Trilogo accessories; miscard or intentional?

Is your Trilogo Endor Han MOC packed with a blue/black or solid black blaster?

  • Solid Black

    Votes: 4 36.4%
  • Blue Black

    Votes: 7 63.6%

  • Total voters
    11

TK-7785

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UPDATE! Would those who have or believe they have a solid black blaster please post pictorial evidence. Thanks.

A recent thread elsewhere on the forum to do with trilogo Luke Stormtroopers and their packaging with blue/black blasters over solid black has got me thinking. I know this has been discussed before and others have attempted polls even to try and ascertain the ratio of Lukes with either or but it'd great to see the results from the polling of a greater selection of MOCs.

But the discussion on whether this was an intentional decision vs just chucking in whatever colour blaster was to hand is still open for debate. If indeed it was a case of laziness due to being the end of the line for Star Wars action figures I would expect to see a similarly common miss matched approach with other figures/accessories. For example, blue/grey Endor blasters with A-Wing pilots and Imperial Gunners.

It seems plausible that the last 17 would suffer this "miscard" accessory phenomena somewhat more exclusively given they were the end of the line in the dying days of the original vintage era. However, I have personally yet to come across a Trilogo Han Trenchcoat that wasn't packaged with a blue/black blaster, yet it is well established that the Kenner counterpart was the only figure intended to be packaged with a solid black smuggler blaster. Admittedly this is my own experience and too anecdotal to really inform one way or the other.

To my mind the fact that so many Palitoy trilogo Han Trenchcoats seem to have been packaged with blue/black blasters long before the line to was dying would lend credence to Palitoy intentionally packing blue/black blasters with certain figures. Or at the very least if blue/black blasters can be found with certain figures with a ratio somewhere even with their black counterpart it would seem plausible that this is actually a valid market variation between the US and Europe, rather than an error. Perhaps in an effort to use up existing stock.

To further support this theory, and again this is somewhat anecdotal based on my own buying and collecting experience over the years, if all Endor Hans that came from Palitoy only ever saw release on Trilogo cards and were packed with blue/black blasters and the only Han Endors that made it to retail in the UK with black blasters were Kenner overstock, this would explain why black smuggler blasters are so uncommon over here despite him being an extremely common figure. If this theory carries over to Luke Stormtroopers then again, it seems to point towards the fact that this was somewhat intentional on the part of Palitoy.

I've started a poll in this thread in the hopes that all you guys could check your trilogo Han Trenchcoats to see which blaster they're packed with; blue/black or solid black. I've attached photo reference to help.
DSCF1183.jpg

DSCF1185.jpg

DSCF1187.jpg


Depending on the findings it would be interesting to roll this out further to get a greater cross section.

If you aren't 100% positive of yours being a true V4 solid black, please post a photo for identification before voting. If you have a Trilogo Han Endor with a solid black blaster would you please post photos to this thread. A clear shot on the accessory and a shot of the figure and card as a whole. it would be great to see if there is any corresponding variations between those with and those without.


Thanks,
Chris
 

theforceuk

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I firmly believe that the colour of blaster did not matter one bit to the manufacturers throughout the vintage line. As long as the correct blaster was packaged with the correct figure. The different coulours that come with the same figures was just down to chance. Just my opinion and someone will correct me who new someone that worked for Kenner and says different. :lol:
 

TK-7785

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theforceuk said:
I firmly believe that the colour of blaster did not matter one bit to the manufacturers throughout the vintage line. As long as the correct blaster was packaged with the correct figure. The different coulours that come with the same figures was just down to chance. Just my opinion and someone will correct me who new someone that worked for Kenner and says different. :lol:

Whilst I think that's true to the extent that that would explain true packaging errors or miscards (Friday afternoon packaging jobs) both Kenner and Palitoy as manufacturers would have had some assemblance of product consistency. They were manufacturers of quality toys not market stall rubbish. As such a product would have been brought to market in the way it was designed and to certain standards. After all, why were all (excluding oddities) of Luke X-Wings packaged with blue/black blasters and Luke Bespins with blue blasters throughout the entire production run across multiple card backs over many years.

