Star Wars Darth Vader Customs

Update: some additional (mostly old) photos in Post 6 below.
Update: some additional (comparison) photos in Post 13 below.
Update: further kitbashing in THIS thread.

The only sixth-scale Darth Vader boxed set that I've ever purchased as such was Sideshow's Return of the Jedi Vader from 2014 (and not the deluxe version you can see HERE). That was a great set, and at the time seemed quite perfect. Sure, there were some minor areas where it could have been improved, and some of these have been addressed by Hot Toys' relentless string of Vader releases (two A New Hope versions, a Rogue One version, and now an Empire Strikes Back version). I wasn't about to spend the increasingly excessive sums to purchase more Vader boxed sets, but I put together a kitbash ANH Vader from Sideshow and HT elements and did some modifications to the body and the helmet/mask, including lining the inside of the translucent lenses with bare metal foil so that you can see the amber color when you focus strong light directly on them.

Now that they have released their ESB Vader, I picked up some of the parted out parts to kitbash one on the basis of a damaged ANH Vader figure I had stumbled upon for a remarkably low price some time ago, plus some more Sideshow pieces. By far the most important parts to achieve the different look were the helmet/mask and the chest box, although I did get another couple of pieces too, and several gloved hands (the patterns on the ANH and ESB/ROTJ gloves are different). Once again I modified the inside of the lenses so that you could get a reddish glint with the right light (although for some reason it is less obvious -- which is not a big problem, but somewhat disappointing). Most of this was done weeks ago, but I only got the illuminated chest box yesterday, so snapped a couple more photos before boxing things up. So here they are, side by side. Except for an additional part or two (unless I use the Sideshow ones), I feel that my ESB kitbash would work for ROTJ, too. (And please forgive the quality of the images -- black does not photograph very well, besides every speck of dust showing up.)







As you can see, the ESB Vader's armor is darker and shinier, as it should be based on the onscreen appearance. The helmet is redesigned not only to be removed from the mask so that you can see the damaged scalp underneath (sorry, I forgot to take photos of that), but also to sit a little differently, slightly tilted back. I noticed they altered the sculpt on the mask, making the "nose" shorter. I could have sworn they made a mistake, but I did manage to see what looks the same in at least one ESB scene, so I am guessing they got it right. (Of course, they could very well have used different helmets and masks in different shots in the film.)







The transparency and/or tint of the lenses appears to be different, and it is much harder for me to detect and photograph the reddish glint on the ESB Vader than the ANH one, even though I used the same process and materials. I am particularly proud of getting the figure to kneel -- sorta (keep in mind that is an older ANH 2 Vader body and outfit in there, not the one that comes with the ESB boxed set). I will be looking at ways of enhancing the articulation at some point in the future.







Unlike the ANH Vader, the ESB Vader's chest box is illuminated, and alternatively lights up different combinations of the little horizontal red lights. In both cases, this is film-accurate. The little container for the batteries is probably supposed to be attached to the chest box strap around the back of the figure, but I found it more convenient to let it hang loose in the back, so that I don't need to undo the belt to turn it on or off every time.

The last two photos show the mask before the modification, with backlighting to show the translucent amber lenses, and also the patterned inside of the mask (although it is not designed for you to see it). Speaking of which, removing and especially replacing the scalp was incredibly difficult. And yes, that is a Swiss Army Knife corkscrew drilled deep into Vader's scalp to assist in the process (no harm done, as that part is not visible when you put the top cap of the mask in place).

Hope you liked them.

Update: some additional (mostly old) photos in Post 6 below.
Update: some additional (comparison) photos in Post 13 below.
Update: further kitbashing in THIS thread.

