Imperial Blaster Colour Question

Snaketibe

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As we know, the vintage Imperial blaster came in a range of darker shades, ranging from very dark blue, through very dark green to true black. They all appear very dark, indeed often black, unless held up to the light. However as we also know, this blaster came in a much lighter shade of blue as well, which cannot be confused with any of the darker shades:

Dark Green.jpg

Light Blue.jpg

The lighter blue Imperial blaster came with IG-88 and also the Imperial Commander figures, and according to The Imperial Gunnery, those are the only two figures that it did come with (http://www.imperialgunnery.com/imperialblasters.htm). Furthermore, TIG also states that the darker Imperial blasters only came with the Stormtrooper, Boba Fett, Death Squad Commander (aka Star Destroyer Commander), Hammerhead and Walrusman, with Luke in Stormtrooper Disguise coming with the true black blaster.

I have enormous respect for The Imperial Gunnery. It is an invaluable educational tool and resource for vintage collectors, and a beacon of light in the fight against repro shite. A huge amount of hard work and talent has gone into making and maintaining it. However, with a subject as large as vintage Star Wars, it's unsurprising that new weapon and accessory variants are still being verified and added to the site to this day. For that reason, whilst obviously superb and vast in scope, it is not completely exhaustive.

My question is simply this; TIG may be absolutely spot on with regards to the above blaster colours only coming with those specific figures, however does anyone know if there are any exceptions? For example, did Boba Fett or the Stormtrooper ever come with a light blue blaster? Did the imperial Commander ever come with a darker blaster?

I ask because I like to display my loose figures with their correct weapons and accessories wherever possible, and being rather creaking and ancient in years myself, I owned the vintage figures when they first came out, and I thought my own Boba Fett came with a light blue blaster. My memory is usually pretty good, but not perfect, so I may simply be mistaken about that, but I'd love to know the actual answer.

Can anyone help? :)
 

aussiejames

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There are always exceptions to the 'rules'
16114510.jpg

There are 32 rebel blasters listed here http://forum.rebelscum.com/showthread.php?t=1002553 ( 4 main groups? TIG lists 5 ( & a half) I split them into 7 groups!!) TIG mentions colour to character but no mention of weapon mould to figure mould family/factory it is just a 'rough guide' it's main aim has always been documentation of known originals ( & attempting to document all reproductions ) trust me NOBODY can categorically say this particular coloured weapon of mould Vxx belongs to character X from factory blah blah produced from 31a to 48D. Just doing that for a ROTJ character ie. Chief Chirpa :wink: is a mission. For a weapon that spans the entire production run for 7+ figures is just not possible/plausible without many exceptions.
Who should these blasters go to??? I don't even know what colour to call them.
12512610.jpg

26553210.jpg

So to answer your simple question(s): Yes, probably yes, probably yes
 

poncho

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im no purist a imperial blaster is a imperial blaster to me and as long as its original im not bothered of the colour thats with my loose run
 

subzero

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A lot of people believe a dark blue Imp blaster came with trilogo Luke Stormtroopers as an official weapon, there are apparently a LOT of them that have been confirmed sealed on cards but TIG still passes it off as 'an anomaly', just a mistake, and not packed intentionally by Palitoy.

But who actually knows that for a fact though??, to me if there are many dozens out there still sealed with dark blue blasters then there were most likely many thousands more that were opened. It's possible the workers at the Palitoy factory ran out of solid black blasters one day and intentionally grabbed some dark blue ones to pack them for several hours or a couple of days, even that would be intentional so in my mind that's what officially came with that figure for a short while. If there was like 5 or less examples of dark blue blasters in bubbles then maybe that could be passed off as an anomaly.

And the fact that nearly all of these loose figures I see on ebay that people have had for many years or from their childhoods still with a dark blue blaster tells me there was a huge run of these.

This is the reason why I don't chase after a solid black blaster for my Luke, I do believe TIG can be wrong about certain things.
 

Snaketibe

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Thanks for the replies so far.

I would like to make it clear that I am well aware of there being a whole spectrum of shades available within each main 'colour', doubtless largely due to the inconsistent amount of dye that made it into the final plastic (hence aussiejames' spectacular pale marbled blue blasters! :)).

