Now to some, an item that wasn't SW in any way, but only used the SW logo style lettering to cash in on the popularity of the SW franchise, isn't important. But any pre production piece for a knock off SW item is pure gold to me. Today I went to a toy show about an hour drive from my house, not expecting to buy much. As I walked thru the isles I saw someone walking thru the show, carrying what I thought was just a box flat (still desirable) for the Colorforms Space Warrior puzzle sets. It turns out that this guy had, years ago, bought out the entire Colorforms art archives, and had brought them for someone that was supposed to look at them, but this person backed out of the deal. He had 3 different "proof cards" for the puzzle boxes, as well as uncut proof sheets with 2 puzzle boxes on each, as well as sets of color separation sheets attached to them. I was floored that these essentially fell into my lap, as if I was meant to have them. After the crappy year I've had as a collector, these end my collecting year on an amazing high note.  I'm posting these here as opposed to in the Outer Realms section of TIG, as I feel any pre production item has a bit of appeal, even to non bootleg collectors.... Enjoy

For those not familiar with the Colorforms sets, the figures shown on them are from their "Outer Space Men" line. The logos are (to me) the important part. To start things off,here are production boxes with the logos on the sides of the boxes shown:

Spacewarrior puzzles fronts by jty1138, on Flickr

Spacewarrior puzzle side 2 by jty1138, on Flickr

Spacewarrior puzzle side 1 by jty1138, on Flickr

Now that you've seen the production pieces, that were released in 1977 with SW  knock off logos.
Here are the proofs and color separations that I bought today.

Puzzle proof 1 by jty1138, on Flickr

Puzzle proof 1 black seperation1 by jty1138, on Flickr

Puzzle proof 1 blue seperation2 by jty1138, on Flickr

Puzzle proof 1 yellow seperation3 by jty1138, on Flickr

Puzzle proof 1 pink seperation4 by jty1138, on Flickr

Proof sheet and separation sets  2:

Puzzle proof 2 by jty1138, on Flickr

Puzzle proof 2 blue full color version by jty1138, on Flickr

Puzzle proof 2 black seperation1 by jty1138, on Flickr

Puzzle proof 2 blue seperation2 by jty1138, on Flickr

Puzzle proof 2 pink seperation3 by jty1138, on Flickr

Puzzle proof 2 yellow seperation4 by jty1138, on Flickr

Puzzle proof 2 red and yellow seperation5 by jty1138, on Flickr

And last but certainly not least, are the 3 proof cards that had I not looked down at just the right time as the owner walked by, I never would have gotten any of this.

Production proof 1 by jty1138, on Flickr

Production proof 2 by jty1138, on Flickr

Production proof 3 by jty1138, on Flickr

Pure stupid luck or karma giving me a push back on track after probably the shittiest year that I've had in the hobby..... Either way finding these made my day and year. IF anyone else on here collects Colorforms Outer Space Men items, he had some other proofs from the line that didn't have the logo on them, so they weren't of interest to me, but I'd be glad to hook any of you up with the owner if they're of interest.

Cheers
Joe

Great score.  
I love this line. I actually just bought some of the reissues the other week
I'm interested in the proofs. Can you get some pics of what is available?

Joe, those are fantastic pieces of bootleg goodness. 

Josh wrote:

Great score.  
I love this line. I actually just bought some of the reissues the other week
I'm interested in the proofs. :)Can you get some pics of what is available?

Thanks Josh, I was absolutely floored, just ask Chris (Beanie) he was there and also couldn't believe his eyes.
I'll just send you the guys information via private message, he is in the RI/MA area if you need or would rather have me  broker any of the deal tho(or if he's not comfortable shipping them to Aus, I certainly will be more than happy to help).

Cheers
Joe

I would just love one full colour piece with any of the aliens on it. Would love to have it framed on the wall. It's such a funky line.
Might be worth getting in touch with Ron.S too. I think he has a friend who is very into this line.

Honestly if I'd had enough $$ on me I would have bought the rest, as I'm sure I could have flipped them and recouped some of my expenses for the ones I kept. As it was I haggled my way into the ones I cared about, and if friends get the others now, I'll gladly middle man anything that I can if needed, but certainly care more about them going to good collections than, brokering them for any financial gain. You asked first, so you get his info first. Once you've told me that you and he have worked something out, or that you couldn't come to an agreement, then anyone else that asks can get the info. I feel thats the only way to be fair about it.

