darkSpyro

Pictures or links

Quote: Matteomax

There are actual (?) Prototypes on eBay! Of Gill Runt, Trigger Snappy, and Slam Bam! As well as a prototype CLEAR Stump Smash!

I wish the guy would get back to me already so I can buy some.

Quote: Matteomax

There are actual (?) Prototypes on eBay! Of Gill Runt, Trigger Snappy, and Slam Bam! As well as a prototype CLEAR Stump Smash!

Those 'actual prototypes' of the Sidekicks and Slam Bam looked more like custom colored.

Yeah, the Stump Smash looks real, though.

I was looking pretty close at them the slambams arms seem like white plastic. I dont think that theyre painted. and the sidekicks, if they were custom, the paint on them would be considered removed. but they do look like plastic and not paint.

http://www.ebay.com/sch/glumby...=p2047675.l2562


There..

I'm getting Stump Smash..

OK, I'll be honest... I more than winced when I saw that the seller posted his prototypes on this forum! I already was aware of it last night, and selfishly was hoping that it wouldn't draw too much attention. I contacted the seller this morning about these and this was his response:

Quote:

These are not customs, I did not make them. I collect GI JOE prototypes (check my auctions I won, its full of prototypes) and one of my sellers in China had a small lot of these for sale that I bought. They did not come with chips in the bottom and Slam Bam is missing the bottom piece of plastic. Let me know if you have any more questions or wanted to see more pics. Some of the Skylander prototypes have numbers written in marker on the bottom

I already tried to buy them, so he isn't accepting any buy it now offers, that I know of at least!?

I have NEVER used this phrase before, BUT now I feel it is appropriate:

Shuttup and take ALL of my money!!!

Time to see who has THE biggest bank account!!!

Already a bid on Stump Smash..

Quote: lucidity0001

I was looking pretty close at them the slambams arms seem like white plastic. I dont think that theyre painted. and the sidekicks, if they were custom, the paint on them would be considered removed. but they do look like plastic and not paint.

Totally agree with you! These are definitely real... just wish I had more info from the original seller.

Yeah I know theres like no info except that theres no chip. Id feel a little more confident on bidding if there was more info.

And to quote The Ninth Gate: Forging is expensive, time consuming, and requires great deal of skill

If those figures were fake theyre the best fakes ive ever seen

I'll honestly be surprised if we don't have more of the deeper pocketed collectors weighing in on this one.

Holy %&#^! Clear Stumpy's at $101!!!

Has anyone had a close look at those figures he's auctioning? There appears to be the remnants of paint on them and Slam Bam has had a green base removed from him, some of the green plastic has been left behind.

My theory is that he has opened up the bases, removed the RFID chip from them (and in the process broken Slam Bams base to the point where it couldn't be put back on), then dunked the figure part in paint thinner and let the paint flake off to reveal the original plastic.

Quote: Alliana

Has anyone had a close look at those figures he's auctioning? There appears to be the remnants of paint on them and Slam Bam has had a green base removed from him, some of the green plastic has been left behind.

My theory is that he has opened up the bases, removed the RFID chip from them (and in the process broken Slam Bams base to the point where it couldn't be put back on), then dunked the figure part in paint thinner and let the paint flake off to reveal the original plastic.

First off, I think it's good to question the authenticity of these, because if we don't, others out there will try and create fakes in the future... especially if these go for big money.

My personal opinion is that the Clear SS is NOT a fake. If it was that easy to create a clear mold not just for the figure, but the base as well, then it would have been seen on eBay long before this.

The Slam Bam is open to debate. What Alliana suggests is remnants of paint, I believe is particulation that most likely came from whatever the figure was wrapped in coming from China. The figures right arm has the majority of the "particulation" which makes most sense to me if the figure was wrapped.. it's appendages would most likely adhere better than it's torso.

As far as th RFID chips are concerned? These are being advertised as prototypes. A prototype would not have a RFID chip in the first place. It was never meant to be released for retail. If you look at the balance of pics in this thread, many do not have RFID's either. In fact, I feel more confident they are real because there are no RFID's in place.

