My Blue Leader helmet arrived today and I'm disappointed.
I had to pull up some old prototype photos because as soon as I held the unit, things seemed off and felt a bit cheap...
First thing I noticed was the interior:
- "Wasn't the inside quilted?"
- "The earcups were different?"
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I understand things change in production (I see the prototype note in the original) but the final product is a let down. It's a basic velcro compatible soft padded fabric and the adjustable pads are basic (two small squares for the sides/back and a circular one for the top. The lining does not cover the mounting hardware used to attach the visor
As for the earcups, there is a different stitch pattern and the pleather is different. No real complaints there.
The base paint and deco application is pretty good. Some of the decals used have scratches and weathering printed into them versus being die cut or actually scratched out. This wouldn't be so bad if the white in the stickers and the white in the helmet plastic were closer but they're a shade or two off. It'll pass the 10 foot test but it starts to pop a bit more as you get closer.. There are however some actual scratches in my helmet. At first this threw me off given what I saw with the stickers and some of the paint application but it's a nice touch.
The weathering is alright. The under part of the mohawk, when looking from the bottom, has almost no yellow paint visible on my unit. (I'm tempted to try and fix it on my own). There are a few spots where it looks like just a wet brush was run across it. Other areas are better and appear to be dry brushed. Given the gloss of the base paint, the matte paint weathering stands out nicely.
The Microphone bendy arm is very flimsy. You can blow on it and shakes/moves a fair amount. I was hoping for something a bit stiffer.
My chin strap is is covered in little black dots versus strokes of weathering paint. It's clearly cut from a large vacuform piece of plastic and the edges are a tad sharp. If this was just sold as a shelf/display piece, fine, but this was sold as wearable. Hitting the edges with a sander would have been nice. This is all fixable but is disappointing none the less.
The shipping box and packaging are fine. If you're someone who likes to display boxes or maybe ordered several units to sell, you'll need to get creative as its just a brown box. The paper inserts inside are nice but nothing to gawk over.
As I'm sure you can tell from my general tone, I'm not pleased with this helmet. I don't own any of the older Anovos X-Wing helmets to compare this to but I do have their storm trooper kit, First Order storm trooper helmet, droid caller and a few other things I'm likely forgetting. All of those items felt a bit more substantial than this. Yes I get that this is ABS vacuum formed like the original prop but it feels rather thin. Plastic a hair thicker would have been nice or some internal structure. While my unit had a "QC Passed" sticker on it, the screws securing the visor are very loose. None of this in my mind adds up to a $600 product nor does it add up to the nearly $400 I paid nearly 5 years ago. Unless you're getting a good deal, or have cash to burn, I can't recommend it.
www.denuonovo.com