Just look at all the surviving MOCs in existence, I'd wager 99% of any given figure that could have a variation of Imperial, Smuggler or Endor Blaster show consistency. Where are all the Squid Heads with blue Bespin blasters and Lobots with grey? Where are all the Waroks with Lumat's bow and vice versa (again, rare occasional oddities aside)? The examples deviating from this are truly in the minority and as such can be put down to packaging error. With respect the evidence just doesn't show that to be true.
 

theforceuk

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I believe they had high standards and made sure they had the correct colour plastic for the correct figures most the time, but if they ran out they would make do to get the line finished and shipped out. I bet a lot of it came down to cost. Their is no doubt for the Trilogo line that they chucked anything in half the time. You have to keep in mind that their is only a fraction of MOC's left compared to what was origionally produced, but agree you have to go on what is left.

Take the Tie Fighter Pilot, he is even pictured on the back of cards with both black and grey blasters.

One thing's for sure, vintage collectors are more fussy than Kenner ever were. :lol:
 

Michael Sith

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theforceuk said:
I believe they had high standards and made sure they had the correct colour plastic for the correct figures most the time, but if they ran out they would make do to get the line finished and shipped out. I bet a lot of it came down to cost. Their is no doubt for the Trilogo line that they chucked anything in half the time. You have to keep in mind that their is only a fraction of MOC's left compared to what was origionally produced, but agree you have to go on what is left.

Take the Tie Fighter Pilot, he is even pictured on the back of cards with both black and grey blasters.

One thing's for sure, vintage collectors are more fussy than Kenner ever were. :lol:[/quot

Nail on the head there!

We are looking back at production runs, packaging plants, and vast numbers of Mocs, the collecting community are looking back in retrospect and applying parameters that simply wouldn't have been pertinent at the time of production. They didn't produce these items as collectables, they produced them as toys that would be played with. The vast majority of kids that ripped open a moc wouldn't be bothered. The anomalies would not have been noticed at the time, but are now because we as collectors are noticing these things. If there are these anomalies present now, with sealed Mocs that are still around and we drool over ( which represent a small fraction of the actual produced Mocs that in the main were ripped open) then these anomalies would have been much more apparent, it's just that we are gauging this against what's left in the world today.
 

Clarkspie&chips

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I have a tri Han trench, a wing pilot, gunner and Luke stormy so will be happy to help with this and other polls but unfortunately they're all in storage!
I know for a fact my luke has a blue black blaster and I have yet to see one with a solid black.

I do agree with your summary, aside from errors I believe the figures were intended to be packaged with a specific weapon. The issue is the trilogo line is so notorious for poor quality control it's a difficult topic to draw conclusions on.
 

TK-7785

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I agree, guys. It's not easy looking back and trying to figure out what was intended. We can only largely go off of circumstantial evidence. There will most likely be vital info that will never be uncovered. But my hopes here is to look at what evidence we can. Although the remaining MOCs are but a sample of what was manufactured we are lucky, in that unlike many toy lines, we do have a vast amount still knocking around which at least gives us an idea.

In this particular instance the evidence so far seems to point towards more than a random miscarding or a 50/50 pick whatever was in the pile. And although as with much of the Trilogo line there are plenty of miscard "errors" to be found I still believe as a rule of thumb there was an intended accessory for every given figure. The fact that so few loose solid black blasters are found in the wild considering how prolific a figure we are talking about seems a little odd to say the least.

Over the years I have found many more black palace blasters then black smuggler blasters in the UK, and that's a rare enough accessory in itself. Again all this is based on my own personal experience, I may well be wrong. But what I'd love to do is see if perhaps there was an intention for Palitoy packaged Hans to have the blue black. There have been many accepted ideas about the minutia of collecting that have been disproven or proven over the years by challenging the status quo.

