Amazing new find

[ChrisGeorgoulias]

This turned up through some random dealer who had no knowledge of its history. I have no background information on it, though the colors seem to speak for themselves.

-chris

 

[Tyler_H]

Whatever it is, it looks really cool!!! Was it sold to you as a prototype??

 

[smcwilliams]

Thats a real cool piece

 

[baldylox]

Looks like John A has been hard at work in his basement again.... First it was Inner Circle Bootlegs, now he has progressed to prototypes. Where will the insanity stop??

Billy

 

[Shane Turgeon]

Looks like someone's been taking chrome again.

 

[BryanSimmons]

I was there when this amazing find was unearthed by Chris. Let's just say it left those of us who met up at the Greensboro toy show speechless. As I was driving home I regretted not offering some major cash to Chris for this piece, or at least trade some of my coveted R2 items. In retrospect, Chris is a "keeper of the hobby", and this rare find should always stay with him. "Original 21" protos are exceedingly rare. I'm sure it keeps a spot next to Chris' amazing prototype collection.

 

[TK_421]

So is this thing real or not? Or is it just stripped of it's chrome and parts dyed different colors? I NEED to know

 

[John_A_Graham]

It's a death star droid that fell into a rainbow colored vat of paint. That's all.

Great find.

-John

PS: To Bryan, I just noticed your signature line, I think I laughed for a good solid five minutes. That's Great...

 

[JohnA]

Neat looking piece, Sparky. Dare I ask if you bought it as a prototype or if the dealer sold it as a novelty? Either way those colors make that a killer piece. Congrats!

John

 

[WThompson]

Where did that come from? Weird looking limbs..
W

 

[Jeffery_Hunter]

I too was there when Chris found this piece, and for someone who hasn't delved into prototype collecting, I was blown away. I even had a booth at the show, which means I could walk around to dealers tables the night before the show, but with my untrained eye I didn't spot this one. I kicked myself all the way back to Raleigh, but to the victor goes the spoils, or Chris in the this case. Good eye my friend, good eye.
Jeffery

 

[BillCable]

It looks almost the same colors as the stripped Takara 3PO that was on eBay a few weeks ago...

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=5900320028

 

[Todd_Hudson]

Oh my godness its the super duper rare rainbow Gay pride Death Star Droid that Kenner was working on for all those years. Where did u find it?

 

[Jeffrey_Correll]

What's even more amazing is that Chris posted a picture of something from his collection.

-Jeff

 

[James_Gallo]

Wait are you saying Chris owns Star Wars Toys?? I didn't think he had anything, well at least nothing of much value.
That Death Star Droid is killer, I would trade you a loose Vlix for it... What do you say Sparky???? Up for some more trading?

James G

 

[dockingbay97]

forgive my ignorance of paint (chrome) stripped figures. Are they generally patch worked plastic colors like this underneath?

 

[Todd_Hudson]

forgive my ignorance of paint (chrome) stripped figures. Are they generally patch worked plastic colors like this underneath?

If your for real, the answer is no.

 

[dockingbay97]

forgive my ignorance of paint (chrome) stripped figures. Are they generally patch worked plastic colors like this underneath?

If your for real, the answer is no.

Sorry, I am not an expert like you. I can't follow the thread. Is it a prototype or a paint stripped figure and a fake.

I am trying to educate myself but I can't follow what is going on here.

Sorry.

 

[Johan_Sydling]

Funky looking droid. Was it super duper cheap?

 

[ramjet]

very nice find...congrats...

 

[Herbert_Ackermans]

Do first-shots or proto-types have a copyright mark and land of origin mark?

And how come all those weirdo collors?

 

[Galland]

Congrats, great find!

 

[ChrisGeorgoulias]

I thought I'd wait 24 hours before responding, but 21 replies isn't bad. I wanted to post this as an example of why NOT to buy stuff off ebay just because someone calls it a "prototype" with no further explanation. And just because it might be missing paint or in a weird color.

This is what it looked like when Jeff C. pulled it out of a box of junk figures at the Greensboro Toy Show on Saturday. The colors underneath were very interesting to see, and immediately made me think of the C-3PO that Bill Cable posted the link to above.

A 24 hour soak in brake fluid, a straght pin for the crevices, and a toothbrush to clean it off and you have what I showed above.

Never make assumptions just because something is a goofy color. Prototypes just don't show up out of nowhere with no history. Be careful with ebay folks and buy items like this from reputable people.

This thing cost me $1.

-chris

 

[CanadianCollectR]

That's pretty wild.

I took a look at a few of the DSD's that I have in poor condition, and they all seem to be white plastic where the chrome has rubbed off.

Never figured you to be "taking chrome" Chris.

-Mike
www.womprat.com

 

[Herbert_Ackermans]

All right, hands up everyone who is feeling really really stupid now...

My scepticism turned out to be correct. In your face experts!

(Just pulling your legs!)

 

[Todd_Hudson]

forgive my ignorance of paint (chrome) stripped figures. Are they generally patch worked plastic colors like this underneath?

If your for real, the answer is no.

Sorry, I am not an expert like you. I can't follow the thread. Is it a prototype or a paint stripped figure and a fake.

I am trying to educate myself but I can't follow what is going on here.

Sorry.

