Two recent finds that are a mystery to me: I think both are genuine, and not customs. The painting style and quality is consistent with other RxH releases at the time. Any info is appreciated! (Sorry the MC looks huge... I took these on different days and didn't see the inconsistent framing until later.)
The hone borg is legit--i think i saw it on the RxH IG page, and maybe some people had one or two pics in-hand. The Chaos i've never seen. looks interesting!
Out of curiosity: I have a mutant chaos that I have never seen elsewhere that came in a ziplock bag with what is basically a real head ‘business card’ (no header). Is this how Mori packaged one offs? I have no memory where it came from.
Ah, thanks. I feel like I've seen it before, but can't remember where. These must be painted on the old green blanks, don't you think? Without checking, I want to say that the no header/business card thing started around the end of larger runs of RxH figures and the start of micro runs. Around 2009-10. I don't know how long he did this, but most releases for the next few years had the card.
I've only seen this particular one on Mandarake and Mercari. The only thing that gives me pause that it's not an original, is that the different sections (silver / purple & pink / iridescent / teal) they're all sectioned off too cleanly. I'm used to oversprays bleeding into other sections with a Mori paint. The Mercari listing was titled as "Custom Paint". And the description mentions it was "painted on unpainted flesh color" which is oddly specific.
Hmm, that's interesting. Do you think the Mercari listing was prior to the Mandarake listing? I bought the one on Mandarake (which listed it as a black base). I agree that the clean paint sections are not typical. I would almost say it looks brush painted and not sprayed, as the paint coat seems thicker than normal. (I have no idea how the iridescent part is done.) That said, I have seen micro runs and customs (which I believe were done by Mori) that have similar clean paint sections. Additionally, the spray on the tips of the fingers and toes, as well as the rub style, matches with other RxH releases. Generally, when I see customs, they are not able to mirror those techniques completely. On the flip side, if this is a custom, they are really good.
For reference, this is the micro run that came to mind (note the sectioned-off paints on the torso): The customs that I mentioned were actually painted by Sunguts, not Mori. Obviously, I think the logical conclusion to this story is for me to track down Mori, thrust a photo in his face and demand verification. We'll have to make some time on the next trip...
