Buzz-Off
SUMMARY:
Buzz-Off, the “heroic spy in the sky” was produced in Hong Kong, Mexico (Aurimat), Argentina, Venezuela, Brazil, France and Spain. This bee-like figure twists his waist, spreads his wings, and comes with both an axe and a removable helmet.
The Top Toys Buzz-Off can be identified by its bright, shiny plastic, hard, plastic head, square arm pegs, and completely unmarked wings.
All editions are completed unmarked. The axes can have a small number inscribed such as a 2, and mirror-inverted 1 or 4, and are fairly rigid with a little flexibility. Wings are soft and flexible, very similar to a hong kong but completely unmarked. The common figure has many different variations in color. The yellows in the chest and belt can vary, and in some are more orange, in others a pale yellow, and any number of hues in between. The browns throughout the figure can vary from warmer to cooler brown tones. The paint is generally applied haphazardly, which is typical for Top Toys figures. Top Toys plastic tends to be very shiny compared to non-TT figures. There's variation in limb brown hues as well. All TT variants use the standard spiky leg mold (as opposed to the Skeletor leg mold seen in some COOs). If you turn the leg slightly, you can see a single-digit number on the inner top of each leg (Either a 1/2 or a 3/4). Since Clawful uses this same leg mold, you see those numbers as well on those legs.
The Top Toys Buzz-Off is divided into 3 main variations. The common, the pre-reedition, and the rare, iconic reedition brown arm variant.
You start to see some very noticeable differences between the pre-reedi and the reedi. For example, the backpack on both is a bright yellow, flexible/gummy plastic that can bend. The helmet is a bright yellow, rubber material that can bend, as opposed to the very hard plastic of the common TT helmet. The legs are a brighter coffee brown, and the belt is a bright yellow belt. The major distinction between the pre-reedi and the reedi, is that the reedition has brown arms, and the pre-reedi has darker boots.
An interesting observation to note with TT Buzz-Off is that all versions have square arm pegs (as opposed to round). You can see this by removing one of the arms.
Recently, sets of wings in a multitude of colors were found in the TT facilities. These wings were used as color swatches in the manufacture of TT figures. Each set of wings has a sticker with the color name and code / Pantone. Over 250 unique colors were found!
FIGURE MARKED: Unmarked.
WINGS + HELMET MARKED: Unmarked.
AXE: Marked with a single digit number (1, 2 inverted, 4 inverted)
CHARACTERISTICS:
1. Hard Plastic Head
2. Bright, Shiny Plastic
3. Unmarked wings
4. Square arm pegs
MAIN VARIANTS:
1. Standard Figure (With many variations in hues)
2. Pre-Reedition (Softer plastics, bright yellows)
3. Reedition (Brown Arm Variant)
SPECIAL THANKS
Special thanks to Maximiliano Polverini and Hernan Silvero for their help!