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

[punisher1974]

Wor-Gar I am glad you got the Vader in. You A New Hope Vader is awesome and I like the pic with them together. I am happy with the Vader overall but futzing his huge belt box on his rear is difficult. Gives Vader a badonka donk. The chest box was able to move enough and the belt seems more durable and The helmet came out fine. I think the tusks do vary from figure to figure. Great Vader out of the box.

 

[generalgrevious]

nice Vader Wor-GAR. hey is the empire version of Vaders belt the same that came with the Tarkin/Vader two pack ?

 

[Wor-Gar]

Thank you everybody. I really think that picture sucks but I'm very happy people like to see the two together.

Now, individual questions:

Are the dome sculpts the same, but just oriented differently on the new ESB? Also, the figure heights seem the same except for the dome tilt making the ESB seem shorter; is that the case?

I do believe the domes are the same, just ESB tilted back more to see those eyes.

I have "crouched" my ANH Vader (ab crunch + slightly bent knees) to be in-line with my Tarkin (pics in ANH Vader thread) -- and lo and behold he turned out to be the same height as ESB. So I guess both HT and I got it right.

ESB is definitely shorter than any and all ANH Vaders. He's at last the correct height. The mystery is: what did HT change since the body is the ANH?

Your Vader looks like he’s in an “Apology accepted, Captain Needa” pose.

Yes, I was going for that essentially. I love the hands-on-belt pose best in the movies but on the figure it covers too much of the outfit and its really tough to make it look natural.




One more cleaner compare for fun... ESB was fresh from box, no futz -- but the masks line up well there, you can see the significantly larger neck on ANH, and variations in the masks.

 

[Wor-Gar]

Lord Vader...

 

[jedibear]

Congrats! Looks great!

 

[Adam1138]

Loving this new Vader... but its hard to choose between children...


View attachment 425919

Nice pic! Has anyone tried a head swap with these two versions? IMO the ANH helmet flare looks more accurate to the ESB film helmet and the ESB helmets flare looks more accurate to the ANH film helmet.

 

[rayeknor]

I think the domes are identical?

 

[TaliBane]

It's actually that silk lining sewn into the cape's edge. It makes the cape billow out and drape slowly. My ANH uses the RO cape, the only cape without the silk edge, so the cape drops instantly into its hang.

Yeah, I prefer the RO cape for the weight/drape, but it's clearly inaccurate for an ESB cape - you really need that silk lining for ESB or ROTJ.

Are you planning to do anything to the ESB helmet? I'm not sure yet, but I think I want to pull it apart and see if I can angle the teeth back a bit more as well as sand down the two halves just a tiny bit to get that mouth triangle smaller. Does the nose look a tad too small in-hand or has that just been lighting?

 

[Wor-Gar]

I never even noticed the nose. I think that's an artifact of macro photos -- not that its not there, just that one notices things in extreme close-ups that you simply wouldn't notice in hand.

I want to pull it apart and see if I can angle the teeth back a bit more as well as sand down the two halves just a tiny bit to get that mouth triangle smaller.

I can't imagine how that would work. If the mouth is separate at all, its likely a plug-in piece that fits only one way. And sanding down the "bar" between "mouth" and chin grill will simply make things look worse I suspect.

If you're worried about the mouth, just 'tolerate' it for less than a year until the DX ROTJ figure is revealed. Save your obsession.

 

[davejames]

View attachment 425943

Nice. Most of the time the ESB mask seems to look really off once you put it next to the other Vaders, but that might be the first shot I've seen where they actually look pretty comparable and really good together.

 

[Wor-Gar]

Yeah, I think the combination of shorter neck and larger chin grill make the 'mouth' area look much larger than it actually may be.

They actually look pretty cool together in hand. You can really see the differences in the costume, all the subtleties show up.

 

[D.R.37]

Nice pic! Has anyone tried a head swap with these two versions?

Unfortunately you cannot, unless you do some modding. The way they peg in is opposite from one another. The other Vaders have the ball joint in the neck while the ESB has the ball joint in the head.

 

[yy0925]

@Wor-Gar thanx for the great shots. Your Vader doesn't look like a figure any more, but a man in suit

 

[davejames]

Yeah, I prefer the RO cape for the weight/drape, but it's clearly inaccurate for an ESB cape - you really need that silk lining for ESB or ROTJ.

Are you planning to do anything to the ESB helmet? I'm not sure yet, but I think I want to pull it apart and see if I can angle the teeth back a bit more as well as sand down the two halves just a tiny bit to get that mouth triangle smaller. Does the nose look a tad too small in-hand or has that just been lighting?

Yeah I was wondering if shrinking the mouth might be possible too. And angling the teeth more might help with the flatness, but ultimately the bigger problem is with the overall mouth not jutting out as far as it should (which is why the helmet doesn't look nearly as good from three quarter angles), and there's probably no way to fix that.

I have a feeling I might have to settle for just repositioning the tusks if I can.

 

[Lord Valefor]

The domes ARE different

I'm really curious how the ESB dome on the ANH facemask would look

We might not have a perfect ESB vader but MAYBE a perfect ANH Vader could be made by switching domes

someone who has already unglued the ANH dome could easily try this

 

[SilverStar17]

Lord Vader...


View attachment 425951

Nice.

 

[TaliBane]

I never even noticed the nose. I think that's an artifact of macro photos -- not that its not there, just that one notices things in extreme close-ups that you simply wouldn't notice in hand.




I can't imagine how that would work. If the mouth is separate at all, its likely a plug-in piece that fits only one way. And sanding down the "bar" between "mouth" and chin grill will simply make things look worse I suspect.

If you're worried about the mouth, just 'tolerate' it for less than a year until the DX ROTJ figure is revealed. Save your obsession.

Given that this ESB helmet is a ROTJ sculpt, I would imagine this is going to be a HT RO/ANH situation - the HT ROTJ will simply be an even more shiny version of this same "ESB" sculpt.

Unless a "clean"/non-reveal sculpt is included in the ROTJ release. But if they were going to do that, you'd think it would have been cheaper for them to have included it with this ESB figure. The ROTJ-styled reveal feature maybe adds some value for this ESB release, but I'm guessing it also adds $ to HT's release cost.

 

[Cicada17]

They actually look pretty cool together in hand. You can really see the differences in the costume, all the subtleties show up.

Yeah. They look awesome in the side-by-side photo. Seeing those subtleties remind me of those “spot the differences” pictures I used to look at as a kid.

 

[ZE_501]

Loving this new Vader... but its hard to choose between children...


View attachment 425919

Congrats Wor! Love the side-by-side comparison. You really do get taken to different design eras.

 

[Adam1138]

Unfortunately you cannot, unless you do some modding. The way they peg in is opposite from one another. The other Vaders have the ball joint in the neck while the ESB has the ball joint in the head.

Ahh ok thanks