1/6 1/6 Hot Toys - MMS 452 - Star Wars: Episode V ESB - Darth Vader

Collector Freaks Forum

Help Support Collector Freaks Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Do Marvel/DC Hot Toys get the same level of analysis? Just curious. ;-)

From the pics I saw on Facebook, with it posed in a Detolf, it looked awesome.

Marvel and DC figures don't get the same scrutiny from me because I don't care about any of them nearly as much as I do about Vader. Also, if you look through all of the Vader threads, you'll see that people have been customizing 1/6 Vaders for years! In some cases, taking great pains to get things to match to as much screen accuracy as possible.

Vader (and Boba Fett to a lesser extent) is just a different deal. It's a helmet and costume that has been iconic for 38 years in one case (ESB), and 41 years in another (ANH). Iron Man is in different armor every movie. Every other character changes constantly. Superman and Batman have different actors and costumes routinely. The character of Darth Vader is regarded completely differently.

And to everyone who is stoked with this Vader figure, I'll say it again: congrats! That's a very cool thing!
 
According to the problems everyone spotted, everything is fine aside from the eyes, the nose, the mouth, the tubes, the head size, the body width, the proportions of the base, the back of his head and the overall mask shape.
:rotfl
Oh boy, I feel like this model won't age well...
 
Marvel and DC figures don't get the same scrutiny from me because I don't care about any of them nearly as much as I do about Vader. Also, if you look through all of the Vader threads, you'll see that people have been customizing 1/6 Vaders for years! In some cases, taking great pains to get things to match to as much screen accuracy as possible.

Vader (and Boba Fett to a lesser extent) is just a different deal. It's a helmet and costume that has been iconic for 38 years in one case (ESB), and 41 years in another (ANH). Iron Man is in different armor every movie. Every other character changes constantly. Superman and Batman have different actors and costumes routinely. The character of Darth Vader is regarded completely differently.

And to everyone who is stoked with this Vader figure, I'll say it again: congrats! That's a very cool thing!

Understood, but IMO screen accuracy is a diffiicult thing to achieve unless you physically have the screen used props (not screen grabs where lighting, camera angles etc can present all sorts of issues), not withstanding the fact that the screen used helmets differed, even for the same character in the same film. I collect 1:1 prop replicas, which have lineage to the screen used props, but when you shrink the scale, it's very difficult to get the same level of accuracy (again IMO).
 
Understood, but IMO screen accuracy is a diffiicult thing to achieve unless you physically have the screen used props (not screen grabs where lighting, camera angles etc can present all sorts of issues), not withstanding the fact that the screen used helmets differed, even for the same character in the same film. I collect 1:1 prop replicas, which have lineage to the screen used props, but when you shrink the scale, it's very difficult to get the same level of accuracy (again IMO).

Agree. I think it's something different to sculpt a bigger figure (1:4 or 1:1) than 1:6 or smaller with hand. Maybe it's the limitation of the technique. I don't know.

Some people chase 95%-100% movie accuracy. So the chase may go on or they must customize by themselves.
I on the contrary only need a figure which matches my memory from the movie. And this one does that absolutely for me. This is by no means a bad figure. So I am happy with it :)
 
Agree. I think it's something different to sculpt a bigger figure (1:4 or 1:1) than 1:6 or smaller with hand. Maybe it's the limitation of the technique. I don't know.

Some people chase 95%-100% movie accuracy. So the chase may go on or they must customize by themselves.
I on the contrary only need a figure which matches my memory from the movie. And this one does that absolutely for me. This is by no means a bad figure. So I am happy with it :)

Indeed, if the figure gives me a warm fuzzy feeling, taking me back to the late 70's when I was a kid, I'm good with that :)
 
Let's face it helmet is completely wrong . Too many problems. I'll be swapping helmets from my Ro . Thanks HT slap


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
Though I liked the figüre thus far, I agree angle of the tusks and reveal helmet seam is annoying. I began to think that those inaccuracies are deliberate choices. I also think that ROTJ will correct these but it will have other stepbacks. Maybe HT is trying to lead nitpickers to their quarter scale figures in the long term.