The seller has stated that these came from China, where Activision produces their figures. I have emailed him for more details and pics about these. Perhaps we'll get some more info to help authenticate these???

Hello all, they are my auctions and I wanted to clarify a few things. I have been getting a ton of messages through ebay so its easier for me to post here.

I am a GI JOE prototype collector and have been collecting protos for close to 8 years. I have figures that have been paint stripped, I have bootlegs, I have customs, I have mockups, etc. Here are 19 pages of prototypes I have been collecting over the years and that is about half my collection - (http://www.joedeclassified.com....php?f=19&t=478). Based on my experience with prototypes and oversea sellers I felt comfortable calling these prototypes so thats what I listed them as.

I did not strip these, repaint them or modify them in any way. If you want additional photos or have any questions send me your email through ebay and I will send you all the photos you want. I wish I could give you more information about the background of these but I dont have any information.

These do not have any chips in them and the Slam Bam is missing the bottom plastic piece because that is how he arrived. Some have marker numbers on the bottom of them also.

You can see two black specs on the back of SS and alot under the arm of Slam Bam. They arrived a little dirty and I brushed some of the dirt off but didnt bother really cleaning them. I will always be available to discuss prototypes in general, my auctions, or Skylanders if needed.

Thanks,
Chris

^ Thank you for putting them on eBay. It means a lot to this fanbase..

Unfortunately I'm still not convinced. SS appears to have a bit of the retail paint stuck in a the deeper crack on his right arm, and the fact that SB's base appears to have broken off, not just being missing rings alarm bells for me. The RFID chips are rather easily removed and have in some cases come out by accident when a figure has been knocked and hit the floor a certain way, making the green base pop off.

Not saying the person selling them on ebay currently is trying to misrepresent, rather that the original seller he purchased from may have lied to him.

If they are genuine im sure these have been heavily used by activison. Wave 1 even the first editions arnt painted over except for the details. A regular stump smash is cast in that "woodland brown" plastic not clear i believe. The same goes for slam bam. that entire cast is transparent blue with white painted over the fur. this "prototype" has arms cast in white plastic instead of blue. Im not saying these are 100% but honestly it would be an awful lot to make a forgery of these characters for what a couple hundred dollars? If they even got that? If they were massed produced then id be worried. but I cant find any even remotely similar except for "prototype" versions. Mostly on this thread now

I personally think it would be great if they were genuine and added to this thread

Got here late, glad I found out! :u

I was waiting to see who the other buyer was! I just knew they'd put it up on ebay, glad the description is nice and honest :3
I ordered one too, either shortly before or after they did. There are at least three of those Stump Smashes around, the seller had that third one for the longest time but it's gone now.

But I didn't post about it first, because:
A. I don't want to be responsible for people snapping them all up and resell for greed and/or mislead people
B. I don't want to possibly promote the purchase of bootlegs
C. Ordering from Taobao can be confusing

This one is mine :3 I gave him the affectionate nickname of Crystalbark.

I'm gonna copypaste my little review, someone will find it familiar :3 This is comparing his clearness/plastic to the ice Cynder variant:
-He has a slight yellow tint, where Cynder's is slightly blueish (I actually never realized that before), like http://i1271.photobucket.com/a...rprototypes.jpg You can see the hue difference on Cynder/Stealth Elf/Wham-Shell vs Eruptor/Dino-Rang/Boomer
-Exact same detail as my legit toys. No warping, "cheap" plastic, size change, or noxious fumes that bootlegs can have, slightly weaker smell than Cynder (more time to air out/never confined in packaging). A couple black specks on it that washed off easily, some more black around the sprues inside the base (too dark to be thicker plastic).
-No RFID chip (will not work in the game) or black printed code on the bottom, everything else is assembled/glued properly
I do believe it's a prototype, at the very least, made with the same equipment as the real toys.

