Stormtrooper 2-pack

I have conflicting feelings about this set.

This of course is a bootleg set of vintage Star Wars Stormtroopers. I love bootlegs, but I love the wacky ones, the ones that re-imagine existing properties into new, unique creations. This is 50% that, 50% forgery.

This two pack comes from a company called Crazy Toys who appear to be out of Hong Kong. Searching the web you can find little about them, but plenty of their knockoff unlicensed products.

The figures come carded, and each with a blaster. the packaging is collector friendly and can be re-sealed easily.

I bought this set, because I really REALLY wanted a vintage-style black Stormtrooper. Kenner never made one, so there’s no risk of confusing it with a real product. The regular stormtrooper however is a very good copy which could be passed off as an original to the untrained eye.

First, the white Stormtrooper. It looks really nice, and is quite well made, with good paint apps and very sharp molding. The joints are a little loose, and the foot peg holes a little big, but otherwise it looks just like the original.

Researching this toy has been an interesting exercise in learning all about variations in vintage Star Wars figures. Apparently this bootleg is molded off of the Palitoy version, as made for distribution in europe. Here you can see it against my vintage one from the US.

The blaster is included, but I believe there are differences here if you know where to look for it.

One of the more striking differences is that the hands are actually separate pieces which are glued on, instead of molded together.

This version also has no COO stamp (Country of Origin, linking it to the Palitoy version.

So while I feel bad about the regular version, I love the black version.

The classic stormtrooper looks great cast in black. There is a type of Stormtrooper called a “Shadow Stormtrooper”, but those did not exist during the original trilogy.

He looks awesome in black, with silver painted details. This version also comes with a blaster.

Look at how great he looks next to a vintage Vader.

Overall, I have mixed feelings about the set. I don’t condone out right copying as a rule, but I do love the black version. What am I to do?