Variant Collecting & Discussion Thread

Introduction

Many collectors are happy to build a complete loose collection of the 105 characters & creatures released during the original toy production run from 1978 through to 1985. However, once the collecting bug has set in and a basic set has been built, some collectors maintain their interest by seeking out different versions / variants of each character.

So what is variant collecting?

In broad terms it can be divided into:

'Major' variants -  involving significant changes in sculpt, materials used & paint application.

Well known examples include:

Han Solo (small & large head)





Jawa (vinyl or cloth cape)





Luke Jedi (head moulded in flesh colour plastic with painted hair or head moulded in hair colour plastic with painted face)







'Minor' variants -  e.g. small mould differences, differences in paint application and or colour used. It should be noted that figures produced by a single factory may have minor batch to batch variations in paint colour.

In recent years a lot of collectors have also been collecting COO (country of origin) stamp variants e.g. Hong Kong, Made In Hong Kong, China, Macau, Taiwan, Made In Taiwan, Japan, blank raised bar, no COO and COO scar.

For more information on COOs please follow this link to Tantive XI's guide:

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Any help filling in gaps would be appreciated!

When did variant collecting take off?

Personally, like many collectors I started looking for 'major' variants such as Obi-Wan with white and grey hair in the early 90s when I got back into collecting while completing my childhood collection. I am under the impression that serious loose variant collecting has increasingly grown over the last 10 years due to international collectors sharing knowledge and trading via the internet.

How has variant research benefited the vintage Star Wars community?

The research that has gone into variant collecting has helped confirm what factories produced the figures (in part or full), what cardbacks they appeared on & in which countries they were available. e.g. the infamous burgundy coat Bib Fortuna is exclusive to the former Lili Ledy factory in Mexico and was only available at retail in Mexico. The research that has been conducted & published by notable collectors on forums, Facebook & their own websites has been hugely valuable to the collecting community & has driven the current interest in variant collecting. However there are still gaps in our knowledge.

What are some of the rarest variants?

Some of the rarest & most desirable production variants include:

Kenner (US) Luke, Vader & Ben figures with double telescoping (DT) lightsabers;




Meccano  (France) Boba Fett, Luke Farmboy & Death Star Droid;





Lili Ledy (Mexico), Burgundy coat Bib Fortuna, removable rocket Boba Fett & Jawa removable hood;





Poch/PBP (Spain) Jawa, 'toxic' green limbed Bossk and 4-LOM;





Toltoys (Australia) unique Vinyl caped Jawa.

Figures produced by Top Toys (Argentina) and Glasslite (Brazil) are also highly desirable to many collectors.

Great care should be taken when purchasing high end variants as there are many fakes on the market, some are obvious but others can only be spotted by the trained eye. It is strongly recommended to do your research, ask questions, request detailed photos and to buy from reputable sources.

Why are some variants overrated?

Some of the most desirable and expensive variants aren't actually that rare, but due to their desirability they command a premium on the secondary market. Prime examples include: the vinyl caped Jawa, blue Snaggletooth & Yak Face.

The blue Snaggletooth is particularly desired by European collectors as it was a US exclusive through the Sears Cantina Adventure set. Conversely Yak Face was relatively abundant in Europe, but not released in the US, so US collectors regard this figure in the same way that European collectors regard blue Snaggletooth.


Prior to the rise of eBay, forums and Facebook, these figures were considered rare outside of their country of origin. Today these three figures can be found available for sale online virtually any day of the week, whereas other variants such as some of the confirmed early Poch/PBP (still being researched) and Meccano figures may only be seen very occasionally.

Who are the most well-known variant collectors?

Some of the notable variant collectors who are well known and respected authorities in the collecting community include:

Wolff (Aslan Adam on Facebook);
Kenneth (Kenneth_B on the forums);
Marco (Dr Dengar on the forums)
Sergio (slolance4ever on the forums); and
Henrik (HWR on the forums).

These are just a few of the most well-known, there are many more.

As you can see from the above list,  a lot of  notable variant collectors are based in Europe. One explanation for this may be due to the fact that more variants were available here at retail. For example, in the UK we had figures packaged on Palitoy cards, US Kenner cards and Trilogo cards. The figures packaged on these cards were manufactured in the various Asian factories as well as Spain during the latter period of production.

Factory Errors and Discolouration

Factory errors and discoloured figures are often incorrectly identified as a variant, especially by individuals who are new to the hobby, or don't take the time to do their research. A true variant is a figure whose appearance is that intended by the manufacturer. Therefore there are numerous confirmed examples for the same character, including MOC.

Factory errors come in many forms. Although they should not have made it through quality control they are pretty abundant. Common examples include:

Short shots / pours where the copyright info may appear to be very faint or completely absent. These can be mistaken for, or passed off by unscrupulous dealers, as pre-production items. The affected leg will usually have less definition of the other details and be shorter :



Odd limbs e.g. two right arms or two left legs :






Paint errors e.g. missing paint application, or overspray. As the figures are painted before assembly, missing paint usually only includes one colour and affects one part of the body :






Non sonic welded figures. Occasionally figures can be found that are non sonic welded (the process used to 'glue' the body together and hold the limbs in place). These figures have a torso which can be pulled apart allowing the component parts to be separated;






Please note that genuine non sonic welded figures have no signs of melting / damage to the internal seams or the pin and receiving hole of the torso. Unfortunately, some people try to pass off seperated, poorly sonic welded figures as un sonic welded, so again care needs to be taken when purchasing these factory errors.

Example of a 'forced apart' sonic welded figure. Note the damage described above.




