Knock-off figures - general discussion

[Stuckasaurus (Dino Dad Reviews)]

You know, somebody could probably make a killing ripping off Terra / Battat figures. I wonder why we don't see more of those?

[CityRaptor]

There is what? Stegosaurus? As mysterious as the reason why the majority of JP bootlegs seem to be JP III ones.

[postsaurischian]

How does this thread still exist? ....... The blaze attitude of people on this forum to stolen intellectual property really pisses me off! ....... What the hell is wrong with you people???!!!

  Two questions I have been asking myself, too.

....... How this forum allows a voice to those who support theft, I fail to understand. These products should be boycotted. .......

  I do agree. It wouldn't have happened a few years ago, but the forum has changed.

[Dinoguy2]

How does this thread still exist? ....... The blaze attitude of people on this forum to stolen intellectual property really pisses me off! ....... What the hell is wrong with you people???!!!

  Two questions I have been asking myself, too.

....... How this forum allows a voice to those who support theft, I fail to understand. These products should be boycotted. .......

  I do agree. It wouldn't have happened a few years ago, but the forum has changed.

I try to avoid knockoff figures in my collection too, and the companies that make them. Though I do shamefully own one Papo figure. 😌

[Ravonium]

To be fair, this thread has helped plenty of forum users (and likely even more guests) to identify what are and aren't knockoffs, certainly more times than it's allowed people to justify the purchase of knockoffs.

Also, this thread was originally created because someone tried to justify the purchase of a knockoff (and they weren't the only member to do so at the time); members on here defending the creation or purchase of knockoffs isn't necessarily something new.

Finally, since I think it's what started this discussion, the only things about the supposed 'knockoff' Pachycephalosaurus that are at all similar to the Favorite figure are the pose and eye colour (and it's very likely that both came from it being Saurian-inspired, considering the rest of the figure is). If anything, the only thing this figure's knocking off is the Saurian design (EDIT: after thinking about it for a bit, I can actually agree that's unethical, as it's unlikely they got permission from RJ Palmer to use it). However, if that alone makes this figure worthy of being in this thread, then a lot of major-brand figures are too (one example being the Safari Ltd Anzu, which I retract my previous defence of).

I personally wouldn't buy it because of potential quality issues EDIT: and the design being stolen from Saurian (I had previously mentioned here never having played the game), but if it wasn't for those two things, then I would buy the figure and feel fully justified doing so.

You know, somebody could probably make a killing ripping off Terra / Battat figures. I wonder why we don't see more of those?

Yeah, that's something I've wondered too 

[stargatedalek]

How does this thread still exist? ....... The blaze attitude of people on this forum to stolen intellectual property really pisses me off! ....... What the hell is wrong with you people???!!!

  Two questions I have been asking myself, too.

....... How this forum allows a voice to those who support theft, I fail to understand. These products should be boycotted. .......

  I do agree. It wouldn't have happened a few years ago, but the forum has changed.

I've been here for six years, so whatever this change is that you speak of it wasn't recent. I remember there always being two distinct camps, if not a majority of members being completely disinterested in the existence of bootlegs.

I thought of another reason someone may want to purchase bootlegs. Sometimes bootleggers come up with genuinely new and interesting things to do with assets. A great example of this is Lego, remember how paltry their Jurassic World offerings were? You can go on Aliexpress and find additional species Lego couldn't be bothered to make, and even entire new sets based on things from the films. And speaking frankly, Lego could still be making a profit charging practically half of what they currently do.

That being said Lego isn't equatable to a smaller company who has much smaller margins and whose products have much higher production costs. Lego is more equivalent of bootleg designer clothes, big company with insane margins that coasts on name recognition instead of doing creative things with their products.

[ITdactyl]

In response to Bucklander and postsaurischian's concerns, I think this thread should remain active just because this is a topic that should be openly discussed.  As has been mentioned several times, the discussion seems to be helping readers and joiners make better purchasing decisions.

This year, my country got flagged for having a very low regard for IP laws - and ironically the bootleg situation seems to have gotten worse.  At the time of my original post in this thread (2014), the main toy stores here carried 3 dinosaur related shelves: 1 for JP, 1 is a shared shelf for Mojo and Schleich and another shelf for chinasaurs*.  Today, the JP shelf houses the JW series.  Mojo and Schleich didn't do so well and have been removed from majority of the store chains, so they're now found only in the flagship stores.  The chinasaurs have been replaced by blatant knockoffs of CollectA, Safari, Schleich and Rebor.  The chances of getting any other brands seem to be slim.

Thanks in big part to this community, I know where (and how) to buy my authentic branded dinosaur products.  The import fees (minimum $25 USD shipping + 12% of total spent as V.A.T.) are steep, but as has been mentioned several times in this thread - this is an expensive hobby.  Most of my (dinosaur inclined) countrymen wouldn't be aware of these options, or would think them too extravagant.  They would likely buy what's readily available

I am against the practice of making counterfeits and bootlegs, and I won't support that industry by buying said products.  I did not share the story above to defend the practice, merely to offer perspective.
But I DO own 3 bootlegs.

My (then) 7 year old cousin saw my dinosaur collection, thought it cool, and (with her Dad's help) bought me the set above to add to my collection.  I could never bring myself to part with this gift (even if it probably has toxic paint).
So I guess my sentimentality leads to automatic hypocrisy.

