Not specifically a toy, but certainly vintage, I thought you all would enjoy seeing a rare public limelight
of some very cool Darth Vader pieces:



This helmet was originally created in 1991 for the George Lucas Superlive Adventure, then went on to be featured in the
first MGM/Star Wars Weekends, and ultimately in rotation at Disney Hollywood, before being retired a little after 2000.
It is absolutely amazing that it not only survived, but considering it served triple duty as a prop in nearly unheard of.
I was also fortunate enough to find the matching chest and shoulder armor from the hero/promotional pics that were
published for the Episode 1 material



(notably - this armor is specific to this helmet. It is much narrower than the regular armor by nearly 2" on each side, which
can be seen in both pictures.

I have a full write up on my site, with additional details here:
http://www.sithtoys.com/PropHelmet1.html

That's awesome! Thanks for sharing

Do not understand, why the link to this this thread was spammed by darthberizing to my private e-mail... Money?

Jakub

Very cool additions, Mr. McBride!
Nice write up, too!

Bill, thats pretty awesome. Thanks for sharing

starwarsaw wrote:

Do not understand, why the link to this this thread was spammed by darthberizing to my private e-mail... Money?

Jakub

Harsh!

Or maybe the humor was just lost in translation!?

hmmmm i just replied to this post and it's not appeared so i'll try again the email went straight to my spam box also,i don't know why,but i think all the emails i get from tig telling me about new posts go straight to spam still thats an awesome piece bill congrats on getting such a piece its a great centerpiece for any sw collection let alone a darth vader collection.thanks for showing the pics i must say the pic of darth maul and darth vader looks like maul had just cracked a joke and vader is laughing

daren

Very cool Bill.

Dear Bill. I hate you. That is all.




Man what a kick-ass addition.


Also, I know there's a racist joke in there somewhere about it being made for the Japanese Super Live Adventure and the shoulders being narrower. But I'm not.....sure....where.....

DarthTad wrote:

Dear Bill. I hate you. That is all.
Man what a kick-ass addition.
Also, I know there's a racist joke in there somewhere about it being made for the Japanese Super Live Adventure and the shoulders being narrower. But I'm not.....sure....where.....

Thanks Tad LOL

The shoulder and chest armor are from Disney Hollywood, and not SLA production. From what I have heard, the SLA costumes (and armor) were so heavily modified by the Feld production/prop dept. that really none of it was deemed usable by MGM. There is an article in one of the older SW Insiders that mentions specifically that GL himself saw and approved the costumes, so I'm not sure what happened along the way.
The extra cut outs and screens on the Vader helmet were typical of what was done with the other armor pieces, so on stage no one would have seen these details. (especially on the Stormtrooper suits). The main difference with the Vader being that it was made from hand laid fiberglass vs the thinner, vacumformed pieces for the other characters.

Jakub - I spoke directly with DB about sharing this piece here, so that is the reason for the email. Unless you are connected with me personally on FB (or when I finally get around to posting updates on my site ), this is the only public venue that I'm posting this to. I have decided to no longer share pics or pieces from my collection to any forum or site, other than my own. (So, no money involved, but I'm thinking about putting
a Paypal button for donations on my site ) LOL

Bill

Fantastic Stuff Mate Awesome!

And finally the world gets to see your new GRAIL Bill : )
I can only say WOW! What a fantastic piece of history to add to your already amazing Vader collection. GREAT job and thanks for sharing as I know how everyone really appreciates what you have put together.
I do have one question that I didn't ask you originally when you sent me photos, but did you put the helmet on before setting it up for display???? : ) Come on, you can tell us if you did : )
-Steve

Bill - Thanks for sharing this here. I'm the first to admit I'd be walking around the house in it LOL

What amazes me is that these props and such make it to collectors. You imagine a Disney not even letting this go into the secondary market so that alone is impressive.

As an aside is anyone gets these announcements sent to spam it's because the email is blinded to everyone (your name isn't in the "To" line) so Email assumes the worst. Just mark the sender as okay and you'll be fine. As for money, the site generates zero revenue.

Again Bill congrats and thanks for sharing!!!

Thanks again everyone I think that is the #1 question/statement I get DB
Not that it hasn't crossed my mind, but these aren't made to put on without a team
effort. The interior of the helmet also has some of the original base padding and other
details from the SLA era, so it's certainly going to be preserved as-is.

If you think about these items in the context of some prototype toys, they are exactly
the same. They are made for function first, and are considered disposable. What doesn't
get appreciated is the singular craftsmanship, and artistry that is required to make these
types of items. Even a side by side comparison with a high end replica 1:1 scale helmet,
these are just on a different plane. It's something that is hard to describe, but it just has
a certain "feeling" to it.

Bill

Wow, that's an amazing acquisition Bill! It blows my mind that this armour and helmet are in such good condition considering how much they were used. Congrats!

Great, thanks for the info!

Hey Bill, wanna trade with me ? I've got one with a voice-changer! And it's MIB !

Awesome piece! I'm sooo jealous

What a grail piece, Bill!!!

Thanks for sharing here at TIG.

LOL at the picture.



Darth Maul appears small and insignificant compared to the true Dark Lord. Almost reflecting how the Prequels compare to the Original Trilogy.

JesseVader08 wrote:

Wow, that's an amazing acquisition Bill! It blows my mind that this armour and helmet are in such good condition considering how much they were used. Congrats!

Thanks again everyone !! That is another great point about these pieces - the degree of maintenance and upkeep that was required.
- The helmet, as it began life is the RotJ version, but with the addition of the screens, the bottom part of the helmet was
painted black to conceal these alterations. From the production pictures, the center gill/screen is very clear, but it's very
difficult to make out the two additional screens. As part of the rehab, and use for MGM/Disney the helmet was given a color
correct paint job, which you see now. The eye screens are also original, and if anyone has seen clips from the SLA production,
it's pretty easy to see why they chose to use the screen mash vs. the tinted eye lenses - the actor would haven't been able to
see anything. There is also a fair amount of action that takes place, so these were absolutely necessary. It certainly is a testament
to the craftsmanship that it has held up so long. There are some minor issues, but nothing I feel would warrant any sort of restoration
or modification. it's also quite possible this could be one of the few major prop pieces in existence from the SLA (Feld Productions)
still remaining.

- The Disney armor was also maintained, and rehabbed by the Disney prop shop. The really cool thing about these pieces are that they made
from a military grade plastic, and thermformed from master castings. This process is still used today, but with my military background I
though it was great to see what type of plastic they used. Another cool feature about the chest armor is that each one if slightly
different to accommodate the different actors. So it's easier to think of them in terms of Small/Medium/Large. The specific armor I have
shown is a great example of the "small" size, but this was done to an extreme. It's narrower on both sides by about 2", and if you look
at how it's painted, the ends should have one silver bar on both sides, but this was cut down so much, the end stripe is black.

Needless to say, it's certainly one of my grails for a very long time. However the prop world requires a level of research and study that
really took me back once I started. I really had to educate myself about a lot of different areas of the hobby. Let's just say Google really
can be your best friend Still, I think from start to finish, even with my level of experience I think there is a total of 2 years spent just on
research.

Bill

Another notch on your Lightsaber hilt!

Interesting and cool acquisition That is some funkay looking armor and helmet to be sure.