#darthvader #starwars #anewhope #empirestrikesback #returnofthejedi #hottoys #sideshow #kitbash #custom

Well you know how much I love making custom Vaders!! Got 10 in 1/6 last count... planning on making a light up 'Final Battle' version of him with the Emperor scene at some point with translucent parts showing his skull, bones etc.. from the Force lightning effects. I sense the Dark Side is strong with you!

shovelchop81 wrote:Well you know how much I love making custom Vaders!! Got 10 in 1/6 last count... planning on making a light up 'Final Battle' version of him with the Emperor scene at some point with translucent parts showing his skull, bones etc.. from the Force lightning effects. I sense the Dark Side is strong with you!

Glad you share my passion for Star Wars. I can compete with you in neither numbers nor skills, but I figured I'd want to have the two most iconic looks covered in sixth scale. Hence, this new kitbash. What you describe as you next Vader project sounds very interesting. I think they tried to do that with the Hasbro 6 inch figures, using translucent plastic -- maybe just for the helmet and some other part or two.

Despite seemingly confirming the look in at least one scene, I still have some doubts about how spot on the ESB mask is. What do you think? Is the face too smooshed/flattened?

I do kinda like the "bad guys" in Star Wars because I have grave misgivings about the canonical goodness of the "good guys" and the matching doctrine. But whereas some people have been trying to make good sense of the supposedly "bad" actions of the bad guys, at this point I think it has more to do with dogmatic and facile/simplistic story-telling than anything else. I know it is supposed to be a children's story... But what a story it is! As for the Force, I say enough with all that Light Side and Dark Side silliness... the Force is grey, and so are its users on "both sides."

I agree with the whole Grey Force idea and that tends to cover my enjoyment of SW, don't over analyse it and just in enjoy it. The same goes for for film specific tiny costume details, make a Vader as a Vader not as a slave to costume inconsistencies due solely to budget and technological reasons of the film maker's situation and irrelevant to the story or film itself. A long winded way of me saying it shouldn't really matter as long as it looks like Vader's movie helmet opposed graphic novel or animation incarnations.

Thanks for sharing GF, the two look absolutely fabulous! Great choice to go anh and esb, my favorites as well, I so love vader with his two tie pilots at the end of anh, and when he enters the rebel facility on Hoth with snowtroopers... I must admit the ending scene in rogue one was a great vader moment as well!

@shovelshop since I'm a star wars geek as well I'd be curious to see your 6 vaders! As I started collecting plenty of license in 1/6 I promised myself to stay away from star wars figures at that scale to save my wallet (I went with the blackseries 6" figures that are getting better n better)

shovelchop81 wrote:I agree with the whole Grey Force idea and that tends to cover my enjoyment of SW, don't over analyse it and just in enjoy it. The same goes for for film specific tiny costume details, make a Vader as a Vader not as a slave to costume inconsistencies due solely to budget and technological reasons of the film maker's situation and irrelevant to the story or film itself. A long winded way of me saying it shouldn't really matter as long as it looks like Vader's movie helmet opposed graphic novel or animation incarnations.

I agree, for the most part I wouldn't worry about getting every tiny detail at any cost. But it is cool when it is an attainable goal. In this case, there really are just two looks: ANH (and RO), and ESB (and ROTJ); anything beyond that is incidental (or accidental). Vader is Vader, and as long as we have that covered, we're good. I'm actually a bit more interested in the variations of officer and trooper uniforms, though I am not sure why (variety?). At any rate, like blackpool, I'd love to see your many Vaders sometime.

blackpool wrote:Thanks for sharing GF, the two look absolutely fabulous! Great choice to go anh and esb, my favorites as well, I so love Vader with his two tie pilots at the end of anh, and when he enters the rebel facility on Hoth with snowtroopers... I must admit the ending scene in rogue one was a great Vader moment as well!

It just struck me what kind of lame joke Vader would crack if he heard you calling him absolutely fabulous! But thank you very much! And you do mention some very iconic scenes. So here are a few old ones from various reviews and experiments with my ANH Vader (except for the last one, with the Royal Guards, which is of the ESB Vader before I had completed the kitbash -- notice how you can't see the chest box)...

Excellent Vaders...both of them.

