This is about vintage Star Wars bootlegs from the 1980s. The definition on bootlegs is often confused with fakes, counterfeits, reproductions, or other fraudulent products. In fact, these are two different things and I will try to explain why:

Bootlegs from the 1980s were made for children in certain countries, not for collectors. The political and economical reasons are obvious. In some countries, “Star Wars” was unavailable or simply unaffordable. There were trade embargoes in some countries (Cold War), and many countries were poor and economically weak (Latin American debt crisis). Both of these factors gave local toy manufacturers good reasons to copy existing figures and sell them cheaply. The demand for Star Wars toys was there; children wanted them. Many Soviet republics couldn’t legally import licensed products. Many South American countries couldn’t afford Kenner’s prices. So, to offer children something to play with that even the average earner could afford, many of these bootleg companies filled the gap.

Nowadays those foreign produced bootlegs are very desirable to the collecting market and sometimes even more so than the original figures. While modern fakes and “bootlegs” are intended solely for collectors and deceive them, the original intention was to fill a gap in children’s playrooms for Star Wars toys. I’m not saying that the companies back then didn’t want to make high profits themselves, but today’s fakes and bootlegs are mostly blatant fraud against collectors.

This section is only about bootlegs and knock-offs from the 1980s. Originally thought to fill up a gap or being a very cheap alternative back then in certain countries. The makers were partially incredible ingenious as well. I hope you enjoy.

P.S.: We don’t support reproductions in any way here. Repros and modern bootlegs that copy old bootlegs or just modern bootlegs made for the collecting market are not represented and in most cases, they are fraudulent, as far as our personal opinion is concerned.