A chance purchase of this strange-looking Bemstar, then unidentified, lead me down a long rabbit-hole, linking this remarkably rare Taiwanese-made pachi to one of the most common ET bootlegs of the 1980s and some spectacularly rare and peculiarly innovative Star Wars inspired pachi, including a standing Jabba bounty-hunter and a nightmare-fuel Ewok with piercing blue eyes and large warts all over its head. I do not think these pachi, all most probably produced by a single Taiwanese company (or linked companies), or the links between them, have ever been discussed before (beyond a line or so accompanying a few Instagram or Facebook posts), and so I shall attempt to do them justice here.

The Bemstar pachi I own stands 150mm. tall, and weighs 72g (without batteries inside). This figure, like all others in this line, were produced in hollow brown rubbery plastic and have LEDs set in their eyes and other prominent places (usually hands, chest or mouth), with a ON/OFF switch to control these lights set clumsily in their backs or buttocks-region in a small cut-out section and held in place by two silver screws. The arms, legs and head are articulated, and the head easily detaches in order to replace the internal battery.

A follow-up addition to a Mandarake entry of 5 September 2024 briefly discusses a single example, noting that it closely followed the Popy model of Bemstar produced in 1978, even to the point of copying Popy’s distinctive footmark for the character, but with a few additional Chinese characters overlaid there. Indeed, the agreement of the figures is so close as to suggest that the production company cast theirs from a Popy original, but to try to escape copyright infringement, they resculpted the head horn so it was swept backwards, and removed the tail entirely.

The Mandarake listing also makes mention of a card tag that originally accompanied the figures, and fortunately an example folded out so we can read the whole of it is recorded in a Worthpoint post.

(Image from Worthpoint listing)

In broken English, this names the company as Her Maou Enterprise Co. ltd, gives patent and copyright numbers, and announces the company’s intention that these should be educational toys “to teach children develope [sic] their research and curiosity for the basis of later study”. The card finishes with a direct marketing appeal to the children who would play with these figures: “Kids, More you have, more playable[.] come to buy with your friends”.

I cannot trace anything else about the ‘Her Maou Enterprise Co.’ beyond an eBay listing for a vintage toy catalogue produced in the 1980s, which has a sticker on its front from the company, listing them as a “Manufacturer and Exporter” and giving actual and P.O. box addresses in Taiwan:

(Image from eBay listing)

(Detail of image above)

As the Mandarake cataloguer notes, the artwork of the card shows a Triceratops-headed monster as well as the Bemstar type, and in addition to those, a Baragon- and a Miklas-type that have not yet come to light in an actual toy. In addition to those noted by the Mandarake entry, the card also shows a Zagaras figure (from Ultraman, episode 36) and another quadrupedal dinosaur-like figure with LEDs for eyes and on top of its back – these also not yet known in any actual toy [UPDATE – the Zaragas figure has been discovered: see below]. To further the space and science themes, these figures share a grassy beach with a UFO, a jetplane and a space shuttle, as well as a large white eagle wearing a hat covered in the US flag and holding a document (doubtless a ‘We the People’ declaration) in its beak – this last inclusion strongly suggesting that that America was the primary market that Her Maou Enterprise Co. aimed for with these toys.

The Worthpoint post shows both the Bemstar type and the Triceratops-headed form, as well as a bag-header that agrees with the artwork of the card that accompanied the figures (but when used on the bag was cut off at its top so the UFO, the jetplane and the American eagle were removed):

(Images from the Worthpoint listing)

(Image from the bakadesubakadesu blog; this image not mine and if you object to its use here, get in touch and we will remove it)

The model for the Triceratops figure is perhaps the Japanese-made, bipedal, pachi figure with a Triceratops head as detailed in many places, but perhaps most thoroughly by the excellent bakadesubakadesu blog on 6 September, 2019, albeit with significant re-sculpting (including, like the Bemstar, the removal of its tail).

(This image from a Taiwanese Vintage toy seller on Instagram; this image not mine and if you object to its use here, get in touch and we will remove it)

These productions by Her Maou Enterprise Co. ltd in Taiwan can be dated by a closely related ET figure that must have been produced by the same company (the film ET released in 1982, and so that figure dating to then or immediately after).