I will admit to liking the look of the ESB version a little bit more, but can't really put my finger on why...

dadrab wrote:Excellent Vaders...both of them. I will admit to liking the look of the ESB version a little bit more, but can't really put my finger on why...

Thank you very much, dadrab. Perhaps because he's shinier and has more and blinking lights?

Thanks for directing me to this thread, GF. I'm sorry I missed it as I wasn't around when it was first posted. 

I love both your custom Vaders, you did a great job with them!  They both look the part for their respective films, and I appreciate your addition of the coloured 'glint' behind his eye visors. While I'm still waiting hopefully for a Hot Toys RotJ Vader, you've got me thinking that going the custom route for an earlier Vader might be an actual possibility. 

Since I want to do a pre-ANH kitbash, the outfit obviously needs to be the 'tunic-over-the-armour' style, but when it come to the helmet, I'm still rather undecided which one to go with. Guess it will just depend on what is available at this point. :/ 

Did you use an HT tunic and cloak on the Sideshow figure to make the ANH Vader? The robes on the old Sideshow Vaders where always some of the weakest aspects, I thought. 

Speaking of which, this is so random, but do you know if there's ever been an official and/or custom 1/6 Vader cloak with wiring in it? I'd love to do some super dramatic scenes with his cloak billowing, but I only seem to see wired cloaks in 1/12, for some reason...

Well, I was around, and somehow I missed this. Really cool shots and bashes of your Vaders. And thanks for the link to Michael’s deluxe Vader review — I’ve been holding out for HT to do that one, but I think SS did a good job with that one (scary how that was $250 back then and came with all that stuff — now it would probably be $350-400).

Some cool mods, I like ESB Vader more and the reason why is the chest box and belt, It looks far more interesting to me, the helmet is nice too specially the "nose" part since its smooth while the ANH one has that little line/reinforcement there.

Oh, I meant to also ask GF if there were major differences between the regular Sideshow RotJ Vader and the Deluxe version, other than the extra accessories?

Thank you all for the comments. Since this started with Sky asking me a question about the Vader sets, I took some more photos today; they appear at the end of the post.

Sky, I don't believe there is any difference between the regular and Deluxe Sideshow ROTJ Vader other than the extra accessories (sliced up hand/glove). There is, however, a difference between that Sideshow Vader and an earlier version Sideshow did (for ANH?) which looks positively awkward by comparison. The good Sideshow version is known as "version 2". I thought there might be a third, but I don't think that's right.

HT did an ANH Vader with strange contraptions to allow for theoretical wrist articulation (the vambrace part of the gloves had to be attached with velcro to the backs of the hand part), and the helmet sat too high on the head. There were ways to ameliorate that with some modifications, but it was a pain. A second ANH version came out in a two-pack with Tarkin and possibly as a stand alone set as well, replacing the first. The helmet was better fitted on that one and the gloves were now single molded pieces of plastic. Yes, you lost some articulation (though you could still rotate them around their axis), but the look was much better. This was essentially the same as the Rogue One version of Vader HT produced at about the same time, though that might have been less weathered and shinier in finish than the ANH versions.

I did my customs long enough ago to forget exactly what is what at this point (and they have changed gradually -- ANH Vader was much more Sideshow when I started with him). The Sideshow body is a little too tall; the helmet is too thin and the flare part doesn't reach down far enough. The ribbing on the body suit on the Sideshow version is not very pronounced, and the material is thin and tends to crease in unsightly ways on the figure. He is not too stable on his feet. Otherwise he is  great and comes with a ton of accessories -- even the non-deluxe version.

I didn't feel I could justify getting another Vader set, least of all at HT prices which were already getting insufferable. So I reconstituted the HT ANH and ESB Vaders with the minimum of parted out parts I decided I needed (over time, however, I got more, so perhaps getting one of those sets, would have been the more sensible thing to do; however, the very first set was the worst of the HT Vader releases).  

