| Hoth Stormtrooper with Gray Limbs | |
| Update: June 2024
These figures are now widely regarded as suffering from plastic degradation, which has turned the PVC of the limbs a grayish color. In other words, they are believed to be not prototypes, or even rare production items, but merely damaged. These figures have been showing up on the collectors' market since the early 90s, usually with a backstory exactly like this: "This figure came to me through a well-known British dealer. He had several of them and told a very convincing story of how they came about. Apparently before the figure was finally mass-produced a number of them were made as test-shots with the limbs cast in dark grey plastic. Everything else is unchanged. They came to him through a contact at Kenner, at the same time he offered unpainted test-shots of the Micro C3PO made for the upcoming Bacta Chamber, unfortunately I didn't get one." As new information came to light however, collectors started to question the legitimacy of these pieces. While some in the community still debate the matter, the truth is that there is no evidence that these are genuine vintage prototypes. They appear to have been created by a dealer/dealers in order to satisfy a burgeoning collector market eager for something unique. |
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| Description by: | Ron Salvatore, Rob Godwin, Thomas Garvey |
| Photo: | Rob Godwin |
| From the collection of: | Rob Godwin |
| Country: | United States |
| Film: | Empire Strikes Back |
| Licensee: | Kenner |
| Year: | 1980 |
| Category: | Fakes |