This is a thread about bootleg trends and what the future holds for the collectors and figures.

Ive got a feeling that most lines will hold their own in the future and may even grow and get more desired.

Uzay seem to be on a never ending upward trend with no end in sight  , am i right in assuming this?

Theres no doubt after trawling through years and years of forum blogs and FS threads that Polish have peaked a few years ago and are in a bit of a slump atm.

Mexicans still seem to have quite a following, but peaked a few years ago too.

Model Trems always seem hot, as do Hungarian.

Where do you guys think some of these lines will be in 5 or 10 years time?

Do you think interest in some of these lines will fade away a bit as collectors get older and sell up?

What does the future hold for bootlegs?

cheers :grr: 

I can only speak on my focus ,model trems, from a nostalgia stand point there are only going to be a hand full of collectors from Brazil who want what they collected as a kid. So I'd say 1 or 2 a year so maybe 10,
Nostalgia collectors. For every other country, I think
You grow as a collector and for most of us we've completed the runs we had or wanted as kids in our respective countries, so the next logical step would be
Variations , coo, and so forth. After that most seasoned
Collectors branch out to keep there passion of star wars
Alive. I chose trems because of the story behind why they were made, there limitation and being lead coupled with being hand painted. This was a no brainer for me,
That being said I think there are probably a 1000 or so
Figures in collectors hands. As for new collectors maybe 5 to 10 a year, so the next five years should bring 50 to 100 people looking to collect boots.So I see a rise in prices ,and demand is gonna far outweigh supply. I expect trems to rise in price to at least 100 to 300 each figure depending on its rarity! Thanks patsy PS if I'm wrong then I will start finding more trems at discounted rates, not a bad thing ! 

Nice blog Watto, some interesting thoughts there, as far as boots go i have to admit that the Trems are in a class of their own, they are magical figures, if i was rich or i won lotto tomorrow id be on a trem quest lol.
Im also interested in the line they made after they were forced to stop making SW figures, i gather thats where the red devil comes from, i saw the figure the first time the other day and was captivated by it to say the least.
Watto have you ever thought about branching out and collecting other boot lines, do you think it will be the natural evolution for you after you have collected all the trems?

while waiting for trems , I admit I've picked up collecting uzays , hungarians and polish originals. I guess because Ive gone months without buying or even seeing any trems for sale, I've given myself some more collecting Areas so I don't get bored.Nice thread BTW Aussie fortuna.

As for the second series of trems I also collect them, I need 3 more for the set.I found myself collecting he man trems to, so now I have expanded my focus to what other lines the company Model Trem has made.Now after there was a cease and desis order, Lucas gave glassliite the star wars license in Brazil , so I collect them as well, kinda part of the whole puzzle if you will.

So what does the future hold in sotre for bootlegs? I believe that the market will have small fluctuations but for the most part be driven up. I believe this due to simple factors of the desire to continue to collect star wars figures and merchandise. For example with me personally, I completed my regular kenner run and then began looking into variants. While looking into variants I got caught up by my love for lili ledy figures. So after now having nearly completed a ledy set loose what next. Honestly coo differences are interesting but since the figure itself looks the same it can make the hunt more mundane rather than fun. I mean trying to find one of each coo causes a ton of the same figure with only minor variations, but bootlegs........bootlegs open up a whole new look to the figures for each one you get. I have some of the mexican sa and after finishing my ledy and a few other hard to find figures, I figure that is where I will turn my attention. I am waiting for someone like rebojazz to actually put pics of some of the various variants out there prior to starting. After all collecting is about the desire to have a set and with the figures no one has shown a set and there may not even be a set together as it seems none of them are exactly the same.

In short I think as guys who are in the hobby complete their main runs or their focus runs, they may start to turn to some of the bootleg lines just to flesh out a bit. So that will create an increase in collectors. At the same time some guys may want out so the line I beleive will stay steady.

I think just like with any aspect of collecting that when one leaves someone else will show up to begin. The problem with these things are going to be the limited production number of the items out there. I think demand may/will over shadow the number of available pieces. I havent followed boots super closely but take model trem for example. There are few trems floating around that are not locked up in collections, and the recent ones I have seen is someone getting out selling his trems. Once those are bought up it will take a while before more come around. Not many trems left in the wild I would think.