This is my SS V1 Vader. Even the angle of tusks is correct there which is a decade old figüre.

vader.jpg
 
it’s not “completely wrong”. The figure has some innacuracies (as do ALL action figures, regardless of scale) but it’s not terrible. And I went back and compared the best photos I’ve found of this helmet to the R1 and ANH HT helmets. IMO, based on pictures only, this one blows away the old one in every way except the tusk angle. That’s the one thing that this helmet could definitely use a fix for. In fact, comparing closeups of this to closeups of the ANH v2, I was shocked at how soft the sculpt on the ANH helmet is! And the eyes on it are GIANT. And I always thought the old HT helmet was spectacular. But having just compared the two I’m convinced this is the new standard.

The real question is: is it good enough to warrant the price? That I’m personally still waffling around on. I’ve wanted a hot toys Vader for years to upgrade my old SS ANH figure. But I just never had the resources. With this one I finally did what it took, completely re-evaluated my collection and sold enough stuff to cover the cost of this guy. But he’s a LOT of money. And while I’m prepared to pay the going price, I’m only willing to do it for something that really nails the character for me. As I mentioned earlier, every time I look at it I want to go “WOW!”, not, “eh, it’s pretty good, but this or that or the other is off or could be better”. If the first thing I see when I look at it are flaws, then it’s not worth the price.

As more pictures have come out, I think the only thing I’m concerned about at this point is the tusks. But I think I’ve reached the point to keep my pre order and see it in person before I make a final judgement.

I found these on eBay. I think he’s looking pretty great so far.

UUrfKUX.png


0pPr5wS.png


HT1DEw0.png


1i445Am.png
 
Dunno how to articulate this...

He looks stumpy? Like too stocky and not enough height? Dunno, maybe thats an illusion that will pass when next to a normal HT scaled body? If there is such a thing...


Sent from the inside of a giant slug in outer space.....
 
Yeah I need to stop reading up on this. Mine shipped yesterday and it's going to be my first 1/6 vader. I am fine with the minor stuff like wrong sized nose etc. The angles on the tusk... that might be rough. That is one that I can't really unsee even at a glance on some of these pictures.
 
b8e606bfebac6fe1b2296b7ca0cc3dfe.jpg

36ee89ccc25b3458960275e13a57f106.jpg
ad9f699a063ed4c9fdd6d22dd438da73.jpg
63c513434c46cd83c3fda8138c15d23b.jpg
089a41bbdf689969f8f3bbb8f5fca067.jpg
542b6c5977f03b3a4f2fe86271482607.jpg
ef01e52e9bc9f5eb2078c80b757ca5f0.jpg
025289a1defc1959744feaaff3a955bf.jpg
57555efecba49d7ec65bbf9255d44560.jpg
597a83a882cf7dc385e871ae89820b82.jpg
aafbf873cbf2d1467f6b32457154c84c.jpg



Here are some new pics. I must say he looks pretty good in these pictures.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
4705fe23855944cd28518ab6bc8d5d56.jpg


This pose still falls flat because of the stubby limbs.

I think why we are nit picking this is that it is lazy on HTs part. They didn't really change the body or parts drastically. This could and should have been a top figure of the year but the inaccuracies and the re-used nature of this Vader just pisses me off.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Hmm, I have this on pre-0rder and paid 20% to KG hobbies. This comparison picture is almost a deal breaker now that I see all the small details that are off. For the first time I'm not sure if I'll cancel or not.

I know It won't be definitive and I'll have to buy another when the "perfect" one comes out . The fact that it's 300$ doesn't help the case of getting something temporary

That's the same with me. I feel like if I get this one it'll just be a placeholder until the eventual RotJ version. I've been trying to sell my R1 version which I've had for 1 1/2 years now and honestly might just keep that as the placeholder instead and then try and sell it again when they announce 1/6 RotJ. May as well get some more life out of the R1 I think.
 
Though I liked the figüre thus far, I agree angle of the tusks and reveal helmet seam is annoying. I began to think that those inaccuracies are deliberate choices. I also think that ROTJ will correct these but it will have other stepbacks. Maybe HT is trying to lead nitpickers to their quarter scale figures in the long term.

This is my SS V1 Vader. Even the angle of tusks is correct there which is a decade old figüre.

View attachment 423826


The tusks don't look correct in this figure at all from this photo.
 
Back
Top