Comments on: This Mirror Master Clearly Does not OWN a Mirror! The Bootleg Super Powers Chronicles

By: David Deeds

David Deeds — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 23:01:09 +0000

The G.I. Joe series from the 80′s already did that, man.

By: brian

brian — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 09:28:12 +0000

Did anyone notice some of the cardbacks have photos and not artwork?

By: Zach

Zach — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 23:46:30 +0000

This version of the Riddler and Black adam just popped up on Ebay

By: Tim

Tim — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 19:07:33 +0000

I saw the BlackAdam on Ebay. Would look okay except for the. You’re right the card is awesome but totallt fake. The ITW symbol is bitten off of the DC Elseworlds story Superman:Red Son, where Supermans rocket lands in Russia rather then Kansas and so he is raised as a Russkie. I think Black Adam Could work with maybe a Toybiz Punisher head with little other adjustments made………

By: Vince

Vince — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 00:14:36 +0000

I hate to see bootleg figures. Some people actually collect those things-what a waste.

By: John

John — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 22:50:59 +0000

OMG-there are more on ebay. They have new cards now with photos on the back

By: Julius Marx

Julius Marx — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 05:24:32 +0000

Awesome. I’m glad you found the blog then. I think I have a couple of your customs in my SuperPowers collection.
I did such a custom buying frenzy there for a while that I forgot who made some of them.

By: chuck

chuck — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 00:49:26 +0000

I’ve got a 3 year old and he’s watching the old Superfriends cartoon that began in 1973, downloaded from Amazon.com. And now he wants Marvin, Wendy, and Wonderdog to play with. It’s easy to find Superman, Batman, etc, but is there anywhere to get these old ones? Or is there anywhere that will make them for me?

By: Chad

Chad — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 00:01:14 +0000

I really enjoyed your discussion on these Super Powers bootlegs, extension, infection.

It looks like the Wonder Dog finally is up for sale.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Wonder-Dogs-Super-Powers-MOC-made-by-ITW_W0QQitemZ170368134563QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item27aabb6da3&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14

By: John D.

John D. — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 01:15:21 +0000

I bought a few of these figures and I was surprised with them when they arrived. Whoever made them is walking on a fine line as an artist. Are they a custom project or is it a “bootleg”? Its very interesting and I have never seen anything else like it. I have seen straight up bootlegs from asia/mexico but they are typically low quality copies of existing figures with no effort to add bios or artwork…and I have seen some of the best “customs” fans have produced. The Mirror Master owned by Mr. Marx is an example of the high end of artistic quality within a figure. I think something one needs to consider is the total package in the case of Industrial Toy Werks. For example, rather than considering the card, bubble, and figure as separate elements, one must consider the overall display quality of the carded figure. Whoever is doing these has raised the bar for all customers OR bootleggers out there. From what I see, some of the supply has dried up and its difficult to find some of the characters now. I am wondering a lot about where the future will go with these characters. I have to imagine there are only so many of each character in existence and putting together a full Industrial Toy Werks collection might be a difficult task and these make their way out there. I think my favorite aspect of these toys is that as customs, you rarely have a sense of a “series”. Many custom projects start with high hopes only to fizzle out with a single figure made and sold on ebay. These Toy Werks guys are doing something very interesting that I have never seen before. Its like something that can be held into a few collectors collections and will have a name associated with it.

By: josh

josh — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 23:26:14 +0000

anyone know how much a super amigos riddler on a hawkman card might be worth?? feel free to email me if you want to see pics!! potts528@comcast.net

By: Warsman

Warsman — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 01:43:56 +0000

Hey!
I made the *good* Mirror Master, lol!
Thanks for posting this, I’ve also wondered about these figures for awhile now.
Too bad he doesn’t just seller the custom cards.

Wars
http://www.warsman.com

By: Captain Marvel

Captain Marvel — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 02:35:37 +0000

I could be crazy, but I think the Black Adam figure’s head is based on Dwayne Johnson.

By: wildwill

wildwill — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 05:39:21 +0000

Booster Gold didn’t debut until the end of 1985 (February 1986 is the cover date for his first appearance in Booster Gold #1. There is no way they would have gotten him in acton figure form at that point.

That’s another clue that this line is a modern fake. Well done, but fake.

