In the late 2000's and early 2010's, an oddball series of bootlegs showed up. Originating in Asia, the figures were poor quality recreations of many 1993 G.I. Joe figures. Most of them, though, had fairly substantial color differences from the Hasbro releases. For a while, they were all fairly easy to find and really cheap: like $10 or less for a carded sample. Slowly, though, the supply dried up and the figures disappeared. Now, when they periodically show up, the figures drive lots of questions from collectors who have not seen them before.
I'm unsure of the origin of these figures. But, they are of extremely poor quality. The paint is wonky and the construction materials are not good. For something cheap, that's OK. But, as these figures have now become "collectible", it can be problematic. So, if you're spending big money on one of them, be sure to take care when you attempt to move it as they break easily.
There were lots of paint jobs on these figures that, if they were Hasbro quality, would be considered superior to the Hasbro figure that was released. With this Night Creeper Leader, it's a mixed bag. The figure features more muted colors than the 1993 release. But, the soap colored flesh is offputting. I do have to admit, though, that I like the blue more than the more rust colored orange pants.
His flesh colored weapons are just bizarre. But, they are also a color that would have not otherwise existed. Many of the figures in this series use weapon colors not seen in the Hasbro line. I always like oddball weapon colors. So, that's a point of interest for me.
You will that the carded figure below steals the card art from the 1993 figure. The cardstock is thicker than a Hasbro cardback and is not easily mistaken for a Hasbro product by anyone even slightly familiar with the cardstock that Hasbro used.
If someone found this figure loose, it could be easily confused for a Funskool release. The silver boots and bright blue highlights are the type of thing that Funskool was doing in the early 2000's. But, the quality is much lower than even early 2000's Funskool.
The cardback is interesting. It shows all of the standard 1993 Hasbro releases that were shown on the real Night Creeper Leader card. While many of the figures shown do have bootlegs that are in this series, others either do not or have yet to be found. And, there are several figures which do exist that are not on this, particular cardback.
At one time, theses figures were all over Ebay and could be had for under $10 each. Slowly, some of them dried up. But, figures like Cobra Commander and Firefly hung around and could be acquired for the $10 price as recently as 2017. But, those days are gone, now. These figures rarely appear for sale. And, while they're not overly expensive, you're still going to pay way too much for a toy of this quality. I would love to know the full story of how these came to be and what became of the molds used to make them. I find it odd that no pumped out a rainbow of Alley Vipers. But, we're probably better off that they didn't. Hopefully, someday, we'll get the full story on these guys. Until then, we can enjoy the oddities.
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