12/4/08

I'm Just a Skater Boy...

Actually, I'm not. I haven't owned a skateboard since the late seventies. Those skinny vinyl/plastic numbers were pretty sweet...but I digress.

These guys are skater boys - finger-skater boys that is!

They are also blatant ripoffs of pop culture icons that border on (if not cross by miles) copyright infringement - maybe skateboarding, or at least finger-skating, is a crime after all!



Let's start with Adam. Yup, that's the name Tech Deck gave Batm...I mean this non-descript blue and grey clad pointy eared utility belt wearing individual (back off, lawyers!) when they released him a few years back. I think they actually got some heat from this one, because he was only around for a very short time, he has never been re-released, there is no mention or sign of him on the Tech Deck website, and the name "Adam" has been used on a different figure (a Zombie) ever since.

As you can see, Adam is an OG Tech Deck Dude, from back before they gave the figures arms. Their schtick is that these guys are little living fingers. They even have fingernails sculpted into the backs of their heads. Whatever - if anyone can fight crime without arms, it's Batman.


Up next is Megatr...I mean Mort (whew, that was a close one!) Mort is a recent release and can still be found on the shelves. He's a special Tech Deck Dude who comes with a pet "Zood." Mort's zood is a total rip...er looks vaguely like the G1 Transformer Ratbat if you squint.


This here is Bruce. There was once a famous Kung-Fu expert named Bruce Lee, who played a character named Kato on television. Kato was the Green Hornet's chauffeur. I don't know why I mentioned all that, as clearly it has no relevance to this Tech Deck guy who they call Bruce.


This is Minga *coughcough Optimus Prime coughcough* Sorry. Where was I?


"One shall stand, one shall fall...off the half pipe."


"You remind me of a kid I once knew. He was a good soldier."

Tech Deck does characters like this every so often. There's a Robocop, a Terminator, a purple Hulk, and just recently I spotted two new releases blatantly ripping...I mean vaguely reminiscent of Dr. Doom and Onslaught from Marvel comics.

They're usually pretty cheap - around 3-5 bucks each, so I suggest you grab the ones you want when you see them. You never know when a lawyer might be walking down the toy aisle, or reading a toy blog for that matter ;)

2 comments:

  1. jeez...ya know...there's so many other characters that never received proper action figure treatment...you'd think they might try the more obscure ones to grab the true fans and collectors who know that that specific character never got a figure made of him/her.

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  2. Good point Jay. Why risk it on the big guns when they could be throwing out C Listers all day with only the hardcore fans noticing! :)

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