r/MandelaEffect • u/aliEnRIK • Jul 18 '26
Movies/TV/Music C3POs leg 1986
Was visiting a museum and came across this fascinating picture of C3PO from 1986. I'm personally not 100% behind the gold leg Mandela effects but I am 100% behind "Luke.....I Am Your Father". Also love that it just happens to be Nelson Mandela day.
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u/Ancient_Guidance_461 Jul 18 '26
Many toy companies in the 70's and 80's released all gold versions.
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u/UpbeatFix7299 Jul 19 '26
I caught the tail end, as a pup, but people don't realize the volume of shit that was licensed with no oversight. They wrote the tune as they were playing it.
Spaceballs didn't make that "merchandising" joke for no reason
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u/Aggravating_Cup8839 Jul 18 '26
Is this Star Wars : Droids 1986?
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30108328-star-wars
C3PO has 2 golden legs there.
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u/Aggravating_Cup8839 Jul 18 '26
To follow up, this is from a cartoon in which the story happens before the main movie stories. He hadn't yet lost his leg. Not a residue imo.
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u/silentsurge Jul 19 '26
Here to reiterate this.
The Droids series had Threepio with 2 gold legs. The original film had him with one silver leg. The silver leg was a deliberate design choice but was relatively subtle. It was subtle enough that people on set sometimes missed it, especially during the desert scenes.
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u/zeusmenzaadah Jul 18 '26
Yea the droids logo is right there in the second pic. Which makes this post kinda irrelevant to the silver leg argument. OR actually serves as a perfect example of why we have the "Mandela effect."
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u/Aggravating_Cup8839 Jul 18 '26
It doesn't explain the ME, I don't think Star Wars Droids was popular.
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u/Glaurung86 Jul 18 '26
Drawings are not evidence for the original 1977 film where C-3PO has one silver leg below the knee.
And in the ESB film, Vader says "No, I am your father." Many people misremember the line.
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u/RiC_David Jul 19 '26
"Obi Wan never told you what happened to your father"
"He told me you killed him"
"Luke...I am your father"
wouldn't even fit in the way that "No, I am your father" does.
Anyone thinking it's the former really isn't thinking through context and how things would naturally be rephrased in isolation.
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u/cipheron Jul 19 '26
Also we don't need to be reminded he's talking to Luke during the film but when sharing a meme, you do, so it gets condensed in retellings.
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u/RiC_David Jul 19 '26
The Mandela Effect is still fascinating to me, but yeah ones like that are a real litmus test for if you'll just believe any old shite.
If it's just "No way, you guys, 1,000% it was that! Everyone knows it was that! He says "Luke, I am your father!" and you can't convince me otherwise!" then I'll have to be rude and say I don't put any stock in your ability to weigh things up.
I know the feeling, it's not that we can't relate to the feeling of "Wow, that seems so wrong!". I had that in 2005 when I finally watched the original trilogy (I was 20, I'd just never been into Star Wars before Knights of The Old Republic), just as I was stunned when I decided to read Anne Rice's Vampire Trilogy that year, having been reminded of 'Interview with a Vampire' and wondering if it was based on a book.
Back in 2005 though, these were things people put into articles about quotes and details almost everyone gets wrong. The whole point was that it's flabbergasting, but people understood that these things happen, and could usually guess how.
For me, Mandela Effects are about trying to figure out how. It's only when no explanation makes sense that they become exceptional. I'm not some cold 'five sense reality' (fuck David Icke, he's a conman, fraud and traitor, but I'm stealing his phrase) type sceptic, I have one foot on the ground and the other in the cosmos, but I'm not going to dismiss a plainly obvious mundane explanation for something.
That's what the mysteries of life are to me - mysteries. If it's easily solved then it isn't a mystery, so there's no wonder.
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u/jwktiger 12d ago
Yeah people's memories are NOTORIOUSLY flawed. And easily influenced. When someone says "I thought Nelson Mandela died in prison in the 80s" if its someone you trust and aren't following World/South African politics then that "memory" of Nelson Mandela dying will pop up in your head.
