Could Bootleg Collectibles be a New 3D Print Application?

A maker seems to have invented a new form of 3D print application: Bootleg Collectibles.

Vermont-based “SuspiciousDuck” has launched several highly unusual products. At first they seem to be “real” consumer products, but a closer look reveals them to be, well, suspicious.

Take this one, “Truck Stuck In Notch”:

It seems to be a possibly interesting truck model, where the vehicle has gone off road at a tight corner. But there’s more to the story. SuspiciousDuck explains:

“You can’t live in Vermont without hearing about the trucks that get stuck trying to drive through Smugglers Notch every summer, despite many warnings.”

Another one: “F35 Disrupting Your Day”:

You get the idea.

However, the concept exploded with his latest design, “Passenger Hitting Propeller”, shown at top.

This design seems a bit weird until you recall that famous scene in the 1999 Titanic movie by James Cameron in which a CGI figure loses their grip and falls a tremendous distance downward, only to bounce of the doomed ship’s propeller into the icy ocean.

SuspiciousDuck made a toy out of that scene!

Even better, he offered it for sale on eBay. But not for long, as eBay swiftly removed it as being “counterfeit”.

I wouldn’t say it is counterfeit, as there are surely no toys based on this particular movie scene. But it absolutely would be infringing on the background image of the main movie characters. It would have been removed either way.

Nevertheless, this is a very intriguing idea: new, 3D printed collectibles based on everyday scenarios people are familiar with. Scenarios that somehow have not been made into collectibles by the mass manufacturers.

While some of these may require adaptation to be legally distributed, I think SuspiciousDuck is on to something here.

Could this become a thing? Could creative 3D printer operators come up with their own ideas for these “bootleg collectibles”?

I think it could.

They could address obscure situations and regional happenings that might attract interest from buyers. In fact, comments on the posts related to the “Propellor” product seem to suggest there would be many buyers.

Bootleg collectibles could become another low volume manufacturing application for those with a creative — and suspicious — side.

What bootleg collectibles would you want to see made?

Via Reddit, ETSY, and SuspiciousDuckVT