Given that I was rebuilding these piece by piece, I made some improvements. After some experimenting, I had to settle for using the HT body. The HT body suit has the better ribbing/quilting; the earlier versions had it in one piece, the later in two. If you are customizing and have the option, go for the two-piece (top and pants), it helps the articulation. If you are reconstituting the figure, skip any of the underlying padding -- it is almost worthless and gets in the way of posing; if you are not rebuilding the figure, you might still consider removing it. I cut some indents on the side of the body under the armpits to help the figure lower its arms more closely to the body. I think this trick came from Jazz Inc. I would recommend going for the molded gloved hands if you can (horizontal ribbing for ANH and RO, vertical for ESB and ROTJ). I settled for the HT boots, but the Sideshow ones had the better and shinier greaves (shin guards), so on the ANH figure I got rid of the HT greaves (they attach via velcro to the underlying boot), ripped off some Sideshow greaves (from their rubbery attachments), and rigged them up to attach to the HT boots like the HT parts did. By the looks of it, I did not repeat the process with the ESB version (if you look on the photo, you would see they look a little shorter), perhaps because they were already shinier in the box. In both the ANH and ESB versions I used the Sideshow shoulder protector, which allows better articulation. Eventually I settled on the HT versions of the cape, inner tunic (neither of them are wired; while I prefer the darkness of the Sideshow pieces, the draping and heft of the HT ones was better, plus the tunic is pleated -- you can put it either over or under the shoulder guard, as you choose), codpiece, belt, and control box.

The most complex but also probably most subtle modification was in the helmet, for both the ANH and ESB versions. For ANH, one had to dislodge the helmet from the skull mask, then force the front and back halves of that to become unglued, preferably without breaking the little pegs that helped hold them together. Then I lined the inside of the lenses with silverish (chrome?) bare metal foil to help reveal the reddish glint in the lenses (which are transparent amber); unless the light strikes it directly, it still looks quite black. Then I reassembled the head. This was another trick from Jazz Inc. I repeated the process with the ESB helmet. Here the helmet part was designed to come off (so that you could see Vader's skull-like back of the head), which helped considerably. The disk over the top of the head was easy to pry off (and later glue back on). Then came the hard part. To dislodge the partial (back of the) head sculpt, I had to heat it up, and put a corkscrew (from my Swiss Army knife) into it, and yank it out with considerable force (not to worry, you don't see the pierced part of Vader's head, and who's to say what Obi-Wan didn't do to him on Mustaffar!?). Then I lined the inside of the lenses with bare metal foil as before. Putting back the partial head seemed practically impossible, so I helped it by slicing off a bit or each concealed side (but taking care to do it where it won't show).

Because of their relatively great height and their heavy (even if plastic) helmets, all these Vaders have a high center of gravity and are tempted to succumb to the Dark Side... errr, well, gravity. Normally that would not be a big problem, unless they are plunging into a Lucasfilm abyss onto a hard floor. However, even if they fall onto the very surface they stand on, if they fall flat on their face (which they are prone to do), they will break one or both of the little tusks on the bottom of the face mask; worse, there is a very good chance that if that happens you won't be able to track down the tiny pieces. I cannot stress this enough: use a stand, perhaps even one that grabs Vader around the waist, and deploy legions of soft foam pieces (or the like) around him, whenever you let him stand unaided.

In the photos, note again that the HT Vaders are reconstituted and modified (hence, marked with *). And sorry about the quality, I can't photograph black well (although I did do a little bit of movie-accurate subtle coloring on the ANH mask).









Hope this has been useful.

GubernatorFan wrote:Sky, I don't believe there is any difference between the regular and Deluxe Sideshow ROTJ Vader other than the extra accessories (sliced up hand/glove). There is, however, a difference between that Sideshow Vader and an earlier version Sideshow did (for ANH?) which looks positively awkward by comparison. The good Sideshow version is known as "version 2". 

