My Vader review

[Vonhahn]

Good review except for the whole star off for film accuracy.

I am also in the camp that this type of screen/figure detail is just a little too much that detracts from the overall appearance....

 

[Wor-Gar]

That 4 star rating gets tricky in these situations -- when you have to deduct for something that would otherwise be a 4 star figure, yet it seems like an all-too-brutal demotion for such a small inaccuracy.

Fortunately, the extensive review clarifies that issue.

 

[Michael Crawford]

I suspect that come year end, Vader is going to be high on the Best Of lists for lots of folks, and will certainly be on the Poppies ballot in this category.

 

[JustinLuck]

Justinluck (I think it was him) posted a very clear screen grab of it... I tried finding it, but was unsuccessful. But its been discussed pretty much since day one as one of the specific differences about the ANH version.

EDIT Looks like Mike got 'em posted.

Yes, I posted a couple pics referring to the tusk back on #2017 of the Vader Photo Thread. We are now at post #2725.

In the film still, you can see that the tip of the tusk was silver. The base of the tusk was a darker tone, but not completely black either. This from the Tantive IV corridor scene. Other scenes may look different as Sean pointed out.

Click on the bar at the top to see the pic full sized.

 

[Brooks11b]

Always look forward to your reviews. I did think the star off for the tusk was a little harsh. Truth be told, I would probably prefer that they painted them both black too. But it is film accurate.

 

[Entropy]

I can understand not caring for it, but to deduct a whole star for something that's done in order to stay true to Vader's asymmetrical mask seems a bit harsh, imo. Either way, it's an easy fix. The shape of the helmet is a far greater issue.

 

[Michael Crawford]

Clearly in the two photos above it's silver - in other words, it was SUPPOSED to be silver in the movie, but rubbed off at various times during filming. I'd rather not have film accuracy when it's a mistake to begin with

 

[lerath666]

i've allways been of the thought that ( considering the tips on the mask were, AFAIK aluminum) that it was painted black by accident.

 

[jedibear]

Excellent gallery of photos. Michael...

 

[Michael Crawford]

Really? I have to be honest, I wasn't happy with any of the photos. The last one isn't bad, but I wasn't that happy with the shoot overall. But I'm glad others were happy with them!

 

[Darthrazz]

Nope! Photos were excellent, well done Michael! Great review as usual.

 

[Darth Madden]

Clearly in the two photos above it's silver - in other words, it was SUPPOSED to be silver in the movie, but rubbed off at various times during filming. I'd rather not have film accuracy when it's a mistake to begin with

Yeah, but if they were both silver a lot of people here would be calling for a boycott of Sideshow for making such a dramatic error. Either way they can't win.

 

[bmarz1000]

Great review as always Michael. A point off for one silver tusk? Really? What about that Junior-sized helmet they gave him? Every photo in this thread has demonstrated the HUGE dome that is ANH Vader. Biggest helmet in the entire series! I wonder if Sideshow had access to the same photos posted here by some toy fans?

Still a great figure. I just wonder what changed between Comic Con '08 and now? Typically prototypes improve before hitting production.

 

[jstep13]

I have all the top figs from this year and this is figure of the year for me without any doubt. And I had great hesitation when I first saw in hand pics. As soon as I got it, I fell in love with it. **** all they way....

 

[bmarz1000]

Oh, I'm TOTALLY gonna buy it! It still looks awesome!

 

[EVILFACE]

While it is acurate to the prop, I too wish the mask was black as it was intended to bee seen on the screen as.

 

[Valfar]

https://www.starfortressproductions.com/catalog/vaderchest.jpg[/IMG]QUOTE]


There was a difference in the shoulder bells from all three OT films..well, atleast ANH and ESB..ESB shoulder bells were solid black..no silver in there like on ANH version.

This pic from ESB reminds me of SS new Vader figure.

You can see the solid black shoulder bells in ESB..where ANH has silver in them..i think.

Even Hasbro picked up on this detail on some of their Vader figure releases.

 

[fantasymaker]

Nice , mine is on the way jejejejeejej :chew

 

[JacktheRipper]

I like it not being painted. It's been a topic of conversation.

 

[Billy Ray]

Great review and pics as always Michael. I gotta agree about the "tusk" though, it seems a little harsh to mark the figure down for something that was intentionally done to make it screen accurate, but hey, to each his own. I do agree that it woul dprobably look better painted though.

Also, in the paint section, you had this to say:

I also like the use of lighter gray in some areas of the neck and face of the mask. In the film, the lighting created lighter and darker areas, but in this scale it's hard to reproduce that. Sideshow has done a surprisingly good job of using more than one shade of color to get the same effect.

Just wanted to point out that the actual prop helmet in the film was painted this way too.