Wednesday, June 7, 2017

Rarities - Unproduced Copper Cobra Imperial Processional Figures

Hasbro produced a lot of exclusive vintage style Joe figure sets for Toys R Us in the 2003-2005 timeframe.  These sets were extremely popular with collectors and proved to be the only real outlet for vintage Joe aficionados to acquire new releases at reasonable prices.  Some of the sets were great.  Some were terrible and most were in between the extremes.  However, just about all of the sets had some unproduced and pre production variants.  While many of them are well known and common in the collecting world, others are more obscure.  A case in point are the copper figures from the 2005 Imperial Processional set.

Below you see the Baroness and the Cobra Imperial Guard figures.  The Baroness is noteworthy for the missing Cobra sigil on her chest.  But, both figures are a much duller copper color than the figures that were released at retail.  The full production figures were more red and had a generally brighter hue.  These copper alternatives seem like color tests from early runs.

These figures are somewhat dull.  But, the Processional figures were dull even as production releases.  I'm not sure if one set is really that much better than the other.  But, these copper releases are fairly rare and are not often seen when you search out unproduced figures from this era.

Unproduced Imperial Processional Baroness, Cobra Imperial Guard, Midnight Chinese, Toys R Us Exclusive, 2005
Unproduced Imperial Processional Baroness

Unproduced Imperial Processional Baroness, Cobra Imperial Guard, Midnight Chinese, Toys R Us Exclusive, 2005
Unproduced Imperial Processional Cobra Imperial Guard

3 comments:

  1. I was expecting to the unpainted test shot of the Imperial Guard that used the Range-Viper arms. Did you ever see that one? I saw it recently on ebay, I thought. Painted, it might have looked better than the armored arms. I think it was the final production plastic colors, but after seeing your photos I'm not sure.

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  2. for a mediocre idea for a box set, the figures contained inside were as dull as they possibly could have been.


    but I like these copper and brass unproduced versions.

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  3. Oh cool, I believe I have an unpainted sample of this Baroness figure. I thought it was just a test shot in random colors.

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