However, I am not talking about subtle colour shade differences, or blaster moulds, or mould families. Some people will care about those, and that's cool, but respectfully I do not. What I am talking about is the obviously blue Imperial blaster (regardless of which subtle shade of blue it might be; if it's obviously blue, that's the one I'm talking about here), compared to those Imperial blasters which are obviously NOT blue, and are in fact much darker (again, regardless of exact colour shade).

My question basically boils down to, does anyone own / has anyone seen the obviously blue Imperial blaster on a MOC that WASN'T an IG-88 or Imperial Commander? And has anyone seen one of the obviously much darker Imperial blasters on an IG-88 or Imperial Commander MOC?

My personal guess is that examples of most of the above will probably exist, but can anyone verify any of them?

Thanks :)
 

Snaketibe

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Survival kit Chris said:
My childhood boba fett came with a light blue blaster
Sorry, your reply 'crossed' with mine, as I took ages to compose it :lol:

Thanks for that, that's one! Anyone else? :)
 

jayums

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A couple of years ago I really wanted a solid black blaster for my Luke stormie.

I paid 80 quid for it. :shock:

It arrived. I noted that it was solid black. Unlike the one I had for him already, which also looked black most of the time, albeit a bit more blue under light.

It was an underwhelming purchase :lol: Should have spent the 80 quid on something I'd get more pleasure from collecting wise (almost anything else!!)

Let's face it - They would have used any old imperial blaster they had at hand into the blisters - black or blue - without a second thought... Don't imagine they thought people would be discussing it 30 years later :lol: just out of interest, has anybody ever interviewed a worker on the production line (I'm assuming yes), and if so, do you have links?! Many thanks if so.
 

Snaketibe

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jayums said:
A couple of years ago I really wanted a solid black blaster for my Luke stormie.

I paid 80 quid for it. :shock:

It arrived. I noted that it was solid black. Unlike the one I had for him already, which also looked black most of the time, albeit a bit more blue under light.

It was an underwhelming purchase :lol: Should have spent the 80 quid on something I'd get more pleasure from collecting wise (almost anything else!!)

Let's face it - They would have used any old imperial blaster they had at hand into the blisters - black or blue - without a second thought... Don't imagine they thought people would be discussing it 30 years later :lol: just out of interest, has anybody ever interviewed a worker on the production line (I'm assuming yes), and if so, do you have links?! Many thanks if so.
Sorry to hear about your black blaster experience! Yes, the black one really isn't all that different from the dark blue/black one, is it? :lol:

However, whatever floats your boat in this hobby, I say. Some people are desperate for a black blaster to give to their Luke Stormies, and that's absolutely fine. Some people don't mind which colour blaster they use with a figure, as long as it's the right type of blaster. Some people care about every available figure COO, whilst others couldn't care less. All those viewpoints are valid, and I won't criticize anyone for leaning one way or the other.

As stated, personally I'm in the camp that prefers to use the 'correct' blaster wherever possible, so if a figure came with either the blue or non-blue version of the Imperial blaster, then I can happily put either with that figure. If however for example, the Imperial Commander only ever came with a blue blaster, then I'd like to put a blue one in his hand, even if that means buying another one to do it.

With respect, saying 'any old imperial blaster they had to hand' would have been put in the blister - black or blue - simply doesn't seem to be true for at least the vast majority of IG-88 and Imperial Commander MOCs, for example, hence me asking the question. Both of those figures certainly came with blue blasters, but I've yet to see a MOC of either which has a non-blue one. I'm guessing non-blue versions do exist, but I'd like to see the proof :)
 

Robstyley

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I don't recall ever seeing any of the Imperial blaster figures packaged with the wrong coloured Imperial blaster and I was there in the 80's and have been collecting for a long while. Mispackaged weapons are fairly common and I think that's what we're talking about here, not anything intentional. Unless as Subzero states it was a short run or batch that were wrong because the correct colour were unavailable or someone made a mistake. Most of mine have the "correct" weapon but my A-Wing Pilot has a blue Endor gun, and I don't give a monkeys!
 

theforceuk

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My Luke Stormtrooper blaster is pretty black, not sure if it's the right one, it's the right shape and origional. My thoughts haven't really change since I was 6, as long as it's the right weapon then it's a match.

