The Skylanders community went crazy over the last 24 hours after images started to surface of this black prototype Chopper figure with a purple base. Leading many to believe this is the first figure for Skylanders 6.
Quick history, remember just around this time last year we got that crazy story about how someone got a prototype Skylanders figure (which ended up being Spitfire) from a Mexican electronics shop? Well that turned out to be true, and it was a crazy story. So at this stage, anything could be possible, right?
Well here is how this latest rumor went down (and again spoiler alert, it’s all fake, I’ll explain at the end).
A user aptly named “skylandersleaker” posted some images on reddit asking if these were a Skylanders prototype, and here was his story,
“Yeah i got it along with a TV i bought online. kinda out of know where but its a free toy so ill take it! LOL. And also i have no clue why my other post got removed.”
[in response to someone saying that it looks like a chopper figure]
“Chopper sounds like a cool name! thanks for telling me!”
Obviously three immediate red flags:
- He says he bought a TV online (never said where), and it randomly came with this figure
- His name is “skylandersleaker” but he didn’t know Chopper was a Skylanders figure
- He says “LOL”
Alright, but let’s take a look at these photos he posted:
Let’s start off with problems with picture #1.
First off, if you look REAL closely around the purple base you can see tints of another color. Probably the red base of the Chopper figure.
Secondly, it looks like the figure isn’t really even in his hands. It looks… off.
If you do a quick scan through FotoForensics.com, you can tell that it is. Here it is alongside an image of a real picture of someone holding a Skylanders figure. You can see all the extra white artifacts around the figure compared to the image on the right which has a unison color.
Next onto the middle picture of the figure out in the sun.
Again the purple base seems off to me, just seems too bright in that environment. But let’s take a look at the shadow compared to an image with a car shadow.
The lightning seems a little off to me, but that shadow definitely is unnatural. Notice how much “bolder” the shadow is compared to the shadow off the car.
Finally, let’s take a look at the last picture, the picture of the base.
The base does feature the text “2016” on it, which obviously gives it a lot of legitimacy.
But the model number and the unique ID number? Both of them are the numbers of the existing Chopper figure. Which is NOT the norm for new poses, new series, etc. They would have a different number.
Also if you look at the base, see that splash of “orange” at the top of the C in “Activision”? Also something that was added in, and not part of the actual picture (probably an accidental click when they were editing).
But again, let’s compare the picture of the base in the forensics against another real picture of a Skylanders base:
If you zoom in on the forensics file for the “prototype” image, you can really see that accidental “blurb” as well.
Plus notice the purple ring around the size isn’t replicated in the images of the the two figures (they all have the same unison color, without an extra color).
So there you have it, I think this pretty much confirms that it is fake.
What is it exactly? I don’t know if it was just a 3D render they placed in photoshop, or something they 3D printed, etc.
Either way, I’m absolutely certain that it is fake.
