Comments on: Turkish bootleg Star Wars figures of the 1980s

By: wegde

wegde — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 06:30:00 +0000

Oh my god: ) I was listening to my car radio on my way to work and there was this program in which a gal was reading news from daily newspapers…She read this news that mentioned the turkish made bootleg star wars figures became collectors favorite…I had a couple of those as well as dozens of Kenner figures when i was a kid. I remember the cheesy covers and funny names. Darth Vader as Kara Lider (Black leader) and other funny names. But as a Turkish kid i was quite used to these things… cause…. i came from a generation that calls Knight Rider series as Kara Şimşek (Black Lightning) : ))) I remember the vehicles as well….Actually i had a MLC-3. Actually i had two…One was Kenner made the other one was a proud Uzay product.

A funny memory is, i watched my first SW movie a few days before i got circumcised. After the operation my dad took me to a toy store and told me “here son, take anything u want”…And thats how i got my first star wars figurine, a stormtrooper made by Uzay: )

By: avni

avni — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 07:32:00 +0000

Hi there fella! Cheers!

By: avni

avni — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 07:29:00 +0000

My memory deceives me. Thanks for the awesome mold photos!

By: Ozgur Calli

Ozgur Calli — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 07:05:00 +0000

I had both darth vader and the at-at driver :) And believe it or not the quality of those toys were pretty ok. I believe i still have that at-at driver somewhere in my parents house attic.

By: Joseph Yglesias

Joseph Yglesias — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 02:56:00 +0000

Uzay figures had articulated arms, legs and heads, constructed exactly like the Kenner figures. I think Avni may have ended up with a Polish unarticulated figure somehow and is confusing it as an Uzay figure. Uzays are the highest quality of all the bootleg SW lines from the 80s. Here is a picture of the steel molds that were used to make the Uzay figures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/coffin_joe/5483966889/in/set-72157626038252815/

By: AlexG55

AlexG55 — Sun, 25 Mar 2012 19:45:00 +0000

Also I think Darth Vader is called “Black Leader”, the stormtroopers are “Soldier” and “Imperial Soldier”, and the TIE fighter pilot is “War Pilot”.

By: avni

avni — Sun, 25 Mar 2012 13:07:00 +0000

Poor, I’d have to admit. The immovable limbs were attached to a uni-cast body. But the details of the head and torso were fine. The lightsaber was also removable. Alas, it was the early ’80s and I wouldn’t expect more as a child.

By: zarray

zarray — Sun, 25 Mar 2012 12:51:00 +0000

So how was the build quality on the figures?

By: avni

avni — Sun, 25 Mar 2012 09:59:00 +0000

Native Turkish speaker and proud owner of one actual Uzay Savaşçıları Darth Vader (Kara Lider) figurine, here. I remember “Kara Lider” (translates as The Dark Leader) as the main protagonist of all my childhood battles with fellow Starswar devotees. I lost interest in my extravagant collared Vader in time so probably it’s lost in one of my boxes. It’s a shame I threw away the package. In another note, it’s funny how Luke is not included in the product line.

By: Joseph Yglesias

Joseph Yglesias — Sun, 25 Mar 2012 00:58:00 +0000

Sorry, sarcasm is sometimes lost in typed word,my bad,but you’d be amazed at some of the bootleg questions/comments that I do get from people that are being 100% serious.

As for rarity and value, as with anything it’s supply and demand. You could easily find 1000+ Kenner carded examples of any of the characters to each 1 Turkish example. Loose it’s even worse, more along the lines of 10,000+kenner figs for every one Uzay out there. And that’s just the average Uzay figures.

Recently the rarest figure in the line, a carded Headman(an Emperors Royal Guard with a gold head) sold for more than ANY other SW toy related item (including unproduced/prototypes)ever has, at a whopping $30k. I’m just glad that I started collecting SW bootlegs before they gained their current popularity and price tag.

By: JohnMc

JohnMc — Sat, 24 Mar 2012 23:40:00 +0000

Well, yeah… I was being snarky there. Clearly they’re obvious Star Wars ripoffs! But the company’s little semantic game of changing the name slightly is sort of entertaining in its own right.

On the translation issue: The “çı” in “Savaşçıları” is a suffix denoting a profession, thus changing the meaning from “war” to “warrior.” Analogously, “diş” means “tooth” and “dişçi” means “dentist.” Sort of fun, the way that works, and more consistent than English with our “hunter” and “artist.”

