I'm super excited to finally have an ultra rare Naughty Dog piece in my collection!
What I have here is a
The Last Us Variant poster signed by the artist.
They only made 40 of these prints and they were never available for sale.
There are a few things that distinguish this variant print from the regular version.
Firstly, this print is considerably larger than the regular version. The variant measures 20"x30", whereas the regular version is really a mini-poster at only 11"x17".
Secondly, the variant is actually a high quality giclee print. The giclee printing process is widely considered to be one of the best printing processes. It produces a near 100% accurate reproduction of original art. The regular version is most certainly not a giclee.
The paper that the variant is printed on is also vastly superior to the mini version. It's a finely textured, heavy duty cotton paper. Whereas the mini version is printed on typical wood pulp-based stock paper. The variant also has a matte look, whereas the regular version is glossy.
Also, the regular version has an ESRB notice and the Naughty Dog logo on it. The variant has neither.
Finally, the variant is mounted on artist foam-board.
I know that 18 of the 40 variant prints were given to fans. In fact, the game's director (Bruce Straley) personally gave away 15 of the 18 aforementioned prints to fans at PAX Prime 2012; and the other 3 prints were given away through a contest.
I have one now of course; and the remaining 21 prints I can only imagine were distributed in-house at Naughty Dog.
view of foam-board mounting:
Here it is with a regular version print for comparison:
I've been told that Naughty Dog has no intentions of ever reprinting this variant, so I do feel extremely lucky to have one of the 40 in my collection.
Thanks for looking guys!