Hey relax bro, I just wasnt sure if you were being serious or not, there were alot of people being sarcastic in their remarks. I answered your question just in case you were being serious, and I dont think I was a **** about it like your remark back to me would have suggested. Sorry if you took offense

Todd

 

[dockingbay97]

forgive my ignorance of paint (chrome) stripped figures. Are they generally patch worked plastic colors like this underneath?

If your for real, the answer is no.

Sorry, I am not an expert like you. I can't follow the thread. Is it a prototype or a paint stripped figure and a fake.

I am trying to educate myself but I can't follow what is going on here.

Sorry.

Hey relax bro, I just wasnt sure if you were being serious or not, there were alot of people being sarcastic in their remarks. I answered your question just in case you were being serious, and I dont think I was a **** about it like your remark back to me would have suggested. Sorry if you took offense

Todd

Sorry, I was tired and confused.

 

[JohnA]

All right, hands up everyone who is feeling really really stupid now...

*raises hand*

(though I realized and felt stupid last night)

I only took it at face value because of the source of the post. Chris has always been known for having really neat pieces and if he posted it I didn't see any reason to doubt that he thought it was real. But then for some reason I looked at what the file was called *after* I posted last night and saw that he named them "strip1" and "strip2". He got me at first though.

I should have realized something was up since he NEVER posts pics of his collection. LOL

John

 

[ChrisGeorgoulias]

It looks almost the same colors as the stripped Takara 3PO that was on eBay a few weeks ago...

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=5900320028

This is one reason I made this posting. The one on ebay ended at $202 and I'm sure that the winner thinks he got some Takara prototype. This has happened in the past and I see figures that look to be easily stripped of paint on ebay now and then.

Until that Takara auction I never thought that they used anything but that off-white color plastic on the figures. Now after picking up this Death Star Droid I have changed my tune. Why on earth it's comprised of so many colors I couldn't tell you. And not only that, they're swirled. The arms are a mix of black and red, though it's hard to tell. Every speck of chrome is gone, so any light spots you see are white coloring in the base plastic.

But this is a piece I could have put on ebay (under some unknown ID) and had a field day with. It's scary, really.

-chris

 

[Andy_R]

Chris,
April Fool's day was 2 months ago!

Point taken, though.

 

[Julian]

I didn't comment on this, since I know absolutely nothing about the subject, but I was dubious about the copywrite and "Hong Kong" on it.

I expect the multicoloured parts are down to the fact that they didn't need to be any particular colour so they just melted down whatever drosss they had on hand at the time.

 

[flarida]

Why on earth it's comprised of so many colors I couldn't tell you. And not only that, they're swirled. The arms are a mix of black and red, though it's hard to tell.

-chris

They probably had a large cavity mold of nothing but left arms, or nothing but right legs, etc. and shot them at different times using whatever color they had loaded.

Knowing it was going to be plated, they could use anything they had. Probably used the leftover pellets from other jobs and also didn't bother to clean the machines between colors.


Dan

 

[JohnA]

I didn't comment on this, since I know absolutely nothing about the subject, but I was dubious about the copywrite and "Hong Kong" on it.

That doesn't always matter. This Lando:

http://www.toysrgus.com/images-produ/esbgroup-fs.html
is a legit first shot and clearly has CRs and dates.

John

 

[BryanSimmons]

PS: To Bryan, I just noticed your signature line, I think I laughed for a good solid five minutes. That's Great...

Glad you could have a sense of humor about it

. I've been looking for something to replace it, so quick, someone say something funny!

 

[BryanSimmons]

A 24 hour soak in brake fluid, a straght pin for the crevices, and a toothbrush to clean it off and you have what I showed above.
-chris

We all got quite a chuckle when Chris showed up with this thing at Jeffrey's booth. By the way Chris, I guess this is now proof-positive that the brake fluid thing does indeed work, right?

 

[Lee_Gray]

It looks almost the same colors as the stripped Takara 3PO that was on eBay a few weeks ago...

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=5900320028

Sure does, although not as glossy now

 

[ChrisGeorgoulias]

Knowing it was going to be plated, they could use anything they had. Probably used the leftover pellets from other jobs and also didn't bother to clean the machines between colors.

Yeah, you're right on that. I guess what I meant to say was that seeing a bunch of wacky colors was a shock.

Thinking more about it now I bet it was probably more of a case of them using regrind and just lumping a bunch of different colors together. Or maybe mixing virgin material together (no jokes, please, that's what it's called)

In any of these scenarios, including what you mentioned, I wonder just how many figures would have been made like this. If it was what you said and they let the materials mix in the barrel then there couldn't have been that many made because after it ran awhile the machine would purge the old and mixed material and run the new colors.

I bet this was due to them using regrind (re-ground runners and junk parts that were melted down and shot again). This would allow them to make lots of these things. Being vac-metallized would let the factories pretty much use anything they wanted underneath.

At any rate, I'm going to start keeping a closer eye on junk bins to see how common this might have been on old 3PO's and DS Droids.

-chris

 

[Henrik_Berndt]

PS: To Bryan, I just noticed your signature line, I think I laughed for a good solid five minutes. That's Great...

Glad you could have a sense of humor about it

. I've been looking for something to replace it, so quick, someone say something funny!

Wuzzle-Wozzle?...........

Ace

 

[ChrisGeorgoulias]

Wuzzle-Wozzle?...........

Clever!

-chris

 

[Henrik_Berndt]

Glad you got it, Chris.

- And thanks for the lesson, btw

Ace