EFX DARTH VADER ANH PCR HELMETS (SPECIAL and STANDARD EDITIONS)
- Thread starter GINO
- Start date
jkno
Legendary Member
Someone on SSF cleaned up the C-scar: http://www.sideshowcollectors.com/forums/showthread.php?t=79296&p=8793990&viewfull=1#post8793990
PJB-1138: "It can be knocked down with a cotton swab dipped in mineral spirits. You really gotta apply some pressure on it, and I actually overdid it on mine by taking the excess cotton off and working the surface of the mask with the nearly-bare tip of the swab. The surface looks a little scratched up now if you look closely at it, but wasn't this defect meant to look like a scratch to begin with?"
PJB-1138: "It can be knocked down with a cotton swab dipped in mineral spirits. You really gotta apply some pressure on it, and I actually overdid it on mine by taking the excess cotton off and working the surface of the mask with the nearly-bare tip of the swab. The surface looks a little scratched up now if you look closely at it, but wasn't this defect meant to look like a scratch to begin with?"
Considering the original marketing images of the Special Edition line already set an expectation of what the helmet, including the c-scar, was going to look...
...Along with this bit of description written on their website: "Screen accurate two tone black and hand painted gun metal paint scheme of face mask"
I'd be mildly miffed if I ended up with a helmet that had a cartoonish Nike Swoosh painted the right cheek vs. the c-scar they originally represented and described.
Price has nothing to do with it.
Peacefrog35
Sr Member
I agree and to the casual fan, a $300 plus helmet is nothing to sneeze at. It should at a minimum be exactly as advertised to be/look.
Toys, action figures, props, helmets... Prototypes are almost always hand painted and the final product can vary from the advertised prototype or the pictures on the package.
I'm surprised this seems to be a new concept.
I'm surprised this seems to be a new concept.
ggriffaw
Sr Member
The efx description of the product also says "hand painted". I may have overlooked it, but I don't see any disclaimer that the photos are a prototype and the actual product may vary. There doesn't seem to be much reason to use photos of anything but the actual product when the product wasn't available for sale until they actually had them.
Timmythekid
Sr Member
Right, why would anyone expect the paint ops to look anything like the Legend - it's a cheaper helmet, and a factory job. I mean, you know, apart from, cough, this.
So all EFX did was show nothing but hand-painted samples and say people should expect basically the same paint as on the higher end piece. Clearly any disappointment is down to just bad customers.
So all EFX did was show nothing but hand-painted samples and say people should expect basically the same paint as on the higher end piece. Clearly any disappointment is down to just bad customers.
It looks like it says "Screen accurate two tone black and hand painted gun metal paint scheme". Based on this, it looks like the gunmetal parts are hand painted. I'm not sure where the deception is in their statement.
Qui-Gonzalez
Master Member
Well, you are the Anovos cheerleader. They have ALSO not shown any actual product. Do you excuse their behavior as well?
Aside from the Nike Swoosh, the rest sure looks hand painted to me. Again, this is a $300 helmet. A lot of you have no idea how bad it was for Vader collectors for the longest time. I would have killed someone to have something like this 15 years ago when the damned DP Vader and DP CA were out in circulation. Let alone the Legend, which is a far leap better than anything else available, cleaned up or not.
Back in the day $300 got you a raw fiberglass or resin unfinished helmet with no lenses, no tusks, no mesh, no padding, and no paint, and usually a multi-generation copy of a good helmet. You had to buy all the rest of the parts and do the work yourself to finish it off.
This is a 99% close to the screen-used copy (minus dings/warts) fully finished for $300.
The only thing that kept me from buying this helmet is I decided to spend a little less money and cash in some Sideshow points on a new EP7 Hot Toys instead.
This is a 99% close to the screen-used copy (minus dings/warts) fully finished for $300.
The only thing that kept me from buying this helmet is I decided to spend a little less money and cash in some Sideshow points on a new EP7 Hot Toys instead.
GINO
Sr Member
I think a lot of you are looking at this product all wrong.
It’s super flattering that it would be compared and critiqued as if it were a fiberglass direct cast.
But instead of focusing on the compromises that had to be made in order to make this an injection molded piece that could sell for $300, you should be focusing on the massive achievement that was making an injection molded helmet that actually looks VERY much like a fiberglass authentic casting.
There has never been an injection molded helmet that has come this close to the look of an authentic casting. Do a google search for Don Post classic action to see how previous attempts have turned out.
Not to mention that even though it is injection molded and even though the surface boogers are not there, it’s basic overall shape/proportions are spot on.
And it’s only $300! This product is pretty groundbreaking in that respect. It’s a first.
Is this product a perfect authentic casting from the rick baker mold? Of course not, that is impossible when dealing with injection molding.
But when you set it next to one side by side and stand back a few feet, they look damn close.
And that was the point. In fact it exceeded expectations in terms of what was once thought achievable for a product like this in this price point.
It’s super flattering that it would be compared and critiqued as if it were a fiberglass direct cast.
But instead of focusing on the compromises that had to be made in order to make this an injection molded piece that could sell for $300, you should be focusing on the massive achievement that was making an injection molded helmet that actually looks VERY much like a fiberglass authentic casting.
There has never been an injection molded helmet that has come this close to the look of an authentic casting. Do a google search for Don Post classic action to see how previous attempts have turned out.
Not to mention that even though it is injection molded and even though the surface boogers are not there, it’s basic overall shape/proportions are spot on.
