Palitoy Series 3 Differences/ Variations...

[Dave Tree]

With Series 1 & 2 having quite a few variations with logos, paint jobs and limbs, I was wondering if anyone had spotted any Series 3 differences or variations that were specific to Palitoy releases ... and not Joe.

I think I may have spotted something, well at least noticed it for the first time on certain characters, but will need to double check in a bit.

I'm just curious as to if anyone had ever noticed anything else?

Dave.

[The Baron]

Yes I spotted it too, but like you thought it would be more fun to allude to it without actually telling anybody what the hell I was talking about.

[Dave Tree]

oh good, that's the matter settled then

[Dave Tree]

nope, scratch the idea, it was a nice thought but after checking some figures here, it appears the theory doesn't work.

I was going through my spares in the shop yesterday and had two Destro's to choose from. One was my childhood, whilst checking I noticed my childhood had no date stamp. COO (Country Of Origin) was there, but not the date. This led me to think that when they were manufactured Series 2 Joe figures for the line, they removed the date stamp for Palitoy issue figures. This was common place with a lot of European produced Star Wars figures, either having no COO, or a scratch mark that was made to to steel tool, and was molded into the figure.

For one exciting moment, I thought there was a way to tell true Palitoy manufactured Series 3 figures (well at least Cobra Commander, Stalker, Gung-Ho, Snake-Eyes, Scarlett, Tripwire and Cobra Officer as they re-used the tools for Red Laser, Gaucho, Jammer, Qaurrel, Blades and Hunter) from regular Joe issue characters by seeing if the date stamp was present on those characters or not. However now home, looking at Red Jackel, Red Laser and Quarrel, they all have date stamps, so that predates and debunks the theory - doh.

Nice thought though.

Although that still does not expalin my childhood Destro

[The Baron]

It could be connected to something I've been wondering... are there any differences between the Palitoy range 3 releases and their Hasbro UK range 1 equivalents?

The following figures were released twice in the UK:


http://www.bloodforthebaron.com/toys/00 ... index.html
http://www.bloodforthebaron.com/toys/00 ... index.html


http://www.bloodforthebaron.com/toys/00 ... index.html
http://www.bloodforthebaron.com/toys/00 ... index.html


http://www.bloodforthebaron.com/toys/00 ... index.html
http://www.bloodforthebaron.com/toys/00 ... index.html


http://www.bloodforthebaron.com/toys/00 ... index.html
http://www.bloodforthebaron.com/toys/00 ... index.html


http://www.bloodforthebaron.com/toys/00 ... index.html
http://www.bloodforthebaron.com/toys/00 ... index.html


http://www.bloodforthebaron.com/toys/00 ... index.html
http://www.bloodforthebaron.com/toys/00 ... index.html


http://www.bloodforthebaron.com/toys/00 ... index.html
http://www.bloodforthebaron.com/toys/00 ... index.html


http://www.bloodforthebaron.com/toys/00 ... index.html
http://www.bloodforthebaron.com/toys/00 ... index.html

I've used the photos twice in each case, but for all I know there may be variations.

[Dave Tree]

I couldn't answer that, as never repeated any when I started to buy Hasbro as a kid, but to add further confusion, I have two different stamp marks on Hunter's butt, one labelled with same info on Cobra Officer:

C 82-83 Hasbro
Made In Hong Kong

and on the other:

Made in China
H-1

don't like where this is headed, I'll be checking all the figures at this rate

[The Baron]

I'll throw another curveball at you. My thinking regarding the 'dufus' Shads and their bendier accessories was that were the wave 2.2 editions. However the other day I spotted I have a similar variance among my Red Wolf figures. As he was strictly a wave 2.2 release this knackers my old theory.

I don't have a camera to hand, but just as with the dufus Shads the red is slightly pinker, his limbs are a bit more rubbery and the paint job looks crisper.

Could it be there were two (or more) Palitoy production plants?

[Dave Tree]

oh yes definatley, most plastic work was handled through their Singapore department, which would contact out the molding to factories, so differences would occur in plastic grades, paint ops and sometimes colour too, but COO stamps would remain the same.

However this is concerning actual changes or modifications to the steel tool. More than one tool would exist if the product was intended for mass release or future use, but at this point Hunter was the only use of that crotch? Palitoy 'borrowed' tools to save the cost of actually paying and making their own, they did this a lot with Kenner, they may have done the same with Hasbro, but I would have thought only one was needed to fulfill a smaller market like UK/ Europe?

[SteveD]

Ooo - interesting! I was looking at my space force army the other day and my with the yellow painted pockets on the sleeves and morries dancer tassles is way harder plastic than any of my others - be they regular, painted morris dancer tassles, or German WATT guys, leading me to think he was produced somewhere different or at the very end of the run when the plastics were moving towards series 3 'hard plastic but jointed'. A different production plant is another option.

(que Jaye logging in and saying "or it was just a f*ck up"? )

[Sundance]

Destro lacking a date-stamp is something that happened with the US figures IIRC...

There is a variation in the date stamp on Destro. Some versions of Destro have the date stamp "Hasbro 1983" on the inside of his leg, while some versions have no date stamp at all. The Destro missing the date stamp seem to be slightly harder to find than the date-stamped Destros

from Yo Joe!