I wanted to compare the xbox "Live Turns Five" controller to the "Live is 5ive" controller. Out of curiosity, I picked up a few of the Live is 5ive controllers a while back. The seller claims he got a number of them in a lot purchased after custom controller painter Llama.com went out of business. If the numbering on the back is believed, there are/were 500 of them. The difficult part about this, is that the original Live Turns Five controllers were painted retail shells, so there isn't any unique manufacturing code to look for. As with any limited painted item, this variation and the actual controllers could be faked with enough time and effort. I can't find any documentation online that states Microsoft utilized Llama to paint the Live Turns Five controllers. For what it's worth, the color and finish appear identical. In the booklet that came with the mailed controllers as well as some of the press releases, Microsoft refers to the event as "Live is 5ive". No mention on why the controller ended up saying "Live Turns Five". Although most message boards were understandably not fans of "5ive" when it was initially announced. Before anyone had received the controllers. The final picture is not mine, as I do not have the original packaging or paperwork. But I wanted to include it for comparison. Does anyone have the paperwork included with the Live Turns Five controller? Does it state anything about Llama being involved? I'm inclined to say these may be the original version of what ended up being shipped. If you go through all the trouble of faking the exact color and finish of them, why not just use the known Live Turns Five logo. Then again, changing it and claiming "prototype" would help explain away any differences. If you found any. What are your thoughts? [GALLERY=media, 1441]20160520_211401 by gaming247 posted Aug 24, 2016 at 12:58 AM[/GALLERY]
I see it as being fan made. Edit: I looked into this a couple years ago, I also researched the Live Turns Five controller and came up with more questions than answers. Some I see have the silver colored LIVE TURNS FIVE and most I see have this logo in white. Are some of these fan made as well?
Most I've seen are white logos also. The exception being a short YouTube video where the logo looks silver. But I can't tell if it's just bad lighting. I'm sure there are fan made ones out there. I know people were making 'matching' faceplates and systems. But the color and finish never matched. I normally don't collect painted hardware for this exact reason.
Thanks for posting this thread. I'm glad to see that I'm not the only one that grabbed one of these controllers. I didn't really buy the story that came along with the controller because I'm a huge skeptic of stories regarding rare items. That said, you do make some interesting points. I agree they are identical in color and just about every other way except for the obvious changes. For all the time and effort that went in to making these I can't see how the seller would have made a dime. Maybe there is an interesting story behind them. It's definitely something more than your average painted controller. However, without any solid proof, I am not inclined to believe they are anything other than a very professional tribute item. Frankly, I would have bought it if the seller had said he made them at his kitchen table because they are that nice. Anyway, sorry I don't have anything useful to add right now. I didn't plan on researching these controllers, but after reading your post I am tempted to see if there is any information out there. Also, I am trying to buy some of the sellers other alleged Llama.com items. I'll quiz him and see if there is anything to the story.
@Ed Hunter Thanks, I know the initial post is waaay too long for the average forum surfer. But I wanted to cover as much as possible. I am a skeptic on stories as well. But I have always wondered why Microsoft had one logo on the released controller vs the logo included paperwork and press releases. Like you said, they are extremely well made either way.
My feeling is llama didn't want to copy the controller, so they used the logo from the post card and created their own. Llama did do custom consoles so matching a paint wouldn't be too hard. Just look at the LLAMA stencil in the battery compartment, Microsoft would never do that.
I'm accepting that these are fake or fan made or whatever. I just stated that it seemed strange they had a different logo on the controllers than the attached paperwork. Llama is pretty dumb to take it upon themselves to make 500 custom controllers, but then never sell any of them?? I mean, I guess they went bankrupt, so they weren't the smartest. But still, you'd think these would have turned up for sale or in a commissioned contest years ago. Maybe they did and no one noticed. @Syclopse I think you underestimate what Microsoft would "never do". But in this case, I agree.
Just don't want misinformation out there on the interwebs. Auction states, which is clearly incorrect. "If you do a web search for "Live Turns Five" Controller, and take a look at what the final Controller that was issued looks like, you will see the LLAMMA logo embedded into the rear of the controller, matches my listing exactly, same company, same logo."
I have never heard of Microsoft hiring LLAMMA to do anything. Colorware is usually their choice for any custom work. Although Colorware puts their name on the items they custimize. For some reason however I don't think they always did it for controllers but I don't have any of their early work to compare so that is just a guess.
If you are referring to my post, I meant the square shaped logo of "Live Turns Five" vs the logo on the included paperwork of "Live is 5ive" as seen in the last picture of the initial post. Sorry for the confusion, lots of logos in this matter. As you say, the Llama logo claim in the auction is totally incorrect.
No I meant the description in the eBay auction. llamas live is five logo came from the actual card included with the real controller.
On another note, it may have been Microsoft that got llama.com shut down, didn't all the mod sites get letters back in the day? This is from llama's site Nov 2007: Welcome to the Llamma's Adventures in Xbox 360. Here you can find information about Xbox 360 parts, repairs, customizations and mod accessories. We pride ourselves on our quality service ,support and products. We will always be the place to go for clear step by step how-to repair and mod tutorials as well as hacks, cheats and a little news here and there. I doubt Microsoft would use a site that sold illegal mods to paint an anniversary controller back then.
