Awesome research piece which I have (sadly) only just read.
Bought an Imp Commander plus black imperial blaster in Holyhead (whilst on a nostalgic return) from a collectible shop. It was only a fiver and worthy of a punt, I thought. An I felt the need to buy something SW on the trip.
I didn't like the blaster; black, shiney and hard, but the detailing was, to my eye, pretty awesome. I thought I'd take a punt. Well, it failed at the first hurdle and sank when the bottle of water was shaken. And now reading this thread it's all to obviously one of the fakes.
Will post some photos when I get home as it really is very good. That said, even not having held an imperial blaster for nearly 20 yrs I knew it was too shiney and too hard, so I don't feel too gutted about it all; only a fiver and I was right