The artwork of the Bemstar and Triceratops card is missing the ET figure, and it seems likely that the ETs were marketed separately. Thankfully they are common, and I own two examples in their original packaging: the most common are bags with header cards with stills from the ET film and marked “Made in Taiwan”. These cards are identical on their fronts and backs:

At least one variant for the header-card art can be found, as in this one below taken from an eBay listing:

[UPDATE: 29 July 2026 :- another bag header variant (presumably for the ones distributed in Mexico), with the ‘flying through the night sky’ film scene and the words “Space friend” in cursive in upper left corner, appears in an Instagram post by the toy dealer ‘garufa_tienda‘:

(Image from garufa_tienda’s sale listing on Instagram)

A much rarer bag also survives in a single example known to me (and happily in my own collection), with printing directly on the bag itself, using the same wording (“B/O Doll” for ‘battery operated’) as used on the card of the ‘Science Space Monster Line’:

(My thanks to the very friendly and dedicated staff of Hoardershop samlarbutik of southern Sweden for this ET in its rare to survive packaging: their Facebook account here; eagle-eyed readers will note that the left arm of this ET has been squashed flat just above the elbow while the figure was still cooling – that is perhaps why it survives in its bag, and most probably it remained unsold and survived as dealer’s deadstock)

The ET figures do not share the same foot marks as the Bemstar or Triceratops, but have “ROC MADE IN / TAIWAN” (‘ROC’ = Republic of China, meaning Taiwan in this context, and used to assert copyright there) stamped into their right feet, with an occasional Chinese symbol in a circle in the same place, and a large ‘C’ (presumably for ‘copyright’) on their left feet. Unlike the other toys discussed here, these ETs are very common on the market, and it seems likely that they were produced using the same methods as the ‘Science Space Monster’ line, but in much higher numbers.

[Update 21 May 2026: the ET pachi here share a foot mark with a King Kong pachi and may have a sibling, perhaps in a movie monster toyline! These discussed at end of this post]

To return to the ‘Science Space Monster’ line – there are substantial differences between the Bemstar figure in my collection and that in the Worthpoint post, and these are explained by Instagram posts of 2020 by the authoritative pachi collector and scholar, ‘Pachikaiju’, of items in his own collection that were later exhibited in the celebrated Fake is Real: the world of vintage pachi kaiju exhibition held in the Crisis Gallery in Shanghai in 2024 (for which he wrote the text of the catalogue). These show a larger and a smaller Bemstar figure, as well as the same two sizes of the Triceratops-headed figure and the ET figure.

(These images from these Instagram posts by Pachikaiju here, here and here; see also here, here and here)

While the larger Bemstar had LEDs at the end of his nubby-like hand-spikes, the smaller one has suction cups, which attach to a blue shield with red marks and a red flame-like weapon.

As these are so rare, it is perhaps worthwhile here to list all examples known to me – to get a sense of how small the numbers are here. The smaller Bemstar figure, but without his attachments can be found in this ebay listing offered by a seller in Chapin, SC. USA, at the time this blog went was published. Curiously, this figure is also missing its LEDS and has no ON/OFF switch in its back or hole punched for this, that I can see. It seems likely that it was a half-finished model, shipped in error before its electrics were fitted.

The posters of comments on Pachikaiju’s Instagram posts listed above record the existence of three more larger Triceratops-headed figures and two smaller ones. All of these were in Western collections.

Another large Triceratops-headed figure appears in a Mercari listing current at the time of writing, which allows us to have our first look at the soles of the feet of this figure. The soles are pock-marked and textured without notable maker’s marks, apart from a large ‘C’ (presumably for ‘copyright’) on both feet, in the same form as found on the left feet of the ETs.

(Image from Mercari listing)

A small Triceratops-headed figure appeared in a Mandarake listing in September 2024, showing the same feet marks:

(Image from Mandarake listing)

Yet another smaller Triceratops-headed figure was offered for sale via Yahoo JP in March 2025.

