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

[RebelSpy007]

I'm just trying to see what else they could add. But yes maybe a scuffed up, post Luke AND Emperor electrocuted helmet.


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Indeed - a scuffed up, post Emperor electrocuted helmet figure would make a great 2nd Vader in a DX release, with that having the headsculpt reveal.

 

[Saintv1]

The presence of the widow's peak is super annoying... Especially since I would have never noticed if not for this thread, haha. All the same, this will be my only Vader, and I'm happy with what I'm seeing. I'd rather get this, a release I'm sure I'll like, than wait for an ROTJ release that may or may not come and may or may not be what I want just to get a more accurate brow.

If ROTJ hits shelves in two years and I still care, maybe I'll buy a loose head.

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[Wor-Gar]

The presence of the widow's peak is super annoying...

Agreed. It is one of the key differences to Vader's 'face' of all things. Other than the blatant color changes to the chest box, its likely the biggest difference that even children notice.

I see many people/customizers here 'filing' it down and re-glossing.

 

[yy0925]

The presence of the widow's peak is super annoying... Especially since I would have never noticed if not for this thread, haha. All the same, this will be my only Vader, and I'm happy with what I'm seeing. I'd rather get this, a release I'm sure I'll like, than wait for an ROTJ release that may or may not come and may or may not be what I want just to get a more accurate brow.

If ROTJ hits shelves in two years and I still care, maybe I'll buy a loose head.

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Almost exactly my words three pages ago

 

[canofhumdingers]

But the widows peak is pretty accurate. There were many helmets made for filming so there's probably some variance, but in general the ESB helmet had a rounded widows peak. It's not a sharp point like in ANH, but it's also not completely cut off and flat like ROTJ. Hot Toys got it right for this version.

 

[Wor-Gar]

But the widows peak is pretty accurate. There were many helmets made for filming so there's probably some variance, but in general the ESB helmet had a rounded widows peak. It's not a sharp point like in ANH, but it's also not completely cut off and flat like ROTJ. Hot Toys got it right for this version.

Looks pretty flat to me in ESB:

 

[punisher1974]

Looks pretty flat to me in ESB:

I agree but it doesn't matter to me. I think the figure looks awesome and I will get it and have ANH and Empire represented.

 

[Wor-Gar]

No, I'm still getting it too. Can't resist Vader. But its still a shame they didn't address this easy fix.

 

[punisher1974]

No, I'm still getting it too. Can't resist Vader. But its still a shame they didn't address this easy fix.

No doubt. I know your a Vader fan too. I know a lot of us have been working on Vader's years to get one we are happy with. I know your also a huge Indy and James Bond fan. At least with Vader they seem even closer now. I hope most of us are happy with this figure.

 

[canofhumdingers]

Looks pretty flat to me in ESB:

Haha, that’s one of the images I was looking at where I think it still looks a little rounded. It’s not as prominent as on the figure but it’s still kinda there. It’s funny how people can see things differently.

At any rate, the widows peak never bothered me because I’ve always preferred it to the flat non-peak of the later films. It was one area where I didn’t mind the inaccuracy.

The more pictures that are coming out, the better this is looking. I was a smidge worried at first. I’m still not a fan of the cuts in the tubes or the fat bottom lip but it looks like those won’t be so distracting in-hand. This will be my first HT and my first 1/6 in a long long time (I’ve never been a big 1/6 collector but I’ve always enjoyed having just a few key ones as centerpieces to anchor the display). I don’t expect it to be “perfect” (a moving target if ever there was one) but at this price, it needs to be dang close. And, more importantly, my gut reaction to looking at it needs to be, “Awesome!” and not, “eh.....”. With the first couple of pictures and that first unboxing video (which I finally got to work) it seemed the issues were really overpowering the highlights. But as more images come out the tide is starting to turn, at least for me. Which is good because I’ve wanted to upgrade my old ANH Sideshow Vader for a long long time and I sold a bunch of stuff out of my collection to fund it!