I guess in the same sense that I think for grading companies to refuse to grade a Luke Stormtrooper unless he has a black blaster based on the notion that he was "supposed" to come with that variant, because all Kenner packaged figs came like that, it my well be the case that in the European market that was not the intention. Maybe the black blasters only became available very late in the Trilogo packaging runs. If that were the case it would seem close minded of them to state incorrect accessory if almost all of the European market was not supplied with that particular accessory. Was Yak Face "supposed" to come with the staff? Well that depends on weather you bought yours in Canada or Europe. :wink:
 

TK-7785

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Of the small cross section we have so far we have one Trilogo Han with a black smuggler blaster already. Would the owner, or future owners of further examples, be kind enough to post some photos?

Cheers
Chris
 

TK-7785

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welshwookie said:
My blaster is black

Thanks, Welshwookie. Thanks for posting, however that appears to be a V1 or V2 mould, probably dark grey. The true solid black was only in a V4 mould like in my photos. The V4 is a rougher and more chunky moulding. This might be trickier to gather accurate info on.

If you're not 100% positive please post a photo here for identification.
 

Markzane

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Tricky to get a good shot of this one as it's stuck to the trench coat. It looks black at first glance but I can see some extra blue plastic at the end of the barrels edge so I'll go with blue/black.

Mark
 

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edd_jedi

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You are right, there are many anomalies throughout the line beyond Luke Stormtrooper. Another one is Luke X-Wing which is often found with the lighter Han Hoth/Luke Bespin blaster on Kenner cards, so it's not just isolated to trilogo.
 

Pomse2001

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TK-7785 said:
A recent thread elsewhere on the forum to do with trilogo Luke Stormtroopers and their packaging with blue/black blasters over solid black has got me thinking. I know this has been discussed before and others have attempted polls even to try and ascertain the ratio of Lukes with either or but it'd great to see the results from the polling of a greater selection of MOCs.

But the discussion on whether this was an intentional decision vs just chucking in whatever colour blaster was to hand is still open for debate. If indeed it was a case of laziness due to being the end of the line for Star Wars action figures I would expect to see a similarly common miss matched approach with other figures/accessories. For example, blue/grey Endor blasters with A-Wing pilots and Imperial Gunners.

It seems plausible that the last 17 would suffer this "miscard" accessory phenomena somewhat more exclusively given they were the end of the line in the dying days of the original vintage era. However, I have personally yet to come across a Trilogo Han Trenchcoat that wasn't packaged with a blue/black blaster, yet it is well established that the Kenner counterpart was the only figure intended to be packaged with a solid black smuggler blaster. Admittedly this is my own experience and too anecdotal to really inform one way or the other.

To my mind the fact that so many Palitoy trilogo Han Trenchcoats seem to have been packaged with blue/black blasters long before the line to was dying would lend credence to Palitoy intentionally packing blue/black blasters with certain figures. Or at the very least if blue/black blasters can be found with certain figures with a ratio somewhere even with their black counterpart it would seem plausible that this is actually a valid market variation between the US and Europe, rather than an error. Perhaps in an effort to use up existing stock.

To further support this theory, and again this is somewhat anecdotal based on my own buying and collecting experience over the years, if all Endor Hans that came from Palitoy only ever saw release on Trilogo cards and were packed with blue/black blasters and the only Han Endors that made it to retail in the UK with black blasters were Kenner overstock, this would explain why black smuggler blasters are so uncommon over here despite him being an extremely common figure. If this theory carries over to Luke Stormtroopers then again, it seems to point towards the fact that this was somewhat intentional on the part of Palitoy.

I've started a poll in this thread in the hopes that all you guys could check your trilogo Han Trenchcoats to see which blaster they're packed with; blue/black or solid black. I've attached photo reference to help.
DSCF1183.jpg
DSCF1185.jpg
DSCF1187.jpg

Depending on the findings it would be interesting to roll this out further to get a greater cross section.

