A Chinese Toy Company is Selling Schweinsteiger Dolls in a Nazi Uniform

This story originally appeared on VICE Sports Germany

You probably don't know a lot about the Hong Kong-based company DiD, which sells toy figures. Why would you? But these aren't just any toy figures. You can buy Stalin or Churchill, or a soldier from Napoleon's army.

Or, if you're so inclined, you can get your hands on a model Bastian Schweinsteiger wearing a Wehrmacht outfit.

You may think the aesthetic similarities are pure coincidence. But to add to the uncanny resemblance, this figure is named 'Bastian'. In an interview with Bild.de, an employee from the firm defended the use of the Manchester United man's likeness.

"We do not offer figures that are based on a football player, it is pure coincidence that the Bastian figure looks like Schweinsteiger," they insisted. "The figure is based on a typical German. We believe that all Germans look like this." Okay…

Schweinsteiger's nickname of 'Panzer', which he earned with his his self-sacrificing performances at the World Cup, probably isn't all that helpful in this case either.

And despite the company's insistence that this is all a coincidence, Bild.de reports that Schweinsteiger has already begun legal action.

Here are a few shots of the Bastian doll.