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KLAATU

Source:
(Return of the Jedi)

Date Stamp: 1983

Release Date: 1983

Carded Availability:
Return of the Jedi
Tri-Logo

Assortment No. : 70730

Retail: $2.99

Weapons and Accessories:

Skiff Guard Vibro Axe

Klaatu Skirt

Point of Interest:
This figure first appeared on the Return Of The Jedi 65 back card.

Comments: The vintage Klaatu figure may seem like nothing more than a plastic representation of one of the many thugs on the payroll of one Jabba The Hutt. To a vintage variation collector, however, this guy is evil... pure, unadulterated evil.

Major Variations: Though all vintage figures have minor variations, the Klaatu figure is literally infested with major variations. Generally, it is common knowledge that the figure’s limbs were moulded in both gray and tan plastics, but that is only the tip of the proverbial iceberg.

Gray/ Tan Limbs
It is commonly accepted that the gray limbs are the intended colour the designers at Kenner had chosen for the Klaatu figure, but for what ever reason, the factories producing the figure also moulded them in tan plastic, allowing for a figure with either four gray limbs or four tan limbs. Due to the process of action figure production however, the freshly moulded parts are traditionally thrown into a large bin to be transported to the paint department. Since it was a change in production on the limb colour, both the gray and the tan limbs found themselves in the same bins, allowing for sixteen different limb variations.

Leg Spray Ops
Another significant variation occurred in the paint operations for this figure. It has been documented that the boots and thigh belt were painted with both black and gray. Because of this spray op variation, what were once sixteen variations become a possible sixty-four.

Head Mould/ Spray ops
Klaatu’s head has been found moulded in both silver plastic with green spray ops and moulded in green with silver spray ops, making sixty-four possible variations one hundred and twenty eight.

These body mould/ spray op variations could exist on every COO* variation of the figure as well, so it is quite possible that there are well over six hundred legitimate variations on the figure alone.

The Klaatu Skirt
The skirt has been found with a few variations in the fabric, but considering fabric availability coupled with the fact that these ...and all material accessories in the line... were hand made in a separate factory, it is hard to justify calling most of the discrepancies true variations.

Skiff Guard Vibro Axe
There were two slightly different sculpts used to create this weapon. There is no indication that either sculpt is exclusive to any one figure/ variation.

*COO is the commonly used term for ‘Country Of Origin’, which refers to the stamp usually spotted on a figure’s leg that states which country it was manufactured in.

Text & Photography by D. Martin Myatt.

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