Bootleg Things

It says something about a character's reach and popularity when others are willing to take that character and make their own copy, flouting copyright law and, in some cases (as we'll see), the bounds of good taste.

Such is the case with the Thing, nothing less than a company mascot in the '60s and '70s and still one of the more popular characters under the Marvel umbrella. Bootleg action figures of the character abound, and every time I see one, I try to grab it. Over the years I've amassed a few, and I thought it'd be interesting to take a look at the ones I have.

All of the below figures, to my knowledge, originated in Mexico. It seems our neighbors to the south and Latin America in general have a taste for bootleg toys, but I'm sure that there are others out there from different continents. If you are reading this and you feel the desire to part with your faux Ben Grimm figures, I hope you'll reach out.

These four figures are the first bootlegs I bought, from a few years ago, and ever since I saw these, I've been on the lookout for more. There are some real all-time greats in this bunch - I started out strong. Let's get a closer look at a couple from this image:

This skeletal-looking Thing is one of my favorites, with his metallic speedo and tiny, individually-painted teeth. This one is also pretty big and sturdy, and is one of the few with a more well-defined figure (as opposed to a blob that came out of a cheap mold). The orange color really stands out as well. 

This second Thing from the group is, by virtue of its ski-mask-like facial features, kind of frightening to look at. It kind of looks like someone took the Thing's face and is wearing it over his own face. Ben, is that you under there?

Not all of the Thing bootlegs are even orange. I guess this neon yellow was the best they could do at the time. This one kind of looks like cauliflower to me.

Here's The Thing in the middle of a dance move, I guess? One of the features of many of these bootleg toys is a faded paint job, seen here in Mr. Grimm's powder blue trunks. The sunken eyes and mouth slit are the most we're getting with regard to facial features. Who needs a nose?

This right here is probably the most bizarre one of the bunch. It is nothing short of a Thing hand puppet; the only plastic features are the head and the Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood-style hands. Why the Thing needs to wear makeup (check out those rosy cheeks!) is also a mystery. The head mold on this one is actually pretty good, and is reminiscent of the Michael Chiklis-style Thing from the mid 2000s movies.

This Thing comes with a surprise. No, it's not that he is apparently nude...

...this one lights up! It kind of looks like his chest is exploding. Anyway, there are a few similar bootleg Thing figures with he same light-up feature (this is the only one I have a picture of). I guess it added an extra incentive to buy the toy? It seems kind of odd to me.

Here we have perhaps my favorite bootleg Thing toy of all time. It's a solid figure that reminds me a lot of the 1960s cartoon Thing, with his lumpy mouth and the relatively large rock segments, especially in his chest area. When I get a bootleg Thing figure, I often store it away, but I keep this one out on my desk. It's ugly and weird in all the right ways.

I've got a couple bootleg figures that never made it out of their packages. This one even comes with a friend, and I have to say that I might like the inverse color Spider-Man more out of the two. Spidey also comes with a giant spider accessory, just like in the comics.

This one is probably the most official-looking bootleg I've got, but the shiny trunks and the seemingly hand-painted "4" on the belt give it away. Still, this is high quality as far as these go!

I've never seen another like this one, with its exaggerated, giant head and long arms. The pants seem to indicate that it's also from the 2005 movie era.

This is the most recent bootleg figure I've bought, and it's another gem. It's kind of Mego-esque with its Thing-style head on a more generic action figure body. This one comes with a screw right through his waist, and there's a lever on the back that makes the figure's arms move up and down. He also comes with a slightly deformed head.

Here's one more oddity for today. This blue-green figure is similar to the above "cauliflower" Thing, but what makes this one special is the packaging. It's a bootleg within a bootleg, as the "Go see a Star War" card inserted into the plastic sleeve adds another dimension. It also looks like Ben Grimm is getting ready to go on a job interview and has decided to wear a tie.

I don't know what it is about these things. They're ugly and poorly made and often misshapen, and also I absolutely love them. I've got a few more packed away somewhere, but these are a pretty good representation of the bootleg figures I've got. I'm always excited to see 'em.