Thanks for starting this thread!
What you say about finding screen accurate DV helmets is true. Purchasing officially licensed Darth Vader helmets that are screen accurate, thus far, has not been possible.
I have owned three different high end DV Helmets:
1) Don Post "Classic Action" thick vinyl helmet
2) Don Post deluxe fiberglass numbered limited helmet
3) Fan made fiberglass helmet.
The Don Post Classic action helmet suffered from a warped or "flared" neck as Vader helmet people used to say. Also the billet sensors (aka “tusks”) were plastic and did not resemble the film ones in the least in terms of surface or, really, shape. Also, the helmet did not have the two-tone, gun metal & black surface of the original in the films.
While Don Post claimed this was from the same mold used for EPV, the way the crown attached to the dome was not how it was as seen in several books on the original Star Wars trilogy (
Star Wars Chronicles, page 277).
The Don Post Fiberglass Deluxe helmet did have the same mask-to-dome attachment "donut" so it seems that that helmet was cast from the same molds as the EPV screen used helmets. However, there was some distortion, and the higher the number of your helmet (it seems they were numbered in correlation with their place in the production), the greater the distortions in the neck.
Also, even though this helmet did have the gun metal grey & black two tone schemes, it was reversed from how it was seen in the films. (Apparently Lucas didn't want anyone selling these to claim that they were screen used props.) Anyway, they also had cast billet sensors rather than aluminum machined ones, as seen in the original trilogy.
This last thing is a minor quibble, but the lines and features on the mask were not as sharp or clean as they were in the originals.
Sadly, the best made Darth Vader helmets thus far have been a few of the fan-made ones...often by professional mold makers who, somehow, got a hold of a good DV helmet that was "on tour" or was borrowed from someone who owned an original, screen used one. Unfortunately, which fan made copy is the best is up for some debate and it also depends on whether one desires the helmet as it looked in EPIV, EPV, or EPVI, because each film used slightly modified helmets.
(The Celtic Touch version is the one that has impressed me the most personally, but I have always wanted an official product and not a fan made item...)
(Note to moderators: Lucasfilm is well-aware of these fan-made helmets; Lucas himself invited Bob "Vader Painter" Bean (who has a a fan made and modified DV costume and is known for selling modified DV costume parts) to be the Darth Vader for the Star Wars symphony performance.)
Anyway, when I noticed that the Star War Trilogy DVD set had a documentary regarding the making of the Vader helmet for EPIII, I was excited to see that they had finally made a new helmet and make one that is symmetrical, though; our faces are not perfectly symmetrical either. I liked that original trilogy DV helmets were more imperfect like the man hidden beneath.
Anyway, I had hoped that they would release a DV helmet that was of a higher standard of quality. Sadly, up til now, they had proved me wrong by allowing Rubies to take over the molds from Don Post Studios after he lost the license. Rubies, late last year, released a new deluxe fiberglass DV helmet that was limited. It retailed for about $1,000.00, and frankly, looked so warped, I cannot imagine buying one. Yes, it is that same old mold Don Post had, but the distortions had dramatically increased and now even the sides of the dome flair in some awkward fashion! And, it had all of the less-than-accurate to screen issues the Don Post helmet had before it: the reversed paint scheme and cheap looking billet sensors.
Along my Vader collecting way, I purchased a Master Replicas DV EPIV saber, and was very impressed with the craftsmanship. Then I noticed they were selling an AT-AT, and I was wishing they would be given the chance to do Vader's helmet.
Now today, Louie made some side comment, and I am thrilled!
As for the pricing, I would be pleasantly surprised to see it sell for $800-$900, but maybe they see how poorly the Rubies one has sold and don't know why. (Yes, it is the price point, but no one wants to spend big bucks on a helmet that looks as warped as the Rubies one.) Maybe they will do away the low edition size and make the "fan made" helmet markets go away. Increasing the edition size would lower the price (A higher edition size = lower price per unit cost, after all.), and maybe they also fear that if people want a DV helmet, they would prefer one made to match the original trilogy. I only hope they don't continue the pattern of reversing the gun-metal and black sections of the mask...the images at rebel scum (thanks Louie) don't reveal any gun-metal pattern. Honestly, I would prefer it not be there at all then have it reversed. At least then it would be easier to have that auto body painter just add it, as I had him do with my other ones.
Oh, and I have ordered the Gentle Giant Darth Vader and the Sideshow one. The only thing that bothers me from the prototype for the Sideshow one is that the arms look "soft", and tubular as opposed to sensing arms (or even an elbow) under the leather. The facial features on the mask continue to look too "boxy" to me, as thy have on the earlier Gentle Giant DV mini-bust, and the Attacus DV statues, but at least I know if, when they arrives, if it continues to bother me, I can sell them on eBay and use the money to fund the purchase of the MR Vader helmet!
Thus far, the best looking DV face on the small scale has been on that soft vinyl Kotobukiya one that sells for about $50-$110.00. I was so impressed I bought two.
Thanks again, Louie! You made my day!
Mark
1/6th s/w collectors have been looking for this for years as the only ones (diff versions) ever made by Hasbro were pretty bad.
, I'd also have to say that the arm still looks a bit like a deflated tube with no sense of the arm or elbow joint (mechanical or otherwise) underneath it. But that is something I can correct on my own.