Ah, now I see where my confusion has been -- I kept seeing that rather odd looking older 'Lords of the Sith' Vader, the 'regular' RotJ Vader, and then the Deluxe RotJ Vader, and getting somewhat confused. Mainly because the prices on ebay for all of those were all over the place, and the photos of them seemed so as well... was hard to tell what was worth getting. Thanks for clearing that up -- makes sense now. ;D  I just spent ages watching old youtube reviews, and the Sideshow RotJ Vader does look surprisingly better than I'd expect. Not perfect of course, and the issues you noted with his suit having unsightly creases was something that I think initially put me off it a bit as well. 

Love the portrait pics that show all of your different versions. They look excellent, and it seems like you combined the best possible parts that you could to create the two customs. That's good advice about the padding, and it makes sense that the Sideshow shoulder armour allows for more articulation -- it sounds very similar to how they did the shoulder armour on the Clone Wars Anakin, as well. 

What I might be able to kitbash from all this will greatly depend on what is still currently available, which is probably not a lot compared to a couple of years ago. You've given me a huge amount of details which have been immensely helpful though, and cleared up some confusion about the different SS and HT versions, most of which I knew very little about since I 'missed' almost all of them. I hadn't even realized they'd made a Rogue One Vader until a day or two ago when I happened upon it randomly, and then I was kicking myself when I saw the current price of it. 

I have a specific aim in mind with what I'd want to do with this figure, though as always I'm being somewhat coy since I don't want to commit myself to a 'bash or raise expectations before I know I can definitely complete it. ;P

You are very welcome, I'm glad this has been helpful.

The Sideshow Vader is an excellent set, and until HT improved some of the proportions I didn't think it were possible to make a better one. Although HT has given us some more interesting bases (like the Bespin one for ESB -- although Sideshow's light up imperial crest base is very cool, reminiscent of a cross between the carbonite and hologram chambers), as a set it is arguably more impressive than anything that has been made since. By the way, another complaint some have had (like Michael) is that between the body and clothing on the one hand, and the flaring open ends of the gloves on the other, Sideshow's Vader seems to have overly skinny arms.

For your purposes, Rogue One Vader might be the best fit. And if my intuition is correct, you might have a better chance of getting one, and getting one at a less outrageous price than otherwise (whether as a set or in parts). But if you reconstitute, do yourself a favor, and get the HT body and shoes and head (or the opposite), because mixing and matching these can lead to exceedingly annoying complications: I speak from experience.

I've just looked at the prices on eBay and they are infernal. You might be better off kitbashing. Curiously, this Sideshow Vader (version 2) is being sold as Hot Toys ROTJ Vader... at this link

GubernatorFan wrote:I've just looked at the prices on eBay and they are infernal. You might be better off kitbashing. Curiously, this Sideshow Vader (version 2) is being sold as  Hot Toys ROTJ Vader... at this link

Yes... I almost cried in despair, lol. I couldn't believe how expensive the Rogue One Vader was. 

And ha... I guess some people just stick 'Hot Toys' onto their listings to get more hits. ;p

Nice analysis and breakdown, Ian. Now I see why so many people complain about Vader being inaccurate, but I honestly am not that picky. I applaud your dedication to making him/them as perfect as possible. I don’t have even one Vader, yet, as I’m waiting — perhaps foolishly — for HT to make ROTJ Vader with face reveal of the “real” Annakin (sorry sky) — but to say I’m worried the price is going to be around $400 when it finally does arrive is an understatement. Maybe, if I’m lucky, if/when they do announce, I’ll be able to snag a SS Deluxe ROTJ Vader for a reasonable price. I guess it depends on how good the HT version looks.

Stryker2011 wrote:Nice analysis and breakdown, Ian. Now I see why so many people complain about Vader being inaccurate, but I honestly am not that picky. I applaud your dedication to making him/them as perfect as possible. I don’t have even one Vader, yet, as I’m waiting — perhaps foolishly — for HT to make ROTJ Vader with face reveal of the “real” Annakin (sorry sky) — but to say I’m worried the price is going to be around $400 when it finally does arrive is an understatement. Maybe, if I’m lucky, if/when they do announce, I’ll be able to snag a SS Deluxe ROTJ Vader for a reasonable price. I guess it depends on how good the HT version looks.

