Okay, here are the first of many series of pics documenting the receipt and modification of my Supreme Edition Vader Costume.
The costume came in yesterday from Collector's Warehouse (cwgift on ebay) at UPS and I went to pick it up late last night. I thought I would do up a picture series like many FFX owners do when they get their new FFX's. Like when they take a pic of the box it came in and the process of opening it.
The box was as big as I expected, but was surprised at the weight. I imagined it would weigh more than 15lbs
I opened up one end to see an oh-so wonderful sight of Vaders mask glaring back at me
After a bit of wrestling I was able to get the box free from its shipping carton. Now I was free to enjoy the Huge Vader Costume Box graphics
Just to show how LARGE this box is, I put my Luke ROTJ next to it for size comparison.
And now, as I open the box and glare inside, I realize I opened the "good" end with the Helmet first...YESSS!
Before I take out the Helmet, I look inside and see the belt resting to the side of it, so I pull it out first
And now for the Best...The Helmet of the Great Sith Lord himself. Yeah, I know. Not so imposing when its wrapped in plastic. Doesn't he know about the suffocation warning on those bags? Maybe that is why Vader needs a respirator
The rather bent out of shape cod piece.
The Shoulder/Chest Armor. The hinges of the shoulder bells will probably need to be redone. I have to figure out how I might do that.
The Shin Armor and Gloves. Each of the Gloves was stuffed inside of the shin armor
The "leather" undersuit and the inner-cape. The pic is actually the back of the undersuit. You can see the front in the next pic.
Here I pull out the outer-cape(right) and put it next to the inner-cape. And you can see the front of the undersuit with the chest box attached(covered in protective foam)
Wouldn't be complete without a pic of the "how to get dressed" instructions. There is no way you can get this costume on by yourself...unless your a master of contortion.
And now that I have it all unpacked. Here are some pics of details on the Helmet. I was really surprised with how shiny the helmet is. I was expecting a rather dull finish.
The Helmet does come with the "Breathing" sound device attached and ready to go. In this pic I wanted to show how Rubies opted to do the dual-tone on the Vader mask. Instead of using paint, they just changed the texture to reflect light differently, giving the look of the lighter Gunmetal coloring.
Some pics I took today out in the sun. I noticed when I got it outside that the Black plastic gave off a bit of a brown hue. That will hopefully be fixed when I paint it and get the correct blue hue.
Last night, before I went to bed I spent some time polishing the Helmet. I used Novus Plastic Polish #2 and then followed that up with Zaino Bros. Z-1/Z-2 combo. It came out even shinier.
I'm a little dissapointed that the Helmet has some deformity to it. Not only the neck flare, but the whole helmet seems to be twisted. And from what Ive researched, they are all like this due to the mold used. If you look at the "triangle" mouth you can see how it is lopsided
and a size comparison against my 1995 Don Post helmet
I am going to try to get the costume on tonight and get some pics with my Vader FFX's. Tomorrow or Sunday I will take some daytime pics in the costume and then the modding begins!!