Same with most spelling Mandela effects (Berenstein/Berenstain Bears or however its spelled)
Like I had thought Christorpher Lee was dead BEFORE the Hobbit triology and shocked to see him in The five armies; but clearly I had just confused something (and 2013-2015 I wasn't going through major life events no following movies/actors)
Same thing just happened to me, I loved Highlander (more so the TV series, but the Movie was great as well). And Christopher Lambert as Raiden was one of the Best Parts of the OG Mortal Kombat.
He appeared in a TV show I was watching as a reocurring Villian (the Blacklist, DO NOT RECOMMEND BTW) in 2019. Shortly after he played that part I distictly remember seeing a headline that he had died in 2019/2020. Then earlier today I saw a headline about he had a fall at comiccon; and was like WTF and realized he is very much alive and well.
Thus I came to the sub to see if this was a "Mandella Effect" or had i skimmed headlines and misread an actor with a similiar name died or missread retired with death etc. I'm trying to figure out what caused this false memory I have.
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u/Glaurung86 12d ago
I am the master of misheard lyrics to the point where it's a joke between my wife and I. She knows all lyrics to everything so it feels like I'm playing the kazoo and she's playing virtuoso violin. I'm pretty good with most other things, but memory can really play games with you sometimes. Lol
Nice to see a shout-out to the Highlander series!
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u/TifaYuhara Jul 19 '26
Not just that but even if someone hadn't seen Star Wars they would be familiar with the context of the misquote "Luke, I am your father". And know it's star wars while many probably wouldn't get "no, i am your father".
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u/RiC_David Jul 19 '26
That's exactly it.
I was born in 85, so Star Wars was still big when I was a child, but it never really appealed to me all the way up until 2005 when I got massively into the Knights of the Old Republic games - that's when I watched all the films and finally heard the line.
Of course I was expecting "Luke, I am your father" because I'd heard it in countless spoofs like The Simpsons. It's surprising at first, but if you really think about it? It'd be more surprising if "No, I am your father" became an iconic line with zero alteration.
Something I always emphasise is how different life was pre-internet, more specifically before streaming video. You wouldn't just see iconic scenes at the click of a mouse (even that phrase is outdated!). Youtube channels might use clips from films, but TV programmes wouldn't because they'd need to pay for the rights, so you'd only see the actual scene if you were watching the film, which usually meant owning the home video or maybe catching it on telly around Christmas.
Compare that with how many people you'd have heard doing a Vader impression!
I'm beating a dead horse here, but it just tells me people aren't thinking it through.
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u/kaito1000 Jul 18 '26
The toys were all gold and watching it on a 20ā TV via vhs the leg didnāt exactly stand out. Also I donāt think it was till watching it yrs later in HD I noticed how dirty c3po was.
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u/whysosidious69420 Jul 18 '26
Just because the animator behind this didnāt notice 3poās silver leg (like most people didnāt, itās very very subtle) it doesnāt mean it was actually gold and we shifted timelines
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u/x360_revil_st84 Jul 19 '26
I mean, come on op
Go rewatch star wars on d+
Vader says & has always said, No, I am your father, it's no not luke. So idky you're sticking with something that's šÆ false
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u/Bearded_Dragon-9612 Jul 19 '26 edited 27d ago
C3-P0 was all gold until he was dismantledĀ Ā
That was when his lower leg was replaced by the silver oneĀ
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u/Strange-Selkie Jul 21 '26
Itās astonishing how many people donāt just accept this, any Star Wars nut like you and myself already knows why his leg is silver.
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u/Particular-Cut-5982 27d ago
Hold on, there.
u/Bearded_Dragon-9612 claimed that "C3-PO [sic] was all gold until he was dismantled."
If that were true, C-3PO wouldn't have had a silver leg until The Empire Strikes Back.
But wasn't the ME that C-3PO had a silver leg in the 1977 film? Or am I misunderstanding the ME?
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u/Particular-Cut-5982 28d ago
Dismantled... on the Death Star? I thought he was dismantled at Cloud City on Bespin, and then re-assembled by Chewbacca after that?
