Here is a hand painted resin hard copy prototype for the John Connor Terminator 2 action figure, along with a hand painted mock-up motorcycle. Hard copies were one of the earliest stages in the development of an action figure at Kenner. Initially a figure would be sculpted, probably out of wax similar to this example, then a silicone mold would be created for the different pieces of the toy. Resin was then poured into the silicone molds, creating the hard copy prototypes.
Hard copies had various purposes. Some would be assembled using metal or plastic pins for the joints, and then painted. The painted examples might be displayed at Toy Fair or photographed for catalogs. Other unpainted hard copies might be used to transfer the details of the action figure to the steel tooling in order to produce the plastic injection molded production toys.
This particular hard copy shown on the left, has many differences when compared to the final production toy on the right. The design was most likely only used for presentation purposes.
The motorcycle on the left is a repainted Zylmex/ZEE Toys brand motorcycle, hand painted to create the mock-up. The production version of the motorcycle on the right is significantly different. It’s interesting to see the Kenner designers use a non-Kenner toy in the catalog photography. Maybe they figured since it would only be seen for a limited time in the Toy Fair catalog, and it was partially covered up in the image, that nobody would notice.
Based on various paint details on the figure and the motorcycle, I believe this is the exact same John Connor and motorcycle used in the 1992 Kenner Toy Fair catalog photography seen below.
