| Biker Scout ROTJ 48 Back Carded Sample | |
| Carded Samples can come
in a variety of styles. The figures can be painted Hardcopies,
Internal
First Shots, First
Shots, or production figures. The card backs can be Sample
Cards, Proof Cards,
or production cards. Finally, the bubbles can be hand cut or production quality
and can be applied by hand with glue or double sided tape or applied by machine.
These samples would mainly be used for presentation internally, as salesman
samples, or for photographic purposes. In other words provenance is key when
dealing with Carded Samples. With so much variety involved a collector must
make sure their source is rock solid.
What you see here is a Biker Scout carded sample. A production figure was mounted under a standard machine cut bubble and machine glued to the cardback. The interesting thing about this piece is that the card it is mounted on is a production quality Tie Pilot ROTJ 48 Back "Free Nien Nunb Offer" card. Since the Biker Scout figure was not released until the next wave of figures that came out on the ROTJ 65A back it makes sense that testing was done on an earlier cardback. You'll notice that there was a bit of misregistration of the color plates in the printing press on this cardback causing gaps in color and areas of blurred color. This is most noticeable in the white edges located in the lower portions of the ROTJ logo and in the offer itself. My guess is that Kenner used these cards for testing rather than waste a "bad batch" |
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| Description by: | John J. Alvarez |
| Photo: | John J. Alvarez |
| From the collection of: | John J. Alvarez |
| Country: | United States |
| Film: | Return of the Jedi |
| Licensee: | Kenner |
| Year: | 1983 |
| Category: | Prototypes / Action Figure Related |