Is this AAA tiger shark a legit repaint?

[akira]

Found this on eBay, and was curious if this is a legit repaint done by AAA or could it be a custom job?

[BlueKrono]

I'm not certain, but to my eye it looks very much like a factory paint, not a custom job.

[akira]

I'm not certain, but to my eye it looks very much like a factory paint, not a custom job.

That's what was thinking too tbh but I've never seen this repaint before, and now I'm curious if there is an adult tiger shark painted like this.

Can't wait to get this one and clean it up!

[sbell]

I definitely had that figure decades ago, but not with the striped pattern.

Wouldn't surprise me if AAA had different versions though

[sphyrna18]

In all the years I've seen this figure, I've only ever seen the tan and grey versions.  I've seen the official catalog photos as well, and I'm pretty sure that only the gray and tan versions are in the catalogs.  I think the catalogs are somewhere on this forum or STS for reference.  AAA had all their shark figures depicted in tan (yellow) and gray, except their Great White, which was only gray.  I would say this is a custom or after-market repaint.  It's good-looking, regardless.

[akira]

Thank you both for the feedback.

Hopefully cleaning it with water won't damage the paint, I really like the way it looks.

Digging around on eBay I've been able to find the grey adult and juvenile which I had sough after ever since I was a kid.

I have a core memory of being at sea world wanting just the juvenile grey version and was told 'no'. It haunted me for years all I ever saw was the yellow version lmao

I didn't even know the great white figures existed back then.

I found a hard plastic cast of this figure in a neon orange color uv reactive I should share that soon figured yall might be interested to see it.

[NSD Bashe]

It's not surprising to me that AAA would have a rare color variant almost never seen, as they do with other sea creature figures as well.  Specifically their deep sea line has alternate paints that are rarely ever seen, and only a few that are known to exist for sure but I suspect more of them have it.  So this definitely seems in the realm of likelihood imo.

[Saarlooswolfhound]

I personally lean towards it being an original factory paint job. The color scheme and application style seems too similar to the old AAA for me to rule it out as a custom job. And while the examples themselves are rare to see, there are plenty of unique paint schemes of AAA figures out there. I would be very curious to see it with in hand photos once you get it. I personally have this model in a pale yellow but have seen a dark gray or brown striped version before... I quite like the teal/blue on this one.

[akira]

Wow I had no idea there were rare versions out there! I wonder if that number 2 on the belly indicates anything specific, I can't recall seeing that on an AAA before.

I went a little crazy on eBay yesterday because of 'shark week' so I have a few grey and yellow tiger shark figures coming in, as well as a yellow and a tan/brown adult.

I might have two shades of they grey tiger shark juvenile, I will share photos here as they come in so I can compare.

[akira]

Got the figure today, will try to clean it up gently with water.