Stumpy and the other ebay prototypes came from Taobao, China's most popular online marketplace. It is a home to many things - bootlegs, legit items, quality rejects, prototypes, etc! Not everything there is shady, but not everything there is perfect either.


I shouldn't have to point this out, but please do not bug me asking to buy my Stumpy, he is not for sale and I wuv him.

So there are more of them huh?

As soon as China got mentioned I hit up Taobao myself and managed to snag the last one, was waiting to see how it turned out before posting anything since my package is still in transit. I'm the fellow that picked up the third Stump Smash, as well as an unpainted Gill Runt and Trigger Snappy. I'd be more inclined to say these are factory paint samples or at least ones quickly put together. Save for the sidekicks though, only one or two of were listed at all, while the sidekicks were usually 5 or so. The following others were up but were quickly bought out before I could get any:
*Clear/unpainted Prism Break
*Unpainted S2 Terrafin, Zook
*Unpainted S1 Wrecking Ball, Whirlwind
*Unpainted sidekicks Terra Bite, Whisper Elf

Stumpy and Slam Bam are thes odd ones though: while the others at least keep to an expected color palette, there's little reason for Stumpy to be clear (unless the flocked one is clear under the flocking?) or Slam Bam to have white arms. If any of these are real prototypes, those are probably them.

Given the source and the fact that multiples exist, I personally now doubt their authenticity. I was tempted to bid on them but think I will give it a miss, now.

I wonder if taoboa will see more on batches with each batch getting more populous as time goes on?

For the record, if anyone finds the S:SA bootlegs someone discovered many moons ago, then I would get them as they were obviously fake and cool in my eyes.

Ice Stump could have easily been just an idea for a possible variant. I believe that a while ago there were some other Ice characters that were never released.

Does anybody have a link to the search on the site?

And keep in mind that Stump Smash WAS a part of the shipment including the other crystals. They eventually went with Stealth Elf, Cynder and Wham-Shell, but could just as easily have picked Stumpy. Apparently they even tried to, because there is literally no way these aren't legit, and deniers are just being arbitrary skeptics. Common online, but come on, people. Just because you don't want them to be real doesn't mean you have a case. Even a doubter has to admit that's strangely specific for someone who could just as easily have printed a crystal Spyro and made twice the killing on eBay.

- Slam Bam is indeed white plastic, for one. Remember that the intentions for this character were not always that he be translucent blue. Packaging from the original Skylanders clearly shows a painted figure for Slam Bam, which would explain the white plastic. Maybe it just didn't look as good in production as it did in the mock-up, but apparently they did try to produce the blue-painted Slam Bams before deciding not to.

- No Skylanders figures are clear underneath their plastic. I say plastic because Stump Smash is colored plastic, and not a fully painted figure. Speculation that this is retail paint is unfounded simply because the figure isn't painted.

I'm sure I could pick apart anyone else's reason for why these aren't legit, but can we please just accept their authenticity and move on with our lives? The idea that anyone is molding accurate, fake bootlegs at home is lampshaded by the fact that these are the first we've seen. EVER. In a very wide world where more than just one guy would have access to the equipment necessary to do this. Figures like these wouldn't just be seen, they'd be commonplace, if anyone at all were printing accurate fake Skylanders at home.

EDIT: Also, listen to the review of the other guy who has one in-hand already. Seriously, believing that this is an elaborate forgery is WAY more preposterous than accepting that some prototypes ended up in the hands of a foreign seller in the exact same country Skylanders are manufactured. The latter is a very small stretch of the imagination, while the former is a conspiracy theory.

Quote: Tashiji

And keep in mind that Stump Smash WAS a part of the shipment including the other crystals. They eventually went with Stealth Elf, Cynder and Wham-Shell, but could just as easily have picked Stumpy. Apparently they even tried to, because there is literally no way these aren't legit, and deniers are just being arbitrary skeptics. Common online, but come on, people. Just because you don't want them to be real doesn't mean you have a case. Even a doubter has to admit that's strangely specific for someone who could just as easily have printed a crystal Spyro and made twice the killing on eBay.

