I was wondering this too. The photo is labeled Halloween 2, but that doesn’t mean anything of course. Normally, you can tell the difference between an H1 and H2 photo from a mile away because of that awful wig they had her in during the second film lol, but in this one it’s hard to tell.
RIP Lou. I had the pleasure of getting to speak with him over the phone a lot before his passing and he was always super forthcoming and willing to share photos, including the one above. Awesome guy.
I know it looks much whiter and therefore repainted. But if you look at the most recent pictures taken by the owner of the hero from only a few years ago. It looks like all the weathering and patina are still there. The distinct dirt on the nose. The “T” is clearly there. The neck is brown with no signs of white paint. All this along with Dick saying he did have it painted. So, I think what we are seeing in these pictures, and a few others, are just bright flash photography. That washed out the detail. You can see this kind of thing all through the film. Where darker coverall look almost white or very faded and then they look different colors etc. This all down to light.
It’s very much a legit photo of the hero. The lighting matches from castles photoshoot where this attached photo was taken. Of course the positioning of Castle in the photo is different so it’s hitting a different spot, but still. Also, the spelling error on the letter doesn’t necessarily mean the whole thing, or the photo of Myers, is fake. For all we know only that part could be edited on there and the rest is legit, or it was a scrapped version never produced widely due to said spelling error.