And it’s only $300! This product is pretty groundbreaking in that respect. It’s a first.
Is this product a perfect authentic casting from the rick baker mold? Of course not, that is impossible when dealing with injection molding.
But when you set it next to one side by side and stand back a few feet, they look damn close.
And that was the point. In fact it exceeded expectations in terms of what was once thought achievable for a product like this in this price point.
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syllander
Active Member
Definitely think that the special edition should've been skipped, just not the item to pull that out with what this is.. Not saying one couldn't create his own handiwork to pull it off, but at this price.....Having said that, the helmet is much nicer than an old Don Post as far as as overall looks. The lineage is obviously there. You can see it baked in. And even with the compromises that had to be made, it's a very nice, displayable or wearable piece. I've compared it to a few other helmets I currently own and for what it is not even close to thinking that I should part with it.
Now let's see some injection molded scout lids....
Now let's see some injection molded scout lids....
H0llyw00d
Sr Member
I think the reviews have been overwhelmingly positive. It wouldn't be the RPF if we didn't hunt down SOMETHING to gripe about. All we have are the C-scar and side tube seams. I would call it a resounding success. I definitely love mine... Now get the Solo rig and biker scout helmet knocked out...
ggriffaw
Sr Member
I totally understand complaints about Anovos being late on the early products. Some of the other complaints and accusations of fraud are just plain silly. In a preorder model, there isn't an option other than showing a prototype or show nothing at all.
efx made a bid deal about them not accepting orders for the PCR Vaders until they have them in stock and ready to ship. Then they had the website delays. If they have the product in stock, what is a valid reason for not having photos of the actual product on the product page?
Showing a prototype at conventions before production is complete is different. I don't have a complaint about that other than the final product looking significantly different than the displayed prototype.
I think it would look much better if they left the c scar off. I guess the parts with lines like brush strokes are hand painted. I don't see any other effort to show weathering. It would have made more sense to me to just have one version like the Special Edition without any weathering at all if it is too expensive to do the weathering correctly at this price point. Another option would have been to charge more of a premium for the weathering.
I was hoping this product would look like the prototype. If it did, I may have ordered one.
ggriffaw
Sr Member
I don't think there has been much complaining about the changes needed to make the helmet with injection molding. Some have said they want to figure out a way to make those issues more accurate. The complaints have mainly focused on the Special Edition c scar.
I was impressed by the early photos of the regular version. The shape of the helmet looked great other than the needed changes for the manufacturing process. However, i wasn't crazy about the clean paint job. It looks good, but it isn't the look from the film. I was expecting the Special Edition to more closely capture the look from the film. Unfortunately it doesn't quite do it. I'm not sure if it has any weathering at all other than an overly thick c scar.
People were expecting something that looked more like the Special Edition prototype which is still shown on the efx product page even though the painting of the actual product is obviously different.
I totally agree that producing a Vader helmet with the mostly accurate shapes and dimensions at this price point is remarkable. I just wish the Special Edition had a better paint job even if the price had to be a little higher to cover the labor costs. Maybe it would get too high for a plastic helmet.
I was impressed by the early photos of the regular version. The shape of the helmet looked great other than the needed changes for the manufacturing process. However, i wasn't crazy about the clean paint job. It looks good, but it isn't the look from the film. I was expecting the Special Edition to more closely capture the look from the film. Unfortunately it doesn't quite do it. I'm not sure if it has any weathering at all other than an overly thick c scar.
People were expecting something that looked more like the Special Edition prototype which is still shown on the efx product page even though the painting of the actual product is obviously different.
I totally agree that producing a Vader helmet with the mostly accurate shapes and dimensions at this price point is remarkable. I just wish the Special Edition had a better paint job even if the price had to be a little higher to cover the labor costs. Maybe it would get too high for a plastic helmet.
I don't think anyone here is complaining about the shape of the helmet, and not even the overall painting of the special edition. But if EFX went so far as to achieving the relative overall shape and accuracy of Vader with an injection molded plastic helmet, "you should be focusing on the massive achievement that was making an injection molded helmet that actually looks VERY much like a fiberglass authentic casting. ....There has never been an injection molded helmet that has come this close to the look of an authentic casting. - Gino"
- then why would EFX put the breaks on and epically fail at the c-scar - they went for total accuracy on the shape (as much as could be achieved for an IMP helmet), and allowed a cartoonish c-scar be painted on the helmet. What made the company stop one inch from the finish line? It really does ruin an otherwise nice helmet.
In regards to Anovos: I have no problem with a company showing "prototype images" of their pre-order pre-production products. However, the Anovos TK bucket has been shipping since February, and they're still showing the prototype images. Compromises have been made to the final product compared to said prototype image, and if I ordered based on the prototype image, and received what is now the final product, I'd be cranked. There's no excuse not have the final product images up in August (six months after the final production has been shipping and delivered).
- then why would EFX put the breaks on and epically fail at the c-scar - they went for total accuracy on the shape (as much as could be achieved for an IMP helmet), and allowed a cartoonish c-scar be painted on the helmet. What made the company stop one inch from the finish line? It really does ruin an otherwise nice helmet.
In regards to Anovos: I have no problem with a company showing "prototype images" of their pre-order pre-production products. However, the Anovos TK bucket has been shipping since February, and they're still showing the prototype images. Compromises have been made to the final product compared to said prototype image, and if I ordered based on the prototype image, and received what is now the final product, I'd be cranked. There's no excuse not have the final product images up in August (six months after the final production has been shipping and delivered).
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