Finally, in the interests of completeness, a Skullbrain.com post in 2010 included some brief comments on the Bemstar figures in the auction that ultimately generated the Worthpoint post noted above. However, most of the images there as well as a link to another post that a member states also mentions these figures, have now expired (and as neither were archived by the ‘Wayback Machine’ these are now completely lost). There the comments on the post show an image of another large Bemstar figure in working order, and record another of the same purchased from Quakerhead Collectibles in Philadelphia, PA. around 1984, and another Triceratops-headed figure with a broken arm rediscovered among a US poster’s packed-away childhood toys.

(This image taken from the Mandarake listing noted below)

A small Triceratops still in its bag and with its card label visible also appears among the available records of items sold by Mandrake CoCoo (described there as Agira-style sofubi with lights).

(Image of Benedict Madeja’s figure, reproduced here with his permission)

Then, just as I was finishing the first draft of this post, a member of the ‘Vintage Sofubi Collectors’ group on Facebook, named Benedict Madeja (from CA., USA), posted an image and a video of his working smaller Triceratops there. Another poster noted in the comments there that he had another that was not working, adding another to our known examples.

It was immediately after that, that I chanced across a photograph of pachi in a ‘wanted to purchase’ list on a Thai collector’s page on Facebook, with another large Bemstar figure and a large and small Triceratops figure in the background (see here). The image was not the poster’s, and I think I know whose collection these are from (and more on that below), but does witness the existence of these models in a Thai collection.

In addition, when I posted about this blog in the popular ‘Warriors of the Universe’ group on Facebook, immediately after creating it, only one reader came forward to say they had owned one in childhood: a collector named Jeremy Steele (based in the US), who had owned a large version of the Triceratops-headed pachi as a child.

[UPDATE 17 May 2026: the towering giant of pachi collecting, Pachikaiju (see Instagram here), has kindly pointed out that a toy seller called Pristineartt has advertised a number of these on Instagram, including:

(Image from Pristineartt’s Instagram page here)

* Two of the smaller Triceratops-headed figures (one with an apparent variant head), in January 2025

(Image from Pristineartt’s Instagram page here; and for the current home of this Zagaras figure in the impressive collection of Jim Maitland in the US, see here)

* And sensationally the, as yet, only recorded example of the Zagaras figure, on 12 August 2024 – with two horns instead of the usual one, and twin sets of nipple LEDs. If these were also produced in two sizes (as seems very likely), then the lack of LEDs in the eyes would suggest this is the larger of the set. The shot of his back also shows a small rectangular depression on his rump, which would appear to be the site left for the punching of a small hole and insertion of the ‘ON/OFF’ switch during the factory finishing process. However, the finisher appears to have chosen to mount this switch higher up between the shoulders instead.

Enormous thanks to Pristineartt for posting this, and of course to Pachikaiju for bringing this to my attention – this discovery has rekindled my jaded heart on the search for these, giving me hope that examples of the others will come to light one day!]]

[Further update 3 June 2026: two more of the smaller Triceratops-headed figures have come to light in the wonderful collection of a private US collector named ‘yokai_on_unicyle’ on Instagram, see here – he has A LOT of jaw-droppingly great things, and I strongly recommend that all readers go check it out on Instagram]

[Further update 10 June 2026: another small Bemstar pachi has turned up in the breathtaking collection of Jim Maitland in the US, see here; his picture reproduced above with his permission; in addition the two smaller Triceratops-headed figures in his collection I initially took to be those sold by Pristineartt, but are on closer inspection two different examples of these pachi, with another example of the variant head for the smaller Triceratops pachi – I shall post separately on this variant head soon).

