R is for Return - to 'Probably' Redbox?

I mentioned back in 2017 that I'd seen two versions of these some better-fed than others! And that is one reason they remain 'probably' Redbox, the other being that the only commitment to an absolute "Redbox" come from someone who A) I wouldn't trust to give me a weather-report if he'd just stuck his arm out of the window and B) he didn't make clear (or know) which lot he was dealing with?

These are the smaller ones, and have three different base-marks, rowed from the top;

• ·         CHINA
• ·         CHINA 1003
• ·         MADE IN CHINA

As you can see from the figure middle left, the figures are available in both colours, but all poses seem to be mark-specific, so the suggestion - for whatever reason - is that the marks are all on the same tool.

Apologies for the poor photography, but yellow-on-green is another of those colour-combinations I forget to remember don't work! The different marks caused me to look again at the larger ones (which we've seen before here once or twice) and found that they too have different markings!

These, in yellow or blue (so far!) are marked with a plain CHINA, but others are more interesting . . .

. . . these have the same CHINA mark, but an additional letter underneath which in this case and from the left read; I, C, K, D, E & H. There is an additional polymer colour too; silver, and duplicates tie the three colours to all poses with the letter-codes, but no un-coded silvers have turned up (so far!). With 12 (or 14?) poses we could be looking at a sequence going up to L or N?

Yes, Yellow's not much better on black! The chap on the far left came-in recently in a mixed lot and seems to be one of the figures from the mould-your-own plaster fort kit/set I shelfied years ago and thought I'd put on the blog, but I can't find it (it did go to Plastic Warrior) so I've just (16.23) added it below!

As to the others, it's all still speculation, but I think the smaller ones are true fakes, trying to be the 'believed to be Redbox', while those larger ones had at least two contracts, one with the letter-codes, one without. Toy Major often have - usually longer - codes on the stuff they market to the Industry, so they might be in the frame, while Redbox might have used the plain CHINA ones, but the only piratey thing I've seen from them is the ship I shelfied in TKMaxx and that had action figures!

Those 4M pirates, the pose I've found may be a copy (reversed pose, detail loss), or the box art may have a reversed image of a master/test-shot? There are eight poses in the image, and if they were two tools, may only come in one colour each . . . do you have any and what color are yours?

We'll know for next year, I've just bought a mint-one, half-price on feebleBay! And I'll work on . . . or work-on working on, on . . . the 'believed' to be Redbox, to finalise the codes of the larger, and the number of poses, colours and origins of all, hopefully for next year, too.