target. It doesn't help that Tomy charges frankly ridiculous amounts for their little officially licensed figurines. Of course there'd be a market for cheap bootlegs when a legit two-inch figure costs upwards of eight bucks to acquire! Naturally, these figures are smaller, poorly painted, often off-model, and made of cheaper materials, but that's the tradeoff you make when dealing with bootlegs.
For too long I've wanted to get my hands on some of these beautiful disasters. At long last, I have. They were being sold in 24-count bags for the pittance of $1.60. That meant each individual figure was a mere 6.66 cents. Ominous, but I can't deny the bargain! So I bought six bags.
A full gross of Pokemon figures for under ten dollars. Was it worth it? Let's find out.
So the first discovery, right off the bat: Every bag comes with a Pikachu. You are guaranteed a Pikachu even if you only buy one bag. Smart, since the majority of the time these bags are being bought by clueless parents who just want to give their kid a bunch of pogglemins without breaking the bank. What was surprising, though, was that I didn't get a single duplicate Pikachu - there's six of him, yeah, but he's in six different poses!
Total so far: 6
I sorted the figures by generation. Here's Gen 1, minus the Pikachus. Nearly a third of the Kanto Pokedex is represented!
Some of these figures are actually pretty decent, like this Graveler who was, to me, one of the most impressive of the lot.
Others... not so much.
This isn't just any Pidgey. Not with that expression. This is absolutely Voth's Pidgey, specifically.
Clefairy making an appearance! And she's looking pretty great aside from the odd coloring (but even then, it makes her look like a Game Boy Color sprite!). One of my favorite figures from the lot.
I want to like this Chansey, but the color scheme is hideous. What worked for Clefairy doesn't work as well for Chansey, especially with those purple highlights and inexplicably blue egg pouch. I like the pose, though.
Total so far: 50
Here's the Gen 2 selection. Getting pretty decent-looking Octillery and Forretress was a delight! Something is definitely wrong with that Togepi, though.
:)
Total so far: 67
Gen 3 had plenty of reps, but also is unfortunately home to some of the ugliest and most off-model of all the figures. A few, like Linoone, Cacnea, and Cascoon look fine, but there's a lot to hate here. Plusle and Minun in particular are a special kind of hideous.
Gotta dig Registeel making an appearance, though, even if he's a sickly green.
Total so far: 94
Next is Gen 4. I think Gen 4's selection is one of the weakest, for sure - none of these Pokemon top the charts in my book, plus there are some REALLY bad coloring errors here. Get a load of pink Abomasnow and blue Turtwig! Lickilicky looks alright, as does Happiny and a few others.
Total so far: 110
Things pick up a bit for Gen 5. Before you say anything, yeah, Diancie accidentally wound up in this shot. Gen 5 had a lot of great Pokemon, so it stands to reason that the bootleggers managed to include a few gems. Of course, for every hit there's a miss, like those purple Zweilous and Samurott figures.
Or this unfortunate Gigalith missing his ass.
Here's an example of the bootlegging actually improving a Pokemon's design somewhat. If the real Gothitelle was paler and didn't have those ugly Goldeen lips, I might actually train one!
Only one of the figures was broken on arrival - this Simipour had its' tail broken off. Considering I have the same low opinion of the elemental monkeys that most Pokemon players do, I think I'll live.
I was delighted to get two members of the Venipede family, and their figures are decent to boot! They're on model and the paint, while sloppy, is the right color.
Total so far: 136
You saw we're rapidly approaching a gross, so it should come as no surprise that Gen 6 got by far the poorest representation in the package, even if you include the Diancie from earlier. Slurpuff just doesn't look like itself when its' mouth is closed, even if it's otherwise mostly on model.
Total so far: 142
Gen 7 did not get any representation at all. Sad.
Amazingly, that's 142 figures without any duplicates! But I did get ONE pair of dupes, and I saved them for the end. Just one pair, in the entire set of 144...
...and would you believe it was REGIGIGAS, MY FAVORITE POKEMON?! WOW!
Total: 144
So, all in all... 143 unique figures, only one duplicate, only one broken, all for just $9.60. Well played, bootlegs. Well played.
Hey, I was wondering if I can use the venupede picture, because I repainted mine, but forgot to take the picture of it before hand.
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