Does this Canceled Episode 1 Nute Gunray Look Authentic To You Guys?

[Rob]

(I'll move this to the Episode I section later, I just wanted to see if I could get some quick replies in the more active section of the forum).

I've got a chance to buy this figure... I've always wanted one... there was one on eBay a few months ago and I offered the guy $300, he balked at it and it went to auction and he sold it for $320.  I told him to let me know if the sale fell through...

Today he asks me if I'm still looking for one, wants the same $320 and sends me the photo below... His feedback is stellar, he's in China, and seems to sell a lot of prototypes and weird stuff like that.  I'm tempted to buy it, but given that he somehow has another one and I don't know how rare these are, I'm skeptical.  Do you guys see any red flags in this photo?








I found this photo of the bottom of an existing copy where it's not molded-holo style plastic on the bottom...



I also found this one where the eyes look like they shoudl be painted...

[Matt_Fury]

That's one of those Hologram figures right?

IIRC, they started to release these but the first wave did so poorly, that they pulled the rest.  Gunray was in the second wave, so it's conceivable there are a lot of them, but not out in the world at large.

[Rob]

Yeah, it was going to be a late Episode I figure but got canceled.  To me it looks pretty good, but I just don't know enough about scarcity or how easy it would be to fake something like this to know if it's a good use of a big purchase.

But I do want one...

[Jesse James]

From a casting standpoint it would be kind of easy to fake that, especially if no paint detailing is required.  I’d check with proto groups before I’d buy for that kind of money.

[Rob]

Thanks Jesse.

Any reco's on where I'd be able to find someone like that to ask? 

[Nicklab]

I’m with Jesse on this.  Someone like Gorkoracing might be able to shed some light on this.  And if this is coming from China?  It could stem from a story I heard from someone at Hasbro a while back.  You can PM me if you want more details. 

[Rob]

It is from China yep.. like I said, the guy has stellar feedback and a history of selling prototypes... so there aren’t really red flags beyond the discrepancies about the paint and bottom plastic, plus the idea that he’s come across two in 4 months - but I don’t know how rare or not they are. 

PM sent!

[CorranHorn]

I would check to see what else the seller has for sale or sold previously. So many knock offs or extra runs or QA failures come out of China on eBay nowadays it is really hard to trust that this is a legit proto.

[Rob]

I would check to see what else the seller has for sale or sold previously. So many knock offs or extra runs or QA failures come out of China on eBay nowadays it is really hard to trust that this is a legit proto.

That's one thing I did do. I dug through his feedback that was recent enough to still see the items that were listed and he has tons of prototypes of various action figures across multiple lines and properties that he's sold - many of them in similar price ranges to this.  His feedback for the last 12 months is 100%, the buyers are varied, and his total score is over 2,100.

I don't see any red flags there.  I'm leaning towards going for it.  I'm sure I could recoup half or 2/3rds of the purchase price even if I had to re-sell it as a custom and not a prototype or authentic canceled figure.

[Darth_Anton]

Very cool item. Congrats if/when you go for it.

[Rob]

Just did it.  What the hell...

I know it's not exactly proof, but he did say that all his auctions are guaranteed to be genuine.  ::Shrug::

[Jesse James]

Sorry Rob just catching this but GorkoRacing on Facebook (he used to come around here too) would be my go to, on this stuff.  He knows his **** on modern protos better than anyone really.  If the guy is known to sell legit protos then that’s good.  I know I wouldn’t Wanna make that kind of commitment financially to something up in the air.

Casters are getting better and better, but that doesn’t mean that’s what that is.

[Rob]

All good Jesse.

I don’t have Facebook, but I did message him on Instagram and haven’t heard back.  I did manage to find an old Rebelscum thread:

https://forum.rebelscum.com/threads/holographic-nute-gunray.816360/

There’s some talk there from GNT that some guys at the factory might have run some unknown number of figures without permission to make money off of... to me this seems to line up with that story, so it’s what I’m going with.  The mold looks right and the copyright stuff on the underside is nice and crisp, but the eyes aren’t painted...

I could be wrong, and there’s some risk, but I generally feel good about going for it.

[Rob]

I got it on Saturday.  All in all I'd say it looks legit, but certainly not a final production item that would have been packaged and sold.  It's definitely not 3D printed, it has some age to it... the detail is all there, particularly the back of the cape.  The date stamp is crisp and looks legit.  I'm still thinking unauthorized factory sample sounds right.

[Nicklab]

It looks a lot like the photos I remember seeing when this was rumored to be in the POTJ line.  The date stamp is correct, definitely.  And the material looks a lot like other holographic figures of the time, like the exclusive Darth Maul and Qui-Gon Jinn, or the holographic Darth Sidious.  I'm hoping that it's legit!