SublevelStudios said:
not a general release figure
They never made it to sale
Do these statements make anyone else a bit uncomfortable? We're entitled to our own opinions but we are not entitled to our own facts.
300,000,000 Star Wars figures were produced and by all accounts they were rushed to market in a fairly frantic way to satisfy demand with very little quality control. Tens of thousands, probably 100s of thousands of discoloured figures exist (and yes, they began life on cards). Like all discoloured figure these specific Hoth Troopers didnt begin life with grey limbs, the transition photo proves that they turned grey over the years so the notion that they were singled out as 'defective' by Palitoy quality control doesn't seem likely - particularly when you consider that they went so far as to fit the figure with a cape, which suggests they were still white at this time. The further notion that they were recognised as 'defective' and so sold through the Palitoy shop to employees would also seem like a terrible insult to the employees! They had figures by the bucket full, 1000s upon 1000s upon 1000s, they were not a precious commodity so why would they be so shoddy as to offer their own staff the very worst rejects of the batch!
I haven't seen a carded version of my orange torso 8DB beater either, but that doesn't mean it was a special figure from a special batch that was held in a special drawer and later released to market in a special way. I don't want to argue but I just wanted to point out some of the flaws in this line of thinking. By presenting statements of opinion as fact we risk spreading misinformation and also have contributed to a fellow enthusiast parting with £165 of his hard earned for what is most likely a worthless beater. Again, please check this thread in RS, as it can provide valuable context to this discussion: http://forum.rebelscum.com/t965344/