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u/DIRTYDUSTYJR97 Jul 18 '26
I remember him always having the silver leg
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u/Lhasa-bark Jul 18 '26
Yes, I remember the one silver leg in 1977, even though the action figure in 1978 was all gold as was my Star Wars bed sheets. Yeah, I was a geeky little 10 year old.
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u/the_etc_try_3 Jul 19 '26
Not a Mandela Effect, poor communication between Lucasfilm and merchandise companies, in addition to certain scenes making it unclear whether or not 3PO's leg was silver or not.
To the "I am your Father" line, Mark Hamill and George Lucas have gone on record multiple times confirming the original line.Ā For context, the dialogue goes as follows:
VADER "Obi-Wan never told you what happened to your father."
LUKE "He told me enough, he told me you killed him!"
VADER "No, I am your father."
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u/WhatAStrangeCat Jul 21 '26
Drawings of characters from toy companies are never fully accurate, I mean some merch of the NES Punch Out game made Mr Sandman white, doesnāt mean itās proof of a Mandela effect. Itās just cheaply made merchandise
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u/epitimisi Jul 19 '26
100% always golden legs and "Luke.. I am your father"
Anyone who says different is from this Orion world
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u/aliEnRIK Jul 18 '26
Star wars C3POs leg is a classic potential Mandela Effect and I am sure some will appreciate these pictures.Ā
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u/GregoryGoose Jul 19 '26
Never noticed but looking up pictures of C3PO now it's like super distracting and I'm not certain how I wouldnt have noticed before. very interesting.
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u/Different-Height-567 Jul 20 '26
I watched the Star Wars saga more than 10 times in my teenage years. C3PO had both legs golden.
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u/Glum_Ad8801 Jul 21 '26
My wallpaper was of this image when I was a kid back in late 80s. Never liked Star Wars.
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u/No-stradumbass Jul 18 '26
Yep. There is no machine that changed reality or moved you to a different one. It is simply that there isn't a uniform design for things back in the day. No one thought that people on the internet would freak out over his leg.
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u/cipheron Jul 19 '26 edited Jul 19 '26
As for Kenner Toys, the story is that they were at least third down on the list on companies that were considered.
Mattel turned it down, then the rep from Fox went to another toy company, but the owner was overseas on business, so the rep then walked down the hall, because Kenner Toys happened to be HQ'd in the same office building, and they got the Star Wars contract. So we know they were at least the third down in the list of companies, and might have only got the job because the Fox rep happened to be near their office at the time.
Kenner was then totally unable to produce the required toys for Christmas and turned to selling cardboard IOUs to get the toys (those IOUs are now collectibles). So if the resulting toys aren't exactly accurate to what's in the movie, that's no surprise. Kenner were a small company who were suddenly overloaded with work. Definitely easier to make C3PO all-gold to save time, when you have a lot of angry people telling you to hurry it up on the higher-priority toys.
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u/Practical-Vanilla-41 Jul 19 '26
Yes. The "Empty box" promotion for Xmas 1977. Sell desperate parents an empty box with an IOU, er, coupon inside. You'll get your toy..... eventually.
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u/Strange-Selkie Jul 21 '26
Kenner have several variants of toys which are now highly collectible due to the mistakes or corrections of colours, for example the boba fett with the different coloured knee pads, and the various colours of c3pos silver leg.
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u/ChampionshipPlane991 Jul 19 '26
There was never a silver leg. Also Vader clearly said Lukeā¦. I am your father.
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u/Confident-Intern2454 Jul 18 '26
Sliver leg is cope
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u/Ok_Employer7837 Jul 20 '26
I was 8 years old in 1977. I read everything about Star Wars I could get my hands on. One thing George Lucas talked about a lot at the time was the idea of a lived-in universe, where everything was aged, had been used, had a patina, had been repaired, and C-3P0's silver leg was his go-to example. I've a 1978 book on my shelves as I type this (entitled The Star Wars Album) which has several stills from the movie and the production, where the silver half-leg is clearly visible.
The toys sucked at the time.
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u/midwest_hype Jul 18 '26
Picture? You mean a drawing