I thought I read somewhere that Joe figures with an 'H' stamped into their left shoulder are true prototypes -- is that the case?

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I wouldn't say stamped so much as carved or engraved. I've never seen one like that in person though. All of the prototypes I've seen have had Sharpie marks on them (HFE, HM, etc).

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The ones I've seen have the "H" (or possibly an "M"; it's a little fuzzy) melted into the figure's left shoulder, almost like he's been branded. I don't know if they do different stamps or marks for different phases of the pre-production process (the one I have is a test-shot), but that could explain the differences in markings.

i didn't even think of that -- it's melted into the upper arm --

here's a shot of the figs I got:


three of those figs have the 'H' melt (Destro, Snake Eyes? & the 'Blue' Viper)

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Yeah, samples lately have had a lot of the H's burned in. But I have had some recent ones that do not have an H.

Of the ones pictured there, my sample Snake Eyes has a different shade of pants compared to the production one, Destro has the wrong color waist (It matches his coat instead of his legs), and the blue Neo-Viper's head is entirely different. I haven't seen anything special with Speed Metal and the Mars Officer/NV just seems to have a test shot neo-viper head. I am betting this is for a parts test to see how well the head works since that body seemed to be prepared well before it was used for Neo-Viper.

cool, man -- thanks for the input!

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