*for discussion purposes, I'm differentiating chinasaurs (those poorly designed dinosaur toys that were at least not blatant copies of existing figures from other brands) and the knockoffs.

[Dinoguy2]

You know, somebody could probably make a killing ripping off Terra / Battat figures. I wonder why we don't see more of those?

There are some Battat knockoffs out there, but they're really poor quality. You can see a few in this lot clearly "inspired" by the Battat Edmontonia, Utahraptor, and Stegosaurus.

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.com%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F401914083100

[Duna]

I have bought the PNSO megalodon from an Aliexpress seller:




And the same seller also has a knockoff of it, I can't understand it ....




The copy is 3 times cheaper.

[Blackraptor537]

Hello again guys so today one of the papo knockoffs dinosaurs i bought thinking they were originals has arrived,the running t-rex to be precise and it came with a highly fashionable broken head and jaw of course(looks like king kong beated him up),at least now i can ask for a refund without any problem.when the other figure comes i will let you know and thank you all for the help. Here are the photos by the way:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=14ZXXYvttsNYkUO9qqIZPhFeBmkHJnmtt

https://drive.google.com/open?id=114Fx58zLcV9yQQnJSVcCtP4lnsHz6T7O

https://drive.google.com/open?id=12Qfgc5J1k2HHC1Yg7Eve5nEXIg-Op_qv

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1n5ujx4By2gmPOsYTVANksE97-0hRyNgQ

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1R-NHPREXkEjLFje1VKhv-nz7YE9HQUdV

Edit: I already asked for a refund to the seller, now i am waiting for his response.

[Brontozaurus]

You know, somebody could probably make a killing ripping off Terra / Battat figures. I wonder why we don't see more of those?

Probably availability? Original Battats are horrendously expensive and Terra wasn't well distributed outside of North America. It might just be too difficult to get a hold of one to copy, compared to other brands.

[SidB]

You know, somebody could probably make a killing ripping off Terra / Battat figures. I wonder why we don't see more of those?

Probably availability? Original Battats are horrendously expensive and Terra wasn't well distributed outside of North America. It might just be too difficult to get a hold of one to copy, compared to other brands.

I'm a serious fan and collector of the Battats, having a large collection of them. I know the value of their place in the history of toy dinosaurs, but, and to the point, they are being and have been superceded by the newer companies - PNSO, Eofauna and the greatly improved products from Safari and CollectA. I don't think that there would be a big incentive to bootleg the Battats anymore.

[Loon]

One of my childhood dinosaur toys was a pretty low quality KO of a Battat Styracosaurus. It's in my garage; so, when I hit up those old dinosaurs at some point, I'll post a picture of it.

[terrorchicken]

Ive seen a Battat stegosaurus knock-off in one of those Animal Planet chinasaur buckets.

[SidB]

Ive seen a Battat stegosaurus knock-off in one of those Animal Planet chinasaur buckets.

Yes, the 8- spike thagomizer stego was pretty common "back in the day", as a KO. Interesting that it is still being ground out by the cheapo mills.

I wonder what we'd do if someone was to make a halfway decent copy of the legendary Battat diplodocus?

[Dinoguy2]

Ive seen a Battat stegosaurus knock-off in one of those Animal Planet chinasaur buckets.

Yes, the 8- spike thagomizer stego was pretty common "back in the day", as a KO. Interesting that it is still being ground out by the cheapo mills.

I wonder what we'd do if someone was to make a halfway decent copy of the legendary Battat diplodocus?

I mean, Battat clearly has no interest in reissuing it. So if it was decent I'd probably get it. My only question (which maybe Doug or somebody could address) is, are sculptors given a cut of sales, or is each piece a one-off commission? I figure it's probably the latter, but I'd want to make sure I'm not indirectly taking money away from Greg Wenzel, or Dan LoRusso's estate or something.

[Syndicate Bias]

I still am fully against bootlegs but I won't lie I can see why something like a retired figure or a limited figure like the papo spino would be in a weird way reasonable considering how most won't afford it or even get one.

That's not to say I agree with bootlegs but there's a part of me that sees some sense in some cases.

[Silvanusaurus]

Heyheeeyyy look who joined the party! Now with swivel arms... (I'm not condoning or condemning...)



https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Baryonyx-Model-Bruyonyx-Figure-Dinosaur-Figure-Animal-Toy-Collector-Decor-Gift/362724727368?hash=item5474141a48:g:jYQAAOSwyNtdT4kU

[Dinoguy2]

One of my childhood dinosaur toys was a pretty low quality KO of a Battat Styracosaurus. It's in my garage; so, when I hit up those old dinosaurs at some point, I'll post a picture of it.

Just spotted this on Instagram, is it the same bootleg?

https://www.instagram.com/p/B4ikIqZqWQQ/?igshid=1c1k1cnqc9tp1

[SidB]

One of my childhood dinosaur toys was a pretty low quality KO of a Battat Styracosaurus. It's in my garage; so, when I hit up those old dinosaurs at some point, I'll post a picture of it.

Just spotted this on Instagram, is it the same bootleg?

https://www.instagram.com/p/B4ikIqZqWQQ/?igshid=1c1k1cnqc9tp1

Waiphoon knockoff?