Black Series Helmets - whats next after Boba Fett
- Thread starter Aku
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gunnerk19
Master Member
The only helmets up on ShopDisney right now are the FO TK helmet and Star Lord.
Mara Jade's Father
Master Member
It might not be as cheap as Ollie’s but you can still get Trapper’s helmet on Amazon for $70.
I gave in and got one from eBay for $65 with free shipping. I also snagged one from Amazon when Hasbro had them on sale for $69 with free shipping. $25 more than Ollie’s but at least $40 less than new-in-stores.
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Now that I have 2 Trapper helmets, I want to redo one as the EP7 ‘Rey’ Jakku helmet and the other is for a custom/personal X-Wing helmet for myself.
I think it's time to re-post: what an AMAZING time it is to be a Star Wars collector/cosplayer! For the most part, these Hasbro BS buckets are high quality, full-sized, generally affordable, and in some cases near-screen accurate (although all are idealized for mass production and aesthetic reasons).
I am now one of the elders, who saw the original SW back in 1977. We waited forever to get any Star Wars costume pieces. Back in the day, it was NOT a "thing" to be able to buy licensed, near screen accurate apparel.
1) Don Post helmets and masks rolled out late 1977; grossly undersized and stylized rubber and plastic helmets that were still incredible back in the day. The original helmets included Darth Vader and Stormtrooper, with a C3PO rubber mask and later Chewbacca, Emperor and Wicket rubber masks and several others for the OT, but also including the Prequel Trilogy films.
2) In the 1980s/1990s MARCO soon supplied the unlicensed "original" bobblehead stormtrooper helmet (and armor), and later the AT-AT Driver, TIE, X-Wing Pilot and Boba Fett helmets through magazine ads.
3) In the mid 1990s, Don Post released their Deluxe line of Vader, Fett, Stormtrooper, and Scout Trooper helmets, which were $$$ high end wearable replicas and were the closest to screen used pieces at the time (although the trooper was taken from the slightly smaller ROTJ helmet and "mirrored" left to right, so that the proportions look off, and Matthew Post told me he thought only a few dozen of the Deluxe Scout Troopers were made. This is also when the Vader reverse faceplate paint scheme was introduced. )
-Don Post introduced budget versions of the Deluxe helmet line for Vader and Stormtrooper, called the "Classic Action" line, but they remained full size. The full sized TIE Pilot bucket was also added to the CA line. CA helmets were in the $100 to $200 range.
-A standard line (smaller) TIE helmet, Scout Trooper, Luke X-Wing Pilot, and Boba Fett were also made, along with an Imperial Royal Guard. The Scout Trooper was NICE for the low price point, but I have long since sold mine.
-I remember paying $70 for my standard DP Fett back in 1996, and I thought the helmet was HUGE at the time, only to later find out it was 90-95% full sized.
4) In the late 1990s, Steve Altmann sold licensed, high end (although glaringly inaccurate) Vader, Luke X-Wing Pilot, TIE Pilot, Fett, Stormtrooper, Royal Guard, Boussh, Rebel Fleet Trooper, and Imperial Gunner helmets, using his LFL Australia/New Zealand license.
-Probably the BEST Altmann helmet was the Scout Trooper. Steve must have had access to a film used bucket because this was full sized and VERY CLOSE to the screen used piece
-I've owned 3 of these Altmann's buckets:
*The X-wing helmet was well made but SMALL, it hurt to wear it with the padded inserts
*The Imperial Gunner was ridiculous tiny; I could not get it on my average sized head!
*I still own the Scout Trooper, one of the top helmets in my collection. I know that Altmann re-issued the Scout helmet just a few years ago but I am not sure if they are still available. The Black Series compares favorably with Altmann's version.
