OK let's see, where to start...
The helmet is probably the best part of the suit, and it's very close to the ESB helmet. But the suit itself is an odd mix of ESB and ROTJ, why they didn't just go for one or the other is beyond me. Maybe they thought they would sell more if it's a mashup, who knows.
The Shoulder Armor is missing the hook the for the cape chain. It also has a "odd" methodology for holding the cape on, namely the three snaps on each side. I've seen the original ESB suit, and the cape was not held on in this fashion.
The cape itself is very nice, but because of the way it's held on to the armor it constantly slides back across the shoulder armor, this was fixed in the ESB by the addition of some soft velcro on the cape side and hard velcro on the shoulder bits of armor.
The belt, now maybe this was a feature and not a bug, but the boxes are not attached to the belt, and can (and do) easily move, this is not the case on the ESB suit, the boxes were held with a single bolt and wing nut on the inside of each box that went through the belt, I use tape on mine because the gorilla tape holds well and doesn't damage the boxes or the belt, and I love Gorilla tape. The connection on the belt is very strong velcro, and I respect that, but it could/should have been an actual belt to make double damn sure it doesn't come undone. But to be fair, the ROTJ one did just use velcro. (ANH one used a belt) Also my buckle was scratched up when it arrived, and not scratched in the pattern that is seen in ANH. Again an odd choice.
The chest box is using and odd set of straps to hold it in place the original ESB one has a hoop strap for the top and a belt like strap to hold the box to the body. Now they might have a reason for doing this, but the one I got was not only backwards, I had to disassemble and set it up right to get it to hold at all, but because it's not using a proper over the neck strap, the box rarely sit in place. I have since replace that strap with a proper length neck strap. Now this might be done because we are all different sizes and heights, but the method they used was odd and hardly works. Also the bits on the plastic chest box fall off pretty easily, I ended up epoxying them on and now they no longer fall off.
The body suit is fine, it's considerably different from the actual body suit, but I think they wanted ventilation over accuracy if you were going to wear it for a long period of time, the leather suit would get wicked hot without the vents. And I do appreciate the fly, again a nice touch not in the ANH or ESB suits. Something that WAS added to the Rogue One suit (which was the original suit according to Spencer Wilding when I talked to him at Planet Comicon)
The shin guards are very, very cheap and the straps are in the wrong location from the original. A small bitch, but a noticeable one.
Finally, no boots, for 3K or 4K in cost, they should have offered some form of boot, at the very least as an add on item. The original boots still exist for ANH and ROTJ costumes, they would be simple enough to replicate, and they should have done so.
The cod piece is missing an under the trunk support strap, while it's not the most important feature all three had of the original trilogy suits had them. Not sure about ROTS.
I had some dealing with Disney, and it's where I actually got my Anovos costume from, and I spoke to a couple of their costume people at length about it, and they thought Anovos should have done a better job, in particular the way the cape attaches, and how it hangs, it might be to pattern, but it needs help. I've modded my Vader suit and bought enough other pieces that I now have a very screen accurate Vader costume from RO, ANH, ESB, and about a 90% accurate one from ROTS and ROTJ.
Hope this helps,
Kelvington
This is great info...thanks!
I thought the cape chain hook was a ROTJ thing? Isn't this supposed to be a ESB suit?
I agree with you on the cape. The snaps really bugged me at first. I think if you're wearing this as a costume these would be problematic. Since I'm using mine as a display piece, I just tucked the cape into the shoulder armor and the weight of the cape kind of holds it in. The helmet also helps put some downwards pressure on the cape. The cape is also woefully short!
The belt boxes moving doesn't really bother me, again because I'm using it as a statue it allows me to adjust them perfectly.
You're also right about the belt! The velcro seems like a good idea, but it's harder to really draw it down tight. If you had a conventional belt with holes you could really pull the puppy in tight.
Yes, the chest box strapping system seems odd, especially if you're trying to costume in it.
Agree with you on the other pieces.
A word about the gloves. I ordered mine in XXL and they were huge. They also seemed a little cheap to me. I upgraded to the Indy Magnoli leather gloves. I'm still not 100% satisfied with them either.
I still believe it's a heckuva deal. I got in early and I think I paid around $2400 for the ensemble plus the $200 shipping? For someone who kind of wanted a "plug-n-play" Vader to assemble my first Vader statue it was a great option. My problem now is I've entered into that "OCD Vader" arena where I want to upgrade everything. Haha. Just rec'd new inner cape and outer robe from Custom Props on eBay. They are the appropriate length for a 6' 9" Vader! I'll post pics of those in my build thread ASAP.
thanks again