If you aren't 100% positive of yours being a true V4 solid black, please post a photo for identification before voting. If you have a Trilogo Han Endor with a solid black blaster would you please post photos to this thread. A clear shot on the accessory and a shot of the figure and card as a whole. it would be great to see if there is any corresponding variations between those with and those without.


Thanks,
Chris

Hi chris I think it is great that you are doing this, have thought about doing this with other moc ? :D
 

TK-7785

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Thanks, buddy. At the moment I'd just like to get a handle on this guy, given he was always one of my favourites and seems to be one of those that exhibits a real difference in how they were sold in different markets along with the likes of Yak Face.

It's slow going so far as I'm assuming there must be more than 8 Trilogo Hans in the hands of forum members. :lol: Likewise, and I don't mean any disrespect here, it would seem that the correct identification of the accessory by it's owner is the first hurdle. I think the poll results have already been skewed as a result unfortunately. I am continuing to observe examples I find in person, but as yet am yet to find one Trilogo Han with a v4 solid black blaster as he packaged on all Kenner cards (bar any minor anomalies).

I know one of the 3 votes for solid black has been shown to be an error after visual checking. I'd be very grateful if the other two voters would post photos to either credit or discredit in case of misidentification.

Chris
 

Markzane

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Has there ever been a solid black blaster confirmed on a Han trench tri- logo ? Or Luke stormie for that matter. I suspect there hasn't. There's the possibility the solid black may never have been sent to Europe in the first place, by choice or mistake.

They are so hard to tell the difference I would think Palitoy didn't notice or even knew what Kenner intended.
 

TK-7785

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Markzane said:
Has there ever been a solid black blaster confirmed on a Han trench tri- logo ? Or Luke stormie for that matter. I suspect there hasn't. There's the possibility the solid black may never have been sent to Europe in the first place, by choice or mistake.

They are so hard to tell the difference I would think Palitoy didn't notice or even knew what Kenner intended.

Absolutely, Mark. And I suspect we will never know the true answer. But I hope to get a better picture of what may have happened. I've never seen a solid black blaster with a Trilogo Han or Luke Stormtrooper either. My suspicion is that this isn't a slap dash mistake, rather more of a European market/Palitoy variation in manufacturing and marketing...for whatever reason. A level of consistency with those two figures surely points to an a rule rather than an exception. And not that I give a hoot about grading, but maybe having it accepted that a Luke Stormtrooper can be graded as a Palitoy figure with a blue black blaster might help somewhat to alleviate the craziness that seems to surround that little bugger, the solid black Imperial blaster. :lol:
 

Pomse2001

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TK-7785 said:
Thanks, buddy. At the moment I'd just like to get a handle on this guy, given he was always one of my favourites and seems to be one of those that exhibits a real difference in how they were sold in different markets along with the likes of Yak Face.

It's slow going so far as I'm assuming there must be more than 8 Trilogo Hans in the hands of forum members. :lol: Likewise, and I don't mean any disrespect here, it would seem that the correct identification of the accessory by it's owner is the first hurdle. I think the poll results have already been skewed as a result unfortunately. I am continuing to observe examples I find in person, but as yet am yet to find one Trilogo Han with a v4 solid black blaster as he packaged on all Kenner cards (bar any minor anomalies).

I know one of the 3 votes for solid black has been shown to be an error after visual checking. I'd be very grateful if the other two voters would post photos to either credit or discredit in case of misidentification.

Chris

Hi Chris, your welcome :D I can't see the result because I have not voted since I do not have one :lol: I hope you find the info you are searching for. I must admit it could be cool to have a guide about what weapon variants that was packed on all type of cards, but that would be a huge project :D But I guess some of them would be hard to ID if the bubbles are yellow :?
 

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