5) In the mid 1990s came the flood of "white sunblock" stormtrooper armor and bobblehead helmets, starting in Canada with Gerardo Fallano but eventually Finding their way to the United States as a GF clone, known as FX or GT armor
6) In the early 2000s we had the whole Andrew Ainsworth "incident" but it was a way to get $$$ Stormtrooper and TIE Pilot helmets from the original maker
7) Don Post was purchased by Rubies, who re-introduced the high end ESB Darth Vader Helmet from the DP molds (although terrible quality at this point), the Imperial Royal Guard helmet, both a low and a high end Clone Trooper phase 1 helmet
-Rubies also re-released some of the original Don Post low end helmets: Vader, Boba Fett, X-Wing pilot, Scout Trooper, Imperial Royal Guard, and Stormtrooper; they also released a "Frankenstein's monster" Stormtrooper helmet with a ginormous forehead.
-In addition to a low-end version of Kylo Ren's helmet, Rubies also gave us the AMAZING $40 Target Boba Fett helmet, an idealized but full sized Mandalorian bucket the could be disassembled and repainted/modified.
-The standard line "new" Rubies budget Vader helmet was full sized, but idealized and looked like a copy of a copy of a copy of the original
8) Which leads us into the more recent Master Replicas and EFX eras of full sized helmets, followed by Anovos/Denuo Novo.
*Master Replicas had the Star Wars license for several years, and produced high end ANH Stormtrooper (~$400 USD) and Phase 2 Clonetrooper helmets, as well as TESB Boba Fett, Luke X-wing Pilot, and ROTS Vader helmets. They also released a more affordable Precision Cast Replicas (PCR) helmet line, including ANH Darth Vader (an AMAZING piece), and ANH Stormtrooper with a Sandtrooper variant (Another topic: Master Replicas also produced several Star Wars prop replicas and sabers during this time).
*EFX also inherited the Star Wars license, and re-leased the Master Replicas PCR Stormtrooper helmet.
9) There were other ways to get SW helmets (such as the 20th Century Vader, Cameron Oakley stormtrooper, etc) but these were/are more back channel/ insider only/ TheRPF type sales. I am trying to concentrate on (mostly licensed) channels for mass distribution, where anyone can readily purchase. But in addition to Andrew Ainsworth's unlicensed but still screen lineage/derived products, there is another... which leads me to...
10) RS Propmasters.
I am now one of the elders, who saw the original SW back in 1977. We waited forever to get any Star Wars costume pieces. Back in the day, it was NOT a "thing" to be able to buy licensed, near screen accurate apparel.
1) Don Post helmets and masks rolled out late 1977; grossly undersized and stylized rubber and plastic helmets that were still incredible back in the day. The original helmets included Darth Vader and Stormtrooper, with a C3PO rubber mask and later Chewbacca, Emperor and Wicket rubber masks and several others for the OT, but also including the Prequel Trilogy films.
2) In the 1980s/1990s MARCO soon supplied the unlicensed "original" bobblehead stormtrooper helmet (and armor), and later the AT-AT Driver, TIE, X-Wing Pilot and Boba Fett helmets through magazine ads.
3) In the mid 1990s, Don Post released their Deluxe line of Vader, Fett, Stormtrooper, and Scout Trooper helmets, which were $$$ high end wearable replicas and were the closest to screen used pieces at the time (although the trooper was taken from the slightly smaller ROTJ helmet and "mirrored" left to right, so that the proportions look off, and Matthew Post told me he thought only a few dozen of the Deluxe Scout Troopers were made. This is also when the Vader reverse faceplate paint scheme was introduced. )
-Don Post introduced budget versions of the Deluxe helmet line for Vader and Stormtrooper, called the "Classic Action" line, but they remained full size. The full sized TIE Pilot bucket was also added to the CA line. CA helmets were in the $100 to $200 range.
-A standard line (smaller) TIE helmet, Scout Trooper, Luke X-Wing Pilot, and Boba Fett were also made, along with an Imperial Royal Guard. The Scout Trooper was NICE for the low price point, but I have long since sold mine.
-I remember paying $70 for my standard DP Fett back in 1996, and I thought the helmet was HUGE at the time, only to later find out it was 90-95% full sized.
4) In the late 1990s, Steve Altmann sold licensed, high end (although glaringly inaccurate) Vader, Luke X-Wing Pilot, TIE Pilot, Fett, Stormtrooper, Royal Guard, Boussh, Rebel Fleet Trooper, and Imperial Gunner helmets, using his LFL Australia/New Zealand license.
