I had a couple of question on some figures I just recently acquired.

Here are the question for each figure:

How rare, how many have been seen, how many are known to exist?

Value, around about?

Argentina COPS Blue Storm Shadow boxed
The person I acquired this from told me that there are only 6 known to exist.

Australia (Action Man) 83' Snake Eyes MOC
I have never seen this figure before carded. I didn't even know Australia made older Joe figures.

China 84' Storm Shadow MOC
I thought this figure was easy to find but from what I heard it is more rare than I thought. And valued more than I thought.

If you can give me any info on these figures I would appriciate it.

The blue Storm Shadow turned up on the collector's market a few years ago. There was a lot of discussion about it at the time -

It appears that it was an aftermarket re-do - rare in its own right. Quite rare actually. I know of very few colectors who were lucky enough to get one!

The Australian Action Man Snake Eyes shows up every once in a while - but not all that often... a great piece! In mint condition it is both scarce and pricey!

The Chinese Storm Shadow is probably the rarest of the highly desirable Chinese carded figures. A guy in China once told me that there were only 6 in existance: 1 in australia and the rest in China. I know that is not accurate, as I have one and I know of one other - Still, an extremely rare and valuable piece!

Congrats on having these :-)

Aire

The blue Storm Shadow turned up on the collector's market a few years ago. There was a lot of discussion about it at the time -

It appears that it was an aftermarket re-do - rare in its own right. Quite rare actually. I know of very few colectors who were lucky enough to get one!



But in that right the figure is essentially fake. It's not even a bootleg. In a nutshell somebody just painted up some factory overstock Argen SS figs, swapped them into some COPS boxes and tried to rip people off with them. So while there may be a few of them out there, in reality, they're junk and not worth more than being a conversation piece.

Shane, yea the story behind the blue Storm Shadow is a little "mysterious" ... Whether they were done by the Cops repackaging people... or done by some innovative other guy... they were done years ago in Argentina, and are part of the Joe "history" and mystique... For me they are sort of like DeSimone's Ace and Police figures...

In any case, when the boxed Blue Storm Shadows do change hands in the collector's market, they sell quite high (in the hundreds of dollars) at least the few that I know about.

I guess it's all about what a collector is into... I know I paid a lot for mine.

Aire

I guess it's all about what a collector is into...

You're right there Aire, it's a thin line, but collectors have to be really careful in how they approach items like this. Just because something has a hobby history doesn't make it special, valuable or even collectible.

Case in point, the infamous FX Master Star Wars "bootlegs" (http://www.toysrgus.com/index.php?action=disp_item&item_id=48033). When these turned up a few years back a lot of people spent silly money thinking they were another unknown line of Eastern European bootlegs but then it came out that they were nothing more than fakes that were being cranked out by some scumbag in the US for the sole purpose of ripping people off.

So, these items now have a hobby history to them but can you still justify spending big money on them? I hope not because they're nothing but junk. Literally, junk. And thankfully, they don't sell at all anymore because most of the people have caught on to the scam.

It's an interesting debate and i'm sure everyone has a different opinion when it comes to different things. But when it comes right down to it, when making big money purchases collectors really need to do their homework and make informed decisions before they buy. It can save a lot of heartache down the road if they've bought something controversial.

And my apologies for slightly derailing this thread. ;)

Thank you for both of your opinions. But I have to say that I am happy to have this rare international figure. Fake or not, it is a great addition to my international/Stormshadow collection.:)

But in that right the figure is essentially fake. It's not even a bootleg. In a nutshell somebody just painted up some factory overstock Argen SS figs, swapped them into some COPS boxes and tried to rip people off with them. So while there may be a few of them out there, in reality, they're junk and not worth more than being a conversation piece.

I agree with Shane on this. I could just paint my own if wanted to. It's a non factory, painted custom in the end. But still a nice piece to have. But it was never high on my list.

I also just got some international figures off ebay. I got a Brazil Alley Viper. The figures has really hard plastic, but its not bad. The packaging is really cheap and flimsy like the Funskool ones. But I also got 2 China mocs of Snow Serpent V2, and Laser Viper. These figures look exactly the same as the US ones. Even the packaging is really good, if not better than the US version. They also come with the exact same accessories.I highly recommend the China Mocs of figures, they are really worth picking up.In fact I'll post some pics.

Here are some pics of the China Mocs I got from ebay.

Thanks again for the info on these figures. If anyone is interested I recently put some nice UK figures on ebay.

Thanks

Tom

http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZmrQ2emoney24

:)Hello All,
I am a little out of my depth when it comes to the international range, until recently i thought Red Jackal of Uk releases was Destro.. and Quarrel was a Uk Lady Jaye.. "Hey thats who i used them as"..but thats not the case.

The International Figures range interests me, firstly because they are effectively the joe characters released in a different country to that of the theme original and secondly because from my point of view having different international figures explores a possibility of Cobra and GI JOE branching out... and having extra heroes and villains.

When on holiday in Spain (I was around 14) I purchased a MOC Ninja Force Dojo.. made by Hasbro and everything just packaged differently. The figure is the same as any released in the Uk or In the States.

As for the Storm Shadow. (one of the thread topics).. I am not sure .. as I agree that a person or company has repackaged an Item from another country and sold it for profit. I also agree that it has to be seen from the purchasers view.. if they want it that badly i am certain they will pay over the odds. The problem to me.. if it is one.. is in my situation.. where.. i wouldn't know.. lack of knowledge.. if i saw something at a market or on ebay.. and the seller informed me of its mysterious history and how rare it was.. how would i know if he was yanking my chain?

As stated something like this would be purchased on informed decision.. My greatest source has been Yojoe. Research is the key.. However you still have to look at the other angle.. I am certain there are collectors that dont collect absolutely everything of the 3 3/4 line.. sticking to just theyre favourite years.

Just throwing my thoughts on this.
Nem

mr.money24 or anyone else who has one of the Blue Storm Shadows: Could you PLEASE post pics? Pretty please?

I realize it's a "mass produced custom" but I am REALLY curious as to what it looks like. Thanks in advance :)

mr.money24 or anyone else who has one of the Blue Storm Shadows: Could you PLEASE post pics? Pretty please?

I realize it's a "mass produced custom" but I am REALLY curious as to what it looks like. Thanks in advance :)
I would like to see pics of the blue storm shadow as well!





:)

here's from a friend's collection....

http://whateveruwant.org/100_0444.JPG

Well i saw those a few years ago and believe me theyre not "customs"...

Well i saw those a few years ago and believe me theyre not "customs"...

So it appeared to be factory painted then?

I wonder if when the "COPS" people got ahold of Plastirama's overstock, there were some preproduction or unproduced items in there. Or perhaps the blue Stormshadow is a previously unknown Plastirama release?