- Slam Bam is indeed white plastic, for one. Remember that the intentions for this character were not always that he be translucent blue. Packaging from the original Skylanders clearly shows a painted figure for Slam Bam, which would explain the white plastic. Maybe it just didn't look as good in production as it did in the mock-up, but apparently they did try to produce the blue-painted Slam Bams before deciding not to.

- No Skylanders figures are clear underneath their plastic. I say plastic because Stump Smash is colored plastic, and not a fully painted figure. Speculation that this is retail paint is unfounded simply because the figure isn't painted.

I'm sure I could pick apart anyone else's reason for why these aren't legit, but can we please just accept their authenticity and move on with our lives? The idea that anyone is molding accurate, fake bootlegs at home is lampshaded by the fact that these are the first we've seen. EVER. In a very wide world where more than just one guy would have access to the equipment necessary to do this. Figures like these wouldn't just be seen, they'd be commonplace, if anyone at all were printing accurate fake Skylanders at home.

EDIT: Also, listen to the review of the other guy who has one in-hand already. Seriously, believing that this is an elaborate forgery is WAY more preposterous than accepting that some prototypes ended up in the hands of a foreign seller in the exact same country Skylanders are manufactured. The latter is a very small stretch of the imagination, while the former is a conspiracy theory.

I second this to the max!

Yeah these by and far do not appear to be KO's. If anything they're more likely stuff the factory threw out, which would explain the 'warped' Skylanders she has in her auction listing. Here's a link to their store:
http://shop70893625.taobao.com...price1=&price2=

I would imagine there was actually limited production of crystal Stumpies before the decision not to print more. Wouldn't surprise me at all to see one that did have a chip turn up. Skylanders production is a bigger and more secretive world than just what we've seen in the carefully-arranged TFB shots of production figures and variants. Keep in mind that the ones in those pictures are just the ones that made it far enough in production to reach the country, and the best of them at that.

Well, I kinda got hosed it seems: a picture of Stump Smash and my others was sent to me and yeah, they broke the green base off. Kinda miffed over that one, doubt it can be repaired at all.

Quote: Kung Fu Man

Well, I kinda got hosed it seems: a picture of Stump Smash and my others was sent to me and yeah, they broke the green base off. Kinda miffed over that one, doubt it can be repaired at all.

post a photo and depending on the damage i may be able to offer some suggestions

The Gill Runts and Trigger Snappy seem intact at least.

So no RFID Chip for either one?

These are still in China at the moment arriving by air mail, so probably not in the sidekicks. Definitely not in this Stumpy. o.O'

I want the slam bam

Quote: Kung Fu Man

The Gill Runts and Trigger Snappy seem intact at least.

Looking at the Clear Stumpy in the bag next to the sidekick in the bag, makes me wonder if Activision ever considered releasing Clear Stumpy as the initial Frito Lay Promotion?? My guess is, if yes, then Flocked Stumpy became the far more economical solution for a promotion. It would also be the most logical reason in my mind why at least 3 of these are out there. I wouldn't necessarily expect to see 3 proposed Clear Stumpy variants, but I would of a proposed promotional figure...

Well, the auctions have ended and, um...hoping someone has really deep pockets? Guess it's a good thing I didn't say how much I paid for these on taobao...

Quote: Kung Fu Man

Well, the auctions have ended and, um...hoping someone has really deep pockets? Guess it's a good thing I didn't say how much I paid for these on taobao...

I wouldn't feel that bad about it. Price fluctuations like that aren't unheard of, like royal blue Peanut beanie baby was only $5 in stores but it was worth $5000 at one point.
Actually I feel worse for the Chinese seller, they could have doubled or tripled the price and would have had guaranteed buyers.
Taobao's kinda weird for that, but I guess that's good in a way.

