My initial thoughts:
When you first open the box, and lift the styrofoam cover, and look at the helmet. It's dark and drab. The weathering looks nasty. I kinda got a sinking feeling. But as soon as I put this next to a good light source, it came alive.
This pic really shows how good it can look.
But where are you going to display this? For me? It's in my office - and it's not next to a window. So it's back to looking pretty dark.
My mohawk lines are not wonky. Took a pic with my iPhone, but nothing interesting to see. They're look like a movie prop.
It's small. Smaller than my MDF Fett helmet. Much more narrow. I can imagine it'd feel somewhat claustrophobic in there. LOL
Not a big fan of the weathering on the cheeks - but in a dark room - it's literally not noticeable. ...but that's because the helmet is pretty dark.
This thing craves light, and I'm going to have to clear a spot next to my office window so it can look it's best. My biggest fear are my kids. They're 6 and 8, and they'll want to play with it. So for now, it stays up, and out of their reach.
***One bit that annoys me more any another with my cast. Left mandible droops about 1/4" lower than the right.
Which isn't a trait on the screen used helmets. But it's only noticeable when you're up close. From a view distancing - 6-8 ft. Not nearly as much.
The cast is light, but solid and feels sturdy. Very much like my Vader TM ESB. It's definitely lighter than my MDF Fett.
My visor is a bit scuffed up. but Meh. Almost impossible to notice in good light or bad light. You really need to reflect light off the visor to notice.
The overall feel of it though? Is it perfect? No. Definitely not. But it's freaking cool. And it's lineage goes back to the production molds - likely with some mods for sure. But the lineage is unquestionable - which is double cool.
The more I looked at the helmet, the more the mandible issue irritated me. Bryon has agree to exchange my helmet - saying that's not accurate. They can probably fix it - but I don't want to touch it, as then it's entirely non-returnable if I muck it up. I get to hold on to this for week, then ship out next Tuesday or Wednesday.
