Seeing these next to each other it is amazing to me to see the differences in look and attitude between the various sculpts and what could have been. I witnessed the creation of some of these masks, from roughly shaped, such as the JRX and Darth Stone helmet, to the pieces of art they turned out to be. The others I only saw in their finished version, but they look amazing too. Personally I like the concept version that the JRX and DS is taken from and it is interesting to see that the same artwork can be interpreted so very differently and end up with very different attitudes and looks.

The JRX looks narrower and more single minded in its closed-in dome around the face - one mind, one thought, never relenting, never stopping, but zeroing in on any given task and dealing with it brutally and efficiently, whereas the DS helmet, with it's flaring dome and flaring cheeks almost looks like its enraged, screaming, roaring hot fury that will lash out and break you apart - angry at the world and charging in to unleash the hell roaming within, behind that mask, but will never find pleasure, regardless of how much mayhem that he causes.

The eFX is interesting too in its own right. Mechanical and methodical: more man than machine. More of a thinker, than a fighter, less rage and more intellectual, but ready to slice you in half if you cross him and he won't think more of it. He's a schemer and a tactician who plots and makes plans to rule the Galaxy.

The Kropserkel is very different. Much more simple in its design, appearing almost like it was meant to underwhelm and make people underestimate the person within. Stealthier, sneaky, who'll lurk in the shadows, waiting for his chance to stab you in the back and disappear back into the shadows. Much more of an assassin, agile, fast and you won't see him coming. A whole other different approach to the other concepts.

And then there is the movie mask. Sophisticated, stylish, less mechanical, but fierce and aggressive with all those angles and shapes and sharp edges, yet also thoughtful with those large eyes. Much more of a battle helmet and the lack of emotion in the face in essence makes it more terrifying, as the attitude of the wearer will color the expression.


Would love to hear other people's thoughts on the various styles.

I confess to liking them all for various reasons. The concepts are not a patch on the original Vader but I appreciate what each artist has tried to create largely based on sketches

Not forgetting this one which is cool, but obviously not fanmade.

From Starwarshelmets.com

I'd love to add a concept Vader to my collection one of these years (Darth Stones' is my favorite so far).

I remember seeing the ILM concept helmet years ago in the first ILM book (and if I could have any concept helmet in my collection it would probably be that one). I'd love to know more about how it was made who made it. I was always under the impression that Joe Johnston built it but that could just be because he's the one wearing it in the right hand picture with the 'saber.

According to Jez's site the helmet was trashed at a party so I'd hazard a guess that it was made of styrene or something similarly light-weight.

Anybody know anything (I wonder if Don Bies might)?

Dave

dcarty - I cant remember where I heard that it was done after star wars and that it had been trashed. I hope it wasnt but I think it was something the prop guys did for a bit of fun so probably didnt really look after it. ts certainly worth someone asking Don to see if he knows.

Here's one that I really like, by a bloke in Canada.



Cheers

Jez

Interesting topic....among the three I prefer JRX's...

Part of it is that the artists are trying to interpret the McQuarrie painting of Vader and Luke Starkiller and we only see Vader's helmet in profile, not a front view....so when you put that in 3D the width of features will differ depending on the interpretation....which is exactly what we see among the different attempts. From a 3/4 view I am sure the three masks each look more similar to each other than when shown in front view.

But of all of them I'm actually most fond of the eFX helmet....as far as interpretations of Vader go....

For some years now I plan to have one of the original Vader concepts from RMQ converted into a real steel helmet by one of my armourer friends from the Czech Republic. Every time I think about it there were some other projects in the way.

Nice thread

The one you posted Jez looks the nicest to me, that thing's awesome.

It's great to see these early designs brought to life, I'd be very interested to hear what Brian thinks of them? - and I'd love to see him sculpt a concept Vader someday too

The Stone concept looks the most like a samurai helmet which was the inspiration for Vader.

That's a great idea about Brian sculpting something after the McQuarrie design....sadly though eFX have already a McQuarrie concept in the works.

It's interesting I was getting a pic of the "ILM Concept" helmet together to post over at the RPF and it looks like the dome may have already suffered some damage that I hadn't noticed before. If you look at the left side it isn't symmetrical (oh, that word) with the right side:



The flange of the dome also appears to be somewhat thick too.

Dave