That was a no brainer. That jawa is far superior to an original han in my opinion. Especially since the cape appears to be the same material as the piece you have also. Did that cape originally come from that piece of vinyl? Were they found together from the same source?

The lighting was a bit funky in that group shot I took. The proto vinyl sample though, in fact, matches the color, and texture to the prototype cape on the Jawa. The proto cape on the Jawa appears darker in the photo, but that is due to the acrylic chamber he is in. They are a 100% match. The proto cape came with the first shot Jawa, and was found paired together, from the beginning, by The Earth. As far as if that cape was cut from my proto vinyl sample sheet, I will never know. But I would make an educated guess, and due to the small numbers of these proto cape first shot Jawa's floating around, I think it most likely did. : )

One other interesting note.... there is bee's wax remnants in the peg holes, under the feet of the Jawa. I am running this by Tom Derby now, but am thinking it may have been used for something internal, such as photography.

Let us know what Tom thinks.  I don't know that I have seen darker cape jawas in any displays or cardbacks, but I have never really looked for them.

If you can find some released pics of a darker cape jawa, there is one spot that may be able to help identify this one depending on when it occurred. (aside from the eyes, cape, etc of the figure itself I mean)

If it was used in photos it may have been only for internal stuff though, so may never really know.

Congrats Steve on the Jawa and cape. So it turns out the proto material you picked up not so long ago is a match for this Jawa cape material? Maybe Kenner opted not to go with this textured, heavier-looking cape in the end as it was more expensive to produce than the smooth vinyl one they chose? Nice pics of the Alien goodies too!

Correct, the cape on my first shot Jawa matches the prototype sample exactly. I believe there were 2 different types of pre-production vinyls they tested out and is seen in photography. I have compiled several pics of Ben and Jawa that have capes on using this exact material that is on my Jawa and capes that use a slightly darker and "smooth" cape/no texture. I am unsure if they were thinking about using it on production? That is probably a possibility. But these materials were used and seen in photography early on in the line and obviously changed to the production vinyl that we see on the carded pieces.

Fantastic First Shot collection! Sweet!

Thank you : ) I appreciate that....
Oh, and Bryan, I forgot to answer your question regarding the darker capes in early photography. Yes, the 20A card back uses a first shot with darker proto cape. Example, if this link works http://www.12back.com/features/cardbacks/20Aback.jpg
And it is in a few early insert catalogs too, Kenner and German, where different first shots are seen with darker proto capes like mine. I have also been sent pics of slides taken by Kim Simmons, for early internal promotional work/for Kenner, that shows first shots in identical proto capes as mine. The nice thing is, his pics were high res and the texture of the cape and color could be matched to the one on mine, with absolutely no doubts. Hope that answers your question.....

I looked at multiple pics of 20 backs just now really quick but can't find any that I can look closely enough to see if the bandolier on your might match. Interestingly the 20 backs (no matter which style) all have the darker cape jawa and a darker cape Ben that also looks like the same material color. Did any of Kim's photos allow you to match yours up? Not that it needs to be a photo sample as t is already a spectacular prototype on its own.

This is a different first shot then mine, but a very similar example. This actually pre-dates Kim's work. The first Kenner Star Wars photographer, Jack, took this. Kim just had the transparency on hand still.
It was taken for internal promotional work at Kenner. But the cape color, texture and material are exactly the same as on mine. Glad Kim kept this.....



and then you have mine....

So far I have been unable to match up 100% to any Kenner photography. The old catalog pics are just to grainy. The best resolution I have seen is on the slide above, and that is not a match, but rather a very similar example.