This past November, Nintendo released their new line of collectible figures (just like Skylanders or Disney Infinity, but with Nintendo characters). No big deal, except for a manufacturing defect which produced a small number of Samus figures that have two arm cannons. That’s pretty cool by itself, and, of course, collectors had to have it, resulting in one selling for as high as $2,500.

My brother-in-law heard about this and told me to keep an eye out for a defect Samus on store shelves. Of course I never found one, but when his birthday rolled around, I thought it would be fun to make him think I had.

So, I purchased two regular figurines, cut the arm off one and the arm cannon off the other. Then I switch the appendages, glued them back on, and boxed it up to look as if it came right off the store shelf.

He was shocked when he opened it, though I quickly let him know it was a fake before he got too excited. You can see the project images here, or check out my Instructables write-up for more details on the fake out.