Class of Bootleg	Class 3 - Concept bootleg
Class Notes:	Creepy, creepy, creepy!
Bootleg Source:	Batman and Darth Vader Characters
Bootleg Rating:	(Five out of five stars)
Sightings:	Mexico
Vintage:	1998

Not all bootlegs have to be slick commercial reproductions of existing product. Sometimes a bootleg can be nothing more than a craft project that is sold on a street corner in Mexico. That's the case with these Mexican Marionettes.

Each "stands" about 12" tall, and is made in the funhouse-mirror image of a mainstream character.

The bodies are made of cloth, the four-fingered hands from a cheap plastic, and the heads from painted plaster of paris.

"Batman"

Well, not the Batman we know and love as shown in DC Comics, but a twisted, warped version of the caped crusader that was apparently based on the old childeren's costumes that had Batman's logo applied to the head of the mask.

Batman has an all black outfit, complete with bat-fringed cape.

In order to save costs, time, or maybe just because they didn't know how to go about it, the body has no markings at all.

The head, however, is cast to look like the Dark Knight. You've got two little bumps that serve as the "bat ears", a sloppily painted logo off-set near the center of the forehead, unpainted eyes, and a very tanned complexion.

Maybe they didn't have any photos or comics to look at when they made this guy. Maybe they were just lazy. Anyway, the likeness isn't all that great. But I think you'll agree that they were at least THINKING of Batman when they made this mold.
 

Darth Vader

At left you see the puppet as he was sold - in a clear plastic "egg sack" baggie. Kind of looks like a toy from "Aliens" or "Invasion of the Body Snatchers".

If you look closely at the photo you can see the oval wooden "feet" that are on all of these marionettes.

Darth's body lacks Batman's cape, but is otherwise identical in construction. The pink hands really set off the somber colors, I think.

Darth's head is again a plaster-of-paris lump that was scuplted to vaugely resemble the character. This time the likeness is pretty good, but the painting is downright bizarre.
 

Again you can really see that this wasn't a mass release toy...all the painting was done by hand. And a potentially sloshed hand, at that. These lines aren't very straight.

Albino Vader

Yes, where the dark and menacing black form of Darth Vader once stood, now there's his cousin Marty - the Albino Vader.

Well, he's not really an albino, as evidenced by his very pink hands. But he is done all in white with black detailing on the head.

Maybe he's supposed to be the ghost of Vader. Maybe this is a REALLY poor attempt at a Stormtrooper. Maybe I'm expecting too much of this bootleg to try and put an explanation on it.

In the photo at left you can also see the controls and guidewires to operate the marionette. The cord is thick twine, the handle unfinished wood. And it tangles REALLY easily.

At right is an image of the back of this figure. The back stripe follows the detailing of the helmet, and is also on the Black version (Making him look a lot like Pepe Le Pew.)

Finally, here are two more views of White-Vader for you to enjoy.