I think it's great that collectors want to have the exact correct weapon to each figure, can imagine it's a lot of fun collecting variants like this.
 

gammoguard

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Really do need to get 'my originals' out and check them over. As a kid I managed to collect all of the original (not last 17) figures and even better I managed to keep them together with their weapons (looking back I think that's where my first OCD started :lol: ) so it would be a case of playing 'match me to my weapon'
 

aussiejames

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subzero said:
A lot of people believe a dark blue Imp blaster came with trilogo Luke Stormtroopers as an official weapon, there are apparently a LOT of them that have been confirmed sealed on cards but TIG still passes it off as 'an anomaly', just a mistake, and not packed intentionally by Palitoy.

But who actually knows that for a fact though??, to me if there are many dozens out there still sealed with dark blue blasters then there were most likely many thousands more that were opened. It's possible the workers at the Palitoy factory ran out of solid black blasters one day and intentionally grabbed some dark blue ones to pack them for several hours or a couple of days, even that would be intentional so in my mind that's what officially came with that figure for a short while. If there was like 5 or less examples of dark blue blasters in bubbles then maybe that could be passed off as an anomaly.

And the fact that nearly all of these loose figures I see on ebay that people have had for many years or from their childhoods still with a dark blue blaster tells me there was a huge run of these.

This is the reason why I don't chase after a solid black blaster for my Luke, I do believe TIG can be wrong about certain things.

If your Yakface has no staff, Luke Stormie may have a dark blue/black blaster. Lucasfilm provided colour charts ( Pantone thingys for everything) if a factory ignored these 'all' the time- it still does not make it correct. Nearly all trilogo Biker Scouts and ATST drivers are Taiwan yet the cards are Hong Kong so once loose is a Taiwan ATST driver really a trilogo Hong Kong figure :lol: Made in Spain Cantina Aliens are often paired with the 'wrong' weapon do we consider this the correct wepaon? Do we accept a light grey blaster with a Ledy Scout as it was more often than not found with one on a MIM card? Have you seen the number of Luke Stormtroopers from childhood collections with the 'wrong' mould blaster?? To date NONE have been found sealed with anything other than a V1. I know across a number of facebook groups photographic evidence of non black blasters in tri Luke stormies is being collated- is a 'LOT' more than 10 yet? ( I do believe TIG should change the wording to read black blaster unless your Yak has no staff )
 

subzero

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aussiejames said:
subzero said:
A lot of people believe a dark blue Imp blaster came with trilogo Luke Stormtroopers as an official weapon, there are apparently a LOT of them that have been confirmed sealed on cards but TIG still passes it off as 'an anomaly', just a mistake, and not packed intentionally by Palitoy.

But who actually knows that for a fact though??, to me if there are many dozens out there still sealed with dark blue blasters then there were most likely many thousands more that were opened. It's possible the workers at the Palitoy factory ran out of solid black blasters one day and intentionally grabbed some dark blue ones to pack them for several hours or a couple of days, even that would be intentional so in my mind that's what officially came with that figure for a short while. If there was like 5 or less examples of dark blue blasters in bubbles then maybe that could be passed off as an anomaly.

And the fact that nearly all of these loose figures I see on ebay that people have had for many years or from their childhoods still with a dark blue blaster tells me there was a huge run of these.

This is the reason why I don't chase after a solid black blaster for my Luke, I do believe TIG can be wrong about certain things.

If your Yakface has no staff, Luke Stormie may have a dark blue/black blaster. Lucasfilm provided colour charts ( Pantone thingys for everything) if a factory ignored these 'all' the time- it still does not make it correct. Nearly all trilogo Biker Scouts and ATST drivers are Taiwan yet the cards are Hong Kong so once loose is a Taiwan ATST driver really a trilogo Hong Kong figure :lol: Made in Spain Cantina Aliens are often paired with the 'wrong' weapon do we consider this the correct wepaon? Do we accept a light grey blaster with a Ledy Scout as it was more often than not found with one on a MIM card? Have you seen the number of Luke Stormtroopers from childhood collections with the 'wrong' mould blaster?? To date NONE have been found sealed with anything other than a V1. I know across a number of facebook groups photographic evidence of non black blasters in tri Luke stormies is being collated- is a 'LOT' more than 10 yet? ( I do believe TIG should change the wording to read black blaster unless your Yak has no staff )

Hmm, this conspiracy goes deeper and more complex than I thought :lol: .. not saying though that the dark blue with Luke should def be considered an official version, but I think the case is strong for the possibility and shouldn't be completely dismissed.
 

theforceuk

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My childhood Yak came without a staff but I brought one for him about 10 years ago because I wanted him to be complete. He 8 need to get one without a weapon now. :lol:
 

Dannywhiteley

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subzero said:
A lot of people believe a dark blue Imp blaster came with trilogo Luke Stormtroopers as an official weapon, there are apparently a LOT of them that have been confirmed sealed on cards but TIG still passes it off as 'an anomaly', just a mistake, and not packed intentionally by Palitoy.