(Images from the Yahoo JP sale listing discussed immediately below)

[Update of 22 June 2026: a large Bemstar pachi, in working order, but missing the rubber ‘nubbies’ from the tips of its arms, was sold in a Yahoo JP auction ending yesterday, where it attracted 76 bids and made a whopping 73,000 Yen – interestingly, this model did not have the additional Chinese symbols under its right foot, but instead had what appears to be a ‘1’ and the ‘C’ mark also found under the feet of the Triceratops-headed pachi and the ET toy (see above for those)]

UPDATE 5 July 2026: an Instagrammer based in Tokyo named ‘wizardmuso’ has posted a video with A LOAD OF EYE-POPPINGLY AMAZING PACHI, including one each of the large and small Bemstars and Triceratops-headed ones – see here]

That would appear to be the sum total of what is known of this spectacularly rare pachi, as well as the tiny total of examples known to me of surviving toys from this Taiwanese bootleg line. I don’t doubt that others will have silently passed by on eBay or Vinted or similar, but those traceable by me, including all images and fleeting mentions listed above, can be tallied up as only:

• 9 examples of the larger Bemstar figure,
• 8 examples of the smaller Bemstar figure (including mine),
• 11 examples of the larger Triceratops-headed figure,
• 13 examples of the smaller Triceratops-headed figure,
• and a single example of the Zagaras figure;

and no examples of the Baragon type and the Miklas type or the quadrupedal dinosaur-like figure shown on the original packaging. [Please note these lists added to as updates added above came to light]

I don’t doubt that readers will own further examples, and I encourage anyone with one to contact me. I would be delighted to add them here.

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However, that is not the end of this blogpost, and one final discovery remains. While mulling over what I had written above, it occurred to me that the bizarre rip-offs of popular Sci-Fi film designs with the ET figure, and the LEDs mounted in the eyes and hands for all the figures, might connect these to another pair of incredibly rare pachi – the ‘bipedal Jabba the Hutt’ and ‘warty-headed Ewok’ figures. These are in fact so rare it is hard to find pictures of them that show more than a glimpse taken from an angle on a collector’s shelf. Thankfully, our Texan titan of bootleg toys, Chance Priest, posted this photograph of the Jabba figure to his ‘Warriors of the Universe’ group on Facebook on 26 June 2022:

(Image from Chance Priest’s post; reproduced here with his permission)

Another Facebook user, whose name I regrettably did not record, sometime in the early part of 2026 put up a ‘wishlist’ picture, showing this Jabba figure alongside the Ewok figure:

[UPDATE: (The Facebook user, named 林聖洋, reposted his wishlist picture and we got in contact – isn’t the internet wonderful! His recent post to the ‘Warriors of the Universe’ group on Facebook was on 31 March 2026, and can be viewed here, with his Instagram account here. Also, somebody find him one of these Ewok pachis – he’s a nice guy and deserves it; image reproduced here with his permission)]

The LEDs are very similar, and the strangely tiny shields held by the figures do smack of the tiny shields held by the miniature Taiwanese Bemstars, and the fleur-de-lys-like symbols added to their belts sort of echo the ‘T’ symbols added to the chests of the Triceratops-headed figures. However, the bodies articulate differently, with these here having a rotatable axis at their midriff not found on the others.

Then, just as I was finishing this post, I stumbled over a Facebook video by a Bangkok-based collector and toy repairer named ‘Boat Modify’ that was posted on 15 May 2026. His collection contains enough legendarily rare bootlegs to make even the strongest pachi-collector drool with envy. The video most probably identifies him as the owner of the group shown in the other Thai collector’s ‘wish list’ referred to above. As with many good ideas, they rarely occur to only one person, and Boat Modify’s placement of Bemstar and Triceratops-headed figures alongside the Jabba and Ewok pachis in his video, titled “No need to investigate”, shows that he also identifies these as related sets of figures. I give his images of his items below (kindly sent to me earlier today and reproduced here with his permission):

I do not own either of these rare Jabba or Ewok pachi, and do not expect to ever do so – and so cannot physically inspect the items, and their crucial reverses and the soles of their feet. However, thankfully, I had already traced images of a fully documented Ewok pachi in a Yahoo auctions Japan record, from a sale that ended on 28 January 2023 (this preserved on aucfan.com, see here), which included images of the reverse of the figure and the soles of its feet.

(Images from aucfan posting)

Triumphantly, this gives us an image of the back of the figure – where we find an identical ‘ON/OFF’ switch to our other figures, mounted with the same two screws and in the same place as we would expect for those figures! (You must now imagine me at this discovery – whooping like a schoolboy and dancing around my study like Gollum having just bitten off Frodo’s finger and finally recovered the one ring. If any reader knows of a webpage or blog I have missed where all of this is laid out in full detail – then do the kind thing and keep it to yourself. Even Frodo couldn’t push poor Smeagol into the fires of Mount Doom in his moment of glory).

