TK8114

Ehh, I think it just has to do with the fact that no matter what CG still looks CG. Its got little to do with missing the character of hand made helmets and more to do with the fact that the technology is still not completely there to make it completely life like.

That is what I said.

for under armour you want compression fit. You;ll have a hell of a time finding knock off brand stuff at kmart or wallyworld (Or target) until they start stocking up more for fall and winter. I gave up and broke down and picked up the UA stuff and had a hell of a time finding the right Heat Gear pants.

Its not a mistake, you're right but its still a flaw. The assymmetrical nature of the helmets is due to the fact that they're hand made film props made 30 years ago. Its impossible for them to be perfect, especially when you step back and look at it and realize almost nobody will ever notice anyways and really before ANH was made nobody though anyone would care.

For a neat read if you can find it, check out the Magic and the Myth. Theres a lot of costume pictures and it goes into a lot of detail on the origins of lots of the ideas and characters of Star Wars.

Yeah I saw that, but IMHO that shows a large difference between the ideology of the organizations of the republic vs the empire. The clones are more individual even though they're clones and what not, the Imperials are all about order and lack of individuality even though they're at least mostly normal humans. Look throughout the OT, in general the Troopers are more or less all spotless (again obviously disregarding sandys), even in the jungles of Endor when realistically they should be scratches and foliage stains from head to toe from trooping in a dense jungle, but they're not because it doesn't thematically represent the Empire. Its not realistic, but its not supposed to be its a movie. Then you look at the clones and they're banged up and dirty like thirty seconds into the battle of Geonosis. Its all there for a reason. The TKs are stark and pristine in a worn and dirty universe to show the sheer strictness of the Imperial Order under Palpatine, its to show his tight fist and to show the difference of his oppression on the normal people of the galaxy. But thats all symbolism whose only real place in this discussion is that its the symbolisms of Star Wars that I choose to pay tribute to in my armor. Its part of what I love about the universe and this time frame of the saga.

And I'm one of the few whose favorite is Jedi. Not because its the most solid movie, just because I was just old enough to be able to see it in the theaters and remember it. It quite literally guided my life and has been a part of me since.

Well I guess it depends on what you're going for. If you want something that is a prop replica, then of course the "warts and all" approach is definitely the way to go. If you want something that "is" a stormtrooper, then idealized is more the route to go. Outside of TD's, imperial equipment is supposed to be ideally pretty pristine and orderly and really nowhere is that more evident than Stormtrooper armor (than maybe those spotless Death Star corridors), in comparison to the dirty, beat up Rebels. Granted with new HD tech and what not, that illusion has been pretty destroyed. You can now pretty easily see every single scratch, dent, and paint chip for most every single trooper in the movie. I personally, find it interesting that some people actually build several different helmets to match the individuality of the flaws in different troopers (not to bash that, to each his own), but to me that goes against the idea that stormtroopers are not supposed to have that individuality. I realize that likely brings character to a piece for the accurate crowd and I can definitely appreciate it. Personally, I prefer the stormtrooper intended to be portrayed because thats what I see as a stormtrooper in my head, and that's the illusion I personally want to keep with my armor. I want my armor as flawless as I can make it, and hopefully keep it, considering I'm new at all this I don't expect much but I at least want its flaws to be my handiwork rather than replicating those of someone else.

I agree to a point. I think that the prequels were hurt mostly because it was George Lucas ran rampant and with his full attention as well. Remember that when the other two of the OT were made, Lucas was busy setting up his own empire in ILM, THX, etc as well. Now I think its a problem with him having really nothing else to do and nobody with the cajhones to say, "hey George, thats a bad idea." And the fact that he may be a visionary film director, but he sucks as a writer.

I'm in the idealistic side myself. Having seen screen used costumes (ANH Vader always sticks in my mind since seeing it on the Magic & Myth tour) and how fake these things can look in real life compared to how they look on the screen is just disheartening to me. Personally, I like a balance between the two by being as detailed as possible but without the "flaws".

FYI Walmart is getting a blue 501st one.

Yup thats what most of us use. Although if you're just using this on the inside of your helmet, you can get it in smaller lengths. But you definately want the industrial, it has stronger glue that hold up to high temperatures. You can also get it at just about any hardware store, walmart, micheal's etc so it should be easy to track some down.

Its Rubies. Rubies = crap.

SUPER Walmart! not that that helps.

I believe you're thinking of the Japanese Stunt Show TKs.

If you actually go to their catalog they come in all black. Just FYI

I have an idea to crack open the binaries. I'm going to give it a try.

Another option would be to do a bit torrent of them...

it would be a neat project, thats for sure. I know there are high res pictures and links to them all over the boards here and I've got the Making Magic disc enroute from Runriott to attempt to break it open and pull the reference photos out of it as well or at least take screen grabs. I think it would be beneficial to the community to get those all in once place though for our use.

YIKES. Get better man.

at least unlike kleenex and the such, its name at least makes sense.

For the record that first video shouldn't be cannon, thats just a tech demo. Not to say those troopers haven't made it into the game itself though...

So we are adopting them then?

Yeah I would think you were insane if you had. Speaking of Shadows, have you guys seen the exclusive shadow trooper mighty mugg? normally I hate those things, but i know a smart design when I see one. ------------

I wouldn't really take what weapon they have in the package as canon. Remember they're just redecos, they probably didn't even think that far ahead. Also are those collector sets actually out? Those weapons could change between the mock ups and release especially seeing how long its taken for the individual figures to make it to market. They probably won't, but its possible.