Are these Space 1999 Prototypes?

[highquality]

I'm not familiar enough with the line, but the price seems to lend itself to something special.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=400104379551&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT

[david_b]

I can't go to the link (firewalls..). Can anyone post a picture..?

david_b

[English Paul]

I have to agree with you there. The price definitely suggests something special. The visible metal pin in the arm suggests it too. As daft as it sounds, the wear doesn't look like playwear either - it's just somehow different.

David, here ya go...

http://www.joedawolf.com/images3/16634.jpg

[darkmonkeygod]

They are indeed prototypes of unreleased figures, and I think they went cheap. Check out the catalog, posted in a familiar place:

http://www.plaidstallions.com/mattel/eagle.html

[david_b]

Thanks much, English Paul. Yep, they would have been wonderful to own. I'm still looking at some SW figures to work with my Mattel Eagle.

Thanks again ~

david_b

[palitoy]

Yeah, they are and the guy who bid $666 was me, still painful to look....."choke"

The seller has the same weird Koenig proto head I have but in metal.

[highquality]

Dang. Tough break. Nearly impossible to know a bid amount for prototypes.

[palitoy]

Dang. Tough break. Nearly impossible to know a bid amount for prototypes.

Yeah, they hovered at $180 all week and that was mostly my fault, I was at a bar (work function) when it went down so my blackberry didn't help matters. I don't have the G I would have likely laid down at home, so it'a probably a good thing...

[kennermike]

Yeah, they hovered at $180 all week and that was mostly my fault, I was at a bar (work function) when it went down so my blackberry didn't help matters. I don't have the G I would have likely laid down at home, so it'a probably a good thing...

I knew you were one if the bidders on these when I saw them about a week ago and said to myself these are going for a huge price .

[Gorn Captain]

They may be rare, but I still wouldn't pay $10 for them.
To me, it's all about how great the item looks, and these look like c**p.

But if you guys like them, that's cool!

[SlipperyLilSuckers]

I feel the same way as you Rik.

[kryptosmaster]

I think they are ugly. :smiley1:
But to each his own. I wouldn't have even given them a second look at the 25 cent bin at a garage sale.
I just really am not into small scale at all.
Rich

[Gorn Captain]

I think that the only "rarer" item I might have is the 1978 R2D2 Cobot (a Coca Cola R2). I just like him for the fun factor, because R2 does look like a tin can!
It's not a prototype or anything, but I don't see them come up very often.

I can understand the appeal of prototypes, but I would still need something that also looks good to display.

On the plus side: I would never get in your way to bid on these items! Go for it!!!!

[darkmonkeygod]

Yeah, they are and the guy who bid $666 was me, still painful to look....."choke"


Ah damn, I was hoping it was you so that we could see more of 'em. I'd like to know if they have levers of any sort on the back. Don't you think they would have gone for more had the seller know they were unproduced prototypes and listed them as such in the title. Clean them up some and I could see $1000 each listed properly, given the deep love Space:1999 collectors have. What's your opinion, Brian?

Also, any idea on who the "inventor client" they are being sold for is? His name, Otto Putz is written on the catalog in this auction (no jokes, please). Love to hear his story.

http://cgi.ebay.com/1972-Mattel-Dolls-Preschool-Dealers-Catalog-Barbie_W0QQitemZ400104927267


I think that the only "rarer" item I might have is the 1978 R2D2 Cobot (a Coca Cola R2). I just like him for the fun factor, because R2 does look like a tin can!
It's not a prototype or anything, but I don't see them come up very often.


These were never produced for sale and are potentially literally one of a kind. Even if there are more pinned and painted prototypes out there somewhere, they wouldn't number more many (a dozen would be a stretch), and the odds of them seeing the light of day very, very long.

The Coca Cola robot is cool, but I saw stacks of them at the World of Coke along with an operational life-size one on a class field-trip in grade school, and still individual ones for sale from time to time.

[david_b]

I think they are ugly. :smiley1:
But to each his own. I wouldn't have even given them a second look at the 25 cent bin at a garage sale.
I just really am not into small scale at all.
Rich

Like mentioned elsewhere here, it's for the diehard Space:1999 collector. I know I would have bid on them if I had known about it, but would have lost out due to their value.

Ugly..? So was the pre-production GI Joe figures, so it's all pretty relative. I have a tricky time explaining to my wife why I'm buying more Megos..

david_b

[Sowth]

I wonder if Otto Putz is actually Otto Kuhni, he painted all the iconic Hot Wheels packaging and a bunch of other stuff for Mattel in the 60's and 70's. Not an inventor as far as I know, he's still around and in his 80's now.

He was re-hired by Mattel to do stuff for the Collectors Club after one of the big collectors starting commissioning him to do art for him, I was lucky enough to get one of the 100 prints produced (see top of this page (http://www.redlineprotos.com/Otto%20Kuhni/otto.htm)) before Mattel re-hired him and stopped him doing them.