And the auction record adds a picture of the soles of the feet, which have a “Made in Taiwan” mark as well as the apparent maker’s mark: “E.S.C.”. I can find nothing solid about this company, if indeed that is an indication of a trading name used by them.

I think without much risk of argument we can place the production of these Ewok and Jabba pachis in the period in or immediately after May 1983, when Return of the Jedi was released.

[UPDATE 21 May 2026: I made contact with a collector and all-round nice guy, named Milad Khansari on Facebook and miladfellow on Instagram, who kindly pointed out that the Ewok and bipedal Jabba pachis may have a sibling, in a 170mm. tall smiling King Kong pachi with a white monobrow, again with LEDs mounted in his eyes, and holding an apple and a flashlight. Incidentally, he is a notably jolly primate, arms open and stepping forward for an apparent hug or to hand you the apple as a gift – and he’s a welcome breath of fresh air when one considers all the grumpy scowling Imperial Kongs and their bootleg spawn, or the wildly roaring Jiggler ilk. He’s the sort of Gorilla you might want to move in next door, or meet occasionally for coffee and a banana.

(Images from Milad Khansari and reused here with his permission)

Milad had pictures on file from a Yahoo JP auction showing the front of that figure AND the soles of the feet (blog author falls to knees in gratitude, and has an ’emotional moment’, that someone else thinks to store the feet pics). These show an “ESC” on the sole of the right foot, more crudely executed than on the Ewok-pachi’s foot, and a left foot with a Taiwan copyright mark (MADE IN TAIWAN ROC”) that is near-identical to that on the right foot of the ET model discussed above (the “MADE IN TAIWAN” appears to be in the same font on both, while the two elements “MADE IN TAIWAN” and “ROC” are present on both, but have been reversed in order on the Kong, where they are also on a single line (not double line), and the ‘ROC’ on the Kong has been more crudely executed than on the ET).

(Image from Pristineartt’s Instagram sales post)

Another proficient bootleg hunter, Jamie Francis on Facebook, has pointed me towards the Instagram sales post of Pristineartt on 1 December 2025, where another example of the Kong is shown, including a pink rubber torch cover for the ‘flashlight’ that shows this was meant to a be fiery torch as held by the Statue of Liberty, and importantly a shot of his back, with “E S C” across his shoulder blades and the familiar ‘ON/OFF’ switch above his stumpy tail.

This Kong may well be a sibling to either the Ewok and Jabba line or the ETs (linked as movie monsters, perhaps?) – but most importantly it does ‘lock in’ the link between those two groups and their identifying foot marks, allowing us to link all of these strange and wonderful pachi together as most probably products of a single company or associated companies.

It seems increasingly likely that ESC is a company name. Pachi producers often used multiple other smaller companies to ‘front’ the sale of their bootlegged wares (on this, more in a future post), and ESC may have worked with Her Maou Enterprise Co., or worked for them. I would love to hear from any reader who has any further information on them.]

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So, to sum up: these do all appear to be related, and were probably produced through common factory methods and with a single or partly shared creative and sculpting team, by a single Taiwanese company (Her Maou Enterprise Co. ltd., who certainly did produce the ‘Science Space Monster’ line), or through a series of linked companies (one of whom would appear to have been called ESC, or at least marked its products with those letters). This manufacturing entity saw real global success with its ET figure, but much less so with its ‘Science Space Monster’ and RoTJ bootlegs. Indeed, as the ‘Science Space Monster’ may never have been fully produced, and the surviving toys from that line as well as the Kongs and the RoTJ bootlegs are so rare, we might suspect that the production of those was short-lived, and perhaps terminated early.

The Bemstar, Triceratops, Zagaras, Jabba, Ewok and now King Kong pachi here are among the very rarest kaiju bootlegs definitely from the Chinese-production-region, and (in my opinion) should be acquired when seen, at any cost.

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