eFX Darth Vader ANH helmet

[JediTricks]

Yeah, if you don't know what to look for they both look pretty much the same. Its the warts and dents that make all the difference. The only real obvious difference is the paint job.

I suppose efx figures that the Vader helmets are going to appeal only to hardcore collectors and marketing is kind of unnecessary.

That paint job I think is one of the most striking things, they matched the brush strokes, that's really impressive and yet you'd have to know to look for it between the 2.

I think the Vader helmet's heritage would probably pry more fans' wallets open if they knew of it. There's a lot of fans who aren't hardcore COLLECTORS, but are hardcore fans, and that heritage would mean a world of difference to them if they had greater understanding of the product or even an awareness of it at all -- eFX is smaller and hasn't got much marketing strength under their belt, with so much high-end SW product out there it's easy to get lost in a sea of expensive items.

[sergiurusu]

Yeah, if you don't know what to look for they both look pretty much the same. Its the warts and dents that make all the difference. The only real obvious difference is the paint job.

I suppose efx figures that the Vader helmets are going to appeal only to hardcore collectors and marketing is kind of unnecessary.

eFX in a way realized they kind of failed with the Legend Vader making such a small edition size and thus offering it only from their own shop. They didn't specifically said that, but from some of Bryan's messages you can realize that easily. BTW Snowtrooper, where are you located? did you get LE or LG vader?

[JediTricks]

Failed? What do you mean?

[Snowtrooper]

eFX in a way realized they kind of failed with the Legend Vader making such a small edition size and thus offering it only from their own shop. They didn't specifically said that, but from some of Bryan's messages you can realize that easily. BTW Snowtrooper, where are you located? did you get LE or LG vader?

I live by a small town in Nebraska, which is pretty close to smack dab in the center of the USA. I ordered the limited from Redfordfilms. I had thought about getting the legend, but just couldn't bring myself to spend $1000 on it. I'd probably never beaten the rush for it anyways. I really like that the limited offers a bit more of a polished look, but still has the assymetry that the original prop had. At first, I wasn't going to get either of them. I thought that it was too expensive for a vader helmet that I could get elsewhere. After reading more about it, I realized that this was actually a good deal for a Vader helmet that has the detail and the pedigree.

JT, the trouble that efx went through to match the details of the original is astonishing. There are details I would have never looked for that they tried to match. For instance, Gino said recently that they even tried to match the way the fiberglass strands were laid out in the dome of the original. It was apparently very difficult to get the manufacturer to do it just right. I'd would've never cared which direction the fiberglass was laying, but thats the dedication that efx, Bryan, and Gino had to this project. Whoever gets the legend is not going to be disappointed in the level of detail(with the exception of the most anal of collectors).

[sergiurusu]

The eFX helmet is not the only one made from original molds.

[JediTricks]

I tried to capture photos of the lay of the fiberglass strands inside the helmet, I could see up close that it wasn't there for build purposes and surmised that it was there for historical means, glad to hear my theory was right. I see in my photos that the regular helmet doesn't show the strands at all, I didn't notice that at the time. I would have asked Bryan about it during the booth tour, but we were focused on The Avengers props they were showing off.


eFX's Vader and Stormtrooper Legends helmets I believe are not taken from sources used in any other helmets out there, their heritage is vastly different from any others, licensed or not.

[sergiurusu]

The Vader Legend and LE ANH is made from a mold that has been used before by other fans. The one that hasn't been used is the Hero Legend Stormtrooper (private collection), but my favorite helmets remain the Stunts because of their cool roughness, especially seen in the Sandtrooper lids. Too bad eFX is not going to release a Sandtrooepr helmet excepting the bantha poodoo weathered Precision Cast...

That is also one of the reasons it is very unlikely eFX will make an AT-AT Driver helmet soon, at least a Legend one - the only original AT-AT lid in existence now is in private hands in UK and has missing parts and greeblies. They could still make one from a TIE Pilot helmet though. We'll see...

[Snowtrooper]

Sergiurusu, I'm a little confused as to which Vader helmets used what. I was also under the impression that efx was the only one to use the Rick Baker molds and that the others used a different, supposedly later, mold. I know this caused a tremendous argument over on the RPF and I'm not trying to start anything here.

I think efx can do the AT-AT driver helmet whenever they choose. As you said, it can be cast off of a TIE Pilot helmet and most of the greeblies have been figured out what they actually were. It all depends how far down on the list this particular bucket is.

[JediTricks]

Snow, that's what I was told as well, so you and I are of the same understanding on the Vader helmet. I'll ask them to clarify at Comic-Con I guess.

For the Sandtrooper bucket, I think the Stunt is a better choice since the Sandtrooper helmet differs so much from the hero Stormtrooper piece, it's simpler and has so many distinct changes (or rather, the Stormtrooper one has so many distinct changes from the Sandy), but for regular Stormtrooper, the Hero mold is definitely the one I prefer.

[sergiurusu]

The Rick Baker mold has been used by others too. Which other helmets, I don not know nor care since I'm not a Vader collector. Though I'll give you one piece of advice, do not believe everything that Gino says. As for the AT-AT, in fact most of the greeblies are not known what they are, we know a few for sure but others still remain unknown despite heavy research in that area.

The Stunt is not that different from a Hero, they are both same mold. But the Stunt comes with flat lenses, and a bigger frown and sometimes it has a bumpy cap. And it has been seen in the movies as much as the Hero, and not just as a Sandtrooper. This is why I like the Stunt more, its rough appearance and the angry look with the big frown makes it my favorite. And in the past year I've seen many TK helmets.