I'll get better pictures hopefully tomorow


The reproductions are COO number 8. I'm comparing it to a 3 line Hong Kong (on the right)



The reproductions almost look like a 'hard torso' & weigh the same 15.6g ( 1 gram more than the other Hong Kong versions )

The guns fail the acoustic test & sink.  As far as the rubbery limbs go, well I can't tell the difference  
The pegholes maybe slightly larger.


edit: See the article at IG about these Repro Stormtroopers: Reproduction Figures

Sounds like they are almost dead on. These are not customs...........These are flat out Reproductions/Copies.

Glad to see you got those in to compare for us AJ. I knew it was too good to be true on the limbs.

"the hands & legs are soft compared to the original figures, the original limbs cannot be bent like the repros. "
well I'll be hanging set weights off the limbs & measuring deflection/bend & double checking (unless someone else has any better ideas) I'm putting money on the fact there is no way AFA will pick these up as repros let alone anyone else accurately 100% of the time.

It looks like they're already being sold by other dealers:
Vintage Style Stormtrooper & Blackhole Trooper Action Figure Set

Vintage Style Stormtrooper (reproduction)

So the limbs are not softer after all!!!!

This is realy bad.

Holy shit, this is going from bad to worse. These Stormtroopers are going to be mixed into collections being sold online in no time, and eventually the sellers won't disclose that they are repros.

Shocking!!

And the sadest part is...I checked my Stormtroopers...and the only "real" white ones is????...yeah...coo #8......I could cry!!!
Seriously...NO joke!!!

Good job James, my fears have been realized. Poon tried to make 1:1 copies and it seems he has the technical requirements to mass produce "our" figs.

Hopefully LFL/ Hasbro will chime in. Although it may be too late, as Poon may have already sold hundreds of Stormies and will do so in the near future.

Well after a day I was really hoping to have at least one way to tell these apart from the real thing.

The flex test (holding up Gus & Dunc's book )


BUT

a real figure bends just as much (if not more)

I'm sure I could have been more scientific ie. spring scale & a set deflection distance but what's the point ?

the repros must be smaller if they have been cast from the real thing. Also i was wondering if the body is glued instead of welded.

From the pics on ebay I noticed that the belt seem to taper off while most stormies have a straight belt so ( if i am correct ) that could be an indication of what to avoid. I know that one stormie seems to have that feature but the others dont seem to have this so at least that could be considered when buying one.


cheers!

Josh_T wrote:

It looks like they're already being sold by other dealers:
Vintage Style Stormtrooper & Blackhole Trooper Action Figure Set

Vintage Style Stormtrooper (reproduction)

well after seeing that one, it does not look too good, the details are not sharp at all and the figure looks like it is made of wax that has slightly melted.


I think they should make a sticky in the different sections of these forums and advise who sells those. Any serious collectors will at some point land here if they do research on vintage toys and hopefully would read the sticky and avoid those things. It might starve that particular market out and kill it. Also people should talk to their preferred source and advise them to not carry those. And finally someone should push to have an article on rebelscum and the force.net on their landing page so that everyone can see this and realize whats is going on. This just being in forums is not enough, i think.


cheers!

budspencer wrote:

the repros must be smaller if they have been cast from the real thing. Also i was wondering if the body is glued instead of welded.

From the pics on ebay I noticed that the belt seem to taper off while most stormies have a straight belt so ( if i am correct ) that could be an indication of what to avoid. I know that one stormie seems to have that feature but the others dont seem to have this so at least that could be considered when buying one.


cheers!

They are the same size, no glue residue & the belt looks the same to me.

"the details are not sharp at all and the figure looks like it is made of wax that has slightly melted." I'm not sure what you mean? Pictures can be deceptive, I have these figures in hand & they look 'perfect'

Mark did make these available for me to test & show the flexibility differences. I just don't believe the difference is significant at all.

His pic:


a real one:

i wonder if he got his hands on a old mold from way back then. ( speculation of course) since this require a lot of talent to get the quality up to that standard.

And why would he give you a toy James? since he know you are in the group that finds this shady....is he seeking acceptance now or what?

i know i would not give that kind of benefit to anyone that has expressed negative opinions on what i have done "if" i was in that type of situation so to speak...


cheers!

I also got a set of 4 as I wanted one in had so I could compare to the ones I have & know what to look out for - yeah right! & bar being super white they are identical

These are indistinguishable from the vintage from what I can see, which opens the doors to a whole world of shit.

Here is a close up of the coo for you, & as you can see its super sharp (where is the panic like a mother simile?)

I seriously doubt Mark found a vintage mold of those to use. No one in their right mind who knows his background would sell one to him. Hes just that good at what he does, making custom figures. And from the pix AJ posted, looks like he has perfected his methods. With this going on, I wont be getting back into production figures period unless I know the seller and the source they got them from. Im just wondering how AFA will deal with these since they are just about dead on. I fortell alot of them actually passing the grade (no pun intended ). And if they do, I see a dark day in MOC collecting. Hate to say it, but it makes U grade actually look good now. Thanks alot Mark. Looks like you accomplished your goal.

