I was recently looking at my Red Fighting Spirit Chaos, along with another chaos which belongs to my friend. I noticed one has black spray on both heels, and one did not! Now im curious which others have the spray and if this is in fact a variant.

Lol @ the results of the poll so far.

Just checked mine, black heels. Black spots are also at:
Top of tail (where it connects to the body),
Right forearm,
3 on probe area,
1 on top of head,
4 on chest (kinda diagonally)

Does yours not have any black whatsoever?

Would such a minor difference be a legit "official" vairant, or more just a matter of a detail missed on some figure during the painting phase? I ask because it seems that details aren't 100% consistent for each production colorway from figure to figure.

I had two that I compared side by side and there a few evident differences. Doesnt seem like a different variant or anything just some are "dirtier" or have been "rubbed" a little more.

this appears to be what this is...

if these kinds of differences made for a collectible variant...there would be a dozen in the Kozik Pickle paints alone...

point taken, but if this does not describe a variant I dont know what does. Im thinking boba fett unpainted knee knife variant.

these are all slightly different from figure to figure but completely leaving off a spray color in an area as noticeable as this seems strange.

I could understand if the spray was lighter, higer up, etc. but this one is completely missing it. think of the black spray was missing on his chest or face, that would make a more noticeable difference, but In my opinion, this is still noteworthy.

Yeah, we were just using the word two different ways I guess. I think you're being literal, whereas I was thinking more in terms of what Mori's intentions might have been ... on the other hand if I'm wrong and that's specifically what you mean, then it'd be interesting to know that a variant could be based on such a small thing.

I specifically picked my S7 Akro out of the few that S7 had for sale on release day because the orange spots on the front seemed much larger and brighter than on the other figures. I personally wouldn't call that a variant, but again, I'm splitting hairs here.

remember the metallic red superfest42 chaos.. a few of these were missing the blue dot on its stomach area.

Yeah, and the base vinyl mysteries of the first Shintosan...

Is it just the photo (or my eyes) or does one have a greenish spray and the other have a bluish spray?

was it a few or just one? someone has one besides me?

My black dots are higher and a little more pronounced then the one in the picture

i need this guy.

I voted "Mine is still in my box at S7"

Mine has mondo black spray that goes half way up the backs of the legs.

I have black heels and tail...

Remember these are hands prayed so sometimes they miss a spot or 2. This does not make them a variant. A variant is done with the intention to be different.

So, were the Boba Fett 'knee knife' variations presumed to be intentional then?

With zero knowledge of how SW collectors treat this issue, I would expect the 'Variant'-vs.-normal-paint-variation question to be actually decided over time by the actions and attitudes of collectors, rather than by the intention of the creators. That is, if collectors come to view the two versions as variants and consider a collection to require both versions to be 'complete,' then it becomes a 'Variant.' If collectors do not eventually draw that distinction, it is seen as a matter of normal paint variation.

Here, I would be surprised if 'no black heels' came to be seen as a Variant, but no matter -- Either way, my point is that I think it is 'us,' the collecting community, who collectively decide what's a variant, not the presence or absence of an intention to create a variant at the outset. For example, rare stamps with upside-down biplanes and that sort of thing were never "done with the intention to be different," but certainly are viewed by collectors as the philatelic equivalent of vinyl variants.



Was the goldmist Shinto the first one? (Can't remember ... ) Similarly, IIRC some of the Japan-released goldmist Bigaros were painted on Slime Bigaro blanks.

I don't know if this would have any relevance to this issue, but in the Die-cast/Hot Wheels world there are many, many variants and many, many errors. In my opinion, for a toy to be classified as a variant it has to fall under certain criteria. In the die-cast world, what is defined as a variation is a change in production in the manufacturing process. This change can be purposeful or not, since there is really no way to tell what the intent was. I feel that the only one true sign that a piece is a variation and not an error is that the variation has a confirmed distribution pattern. Also, more than just a couple have to be made to classify it as a variation.

If you are a Hot Wheels collector, a good example would be the 2007 new model blue Pontiac Firebird with and without the Scum Bum tampo. The cars without the tampo were only found in the earliest of G cases and only with certain shift codes. Thus they were only distributed to a few retailers in the country and then would only show up in certain regions. Where the rest of the country gets the car with the tampo as it was intended.

Taking all of that into consideration, I would see the differences between the heels on the Red Fighting Spirit Chaos as an error and not a variant, due to the manufacturing process, how many are actually made and how they are distributed.

I really think errors are cool to collect because they are different than what the actual toy was intended to look like, and it takes the idea of collecting to another level and dollar amount.

...

Finally had a chance to check this, and both of these two yellow-rubs have black heels.

But (aside from the fact that the degree of 'rub' on these is so dissimilar as to make them look like two different paints), I noticed that one has blue and black spots on both shoulders, and one has neither. I expect that one was simply missed, but is anyone else's yellow-rub missing the blue/black epaulets? (I know from the wood shop how grimly easy it is, when trying to do the exact same task to 40 or 50 little bits, to miss a couple - It seems like the sort of thing that would be tough to screw up, but for whatever reason it seems to happen more often than not.)



I also happened to see (while assembling trade bait pics) that these two Frankeruge Chaos' probes are different reds. At first I assumed this was probably caused by different 'aging' - light, heat, storage conditions, whatever - But no, the other colors match up, it's only the probes that have the two different reds. The difference is wider in the flesh than shown here, but I didn't touch the color in this pic.

lazy factory?

While we are on the subject. has anyone ever noticed that some of the Chaos' arms are more spread out than others? Like some of their arms are real close to their bodies and some of them stick out further.

That I have definitely noticed. Some of them look more ready to rumble than others