Joe Yglesias collects Star Wars bootlegs — that is, quasi-Star-Wars-related merchandise that sports names like “Star Force”, “Star Battle”, “Space Gambler”, and “Star Knight” — which bear more than just a passing resemblance to characters, hardware, and weapons from our favorite faraway galaxy. Most of this stuff has been ignored, or even shunned by collectors — until now. Star Wars bootlegs and knock-offs have begun taking on a novel appeal among a growing number of fans, especially those who recall spying the stuff on their local dime store shelves back in the ’70s.
“When I started getting into bootlegs it was just for the novelty factor,” says Yglesias, who recently devoted an entire room of his house to display his Star Wars knock-off collection. “As I delved deeper into bootlegs, they took over as my prime interest. I was intrigued by them, partially for the cheese factor of the badly made, oddly-colored toys, and partially for the history of the items and how/where they were made. Now, easily 15 years later, I’ve sold or traded the majority of my licensed items and turned my collection area into a shrine for misfit Star Wars toys from around the world.”
Check out Yglesias’ Flickr set of over 130 pics from “Mos Yglesias”, a motley, expansive collection of Star Wars knock-offs from the US to Yugoslavia (and in some cases, even the molds that made them!).
Now you’ve given me ideas! It’s a fact that licensed SW stuff don’t come cheap, but that won’t stop Star Wars fans from third world countries such as mine, from getting their fill. I have my own growing collection which I all bought in the Philippines. Do check them out when you’re free: http://talesfromthemoseisleycarinderia.blogspot.com/
Cheers!
Randy Galvan (aka jedi_randy)
Thanx for posting this, Pete. Joe’s collection is easily one of the most interesting I’ve ever had the pleasure of seeing in person. It’s amazing the sheer amount of this stuff that exists, and even more amazing that’s he’s tracked down so much of it sometimes literally to all ends of the earth. His toy room he calls a museum but it’s always seemed more like a store in Chinatown to me… that or the holding room for the LFL legal seizures dept. :^)
Rock on, Joe. Best of luck in your goal to have every bootleg ever made.
John
Stunning Star War(r)s collection!
It is amazing on how what was junk yesterday is a treasure today.
I met Joe at Celebration VI. Great guy and introduced me to this world of SW bootlegs. Congrats on a great collection Joe and Happy Hunting!