-Probably the BEST Altmann helmet was the Scout Trooper. Steve must have had access to a film used bucket because this was full sized and VERY CLOSE to the screen used piece
-I've owned 3 of these Altmann's buckets:
*The X-wing helmet was well made but SMALL, it hurt to wear it with the padded inserts
*The Imperial Gunner was ridiculous tiny; I could not get it on my average sized head!
*I still own the Scout Trooper, one of the top helmets in my collection. I know that Altmann re-issued the Scout helmet just a few years ago but I am not sure if they are still available. The Black Series compares favorably with Altmann's version.
5) In the mid 1990s came the flood of "white sunblock" stormtrooper armor and bobblehead helmets, starting in Canada with Gerardo Fallano but eventually Finding their way to the United States as a GF clone, known as FX or GT armor
6) In the early 2000s we had the whole Andrew Ainsworth "incident" but it was a way to get $$$ Stormtrooper and TIE Pilot helmets from the original maker
7) Don Post was purchased by Rubies, who re-introduced the high end ESB Darth Vader Helmet from the DP molds (although terrible quality at this point), the Imperial Royal Guard helmet, both a low and a high end Clone Trooper phase 1 helmet
-Rubies also re-released some of the original Don Post low end helmets: Vader, Boba Fett, X-Wing pilot, Scout Trooper, Imperial Royal Guard, and Stormtrooper; they also released a "Frankenstein's monster" Stormtrooper helmet with a ginormous forehead.
-In addition to a low-end version of Kylo Ren's helmet, Rubies also gave us the AMAZING $40 Target Boba Fett helmet, an idealized but full sized Mandalorian bucket the could be disassembled and repainted/modified.
-The standard line "new" Rubies budget Vader helmet was full sized, but idealized and looked like a copy of a copy of a copy of the original
8) Which leads us into the more recent Master Replicas and EFX eras of full sized helmets, followed by Anovos/Denuo Novo.
*Master Replicas had the Star Wars license for several years, and produced high end ANH Stormtrooper (~$400 USD) and Phase 2 Clonetrooper helmets, as well as TESB Boba Fett, Luke X-wing Pilot, and ROTS Vader helmets. They also released a more affordable Precision Cast Replicas (PCR) helmet line, including ANH Darth Vader (an AMAZING piece), and ANH Stormtrooper with a Sandtrooper variant (Another topic: Master Replicas also produced several Star Wars prop replicas and sabers during this time).
*EFX also inherited the Star Wars license, and re-leased the Master Replicas PCR Stormtrooper helmet.
9) There were other ways to get SW helmets (such as the 20th Century Vader, Cameron Oakley stormtrooper, etc) but these were/are more back channel/ insider only/ TheRPF type sales. I am trying to concentrate on (mostly licensed) channels for mass distribution, where anyone can readily purchase. But in addition to Andrew Ainsworth's unlicensed but still screen lineage/derived products, there is another... which leads me to...
10) RS Propmasters.
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Rawktrooper
Well-Known Member
Anovos/Denuo Novo were just the licensed marketers and sellers of lesser known but great artist/creators who had little marketing strategy ability. Apparently those creators got the short end of the deals and Anovos/Denuo Novo is the name you know and not them.
The product is superior, unfortunately the marketing and order keeping was shady at best and hurt the reputation.
The product is superior, unfortunately the marketing and order keeping was shady at best and hurt the reputation.
I remember reading Star Wars Insider back in the mid 90's and drooling over the Don Post stuff. I would have sold my sister for one of those!
SB
EDIT: Found the SW Insider issue from 1996!
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DarkKnightRyan
Well-Known Member
why does that saber look like it's been scaled down to like 70% and for $350?!?! Yikes!
BEST BUY has several Black Series helmets on sale for $70.
Here a link for the Bo Katan...
Here a link for the Bo Katan...
Those Black Series sabers are at a whopping discount as well, but also matched by Amazon
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My Axe showed up today. Owning a bunch of variations of BS helmets I already knew what to expect. The color in person, idk what it is about it but I love it. Super happy to add it to the collection!
Do you have the prototype white boba helmet?
Does this being back memories!!!
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