Anyone blacklight those fellas? See if that shows anything?

I noticed the auction ended...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/160712479186?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1438.l2649#ht_1346wt_978

I just don't get it.

Hes that good at what he does, and everyone already knows it (rocket fett, vlix etc). So he goes out and recreates a common figure. When he set out to do this there were two very distinct paths to take.

1. Make an exact copy right down to an exact COO and copyright info, so that the fake is all but indistinguishable from the real thing.
2. Make a near exact copy with the only difference being and indented "repro" in place of the COO info.

Option 2 has no negatives - it would create a great avenue for army builders etc to stock up on a clear repro item, and make it impossible for people to get scammed/confused down the track - informed and not-so-informed collectors around the world could benefit from this.

Option 1 has so many negatives to it I can't beleive anyone with the smallest amount of respect for the hobby would choose it. So if you are this good at producing this stuff, and you choose to use those skills to produce replica star wars toys, why piss in the faces of all the collectors that you are trying to sell to?

Once again, I'm considering giving this great hobby away. I can see where we're heading in the next few years and there will be so much blurring between repro crap (carded and loose) and the real deal, it will be more like a job than a hobby trying to make a simple purchase and feel confident you're getting what your paying for.

For me this whole "fight" is lost! There must be by now hundreds sold!

1. On the german forum LG many members do actually like and buy those Troopers!
For me such blindness only shows: This is no "vintage" community anymore...I will totally pull back from this forum!


2. Im also dissapointed how the RS community reacts! It seems a "Stormtrooper" fake is too less important for the big fishes! We have no single post from the "gurus" there...or shall I say the "inner circle"

Even better: You get laughs because you try the best to talk sense into Marc. I get laughs on the german forum for taking this so serious...etc...etc!

I am very disspointed from this whole story! I did my best on every forum to starts thread, be helpfull, try to communicate facts and informations, to post pictures, identify the differences (at least on the wepaons)...etc.

....and for what?? Achieving nothing! Getting laughs on two forums.....(and nasty...some VERY nasty comments)

I tell you this because TIG seems to be the only forum really getting whats happening here! Aj really also tried to bring some light into this...kudos for that AJ!!

But my consequences for now a clear: I will back out from vintage collecting, from forums...etc!

Im heavily dissapointed and every day there is worser news that make me mad and sad

Cheers

Wolff

I think I got it pegged, a definitive way to tell these apart from the vintage figures but I will have to hold off posting my findings for a few hours till the sun comes up so I can get some detailed photos to show the difference.

you cannot just give up collecting just because some tool got his way for a bit. Looking at this in a positive way, he got outed very early so the chances of having him make a decent amount of them are not so big as to really create a mess in the market. Plus his are ivory white figures so you know if you buy a stormie that is slightly off white that the chances are that you are getting the real deal.

that being said we should also not let him get away with this and take every action possible to report him or stop his production.

Also the tools that are not taking this seriously are gonna wine and moan and cry like babies if or the dude decides to flood the market with other figure he makes ( if he's got the means to do that, this is yet to be proven). Those who are making fun of you will be shedding tears when they learned that the vintage figure they bought is probably a fake. Imagine a ton of blue snaggletooth or yak face being produced and resold as genuine for half a thousand dollars when they are not even worth 2$ of plastic..those tools will probably regret the day this all started.

i am not gonna stop collecting because of this moron. it would take something else drastic to stop me because i love this so much now.

cheers

Firstly please excuse my piss poor photo editing skills or should I say lack of them

I think I have a few good pointers for spotting the new Poon Stormtroopers & at least one sure fire way to spot them, I have done lots of photos to try to show as best as I can with the little point & shoot camera I have.

I used a vintage stormtrooper of the same COO marking as the fake has, but did compare it to 3 other coo variation I myself own to be sure as I can be that the information below is accurate.

V = Vintage
F = Fake




Above you can see the most obvious difference between the Fakes & the Vintage, this being that under the arms there is a flat area all the way around the arm socket which goes down in to a v below the armpit.




2 fakes & a vintage side by side to show the under arm flat area



The right leg (left as you look at the photo) on all the 4 I got were tapered in to the other leg which is very noticeable IMO




Standing back to back you can see that if you want the fake to stand like the vintage you have to have the legs bent back slightly which pushes the waist forward & the head back, I will explain why below.



The feet on the fakes are actually slightly bent upward at the toe making them not stand quite straight as seen in the 2 photos directly above this one.



Lastly & a point which is also quite easy to spot (one you have noticed - took me a while) is that the spray opp's on the back of the helmet are actually considerably smaller that on the vintage & do not go all the way to the edge of the indentations on moulding of the helmet.

Below are the all the photos b4 alteration & some photos of the weapons from as close as I can get.

















Lets hope this goes some way toward preventing some of us from being stung.

Great effort