More detailed info can be read here:

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Discolouration / degradation is the result of chemical changes in the plastic or paint e.g. the breakdown of pigments. Discolouration / degradation is most frequently caused by environmental factors such as ultraviolet light, humidity, gases & temperature. Many people mistakingly identify discoloured / degraded figures as a variant & can take some convincing of the truth. A classic example of this is the 'green' limbed Chewbacca. While the discolouration can look very uniform there are enough documented examples which are in the process of changing to demonstrate that they are not true variants, as seen here.



White plastics can turn pale yellow through to orange / brown. There is a growing trend among some collectors & dealers to chemically bleach these figures in order to increase their aesthetic appeal / value. However, it is not known what harmful long term effects this practice will have on the stability of the plastics. It has also been documented that this treatment only provides a 'short term' fix as some of the bleached figures have started to turn yellow again.

Paints can also degrade e.g. Pink can fade to cream or white due to the break down of the red pigments.





More information on discolouration / degradation can be found here: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Unfortunately there appears to be a divide between MOC collectors & loose variant collectors. If we can actively encourage more MOC collectors to identify what mould families their figures belong to & confirm the cardback & factory code (where applicable), it will be possible to establish with even more clarity when each variant was produced, its distribution and even where it was manufactured.

Collecting variants can be both fun & frustrating, but the basic full collection of 105 loose figures can be increased to several hundred. Let the chase begin!

Photo Credits: The Tantive XI team & Matthieu Barthelemy

ANNEX: Best internet resources

Here are some links to some of the best internet sources for researching variants:

Tantive XI: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
Rebel Scum: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
The Imperial Gunnery Forum: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
Star Wars Forum UK: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

There is also a lot of great information on the Facebook groups, but specific discussions can be hard to find. Forums are much easier to search.

Great article Steve. Hopefully this will be a benefit to the new collectors.

amazing read Steve , I agree with Clint it will help out new collectors 100% ,

great write up :-)

A great write up Steve Top work mate

Thanks guys, and a big shout out goes to Christian for conceiving the idea and everyone who helped to supply pictures.

Great article Steve, was so stoked to be able to pick your big variant loving brain. The final product looks fantastic and the photos are superb. I'm sure a lot of collectors will benefit from it. I learnt a lot myself!!!!

Nice article Steve!! thanks for write this! very informative for new loose collectors!
COngrats

This is a fantastic article. Excellent work Steve!

Ian

Thank you very much Javi & Ian I'm really pleased that you like it.

Great article Steve, another useful tool for especially new variant collectors.

Thank you Kenneth, that's the intension. You're one of the most highly respected variant experts in our hobby and I really appreciate your positive feedback.

Thanks Steve, You're one of the most modest guys, that I have met within the hobby, all though you have both great (variant) knowledge and experience. The article must have been very time consuming to write, all the respect for your work as well as for you as a person.

You're very kind Kenneth!

Hello, my name is Jonathan T, and I confess; I'm a variant collector. A lowdown hoarder keeping the children of the world from getting their paws on the 4 Luke Bespins I own.

I'm still new to the hobby, and I'm puzzled by some of the negativity I see surrounding variants, arguments about what qualifies, and why anyone would care to own more than one figure. But I can't understand how anyone doesn't care about at least major mold variants. How do you choose between Hans?

Do any variant collectors here find any difficulties dealing with other non-variant collectors?

Btw, my MITW Vader is definitely dark gray rather than solid black. Is it a legit variant or just degradation?

on board Jonathan.
When it comes to variants, to each his own. Everyone is going to collect differently, and that's just fine. They just have to learn to discuss in a civilized manner.

Not sure about your MITW Vader question. Hopefully some of the Vader collectors can help you out.

Thanks!

I can say for sure my wife doesn't get it...

"Don't you have a Luke?"
"Yes, but not like this one."
"But it's still Luke?"
"Yeah..."
"Hmm... How many do you need?"
*crickets*
(softly) "All of them."

Sent from Topic'it App

to TXI Jonathan, it's always good to see new variant collectors come on board. Feel free to discuss the subject here as all questions / comments will be answered with respect (We don't do drama here!)

With regards to your Vader, although it can be difficult to capture, a comparison pic with a 'normally' coloured Vader would help. Personally I suspect the dark grey colouration will be down to the batch of plastic used (possibly not enough pigment was added or the ratio of pigments used was not correct) as I have an example that is not as black as my others and the excess flashing looks grey when held to the light. Also, I don't recall seeing discolouration in figures cast in black plastic. Hopefully others will chime in with their thoughts.

Thank you much.

Here are some pics, and I think that I have answered my own question. It appears that the torsos are the same color, so with only the limbs as different, I would believe that to be a discoloration/aging issue.  I'm also wondering if there are any loose Princess Leia Organa collectors out there that I can compare some notes with. I've noticed some significant mold differences that I'm trying to pin down. They could be just unintentional production variants, but I've never noticed anything similar on any other figures, so maybe not common, and I'm wondering if they are COO specific.

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You've captured the colour difference really well Jonathan and he's got the correct MITW accessories.
I'll dig my Vaders out, but I suspect it may have left the factory that way. I'd love to hear other opinions though.

Think so? Be nice to verify

This lovely arrived yesterday. No COO Leia. And I was surprised to discover a fourth cape variation. That is cross-hatch pattern inside (zips), smooth texture/feel outside with vertical line pattern

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I'll need to double check (most of my figures are in storage), but I believe I have an original no coo Leia with a cape with what looks like faint irregular virticle lines on one side & the cross hatch 'zippy' texture on the other. Are your vertical lines irregular / wavey?

Yes, its actually similar to/same as my HK Vader cape, except white.

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Beautiful Leia Jonathan Welcome to Tantive mate

Nico wrote:Beautiful Leia Jonathan Welcome to Tantive mate

Thanks, Andy! Yeah, she turned up far better than her pics, and I'm super happy