Cheers
J

Very cool artwork Joe  

VERY cool Joe! I really think it's awesome that you have the CMYK separation Dyluxes too! Sweet pre-production proofs! Would look awesome framed on the wall.
Thanks for showing!
Steve

Joe, good things come to those who wait. congrats    

Those are just so cool. I never knew that toy line. Lovely designs. Congrats!

On a side note, I worked in the sheet fed printing industry for 16 years as a Graphic Designer. It awesome and rare to not only get the color proof (epsons, or whatever proofing device created them), but also the separated CMYK Dyluxes. Most of those separations just get thrown in a waste bin by the pre-press department. MAJOR score for you! Congrats : )
Steve

not familiar with these...but they look very cool. congrats on purhcasing something you DONT have- which is rare as you have averything :-) best, Mike

very cool proofs and colour separations, fantastic artwork on these "Space Warriors" sets. Congratulations Joe on a great score      

Great additions, and an awesome score.
Real nice artwork on the boxs.

Once again guys, thanks for checking these out, it was a complete shock to see them, as I didn't even know that any of the proofing material from Colorforms had survived. I guess the bootleg tractor beam isn't broken....lol

Steve (the dark artist) Thanks for letting me know the correct technical/industry terms for the color sheets, When I do the write up on them for www.theouterrealmsw.com , I'll definitely give you a thanks for technical information at the end of the article.

Cheers
Joe

Hi Joe. No problem buddy. When we did paper proofs, they were called Dyluxes. Some printing company's may call them something different, but I believe that is the industry standard. I guess it all depends on the Printer. I worked for 2 of the biggest, Quad Graphics and Perry Printing (prints Play Boy, SI, People ect....). When I moved to a smaller sheet fed printer, the device we used was a paper proofer, called dyluxes and Epsons for the final color proofing (that came on thicker paper stock). It is sweet you have both! Actually surprised when I saw the color separated Dyluxes. Nice job!
Steve

Now that I think about this a little more. The separation proofs could have been created by using the original film, that was created from a processor. It all depends on when these were created. I would say from 1995 and below the transparencies (film) was used to create proofs, Color and separations. Anything after that, higher technology proofers were created and were film less. Either ways. I believe if the separations are on regular, thinner paper (compared to the final color proof, then they are called Dyluxes : )
Sorry for the book... Steve

These were made in 1977. As for anything else, other than "common" style proofs and cromalins, the only other color seperations I've ever owned were the Glasslite card proof seperations, and those were done on a film like plastic.

J

I believe they must have been created with CMYK film separations then. Film separations were sent to an imagesetter, 4 film separations (also known as transparencies) came out CMY&K (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black). Imposed by hand and then proofs (Dylux on thin paper, and color final on thicker press style paper/color proof paper) made from those films. The films were most likely negatives.
Pretty cool!
The only thing you could have gotten besides that color proof and the separation dyluxes are the negative films. That would be almost impossible, because after pre-press has the proofs ok'd, those films get recycled or tossed out. After proofs are ok'd, before the negative films are thrown out, the films get burnt onto a plate and put on press for final color ok and final printing. Now if this was 1995 and forward, all the steps would be film less and all would be done digitally. Right from the computer to the proofers (Epson and Dylux), and after proofs are ok's, right from the computer to press. Hope that makes sense and I didn't confuse anyone....
I have seen a negative transparency film on Evil Bay (under Star Wars prototype) recently that shows the process, it also has the proof created from it. This was a warehouse find. I think it's cool because it demonstrates exactly what the print/proof process was back then, before digital printing! It was mostly all done by hand and was VERY labor intensive...
Mods can delete if they'd like but I'm using this link as an educational purpose : )
http://www.ebay.com/itm/STAR-WARS-RON-COBB-1968-PRINTERS-NEGATIVE-TRANSPARENCY-STORMTROOPER-PROTOTYPE-/370961003457?pt=US_Comic_Books&hash=item565effb3c1
Again, cool stuff Joe!
Steve

Awesome find Joe, congrats, really charming artwork, some of those would look sweet framed, really great find.