Most would argue that bootlegs, unlicensed reproductions and counterfeits cloud the market, and confuse buyers. But hindsight is not always so 20/20, when it comes to accounting for the history of something as broad and as culturally ubiquitous as toys.

What may have been the bane of a modern toy companies existence 40 years ago, more often than not ends up being just another relic from a bygone era. Typically these crusades to protect a brand aren’t as cut and dry, or even effective, as they seem. Often toys were illegally copied out of sheer iron will. Some countries are exploited to manufacture toys, but denied regional licenses to sell them in their market… and sometimes made BETTER interpretations of originals.

Are people who bootleg pure evil? Kaws has certainly made himself the epicenter of a grey area that many creatives and manufacturers find themselves on polar opposite ends of the discussion.

Love it or hate it, bootlegs of toys, even the really really blatant copies, have this unintentional charm that is very hard to deny.

Following is a series of images of a “Helicopter Robot Series” toy. This is a copy of the Popy/Bandai release known as “Machine Robo”, later licensed by Tonka as “Go-Bots”.

This toy ups the design choices, mainly by featuring the previously silver design, in gold. Hard to deny the luxurious gold. It features a set of additional accessories, not only never released with the toy, but from a completely different toy line – Beast King Go Lion, or “Voltron”. So you get a golden “Blazing Sword”, AND a fantastic American Western wood-type treatment, blister carded version of this toy. It’s complete counter culture at it’s finest.