Bootleg Merch Combines Pokemon and The Avengers

gamerant.com:

If a franchise is popular enough, it is bound to have mountains of knock-off merchandise. These bootleg toys and collectibles often attract online mockery for their poor quality, production mistakes, and unusual quirks.

A Reddit user in Italy recently shared a pair of images showing some very suspect Pokemon toys. And while one photo shows a relatively typical example of unlicensed merchandise, the other features a bizarre crossover between Pokemon and The Avengers.

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The strange bootleg in question features an off-brand version of Ash Ketchum and four oversized Pikachu in avenger’s attire. This includes versions of the electric mouse dressed as Captain America, Iron Man, Spider-Man, and The Hulk. And while these cosplaying Pikachu are actually kind of cute, it seems unlikely that Marvel and the Pokemon Company signed off on this particular piece of Pokemon merchandise. Click here to see the full Reddit thread.

There are other things wrong with these pieces of bootleg Pokemon merchandise, and more jump out the longer one looks at the picture. For example, the Ash toy is on a smaller scale than the Pikachu, making it seem like he was thrown in as an afterthought. He’s also a very sloppy action figure, with a bad paint job and weirdly blank facial expression. The ears on the Pikachu are also oddly shaped, with one commenter comparing the Hulk Pikachu’s ears to tequila worms.

The packaging is also peculiar. It features two different versions of Ash, neither of which resemble the toy, and a seemingly random collection of Pokemon. The various graphics don’t even have a consistent design, including a mix of plastic figurines and at least three different 2D art styles.