July 24, 2001 CURRENT RUMBLE Bootleg Bonanza! Japester 7.24.01 Call me a villain. A low-down, dirty purveyor of filth. Kiddie porn? Drug dealer? Kaiju collector? NO. Much worse. Bootleg customer! I'm weak, I couldn't resist. I just wanted something new, ya know? Something cheap. Something foreign. Just a little something... to tide me over... till the next SOC or something... And what caught my eye? Giant Micromen Bootlegs. 6.25" inches for the basic figures and a whopping 7.25" for the "laser" versions. Both tower over their 3.25" progenitors. Plus the chance to fondle a 9" Optimus Prime PVC boot (in metallic colors no less!). Let's look at Prime first. What can I say? This blew me away. A sturdy, clean box with a big, heavy figure inside. The paintjob was surprisingly good. The proportions of the PVC's, when scaled up to this size, give a kind of squatty SD look to the figure. But I like it. And the gun seems HUGE (which is always a good thing). The only drawback is the slight lack of articulation. Head, shoulders, and knees only. No spinning the wrists. But this is a minor quibble. Detail, on front and back, is good. (All pics compare the boot Prime to an authentic "Battle-damaged Prime" from Act III) How about the Micromen? Well, the boxes were in sharp contrast to Prime's. As a rule, the packaging was dusty, dingy, and slightly mangled. Graphics were decent. The lasers came in a simple box with an inner cardboard backing that held the figures by hooking their feet. The basics came in a carded bubble, so no chance to reseal these babies (almost a blessing since that means no tampering---all my laser boots had their tape cut and flaps opened). To my surprise, the lasers actually did light up. There is no battery backpack like in the smaller figures, the batteries are self-contained (which should make changing them interesting). But this gimmick seems to have used up all of the engineering resources for this figures. Aside from it's size, it's other features are all lacking. Paint is sloppy, details are poor, and articulation is a joke. NONE of the boots have the range of motion of the originals, but the lasers often won't allow you to use the existing joints. Case in point: you can't bend them at the elbow. Sure the joint is there, but the plastic is too tight on the forearm to allow it to bend. Maybe with a little trimming. As a matter of fact, most of the joints on these are either too tight or too loose. Just rotating a shoulder can cause the chest to crack open on some figures. Not to mention these figures are LIGHT. No heft to them at all. So density freaks need not apply. NOTE: Some helpful soul pointed out that both boots are based on the Magne Micromen body design. True! (As evidenced by the huge arm magnet.) I simply call the larger boots "lasers" because of the lights in their chests. It may not be 100% accurate, but it's convenient. ^_^ The basics were a nice surprise. Aside from the bubble packaging and their smaller size, they have it all over their larger, photonically-enhanced bretheren. Colors are great, details are sharp, and they actually BEND. *crack!* Uh, okay. Maybe I should warn you that the upper thighs are connected to each other through the pelvis by a solid piece of plastic. So each leg must bend in unison with the other. If not... I still wouldn't say that ANY of these boots invite much play in terms of posing them. Don't take the chance. I really liked the added details on the basics. You know, the bootleggers' hallmark embellishments. Things like paint on the masks. And the addition of little plastic weapons for their gripping hands. Sure, these resemble swizzle sticks for your drinks, but they're still cool. Check out Edison's arabian sword. Best of all, all of the boots still come with the requisite magnets. Here's a comparison pic of three of my Odins (more to the left): laser boot, basic boot and original. And, just because recce asked for it: A Microman in a Micro-Mini. (Looks so sexy that Ace can't keep his claws to himself. Look at the size comparison!) Anybody wanna buy a Rolex, cheap? ^_^  RUMBLE INDEX  |  CURRENT RUMBLE