Finally these came in after a bit of time waiting for them.

First up is the Topps Burger King Stormtrooper card with the blue and red seperation printing proofs. These came from the Topps Vault sale from a few years back.



Now onto something a little more action figure related,

Empire Strikes Back 45 Printer's Proofs. One sided and essentially printed on cardboard. The first is a two color proof of yellow and blue.



The next is the two color proof of Red and Blue



Then we finally have the 3 colors printed togethe for a proof of Yellow, Red, and Blue.



Don
who's almost tapped out for pre-production/prototype items

Just thought to share a prototype that I have in my collection. Those who are fans of 12 inchers might like this ... sorry, I didn't convert this over to the metric system.


Boba Fett 12-inch First Shot:















Here the are pics on the reverse side that has no COO or any marks on Bobba Fett's back or the reverse side of the jet back:










This First Shot Fett is sure a fun piece to own. I never thought I would land such an item when I first started collecting back in 96.

Well, I hoped you enjoyed the show and I'll see what else I can dig up to share.

Don - those Stormie printing & colour proofs are good-looking! Thanks for adding

Paul - thanks for sharing your cool Fett 12" FS! I'll add all these to the 1st page later

WOW don those printers proofs are Beautiful. Great find.

bump up for this killer thread!

(Engineering Pilot) Luke with E.P. saber


This figure has 16 written on the bottom of his foot and was used as a pre-production test run piece. Like my EP Leia, he was most likely used to test color, mold and sonic welding. He came from a Kenner source with COA from Tom Derby. What makes this figure really different is his EP saber. It has a lot of flashing and has a different plastic and mold near the end of the saber. The hilt has an "A" on it. Possibly this was a mold test that was transitioning from the DT saber to the standard saber... Thanks Bill McBride for your opinion on this : )
Thanks for looking : )









First Shot Hammerhead:
I have been waiting and hoping and wishing I'd have a chance to acquire this figure... Thank you!
You will notice the blue plastic used on the torso of the FS is a more aqua blue in color and is drastically different from the production version which I have pictured together. You will also notice the brown plastic used for the limbs and head is a little darker, almost umber. It also lacks any copyright information and the eyes are hand painted. It seems this figure may have been used in a stress test, with broken toe resulting from this. This figure has solid provenance, coming originally from Bill Wills.
Thanks for looking, Steve







First shot on the left and production Hammerhead on the right

Steve,

Congrats on landing the first shot Hammerhead and EP Luke. I see a huge difference between the two Hammerhead's. To bad the foot is a little crushed, but it adds a level of coolness to it.. Again, congrats my friend.

Thanks Jason. Yeah, the foot is a mystery to me. I am not quite sure if it was caused by a stress test? It came originally from Bill Wills with rock solid provenance. I just love the color difference! I've seen a couple first shot Hammerheads but this one's color in the limbs and torso are quite different from a production version. Pretty cool : )

My newest additions to my prototype collection are Lando Calrissian First Shot and Lando Calrissian Wax Sculpt. It was an absolute gift to purchase these together (thank you M).
The Lando First Shot lacks any COO on the back of his legs and has a "2" written on his back. He comes originally from a long time Lando Skiff prototype collector on SWCA that purchased him from a Kenner source.
The Lando Wax Sculpt has amazing detail... As said on the COA by Tom Derby, this head sculpt shows evidence of being painted to mock-up the appearance of the final product. It has been speculated that this was done because this was the first African American character in the line. This example has also been traced back to a well respected toy and comic dealer in the Cincinnati, OH area, Geoff Hoffman. Geoff is owner of Queen City Comic and Card Company. COA provided by Geoff below. Geoff was also featured on the first episode of The Toy Hunter.
Thanks for looking : )
-Steve

Hi Guys, here are a couple of QC Samples from my collection. I know that QC samples are not necessarily considered to be preproduction but I noticed a few QC examples on the first page and thought I would share these.

Boba Fett 41 back Survival Offer MOC QC Sample


41 Back Survival Offer Fett QC Sample by Caswell2009, on Flickr

ESB Second Series Bespin Set 3 Pack QC Sample


IMAG1855 by Caswell2009, on Flickr

All the best, Chris.

Great QC additions, Chris. Added them to page 1, thanks for sharing

My newest addition to my prototype collection: First Shot Tusken Raider
Thank you so much Don H.!!!!! This figure and his provenance means a great deal to me.









This is a First Shot from an ex-Kenner employee (Tom Troy). He is hand painted, glued together rather then sonic welded, with thinner horns on his head compared to a production figure. He also has no coo or dates, and has face protrusions that exhibit a slight indentation at the tips, with shaved feet on the bottom. I just love this piece and feel very fortunate to have acquired him.
I did some research on him, and learned he was originally found by Jordan Hembrough (Hollywood Heroes/Toy Hunter), from an incredible find of First Shot figures and bought from an ex-Kenner employee, Tom Troy (in the years 2000/2001). This find may have included First Shots of all the first 12. Here is a picture of some of the First Shots from that find (including my Tusken Raider, thanks Tracey H. for the photo).



