Now that these are getting into people's hands, perhaps it is high time to discuss them. Impressions, praise, critique, questions. I'm still waiting for mine, but photos are starting to pop up, so maybe the air has cleared a bit for a sober discussion.

Let the fun begin!

Nah, give it a few weeks... let people get their helmets and post some more photos first.

Always eager to dive right in, eh Carsten?

Some HD pics to get this thread started (courtesy of Mister_Gosh)

That pic is stunning.
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y213/s ... b95d_o.jpg

Yeah, that's a pretty damn good picture. Very nice.

yeah those are some great photos. im looking forward to sith lords comparison shots..

Me too. I see they have started on appearing on eBay at big prices!

It's an astonishingly good prop, to be sure, but, i'm just not digging the dull dome......

Rich

Naturally I've done a bit of comparing but only with photos because my two helmets will still take a while to get to me and I would ideally like to examine them first. In the meantime, was it just me that noticed something strange about the photo in the booklet that comes with the helmet of what looks like is supposed to be a photo of the master pull of the helmet (dome)? It looks just like a production copy (in terms of how the front flaring edges have been modified). I wouldn't have expected that.

so what does this mean Sithlord? they are claiming that only one helmet was used for the filing of ANH in the booklet..but ive heard that there were actually 3 helmets that was used. so which is it? if only one was used then why does the SL's dome look different? fo that was cast from the one used in the film. correct? could it be that there were more than one? im thinking that that could be true. one for close ups and one for far away shots..after all they did that with the stormtroopers. so why not with the Vader? i swear ive been watching ANH and from one scene to the next with vader it seems that some of the shots shows a different dome..one like the SL and one like the Efx. such as the image i posted earlier in the other efx wow thread. or even the image of the helmet in the propden banner above this thread. that side view looks just like the efx. my two should be here tomorrow..sure do wish i had an Sl to compare them with.. looking forward to your comparison my master.

The way the photo spread is laid out it seems to imply that the photos are of the casting being made from the Rick Baker mold and that the pictured face and dome are that pull. My feeling is that they are of the production master but I don't know.

No it just means that I am wondering if the photo shows their master or a pull from a reworked master. I'm sure there is nothing wrong (at least to that extent) with the Rick Baker mold. It is more a question about their process in terms of whether they made a master pull, reworked that, or made a mold of the master pull, modified a casting from that mold, then used that as a template for the Legend/Limited. Since both were from different molds the latter would make more sense. But that takes me back to the same question as to what that photo actually shows.

There was only one helmet used in filming of ANH and the Rick Baker mold comes from that. Although at times I've wondered from some images whether there was a second dome around the time of the duel sequences, but from what we know just the one helmet.

Yes. Well there's no doubt about the mask in my mind. It is just cleaned up, not modified. eFX certainly clarified that the Legend and Limited were cleaned up to some extent, but I'm just curious what that dome in the photo is. It isn't a raw pull from a Baker mold unless the mold itself had to be modified for whatever reason. It does appear to be derived from a pull from the RB mold, certainly, but there were two things done to the front flaring edges. They were squared of and clenaed up, and then on Vader's right side lower corner it was trimmed off a bit, almost as if to bring it more in line with the lower edge of the left side? I can't imagine why else it would be that way.

There is no difference in the "master" dome in that photo with the early prototype finished helmet, or with the later final production version shown before the run. So I am wondering in my mind was there something before that dome? Something preceding it that has retained the original shape and details in the edge of the front flarings. I'm sure there is a simple explanation likely based on considerations for the need to have a good product.

So in short, is it the master pull, unmodified, from the Rick Baker mold?