Very interesting to learn that these items are more valuable than their licensed counterparts. That surprises me, but I suppose that on reflection it makes sense. They’re much more interesting.

By: Graysmith

Graysmith — Sat, 24 Mar 2012 22:45:00 +0000

U zay these are fake, but I don’t believe a word u zay.

By: Joseph Yglesias

Joseph Yglesias — Sat, 24 Mar 2012 22:08:00 +0000

Well, it’s fairly obvious that they’re derivative of Star Wars products. The translation of ” Uzay Savaşçıları” can also mean Space War. If you look at the licensed posters for the film “Savaşçıları” is used in place of the word wars. I’m not Turkish, so I don’t know if that is a bastardized translation or not. Regardless, many bootleg lines use other names, or in the case of the SB products, Uzay figures, intentional mispellings to attempt to seperate their product from SW, in name only. It’s near impossible to look at (almost) any figure from this line and not see that it’s clearly a Star Wars character.

By: JohnMc

JohnMc — Sat, 24 Mar 2012 21:56:00 +0000

Fascinating phenomenon. I especially love the creative use of the calculator, and the fact that these are sought-after collectibles makes this a whole new area of nerd meta-cool.

One quibble I have: Both in Cory’s post and on the original website, these are called “Uzay” figures. The actually brand name is “Uzay Savaşçıları” (you see it on all of the packages). “Uzay” means “Space,” while “Uzay Savaşçıları” means “Space Warriors.” It makes more sense, and it also makes it clear that these are not meant in any way to be derivative of “Star Wars” products, since “Star Wars” is clearly different from “Space Warriors” (right?).

By: JohnMc

JohnMc — Sat, 24 Mar 2012 21:50:00 +0000

Actually, “aslan adam” means “lion man,” which is a funny way of referring to Chewy in my mind. And did you notice that in the other Chewbacca action figure he’s referred to as “maymun adam,” which means “monkey man?” (Yes, Lewis did grab bits of Turkish, didn’t he — so did his drinking buddy J.R.R.)

By: Joseph Yglesias

Joseph Yglesias — Sat, 24 Mar 2012 21:48:00 +0000

These are actually far more valuable than their licensed counterparts. While the card art suggests spoof, and I’m sure that there had to be a sense of humor involved in the art department at SB products. The figures themselves are the highest quality bootlegs that were made in the vintage era.

By: joe blough

joe blough — Sat, 24 Mar 2012 20:21:00 +0000

i like how chewbacca is called “wolf man”. he does look like the classic wolfman a bit, yes. also now i know what language c.s. lewis was plundering :)

By: Shibi_SF

Shibi_SF — Sat, 24 Mar 2012 19:35:00 +0000

STARSWAR!

By: Orthodoxcaveman

Orthodoxcaveman — Sat, 24 Mar 2012 19:32:00 +0000

We’re clearly in the realms of the spoof bootleg. What next, Big Muff Tarquin and Jodhpur the Hut.? F@*k off.

By: Anton Sirius

Anton Sirius — Sat, 24 Mar 2012 19:17:00 +0000

My fave is the Time Tunnel crossover implied by the Stormtrooper card art.

By: CognitiveDissident

CognitiveDissident — Sat, 24 Mar 2012 19:14:00 +0000

This would have been MUCH more collectible as:

Arstay Arsway by Uzay!

ArthdayAdervay!
Tooarthay TooDehay!

By: tristan eldritch

tristan eldritch — Sat, 24 Mar 2012 19:10:00 +0000

Check out the Imperial Gunner manning the giant calculator!

By: goldenearth

goldenearth — Sat, 24 Mar 2012 19:05:00 +0000

Darth Vader looks a little like a heaping mass of licorice

By: bo1n6bo1n6

bo1n6bo1n6 — Sat, 24 Mar 2012 18:39:00 +0000

It is obviously figures from the Turkish megasmashblockbuster STARSWAR, (no relation to that other film.).

By: niktemadur

niktemadur — Sat, 24 Mar 2012 18:12:00 +0000

So they did it twice in Turkey! First there was the infamous “Dünyayı Kurtaran Adam” (Turkish Star Wars), now I find out about this.

Edited for video link, take a gander at this beauty:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=js6NqlAc29I