Jordan sold this Tusken Raider to Tracey H. originally and then sold to Don H. Thank you to Tracey, Don and Chris for helping me with the history and provenance of this piece. I enjoy documenting the history, so your help is very appreciated! : )
All my best, -Steve

My newest addition to my prototype collection: Protomold Power Droid
This was originally purchased from Bill Wills who had purchased it directly from Jeff Rice, an ex-LPK employee who worked on all of the vintage Kenner Star Wars packaging. It was produced in-house at Kenner via a lower yield mold in non-production colors. Its' details are rougher, has hand painted legs with different heels compared to a production piece, no coo and the stickers are hand cut prototypes. Lastly, the interior clicker area is very different and rough compared to the production piece.
Production piece is on the left and the Protomold is on the right. Thanks for looking : )

My newest addition to my prototype collection: Engineering Pilot R2D2
Super excited to own this piece (thanks Broc). This EP was originally bought from a former Kenner Employee, and sold by the Earth to Tracey Hamilton (thanks Broc for this provenance). This figure has the number 24 written on the bottom of his foot and was used as a pre-production test run piece. He was most likely used in the final stages to test the mold, color/paint and sticker application. Thank you for looking : )
-Steve

1st page updated. Congrats on all the latest proto pieces, Steve

My newest addition to my prototype collection: Unpainted First Shot Luke XWP Head (thank you Mattias)
This First Shot head was acquired directly from a former Kenner sculptor about 4 years ago, along with a few other first shot parts for various characters, and includes some previous owners such as Mattias and Broc (thanks Mattias and Broc for this provenance). I really appreciate having this piece in my collection.
By doing some research, I have only heard of one complete Luke XWP First Shot, so I feel very fortunate to have this piece in my collection. The First Shot head is in a production body for display.
Thank you for looking : )
-Steve

Congratulations obtaining this First Shot head. What a grail piece!


Is this the other First Shot Luke XWP you heard about? (from Guz Lopez collection)


Source: http://theswca.com/gusandpam/protoroom1.html

Thank you Marco. No, that piece is not complete. I heard/read/was told Tom Derby recently (last Spring/Summer) sold a complete first shot Luke XWP. It is the only one known complete. It sold around the same time I acquired my complete DSD first shot...

great addition steve
i never thought that mattias would sell that piece,but you maybe "got him an offer he couldnt refuse"

Great LXWP addition, Steve
Not much LXWP stuff out there as has been said,
this pic is from Marc Carraway's (the Guilty One) collection: Kenner head pull safety test piece and 1st shot leg.


Image: Marc Caraway

Is this one the same? from womprat's collection.

Nope, that is another one... This is what I know by doing a little research. I talked to Chris G. regarding the piece you provided and the one from Gus's collection. Chris G. mentioned a find from the same Kenner sculptor many years back that included various parts. Some of the heads came from him including the one you are asking about. 4 or 5 years ago the same Kenner sculptor found a few more pieces including my first shot head Luke XWP. So, as far as numbers, I'm not sure how many heads are floating around. I think I have seen 5 or so, and then there is one complete Luke XWP first shot.... and that leg part also....
Hope that helps : )
Again, I'm not completely sure on the numbers, but that is based on pics I've seen and searched for online...
-Steve

Does anyone know how you can tell for sure if a piece is a engineering pilot piece or not? I got following items within the an living estate sale lot : First shot ISP6, First Shot Leia Blaster, two engineering pilot early bird stands, a Double Telescoping Luke and a Red Cape Bib Fortuna. I have the name of the former Kenner Employee that items came from. When I got the DT Luke graded and authenticated by CIB, it came back as a standard DT Luke. It does have the number 12 on the bottom of his foot. On the hilt it looks like a G, but could be a C or D (too small for my eyes to see even with a magnifying glass). I do not have another Jabba to compare to, but I thought the piece that held his arm together was a different color or something looks different. The last one is the R2D2 (Taiwan, Left) has the #8 on his foot and more like a glassy feeling sticker. So any help on either three would be helpful.

Provenance is 100% necessary to prove it is a Engineering Pilot. You have to have proof that it came from a former Kenner employee, with names and dates. Otherwise it will be looked at as any other production figure. Numbers and letters on the bottom of the figure's feet were commonly done by kids or Mom's of the kids so they knew what figure were theirs'... BUT if you have actual proof, that this came from a former Kenner employee, I would resubmit the DT Luke to CIB or write Tom Derby directly with this information, so the figure can be labeled accordingly....
Some things you may see besides hand written numbers under the feet of EP's can also be access flashing of plastic. You can take a look at my limelight and in my Leia picture I show this pretty well...
Again, provenance is everything though.
Hope that helps, -Steve

The_Dark_Artist wrote:

Provenance is 100% necessary to prove it is a Engineering Pilot. You have to have proof that it came from a former Kenner employee, with names and dates.

I do have an email with the lady's name, however she is now deceased. The lady that I got them from said that the former kenner employee was an old college roommate and that she would send items to her son and that is how she got them.

The_Dark_Artist wrote:

I would resubmit the DT Luke to CIB or write Tom Derby directly with this information, so the figure can be labeled accordingly....

I had many conversations with Tom Derby in the past month or so and I did send him the email with all the information but it was still not enough in his opinion to label it as such. He said that if I ever did sell them to mention all that I knew about them and also state that the items that came with them were items like the first shot, EP and Red Bib.