Episode 1: Collection 3
| Class of Bootleg | Class 1 - Exact Duplicate |
| Class Notes: | Cards are slightly reduced in size, figures are correctly scaled |
| Bootleg Source: | Hasbro "Episode 1" figures |
| Bootleg Rating: |
 (Four out of five stars)
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| Sightings: | California, Brazil |
| Vintage: | July 1999 |
The second wave of Bootlegs from Hasbro's Episode One toy line arrived in mid-July of 1999.
This wave came on slighly-reduced 3PO backboards and had much higher production values than the first wave that surfaced nearly a month earlier. Once again all trademarks have been removed, along with the bar along the bottom of the card indicating the collection number.
The quality of the figures is so high, that it appears that copies of the original molds were used. There really is no other explanation for the sharp detailing on these figures.
This wave also marked the first appearance of bogus CommTech chips.
There are five figures in this batch, all figures produced for the first wave of Collection 3 figures from Hasbro.
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WattoWatto was one of those characters that I didn't care for at first, but started to seem cooler when I saw Ep1 for the second time.The Hasbro figure, however, was one of the coolest right away. Great sculpting, great detailing. The Bootleg Watto is also a pretty good figure. Hasbro's complex spray-ops have been mimiced by using an uneven smear of green paint over a pinkish base plastic. It shouldn't work, but it does. The figure also has paint detailing in brown, black, and yellow. The amusing bit about this particular figure is that the wings were not attached in the package, but rather blistered above the figure. The first two people I showed the figure to mis-identified the wings as Watto's EARS! While a rabbit-Watto might be a hoot, it's not what was intended by Lucas! The bottoms of Watto's feet still bear the Lucasfilm and Hasbro trademarks, although there is no peg hole. |
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Senator PalpatineNot really much to remark about this figure beyond that the mold is very nice and the painting is pretty good. Note in particular the high level of detail on his tunic and collar.Palpie's accessory is cast from the same peach and red plastic as most of the other items in this set. |
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Ric OlieAh, Ric, one of the first peg-warmers from Episode I. He's just not that exciting of a figure, is he? I mean, he's not a Jedi, he's not an alien. He's just a guy in a poncho/flight suit. Ah well. We can't all be Darth Maul.Once again the detail and quality of the figure are surprising for a bootleg. Ric's accessories include his helmet (in solid red plastic) and a rifle.
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Darth SidiousNow this is a cool villian. Sure, he doesn't really DO anything, but he fairly raidates evil.The bootleg figure suffers the most of any from this set. the painting is very sloppy, and the base of the figure is entirely missing! If you look up Darth's "skirts" you see the pegs that hold the figure together. Pretty sloppy work! But just right for a bootleg. He still looks good from a frontal view, though. |
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C-3POFinally we come to C-3PO. Due to the capricious whims of the bootleggers, he is the only figure from this set to arrive on the "correct" backboard.The painting on this bootleg is almost as good as the Hasbro counterpart...that is to say, it's amazing! There are a couple of globs of gold paint, but several of the wires have been accurately painted in blue, yellow, and red. Such detail work is almost undheard of in a bootleg. Like Watto, 3PO has the Lucas and Hasbro information still remaining on his feet.
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