By: Brainlock

Brainlock — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 18:16:16 +0000

Hey, does anyone know what happened to SP/SW customizer Rick Gerischer aka Ebay’s RAGinc? He was from SW MO if I recall correctly. Joplin?

He had the little strips/cartoons like ToyFare’s TTT using his customs. I used to look forward to his stuff just for that, but then someone pissed him off on one of the boards and he apparently closed up shop shortly after. I bought the “book” of his cartoons, that’s the only way I know his name.

By: The Thing That Walks Like A Man

The Thing That Walks Like A Man — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 00:43:07 +0000

This big honkin’ comics geek can give you some added info as to why Mirror Master is a fake. The bio card has all the evidence you need.

At the time of the Super Powers line (1984-1986), the Mirror Master of the comics was one Samuel Scudder, and he was almost exclusively a Flash villain. He died in the ‘Crisis On Infinite Earths’ crossover.

In 1988, Mirror Master II–Evan McCulloch–appeared in the pages of the newly-launched Animal Man series. And Animal Man himself hadn’t appeared more than once or twice since the late ’60s.

So, during the original toy run, there never was a Mirror Master named McCulloch that fought Animal Man. And that’s one to grow on!

By: Emerald

Emerald — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 23:55:19 +0000

Glad you took the plunge too. I actually did see the Blue Beetle for sale once, and was always curious about these. Based on my own manufacturing and customizing experience here’s what I figure:
The cards are probably press-run, with the die punch,aqueous coating, and similar vacuum-formed bubbles. To make a run of these they would had to have run a lot of them off to justify the cost. The figures themselves seem to be “home-cast” resin jobs reusing the same mold over and over for multiple characters (with the construction apparently lacking). I’m guessing most of the other characters on the back were never made but added on the back for filler, as with the “playsets” which are nothing more than screen shots. As for the Kazahkstan bit, and supposed “registered trademark” I’m guessing it’s all fake to protect the original creator from copyright infringement, as producing more than one of these for sale would be enough to raise DC’s eyebrow. The cost they’re asking is not surprising considering, the inherent costs involved for short runs like this. Probably also why the quality of the actual figure is so poor. Just my thoughts on it.

By: Hourman

Hourman — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 23:36:04 +0000

Maybe the next wave from Industrial Toy Werks will include a super heroic identity for William “The Refrigerator” Perry.

By: Dave R.

Dave R. — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 23:29:00 +0000

Do Gleek and cause even more controversy!

By: CantinaDan

CantinaDan — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 14:21:43 +0000

The Industrial Toy Werks logo is cool (a little too cool, hmm.) Thanks for the post. Fun read. The Bruce Lee is so random. Love it, though!

By: jzachery

jzachery — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 03:21:36 +0000

I can see why the wave was lost:) The question becomes, why was it found? The cards are fanstastic! The art though is a couple notches down from the general Super Powers artwork I think. The figures are a little shoddy, but for bootleg they’re good… For custom though, I’d expect more.
I love the Super Powers line. I replace some of my JLU’s from their display with Super Powers (Martian Manhunter, Dr. Fate, Aquaman) I’d love to see a commemorative line of these, and with additional releases too.
It is awesome that you bought it though, I would have too. I got a great classic Airwave custom that I threw in with my collection.
Awesome article! SUPER POWERS FOREVER!

By: Iron-Cow

Iron-Cow — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 21:20:55 +0000

Wow… that’s pretty wild, though. Sure, the custom is pretty rough, but the packaging is very nice and all of those look great as a set.

D@mn. Between this blog and Chip’s SP blogs, you guys have got me wanting to customize some Super Powers pieces all over again!

By: Julius Marx

Julius Marx — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 20:22:45 +0000

No. The seller I bought from was in Florida.

By: Brainlock

Brainlock — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 19:10:47 +0000

so was the seller REALLY in Kazakhstan or not?

nice effort, either way.
and if you find those “missing” figures, please be sure to post pics!

By: Hellpop

Hellpop — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 15:08:45 +0000

The biggest giveaway that these are not a “lost wave” of SP figures is that the card art is not from the Garcia-Lopez style guides at the time. Many of these look to be from animated cells, like Mirror Master and Black Manta, while Black Adam is Tom Mandrake from the Shazam! a New Beginning Mini Series. They are pretty nice looking cards, though.