Hey everyone, guess who is finally back at home from the show.
I can't thank you enough of the warm reception of our ultra secret project for the last 3.5 months. We were honored when we had the opportunity to participate in this marketing "blitz" of the new The Force Awakens Stormtrooper and the results were fantastic.
As for lineage to the original, our resources were the ability to mold directly off of 3D grown files taken from the scans that Vos was referring to. The real magic though, came from our ability to translate this whole suit of armor into vacuform and fiberglass. The real thing was pretty much made out of a material that after I had costed it out, would have brought this piece easily into the 8-10,000 USD range for retail. You know we are committed but not crazy !! A huge shoutout goes out to Spectrum Graphics 2 for being our partners in crime for this historic build. Another huge shoutout goes to our long time friends at Hyperfirm for ripping through some of the tallest challenges to get the guns completed in record time.
All together, it took an enormous effort from not only the folks from Anovos but also from individuals we've known and met here on the RPF for years. I can't thank you all enough.
Now, throw me some questions !
I would Pre order it in a hot second from Anovos. I want to know how accurate it is from the filming costumes. What I really want to hear is Anovos say......we made them for the movie.
I doubt you'll hear that, but the troopers on stage for the live stream were all 501st guys in the Anovos armor. One of our Garrison guys got the armor and it is EXTREMELY NICE. Amazing details. The helmet looks really great, and the visibility is quite good! I tried it one. The one comment the 501st guys gave is that it is even more uncomfortable to wear for a long time that the OT armor.
We heard (can't recall where) that the guys on the stage weren't all 501st, in fact most were not. Art Andrews (RPF guy) was one of them and the rest were ANOVOS employees and some other guys. The 501st guys were on the floor and at some other panels though.
We may also want to wait and see how some of the other TKs look in the movie. The screen used helmet on display may have been a "hero" version... we may find that some of the background or less prominent TKs have helmets with less refined details as well.
Still... for the speed at which Anovos came up with these I think they are damned good. Perfect...? maybe not. But damned good.
I really, really want to like the new design. However the chest and back plates (as so many here point out) lack any detail/imagination of what could be embedded in the armor. Like power units, audio/visual recording devices, internal cooling and life support systems that the original armor hints at with molded detail. Even with the evolution and adaptation of 30 years there should be something and I don’t even want to think about the bucket …sigh….. I am excited about the overall feel of the film and I hope the new suit starts to grow on me.
We heard (can't recall where) that the guys on the stage weren't all 501st, in fact most were not. Art Andrews (RPF guy) was one of them and the rest were ANOVOS employees and some other guys. The 501st guys were on the floor and at some other panels though.