Your Stumpy's green bottom does look broken, but he'll still be a great collection piece!
Another part of my taobao order was a green-bottom-less Sunburn from another seller (to articulate). I wasn't expecting there to be any evidence of the bottom attached but there was some broken green plastic glued inside those three spots as well and it looked the same.

Are there any other prototypes on Taobao?

Sorry Matteo, from the looks of it they were all bought up by the eBay fellow. He did mention having more and listing them, however I'm pretty sure there won't be any more Stump Smashes (ebay guy had one, I have one, and the fellow above us has one; the seller had three).

Well... I had this gargantuan write up about the authenticity of these protos... and well... frozen screen. LAME!!! I'm not going to rewrite my article again, so to summarize:

I believe these protos are authentic for similar reasons to those mentioned above, in addition;

- I had a lengthy discussion with Glumby01 (auction seller) who also has a very good reputation as a GI Joe prototype collector, buyer, and seller.
- Received additional photos comparing factory figures to these prototypes
- Performed an experiment on a spare broken Camo figure to see if it's paint would strip off after being soaked with paint thinner for 30 min. It did not. Nothing changed, in fact, leading me to believe that the factory figures basic starting point is colored plastic and not clear translucent plastic as seen of Clear Stumpy.
- The selling price of some of these auctions. Ovbiously more than just a few people perceived these to be real (I do understand, however, that eBay auctions aren't the authority when it comes to the market). Clear Stumpy= $412. Slam Bam= $142. Sidekicks went for under $100 each...
- I have more reasons, but I'm trying not to type another novel.

Will this be the last we see of these protos for some time? Or is this just the beginning of protos showing up on taobao and ebay? Looking forward to what comes next...

Enjoy the pics. These came from Glumby01 for comparison:

Something that just came to mind: what's the model number on the bottom of that Stump Smash? I'm particularly curious if it's the same as Flocked stumpy or not.

Quote: Kung Fu Man

Something that just came to mind: what's the model number on the bottom of that Stump Smash? I'm particularly curious if it's the same as Flocked stumpy or not.

The clear Stumpy? There was no model #, according to Glumby01 and as seen in the below photo. In comparison, the other two letter/number designation is the same as the factory stamps on the back of the Skylander packagings.

No there's a model number there, it's not the black in but in the embossed area where it says "Made in China". That's the number Activision uses when you have to go through their warranty so it should be unique. Middle line, but can't make it out at that resolution.

Ok, gotcha. No, I tried looking at the original image sent to me and I can't make it out either. May need to solicit help from Okaps on this, as I believe Glumby01 is set to ship out the other Clear SS.

Quote: Kung Fu Man

No there's a model number there, it's not the black in but in the embossed area where it says "Made in China". That's the number Activision uses when you have to go through their warranty so it should be unique. Middle line, but can't make it out at that resolution.

The embossed number is 83987888.
My FSS is sealed and I don't have normal Stumpy so I can't compare them.
My "same character different toy" variants like normal/ice Cynder and normal/blue Bash have the same numbers but normal/legendaries are different, so the number might just correspond with the ingame character?

I know Prism Break's base S1 figure is clear. If you chip off paint, it's the crystal color all around.

It matches regular Stumpy so at least we know that for certain now, though if FSS uses the same number that does little good.

Though it does make fixing mine up right a little smoother too. Thanks for looking Okaps.

[quote=Okaps
Another part of my taobao order was a green-bottom-less Sunburn from another seller (to articulate). I wasn't expecting there to be any evidence of the bottom attached but there was some broken green plastic glued inside those three spots as well and it looked the same.[/quote]


@Okaps: Could you post a pic or two of your green-bottom-less Sunburn?

@Dlua-Yes Im totally stoked you posted the prototypes from ebay!

Quote: lucidity0001

@Dlua-Yes Im totally stoked you posted the prototypes from ebay!

I'm glad that you like the pics. It really is interesting to see the figures in their development stage.

I should be posting more pics relatively soon. Let's just say there are more protos out there...