Midnight Chinese Figures

[GBPackRat]

Now that the figures have come and gone, and its been a couple of years with no sign of ever seeing more produced, did we ever get the final story on these figures?

Were the runs made after dark?

Was it just one location where these figures were coming out or where their others?

How close were these figures to being actual figures?

Were the figures part of a test run to try colors, tools and etc?

How many do you think were made of each figure?

Was it just one person behind the name, or was it a team of people producing these figures?

What was Hasbro's official stance on these figures?

What was Hasbro's official responce to these figures, did they take any action against the makers, sellers, or buyers?

I found this to be a very interesting time in GI Joe history and am just wondering if others have better insight on to this topic than I.

[Canadian51]

I've never heard of this - can anyone help me out? what is this referring to? even the original rumors would be fun to hear about?
THANKS

[Viper Commander]

A seller from China used to list tons of bootleg Joes and Star Wars stuff on Ebay, every time his account got canceled he would pop up with a new one. Theres more but Im sure other members could fill you in better than I can.

[Dreadnok4life]

I can't answer most of those questions. However as far as quality went, his / her figures were exactly like the one released by Hasbro. To include the stamping, painting, etc. The only difference is they didn't come with artwork and they didn't have all of the weapons.

[The Mad Bubbler]

Yeah, I am not familiar with these, and would be curious for a more detailed explanation, and pictures. I may have seen some of the figures you're talking about on ebay.

[GBPackRat]

Well I won't post any pictures, its sort of a touchy topic around here. Hasbro contacted yojoe about the buying and selling of these figures back when they were being sold on ebay (hence the reason you don't see them being sold here).

But I figured, as long as no figures are being bought or sold, it'd be ok to discuss them.

Here's what I know...

The figures were on ebay around 2004 - 05 (rough guess). Most of the figures were different paint schemes from the Anti Venom (dark blue and light blue), Night Force and Cobra Strike Team figures. A few other figures were made, such as the '89 Snake Eyes in green, '86 Viper in bright red/blue, '88 TF SB figure and a handful of others.

Every week for basically the entire year, they would post one of almost everything described above. Sometimes more of one figure showed up during the year, other times only one of a figure showed up. It was very hard to determine how often a figure would show up and how many were made.

The normal prices would be anywhere from $20 - $40, sometimes ones that had been out there for a while would sell for as low as $5 - $10. The first few times a figure would be posted, they would sell for in the $100's. The TF SB always sold for $50+.

The seller always was from overseas, but again when the account was shut down, a new one would be made. I believe he had 3 - 4 before finally disappearing.

Figures always shipped for $10 no matter what you got. They usually took about a week to get you you. Again as pointed out, you never knew what weapons you'd get with the figure. No filecards were ever included.

The quality of the figures were indeed production level.

Rumors were they were figures made after dark in some of the shops. Others said it was stuff plucked out of the Hasbro trash bins and the figures were test runs. I'm sure there are other rumors I don't know about.

Hasbro took a strong stance not to say anything about them. When the topic came up at the '05 Convention, Hasbro said they were not official figures, but wouldn't say much more than that.

Plenty of topics came up here at the boards about the rumors behind them. Some topics got pretty heated because people argued over if they were stolen, bootlegs or what have you. People speculated on what Hasbro would try to do to whomever bought the figures on ebay, like I said it was a very interesting time...

Then it all vanished as fast it had started. No more figures, no more seller and the only few you ever see are random figures here and there being sold privately and sometimes on ebay. But it doesn't happen often as far as I can tell.

Anyone able to add more insight to what I've covered?

Tanner

[Bigtattoo]

Not really got anything much to add- but Id also heard that these came out of the Factories bin.

I remember most were production quality but there were a few that looked as if theyd failed QC.

[dfunk7]

there are hundreds upon hundreds of them, most of which are minor differences, that were corrected for the final release.

there are probably 100 - 150 that are pretty different than there final release, and there are maybe 50 or so that were never released at all

as far as i know they all came out of chinese factories after hours, hence midnight chinese, and are considered to be stolen property

you probably wont be seeing anymore, from what i understand they are all in collectors hands, if you do see them most likely they just being going from one collector to another, the well has dried up from the orient on id say 95% of these figures, so to find them these days would be a real chore, and they would most likely be alot more expensive, probably in the realm of foreign figures

[Biohazard]

Anyone able to add more insight to what I've covered?
Tanner

*points to mass army builder bag of figures*

yup, i bought many a figures.....why? cause they were cheap to outfit a army building set. would i sell them? no....the quality is ok but the "variants" are alot of non painting or in different colors so its not exactly a joe per se. imo its a knock off to a point. so why buy? well at the time the IG i got were +/- $8 each, i got FIVE of the IG with gear for around....$20ish shipped. same with a few vipers, and alley vipers......again i really wish there was a more....legit way to purchase them cause i was quite pleased with the prices

btw, dont flame me, ive had enough of being flamed on this topic before. this was my decision and opinion on this

[Biohazard]

you probably wont be seeing anymore, from what i understand they are all in collectors hands, if you do see them most likely they just being going from one collector to another, the well has dried up from the orient on id say 95% of these figures, so to find them these days would be a real chore, and they would most likely be alot more expensive, probably in the realm of foreign figures

eh, i have to disagree there to a point. i was on ebay......under a week ago and saw some "midnight" figures there. i was very tempted to buy them but at the time i was out of cash

Not really got anything much to add- but Id also heard that these came out of the Factories bin.

I remember most were production quality but there were a few that looked as if theyd failed QC.

odd you say that, honestly 99% of the figures i got were beautiful.......i only remember one problem. i got a CGI with 2 left arms