Brown Cornelius

[josephcardone]

I know we have discussed this before - I was doing some spring cleaning and came across some variations of Cornelius (one with a brown arm - and the rest green). This got me thinking again (since there seem to be a number of green and brown variations) - do we think the brown Cornelius is just a faded green or did Mego possibly use some brown fabric at some point.

[PNGwynne]

I think both kinds exist. I've seen pix that certainly looked like proper brown fabric. I have handled a Corny that appeared to be constructed of consistently lighter-brown polyester, but it also had some UV fading on the upper arms/shoulders. It looked mostly like your second example.

Your first example is what I would call a true brown figure--did you examine the thread, interior seams, etc for color consistency?

[SentientApe]

Well, having just acquired a "Brown" Cornelius... Oh, wait.... You already know that.

My "New" Brown Shirt is clearly a different color (and texture) fabric. Interior material is same as exterior, so this is not fading or bleaching. His tights (and I assume they are original to figure?) are the same as most of my other Cornelii (plural of 'Cornelius').

[josephcardone]

SentientApe has a different color brown then all the ones that I have in the photo - Which are all a different color green or brown.

The first one - as all the ones that I have had (or have seen) has a greenish/grey thread - but this could just mean that Mego did not use an exact match of thread. I have a rm robin with the yellow and I notice that the fabric is the same as all the brown Cornelius - that early ribbed fabric - I really wonder if that particular fabric is subject to some weird ageing/fading/color bleeding/maybe even mold - which makes it turn.

[SentientApe]

While watching "Beneath the Planet of the Apes" last night, I noticed something relevant to this discussion.

As Cornelius sets a scroll on the wall-hook behind the front door, we can see what appears to be a BROWN Chimp Tunic hanging on the wall --

[josephcardone]

I love the original POTA movies

[Confessional]

There's got to be at least a dozen Corny variants including 2 or 3 brown riffs; all original production material… plenty of carded examples have surfaced over the years as well, including the two-tone.

I've always thought the green fabrics in the POTA line were/are much more stable with light, humidity and chemical exposure than the brown fabric used in the Soldiers/Generals. I have this wild Soldier from the UK that's nearly bright orange and even across the tunic and pants; it's no doubt a result of external forces from years of storage, but looks so damn cool! Either that or he was inspired to groove out with the Astro Apes.

[josephcardone]

There's got to be at least a dozen Corny variants including 2 or 3 brown riffs; all original production material… plenty of carded examples have surfaced over the years as well, including the two-tone.

I've always thought the green fabrics in the POTA line were/are much more stable with light, humidity and chemical exposure than the brown fabric used in the Soldiers/Generals. I have this wild Soldier from the UK that's nearly bright orange and even across the tunic and pants; it's no doubt a result of external forces from years of storage, but looks so damn cool! Either that or he was inspired to groove out with the Astro Apes.

I would love to see the bright orange soldier - that is pretty cool!!

[scoth70]

brown and green zira were made so id say they did the same for corny

[lilbrosj66]

I love the original POTA movies

Couldn't agree more. Even the bad ones are good. I think I've seen the original at least 30 times. Possibly more.

[skid14]

im not buying it. i have yet to see one to change my mind that its not fading.

[josephcardone]

im not buying it. i have yet to see one to change my mind that its not fading.

This is what I am leaning toward as well - there are too many different shades of brown (and green for that matter). Although - all the ones that I have seen are the earlier ribbed material - so it is probably the earlier versions of Cornelius that fade (like the RM robin - same thing).

[Confessional]

^^ As I'm an ape variant chaser, let's break this down…

If that's the case, then this particular variety of "fade" would be very uncanny as it would have the ability to fade 100% even across the material including areas under vinyl, fur, inside of the shoes, at the internal seems, inside the bubble, and also affect (or perhaps not affect) the seam threads. Does that condition exist in the RM Robin's? If it does, then this would be like a rare strain of Mego disease! :P

We've all seen faded carded/boxed examples where the entire package, or one side, took heavy sun or uv exposure. Those clearly account for areas of uneven fade, whereby the shaded areas are different color, and a whole host of anomalies.

While it's likely that some different shades can be attributed to environmental exposure in both the green and brown varieties, particularly with loose/played with toys, it's certain that the factories did use different colors and textures of materials over time. I have over a dozen of those Chimp variants alone in my collection, and they are clean with no signs of degradation. I've handled enough Corny/Galens over the years, and seen enough for sale (including carded) in excellent condition, to think there's indeed evidence of a run of brown clothing.

BTW, here's a helpful hint… don't ever buy a sun-faded (pink/light pink) carded Brown Zira. That particular run of fabric literally crumbles as it becomes brittle with heat and u/v exposure. I had one for a while and first the areas that touched her hands dropped out of the fabric; then a whole chunk of the skirt. When I finally conceded loss, I open her up and the whole outfit turned to fibrous dust. :(

I still own ya pic of the burnt orange Soldier and I'll try a take a few shots of some of the others as well. I keep thinking we need a thread dedicated to POTA variants for reference and the benefit of all.

[josephcardone]

Maybe we should not use the term fade since this is probably not fading but some sort of color change. What never sat well with me is the thread color that always seems to be a greyish green. I guess if it was a fade it would be green under covered parts - Hmmm - This is a tough one to figure out - that is kind of why I started this thread again.

[skid14]

so, we have the case of faded brown cornys and real brown cornys. faded brown ziras and real brown ziras. faded yellow robins and real yellow robins, faded yellow aquaman real yellow aquaman....also dont forget faded pink rc bats and faded purple stirrups supes. dont think they really made a pink batman and purple supes but...all of this has to be true to support the theory that there was these "real" colors. its also funny that all four original release wgsh solid boxed figures has some kind of fade/color variant......its the dye.