But who actually knows that for a fact though??, to me if there are many dozens out there still sealed with dark blue blasters then there were most likely many thousands more that were opened. It's possible the workers at the Palitoy factory ran out of solid black blasters one day and intentionally grabbed some dark blue ones to pack them for several hours or a couple of days, even that would be intentional so in my mind that's what officially came with that figure for a short while. If there was like 5 or less examples of dark blue blasters in bubbles then maybe that could be passed off as an anomaly.

And the fact that nearly all of these loose figures I see on ebay that people have had for many years or from their childhoods still with a dark blue blaster tells me there was a huge run of these.

This is the reason why I don't chase after a solid black blaster for my Luke, I do believe TIG can be wrong about certain things.

I completely agree with this. My Trilogo Luke stormtrooper has a dark blue blaster as have many others I have seen over the years (many more than black on trilogo in fact).
 

TrooperWill

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i started collecting a few years ago, when i found my sadly no longer with us dads childhood figures. he only had 16 figures but kept all the original weapons in a tin (very ocd of an 8 year old) one of which was an ig88 and several others who had imperial blasters, including DSC and stormtrooper. all three imperial blasters are the same pale blue.

as these are all genuine,no repro, from a small childhood collection im pretty confident saying they are the blasters they originally came with. unlike most figures off eBay etc. that could have changed hands 30+ times since they were made, making the chances that the blasters they now hold being he ones they were in bubbles with highly unlikely.
 

Snaketibe

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TrooperWill said:
i started collecting a few years ago, when i found my sadly no longer with us dads childhood figures. he only had 16 figures but kept all the original weapons in a tin (very ocd of an 8 year old) one of which was an ig88 and several others who had imperial blasters, including DSC and stormtrooper. all three imperial blasters are the same pale blue.

as these are all genuine,no repro, from a small childhood collection im pretty confident saying they are the blasters they originally came with. unlike most figures off eBay etc. that could have changed hands 30+ times since they were made, making the chances that the blasters they now hold being he ones they were in bubbles with highly unlikely.
That's very interesting, and helpful too. Thanks :)

Do you remember whether the 16 figures also included an Imperial Commander please? And to be bulletproof, I should also ask whether there was only one Imperial Commander and only one IG-88? Because if so, as you say, with 3 pale blue blasters, at least one of them would have to have come with another figure.
 

TrooperWill

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TrooperWill wrote:
i started collecting a few years ago, when i found my sadly no longer with us dads childhood figures. he only had 16 figures but kept all the original weapons in a tin (very ocd of an 8 year old) one of which was an ig88 and several others who had imperial blasters, including DSC and stormtrooper. all three imperial blasters are the same pale blue.

as these are all genuine,no repro, from a small childhood collection im pretty confident saying they are the blasters they originally came with. unlike most figures off eBay etc. that could have changed hands 30+ times since they were made, making the chances that the blasters they now hold being he ones they were in bubbles with highly unlikely.

That's very interesting, and helpful too. Thanks :)

Do you remember whether the 16 figures also included an Imperial Commander please? And to be bulletproof, I should also ask whether there was only one Imperial Commander and only one IG-88? Because if so, as you say, with 3 pale blue blasters, at least one of them would have to have come with another figure.

i can completely confirm that there was not an imperial commander as i only picked him up recently, and one IG88. its also worth mentioning that the sixteen figures perfectly matched the 17 weapons (greedy IG88 has two remember) that were present and as it was found in my grandmothers house when she died buried under a bed i can confidently say that no-one had played with them since my dad.
 

chipsteak

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I've always thought there's a relative abundance of light blue Imperial Blasters out there considering it only officially appeared with two figures and the Survival Kit. This has made me wonder if it did regularly appear where it shouldn't. However, I've also thought that their abundance in the market, compared to the darker ones, is because lots of collectors want multiples of the dark ones for their army of Stormtroopers.
 
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