No need to apologize, Stryker -- I'm waiting for the exact same version! :') When I say I am a huge Anakin fan, I am always including the original Sebastian Shaw Anakin, as well. When I was a little kid, one fateful night I snuck downstairs while my dad was watching Return of the Jedi, and it just so happened to be toward the end -- the moment when Luke removes Vader’s mask. My reaction was part horror, part sadness, and part awe...but I was not afraid. Rather, I wondered 'who is this poor guy and what happened to him??' I had instant empathy for the pitiful creature before me. That was my very first introduction to Star Wars, and forms the heart of my interest in and understanding of the story to this day. 

So yeah, RotJ Vader is one of my grail figures, for sure. 

skywalkersaga wrote:

Stryker2011 wrote:Nice analysis and breakdown, Ian. Now I see why so many people complain about Vader being inaccurate, but I honestly am not that picky. I applaud your dedication to making him/them as perfect as possible. I don’t have even one Vader, yet, as I’m waiting — perhaps foolishly — for HT to make ROTJ Vader with face reveal of the “real” Annakin (sorry sky) — but to say I’m worried the price is going to be around $400 when it finally does arrive is an understatement. Maybe, if I’m lucky, if/when they do announce, I’ll be able to snag a SS Deluxe ROTJ Vader for a reasonable price. I guess it depends on how good the HT version looks.

No need to apologize, Stryker -- I'm waiting for the exact same version! :') When I say I am a huge Anakin fan, I am always including the original Sebastian Shaw Anakin, as well. When I was a little kid, one fateful night I snuck downstairs while my dad was watching Return of the Jedi, and it just so happened to be toward the end -- the moment when Luke removes Vader’s mask. My reaction was part horror, part sadness, and part awe...but I was not afraid. Rather, I wondered 'who is this poor guy and what happened to him??' I had instant empathy for the pitiful creature before me. That was my very first introduction to Star Wars, and forms the heart of my interest in and understanding of the story to this day. 

So yeah, RotJ Vader is one of my grail figures, for sure. 

That is one cool anecdote! Maybe you wouldn't be there if little You didn't take the risk that night!

Don't remember what I thought when I saw him like that first. My Star Wars introduction where four PEZ-Dispensers with the faces of Stormtrooper, C3PO, Chewie and Darth. I thought C3PO was the warrior hero type, Chewie a monster villian and Darth some evil robot dude. Not sure how I saw the stormtrooper, some robot.
I drew a lot of pictures of them until I saw the first movie, not knowing what all of this was about.

The only differences I knew between the film Vaders: The helmet is shiny in part two!
Seeing three of them together makes me think that somewhere there must be/must have been a child that thougt Vaders were the grunts and the Stormtrooper was the Evil Lord of all Evilness. Or the good guy.

LOL, Ovy, that's so cute about the pez dispensers. It is indeed funny how our child-minds perceive things. C-3p0 as a heroic warrior figure is just a precious mental image. ;D

And yeah.... I may not have realized it fully at the time, but stumbling in on that scene seems to have had quite a deep and lasting effect on my psyche. :'D

Very cool that you have so many versions of Darth! I'm not sure which one I like the best, they all look so good. I really like the set up pics you have done with the other figures too! They look amazing!

BAMComix wrote:Very cool that you have so many versions of Darth! I'm not sure which one I like the best, they all look so good. I really like the set up pics you have done with the other figures too! They look amazing!

Thank you very much. They do look good, but I believe I have made them look just a little better, more specifically by continuing to tinker with the ESB version. Take a look at this thread, if you're interested -- and thank you for inadvertently reminding me to link the two threads:
https://onesixthfigures.forumotion.com/t2918-star-wars-new-customizing-hot-toys-esb-vader-head