Blood for the Baron!

paul wrote:-
We haven't 'done' the mail away Commander but there is a variant 'pilot' body of him.

I have no evidence, but I would guess at there 'possibly' being a black hands variant of the black frogman and maybe an alternate helmet version of the US Para, but I am jumping ahead a little here.....

I got him covered for the Mail away once we get to series 2 Paul - I think I've got three variants, but I will see when we get that far.

Black hands version of the black diver? I'm confused???? (and not for the first time today, I hasten to add!)

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Black hands version of the black diver? I'm confused???? (and not for the first time today, I hasten to add!)

The regular black frogman diver but without flesh coloured hands.

I've had a few. They may well be Series 2's where the SAS has rubbed off. [or not]

We'll have to see if a few materialise.

They could of course just be one-off paint errors where they forgot to paint the hands that particular morning.

Like I said, only a slight 'possible' variant... I guess we'll find out once people start looking.

All right!

Paul - no, not jumping ahead, jumping in just about right!
Excellent points. I have an all black release 1 sas diver with black hands, and it's different from the version pictured in the gallery here. So we have a variant

Interested in US para - i dont have him, so any info would be greatly appreciated - helmet variants get me all excited

Andy. Yup, different arms alright!
I think they are the same arms as the release 2 SAS pilot - correct me if i'm wrong (his left hand as a watch on it - very small and uncoloured, right arm slightly bent)

This is great stuff guys

Cheers.

Evening all

To continue down my long, tortuous, and somewhat complicated variant route, I have come up with the following:

A number of threads seem to point to two verisons of Release 2 being in existence, the first being the first set of figures, the second coming in the final days of Action Force, and perhaps making up Wave 2 of Release 2.

There is a lot of disparate knowledge, but dragging all the threads together and making comparisons, there seems to be noticable differences between the two. As a working hypothesis, then, the two versions may be defined using the following broad traits:

Type 1
Shiny softer plastic
Rounded hands
Thin soles
More fluffy features
Crappy paintjob

Type 2
Harder plastic
Thinner hands
Thicker soles
More sharply defined features (i.e better moulding)
Better paintwork with more attention to detail


The type of plastic, the thickness of soles, and hands seem tp be the better features, but any combination of them seems to work.

Doubtless there will be other differences between the figures, but I wanted to check with everyone to see if this is broadly true, and a workable method for deciding between the two.

Let me know if there is any major problems – a bendy red shadow with menacing eyes but with thick soles and round hands for example.

Let the checking commence.

BTW, anyone which came first? My suspicion is Type 2 (perhaps this should be changed to Type 1 then)

Type two were the later releases mate, so need to stay as Type 2. Dufus Shads according to Baron (lets not get him started!).
It hink your descriptiopn of them is a fair summation. I personally prefer the earlier "Type One" types of figures though. Type Two always seemed like bootlegs to me (they're not, I just think of them that way!)

Sorry no pics this week to dissect - been a bit of mad week.

Me too with the mad week (bottle of shiraz waiting for me this evening, ahhhh sweet liquor, eases the pain)

This post is my brain rebelling against the huge amount of work i have done this week, and making me play with my "little men" as my daughter calls them! One of the joys of working from home!

OK, so Type 2 really is Type 2! Excellent!
Any ideas of the rarity of each type?

I'm shooting myself in the foot doing this, i cant afford to buy all the original figures i want anyway, let alone the bloody variants! And all this is just going to increase competition on Ebay!

We need to start a variant exchange co-op (i've got two Type 1 Shads, swap ya for a... type of thing)

Hopper wrote: Any ideas of the rarity of each type?

I'd defintely say that there are less Type 2's around. I've got no evidence on that, just years of collecting seems to have suggested it to me.

Hopper wrote:We need to start a variant exchange co-op (i've got two Type 1 Shads, swap ya for a... type of thing)

We should call it "Baron's Multicoloured SwapShop"! I wonder if Noel Edmunds and Cheggers fancy reprising their roles? Hopefully Cheggers will keep his tackle in this time.

Fecking excellent idea!

Baron's Multicoloured Swapshop. Noel & cheggars would be well up for it!

Noel could even revive aspects of the houseparty, with the part of Mr Blobby played by - oh how we laughed when the muton tore off Alan Carr's head and flung it at the wall, see the embarrasment as far from being the childrens party that Kerry Katona thinks she is going to, its actually a muton filled cave, ho ho ho!

But you are right about cheggars' mimsy...that's a no no! Not even for a short booted variant of