"Godzilla Force" Bootleg Trendmasters 6-Inch Figure (unknown, 1990's)

This is one of those items that was an inevitable buy for me...I can't resist the "FAIL" aspect of bootleg figures, but I have to admit, it's much less obvious on this piece.  You have to study it for a minute to get the full effect.

In short, this is a 6-inch Godzilla, which kind of looks like it's based on the Trendmasters "Power-Up Godzilla" that came with armor, but I don't own that figure to make a direct comparison...it's also possible that it's made from whole cloth, but usually that isn't how these sorts of things work.  A sloppy mold-over, maybe!

Note the detached, sideways tail, and the truly weird separated dorsal plates, which makes me want to see this thing assembled, but alas, it is the packaging that gives this piece its full impact.

Why? Because the backing card is a direct copy of the one from the "Godzilla Force" 4-inch figures. If you don't know, there was an attempt by Trendmasters in the mid-90's to introduce a human team into its Godzilla franchise, which pretty much failed.  Why would anybody buy a human figure, when there were kaiju to be had? They wouldn't! Anyway, they looked like this:

Which is all the more comical, when you read the text on the card, which should lead us to believe that either the bootleggers don't care, or can't read English.  Or both, come to think of it.  You will notice that two things are missing from our bootleg:  the TRENDMASTERS logo in the top left, and the "Official Godzilla" shield in the lower right.  Also, the bubble is completely different from any Trendmasters product, both in shape and in thickness--it's made of super-cheap plastic that is thinner than even the cheapest Walgreen's water bottle.

And now onto the backs of both products:

Bootleg Godzilla card back

Genuine "Godzilla Force" card back

Both sides of the bootleg have a weird washed-out quality to the graphics, as you'd expect (stolen artwork, or photographic reproduction?).  The bootleg is actually a larger card (as you'd also expect), and has a white border around the back to take up some of the space.  Right away, you can notice there are no "Godzilla Points" (upper left corner)...and now that I think about it, I don't think these were ever used for anything, anyway.   This blank space in the upper left is used for something by our bootleggers, but even they cover it up with some warning labels:

Which maybe is a clue that this is a toy of Mexican origin.  Who knows?

I tried to scrutinize the rest of the card, in the hopes of finding some hilarious Engrish, but it appears to be a direct reproduction, so no dice there.  The only other difference is the entirety of the very bottom:  the bootleg has no fine print, no Trendmasters indicia (of course), and no UPC barcode (also of course).

An added sticker says "Made In China".....and look, they've added the "Please Recycle" thingy! This is because, if you wait long enough, the inferior ingredients will recycle themselves, and they wanted to look environmental.

All in all, a very unique addition to my collection, and definitely something I haven't seen before!