Test Shot Prototype - Big Ben v4

G.I.Joe figures usually began as resin hard copies. These resin models were used to create the molds. The molds were used to press out a run of "First shots" or "Test shots". These test shots were done in many different colors and lacked a date stamp until the production run began.

Pictured above is a test shot of Big Ben (v4) (2002). The prototype is molded in several colors and the entire figure is unpainted. Like most test shots, there is no date stamp on the figure, unless it was a previously used mold.

It's not readily obvious to differentiate between the 1991 prototype made for Big Ben (v1), the 1993 Mail-in Big Ben (v2), the 2000 Big Ben (v3), and the 2002 Big Ben (v4) and Big Ben (v5) as the same mold was used to create each of the figures.