Imperial Stormtrooper (Hoth) Fake or Not?

[Chac96]

Hi, I'm new to the forum and have only just recently started collecting so as you can imagine all the information on fakes and toy toni's is a bit much for me! As i understand one of the figures faked was ROTJ palitoy 65-D back imperial stormtrooper (hoth). From what i understand one way of telling if a figure has been resealed is by looking for a waffle seal which I cannot see on the card I have bought. Although it does look like it has been heat sealed by a press and not an iron as on the bubble (right) there is a clear seal line where part of the bubble has been sealed and part not. I was wondering if you could give me some help on how to tell and whether or not these have to have a waffle seal to be real. The figure has been graded but i know AFA did grade fakes by mistake. I have attached some images and any help would be much appreciated!

[Cazza]

Waffle seal is a sure sign that it would be real. However, there are plenty of factory slick sealed figures out there too, which doesn't help you much I'm afraid! That seal looks OK to me, but I'm not an expert. Any pics of the back of the card? If legit, there should be a slight indentation where the machine pressed the bubble to the card. You may need to look at it from various angles in the light to see it properly. On a Toy Toni, it would be perfectly uniform and flat on the back.

[Mini99]

Wouldn’t a high graded Snowtrooper ring alarm bells?

[Chac96]

Waffle seal is a sure sign that it would be real. However, there are plenty of factory slick sealed figures out there too, which doesn't help you much I'm afraid! That seal looks OK to me, but I'm not an expert. Any pics of the back of the card? If legit, there should be a slight indentation where the machine pressed the bubble to the card. You may need to look at it from various angles in the light to see it properly. On a Toy Toni, it would be perfectly uniform and flat on the back.

When you say an indentation do you mean around the edges where it would have been pressed down or in the middle of the bubble almost like a vacuum? When i look on the back i see no indentation only that the card is curved where the bubble is, as if it has bent under the pressure.

[Cazza]

Nick, yes, ROTJ Palitoy Snowtroopers certainly ring alarm bells, but some of them are fine. I had one, bought in the mid nineties, but it had a twin stem bubble with a very obvious iron mark between the bubble stems Very easy to spot...

Chac96, yes, that's the kind of thing. A TT figure would be absolutely uniform/flat. Any pics?

[Cazza]

You can see it here on my ESB Dengar:

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[Chac96]

Nick, yes, ROTJ Palitoy Snowtroopers certainly ring alarm bells, but some of them are fine. I had one, bought in the mid nineties, but it had a twin stem bubble with a very obvious iron mark between the bubble stems Very easy to spot...

Chac96, yes, that's the kind of thing. A TT figure would be absolutely uniform/flat. Any pics?

Sure, here you go:

[Cazza]

Looks a bit too perfect to me... Does it have any sort of mark/indentation/line similar to my pic above? The line runs from the 'N' of Nunb, down past to the left of the Palitoy address, ending up going through the word 'under' at the bottom.

[Chac96]

Looks a bit too perfect to me... Does it have any sort of mark/indentation/line similar to my pic above? The line runs from the 'N' of Nunb, down past to the left of the Palitoy address, ending up going through the word 'under' at the bottom.

It has nothing like that yet neither does another figure that i have but that has been graded and has the waffle pattern too but no indentation marks.

[Cazza]

Here's a better pic. Some are more pronounced than others, but you should see something. Sometimes you can only see it at certain angles under a light. If not, it's probably a Toni.

[Cazza]

Jason (MrPalitoy) is the expert - maybe worth sending him a PM

[Chac96]

Here's a better pic. Some are more pronounced than others, but you should see something. Sometimes you can only see it at certain angles under a light. If not, it's probably a Toni.

I see nothing like this! how do i PM Mrpalitoy?

[Mini99]

Andy, Looking at the back of the card, I can’t see any indentions, and isn’t the bubble nice and central?

[Chac96]

Andy, Looking at the back of the card, I can’t see any indentions, and isn’t the bubble nice and central?

The bubble isn't central it leans to one side

[Palifan]

That looks to be the same as one I bought years ago that I'm pretty certain is a Tony. It was cheap at the time and super mint so I can only think that I ended up with a Tony special but would need to get it out of storage to know for sure.

Jason is definitely your man for looking over this one so I'd shoot him a PM to get his thoughts on it. If I had to guess though I'd say it's a Tony (but hopefully I'm wrong).

Ian