 

[Wor-Gar]

No doubt. I know your a Vader fan too. I know a lot of us have been working on Vader's years to get one we are happy with. I know your also a huge Indy and James Bond fan. At least with Vader they seem even closer now. I hope most of us are happy with this figure.

You noticed!

Yep, Vader, Indy and Bond... my personal triumvirate.

At the rate corporations are polluting and cross-pollinating IPs, there's a good chance there will be a movie that has James Bond team up with Indiana Jones to stop Darth Vader.

 

[rayeknor]

Not gonna lie, I'd watch that.

 

[jedijim3002]

Me too.

 

[jedijim3002]

You just described the best idea Hollywood never had.

 

[Wor-Gar]

I'd have to see it, of course. But I can't say I admire the... crossing of streams like that.

 

[ajp4mgs]

Really not liking how much those tusks seem to droop down.

Same here. To my eye, it makes this Vader look more like some kind of concept-sketch Vader as opposed to what we see in the movie. The mouth tilts down and makes the tusk angle even more noticeably off.

I've tried finding on-screen matches for some of the blogger pics in order to illustrate this, but the quality of the screen captures are garbage. In any case, here's the comparison that I think best demonstrates the mouth/tusk angle problem. The dome is actually in almost a 100% identical angle in the blogger pic and the movie capture. But, when you look at the mouth (and especially where the tusks are pointing), the difference is striking.



In another similarly angled comparison, the mouth tilt difference is obvious as well. The figure mouth goes in toward the chin, while the movie Vader's mouth juts out.



And from the profile, the tusk angle and mouth tilt still differ (but less so - to me at least).



I can easily see how this wouldn't be a big deal to some, but to me the Vader mask should be no different than an actual face sculpt in terms of the importance of getting features right. If the mouth (or cheeks, eyes, nose, etc.) on a human figure were off by this much, I don't think nearly as many people would be as okay with the inaccuracy as seems to always be the case with Vader. I don't get that. Vader's mask is iconic; shouldn't accuracy be just as important as a human face sculpt?

 

[Wor-Gar]

Good examples... though that middle "flat faced" Vader could be lens distortion, since the below pic shows a closer match to the 'jut'.

At least I hope we don't get a flat faced Vader.

 

[hellgrammite00]

Thanks ajp4mgs. Really good comparisons. At the end of the day, these very small differences do not bother me, though I could see how they would for some people. Regarding facesculpts, I would say people accept a wider variety of differences between film and figure. Infinity War Captain America is an example of a figure that only somewhat looks like Chris Evans to me, and people are loving that headsculpt (well at least a vocal minority.) Well sculpted, but fairly inaccurate.

I have to be honest, your pictures do a better job of selling me of how near perfect to the movie this figure is than different. But I can understand the pursuit of replicating the original films to perfection.

 

[bebe13junior]

And in this picture I see how small still the HT Vader is. He's supposed to be a burly man. Hate that about the HT versions.

I still see a figure in this and not a man.


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[ajp4mgs]

Good examples... though that middle "flat faced" Vader could be lens distortion, since the below pic shows a closer match to the 'jut'.

At least I hope we don't get a flat faced Vader.

Very true; lens distortion always seems to be an issue in making the figures look less accurate than they end up being in hand. But every shot I've seen of this Vader so far has given me the same impression when it comes to the mouth/tusk thing. The most striking one was the pic standing with the Stormtroopers. This one:

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Thanks ajp4mgs. Really good comparisons. At the end of the day, these very small differences do not bother me, though I could see how they would for some people. Regarding facesculpts, I would say people accept a wider variety of differences between film and figure. Infinity War Captain America is an example of a figure that only somewhat looks like Chris Evans to me, and people are loving that headsculpt (well at least a vocal minority.)

Yeah, it's definitely a subjective thing as far as what looks accurate enough to different collectors. I've seen opinions vary dramatically with head sculpts. It just seems that more people are okay with Vader inaccuracies; maybe because the desire to own Vader (or multiples) is more than with most other characters.