Great post Texan, youve raised some great points, all of you have bought up the point that demand will outstrip supply, thats probably spot on.
It is a niche market, but a logical step for many collectors to go to after completing their kenner runs.
I have a feeling that from about 2002 to 2007-8 was the first big bootleg boom, ive got this opinion frome reading back through about 13 years worth of old forum posts, blogs and sales.
I have a feeling we are going to see a second boom in the next few years.
Having said that, uzay's seen to be one big boom lol.

I think there are no new brazilian trem collectors, and thanks God.   

I think I'm going to start collecting Model Trems! Ah, just kidding Julio.

You know, it's just really hard to tell where this market goes from one day to the next. While I've seen market downfalls in every line at one point or another, overall, the Model Trem, Uzay and Hungarian have seem to be the main lines that still hold and maintain good "value" to your collection. We've all seen dips in the market of every line from time to time but I think certain Polish and Mexican lines got hit the worse. Now, that being said, that is when we started collecting these lines several years ago, like back in 2005-2009 or so. Although some figures (characters or variants) still demand high prices, overall, you can buy these figures for a lot less now than back in 2005 or so. It all depends on what you want to collect and how much you want to spend. Actually, if you are new to the bootleg market then now is a good time to start building. There is so much out there and even still figures waiting to be discovered.

An interesting line that I've seen go up over the last couple years is the POTF2 line. I got most of my figures about 7-8 years ago and maybe paid $5-6 a piece, now I've seen them (common ones) sell for around $10-15 which tells me that newer collectors are out there or people are starting to broaden into other lines. There are many, many different figure and cardback variants in this line as well.

Texan-- I do have updated pics of my Mexican/SA collection, I still need to download them onto my computer and will post them in the Mexican section here soon. I think I have 30 or so pics so it may take some time to put them all together with explanations. The history of the market of this line is very odd and somewhat hard to grasp but I'll try to lay things out.

Bootlegs have been in a slump for a couple of years, many different factors have contributed to this, including them not having as vocal of a presence on the forums, not having as much documentation as they could have (which is partially my fault as a print book and bootleg specific site have been in limbo). Other factors include the proliferation of fake bootlegs that have entered the market, turning people off to this segment of the hobby. Others I've talked to have been turned off by the lack of ability to complete lines that they want to collect. THAT I can just chalk up to people being impatient and not wanting to wait and see what turns up. Many people can't handle that bootleg collecting on a serious level is a long term pursuit, not made for those that need immediate gratification.

Cheers
J

JoeY glad to see you posting again. I am newer to the bootleg world but am mostly interested in the mexican lines. Any hopeful news if the book will have either the fully articulated or the s.a. Lines included? I think some of the unarticulated ones are pictured on outer realm but sadly not much out there for the other lines. You said it is in limbo, is there hope of a release or is it more or less frozen? I know I would love a book on bootlegs and to the bootleg community it would b like the kellerman is to the production side (a need to own book).

If you have time visit the mexican bootleg thread sometime. Your mini jabba was just being discussed prior to the new ones showing up on the market. I know the new ones aren't vintage, but considering there are only two vintage ones out there and their both locked up I assume, I guess I will have to settle for one of the new ones as a place holder.

JoeY, I love following your FB group and seeing the new discoveries which still turn up today. As for your book, I heard that this project will be a fundraiser project so you an count on my $$'s.

This book will have all lines of SW bootleg and knock off toys represented. I'm saving non toy items and trading cards etc, for Vol II if that ever happens. I've got a great team working on things, the goal is to have it published by London next July. I'll be posting the kickstarter page soon for it, as I can't do graphic design and layout, and need to pay for a decent amount of the work being done to make this project as good as it can be.

Thanks!!
Joe

Joe,

That will be a cool book and one that will fit nicely on my bookshelf!

Can't wait to hear more about it!

cheers!
J

Just was looking at some of the proposed chapter layouts tonight... it's gonna be purdy.... well as purdy as a book about the ugliest SW toys in creation can be