Sideshow ESB/ROTJ Darth Vader

Is anyone else annoyed with the amount of QC issues this figure has had? It seem to me that this has more than any other release that I can recall.

So far I have not noticed anything wrong with mine yet, perhaps im lucky but now I want to give it a 2nd inspection just to be sure.

esoteric77 said:

Is anyone else annoyed with the amount of QC issues this figure has had?

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I think everyone who had an issue falls into that camp. There are literally hundreds of messages about this in this thread. Apart from manufacturing and assembly issues, one of the more popular ones, the broken tusk, could easily have been avoided with properly designed packaging. That one's a big forehead slapper.

Mine had a small problem with the light up function, but after making sure it was not a battery problem, SSC fixed me up. It does seem like this figure had a lot of breakage or damage, but their customer service is usually top notch.

Darth Mitchell said:

Awesome base for Vader Rzeznikk! And cool pictures

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DeadFett said:

So tempted to get a Cathode Saber, looks great! Love the set up!

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Thanks guys!
I highly recommend picking up a set of Cathodes. It bumps these figures up over the edge of coolness!

Picked mine up today from ups. Did a quick look and everything *looks* okay. Gonna unpack him when I get home from work. Fingers crossed for no issues.

Received mine today.

esoteric77 said:

Is anyone else annoyed with the amount of QC issues this figure has had? It seem to me that this has more than any other release that I can recall.

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Uh, yeah.

Pixelpiper said:

I think everyone who had an issue falls into that camp. There are literally hundreds of messages about this in this thread. Apart from manufacturing and assembly issues, one of the more popular ones, the broken tusk, could easily have been avoided with properly designed packaging. That one's a big forehead slapper.

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What's worse is when the REPLACEMENTS are defective. Like mine. My original had scuff marks on it so I asked for a replacement. I finally got one and everything was looking good when I noticed the ****ing dome was on crooked!

I didn't even bother, I fixed it myself.

Well, you may recall I mentioned that I hadn't heard back from them again after getting a 7-day replacement notice… It turns out they in fact did ship it but didn't tell me about it. Which wouldn't be the end of the world, except they shipped it to an old address I still had on file for billing. I had long since had an updated business shipping address on file, which was the one used for the Vader figure itself. Doh!

So they've processed another replacement head to supposedly the correct address, but I have also not received anything but the "5 to 7 days" confirmation for that one and it hasn't yet shown up. I think this guy is probably creating quite the logistics issue at Sideshow with all the replacements.

Mine thankfully looks okay after taking a closer look. Cape looks fine, no missing tusks, however the "display" dome does have 2 small scuffs near the temples, so I may get that replaced.

A little bit playing with the poses and here together with Luke.

Rzeznikk said:

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This image is just telling me "Get the HT TTM 20"!!

Great shots shooter!

Thanks Dr. Odd.

So I'm just about done with the mods to my vader. Switched him over to a TTM20 body. And it looks fantastic. Height is perfect when posed next to HT Luke, which is pretty much the point of the mods.

I can't share pics just yet since I'm still working on his neck. That part put me in panic mode for a brief moment. But I lucked out. It's hard to explain, but ill provide pics when I work on it again tomorrow. I will say this, the stock neck along with the TTM20 neck were pretty much destroyed in the process...the solution was a "what the hell, ill give it a try" situation, and bang, worked out better than I'd expected.

Anyway, do the swap fellas. It's perfect.

Sidious-66 said:

So I just got an email from my retailer saying that Lord Vader is only two weeks away from his arrival here.

It is going to be one sweet day when he arrives.

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A fantastic figure beautifully done

BrooklynWolf X said:

So I'm just about done with the mods to my vader. Switched him over to a TTM20 body. And it looks fantastic. Height is perfect when posed next to HT Luke, which is pretty much the point of the mods.

I can't share pics just yet since I'm still working on his neck. That part put me in panic mode for a brief moment. But I lucked out. It's hard to explain, but ill provide pics when I work on it again tomorrow. I will say this, the stock neck along with the TTM20 neck were pretty much destroyed in the process...the solution was a "what the hell, ill give it a try" situation, and bang, worked out better than I'd expected.

Anyway, do the swap fellas. It's perfect.

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Don't forget to share your progress on this thread...
https://www.sideshowcollectors.com/...-1-6-ESB-ROTJ-Darth-Vader-Modification-Thread
I'm also interested on how is this done. Cheers

BrooklynWolf X said:

I will say this, the stock neck along with the TTM20 neck were pretty much destroyed in the process...

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Let's see some photos of this and your repair, interested to know what happened. The neck should be relatively easy to swap out/repair as there isn't much to how it's put together or functions. Hope you show some in-progress or taken apart photos so we can see your solution.

Pixelpiper said:

Let's see some photos of this and your repair, interested to know what happened. The neck should be relatively easy to swap out/repair as there isn't much to how it's put together or functions. Hope you show some in-progress or taken apart photos so we can see your solution.

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Alrighty here we go!


I wanted to show the TTm20 feet because I wanted everyone that's planning on switching bodies to know that you don't have to drill holes into the TTM20 ankles. Just take out the ball joints from the TT body, remove the joints from vaders feet and then swap them. Simple as pie. And next to the feet are the failed attempts at being clever with the stock neck and TT neck. Well, as you can see...it didn't go as planned.



And here we have vaders armor on the TTM20. As you can see, the neck is pretty much gone, along with the neck joint. All that's left is the ball joint that's attached to the torso. You'll notice that I've taped up the joint. I needed to make it thicker because....




And here we have the solution. This was originally from the older TT bodies that came with two types of plugs for necks. This was the shorter one that plugged into head sculpts that has its own neck. It looks weird because the paint from inside vaders HS was rubbing off (and I applied nail polish around it...but more on that later ) I cut this piece in half because I was trying to come up with a contraption that could connect vaders head into the TT body and retain its articulation and ball joints. But alas, every attempt I made we're complete failures. I was ready to discard this piece, and after observing vaders neck and the ball joint in the TT body, I thought "waiiiiiiit a second...lemme try this..."



Boom. Which leads to...




The neck plug fit vaders head just fine...however it wasn't snug enough so I applied nail polish around it. It...kind of works, but it wasn't tight enough. So I decided to just straight up glue it in. Which means should I decide to switch heads, I'll have to fashion another neck plug for anakins HS. And the aforementioned ball joint I wrapped tape around...the neck plug was too loose. Bulking up the ball joint fixed that right up.

The process ended up being a bit crude than I had expected...but luckily it worked out very well.

Oh and, take a look at the widows peak on vaders dome...it's like someone took a knife and sliced off a huge chunk of it right off. I contacted my retailer and submitted close ups of the defect. I REALLLLY SSC takes care of this.

can anyone tell me how to open the stand ps?