Grail Find! Headmaster Rodney's white counterpart

If you had asked me a few months ago if I thought I would ever own this figure, I would have told you that you were crazy. The exclusive headmasters are rare enough as it is, saying nothing of their all white versions. But, an opportunity came up a while back to own this guy and the price was so good I just could not pass it up. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

So how does the original figure stack up against the recent KO that was released at the same time as the Headmaster boxset? There are a surprising amount of differences I've found:

KO on the left, real on the right

It becomes glaringly apparent how much the KO is a KO when stacked up against the original figure. I never did this with the colored versions but I should have as the differences are so obvious. Now if I didn't have the original figure I probably wouldn't be able to tell the difference. But in a side by side comparison the KO doesn't have the same amount of detail in the mold and the plastic is of much worse (and brigher) quality. You can really see it in the face here. Under this light the KO looks almost yellowed compared to the original figure. The rivets are also slightly larger on the KO.

I have never seen this guy anywhere other than officially sanctioned TF books so for me this was a once in a decade opportunity. I've said it before and I'll say it again: I love reissues because they drastically reduce the price of the originals (although in this case it was a KO and not a reissue). Otherwise there is no way this purchase would have been possible. And I know the term Grail is overused in the TF community, but this time I think this actually qualifies. For me it is a grail when I think I will never, ever own a particular figure then by some happenstance I actually end up with said figure. I feel the same way about VSX.