Hey there-
So I've come across few figures in my collecting life that have little lines/cracks in their heads. I see it mostly in black figures like Vader and the Imperial Gunner, but I've also seen it in a lot of other figures. On some the Lukes I've seen this on, the cracks are under the paint in his hair, so it looks like something that happens during manufacturing. Does anybody know what this is called or how it happens? Is it a defect or a characteristic. I tried finding some threads about it, but haven't had any luck. Thanks in advance!

Pictures would help so we would know what your talking about. I think your referring to the lines that sometimes formed in the plastic. I know I have seen some on an IG88 head one time and on a snaggletooth and that sounds like what your talking about. These would be considered defects. Most likely formed due to some plastic being cooler than the rest or something like that so when it was poured in the mold to form it looks as though it has created layers. They usually aren't that bad as far as being very deep or cracking though so maybe we aren't talking about the same thing.

Here's some photos





I think we're talking about the same thing. I have seen these in one form or another on pretty much every Imperial Gunner I've come across. I know that they aren't on all of them, but it definitely doesn't seem rare either. I just looked at several on eBay, including an AFA graded 85 one that also have these lines.
The reason I bring it up is because I recently sold one on eBay, and the buyer just chewed me a new one because of the lines. They're there in the photos but I didn't verbally mention them because I assumed that it was just a characteristic of Gunners. Of course I offered to let him return it for full refund, so it's all worked out now. I just figured I'd do a little looking into it so I don't make a similar mistake in the future. Lesson learned.

You can find these defects on just about every figure out there and I think it has something to do with the way these figures where removed from the Mould and how the plastic was cooled, this is also the case with these Cross tusk Wallys

Read my mind Scott, first thing I thought of was old cross tusk Wally

snaggletooth wrote:

You can find these defects on just about every figure out there and I think it has something to do with the way these figures where removed from the Mould and how the plastic was cooled, this is also the case with these Cross tusk Wallys

Nice one, the uber rare "hot cross bun" wally variant LOL

Thanks fellers:) It's definitely something I've seen more than a few times, but apparently it was a new one for the guy who bought my gunner. When he wrote to tell me a bout it, he referred to it as being "shattered", which was a lot scarier. sounding than the actual issue.