ggriffaw

Offering a kit helmet or assembled helmet would have complicated the packaging and order fulfillment if they were both packed with the armor or increased shipping costs if the helmet was shipped separate from the armor. I would have preferred the helmet to be a separate package even though it would have cost a little more. Plenty of people wanted the assembled helmet and plenty of others wanted the kit.

You could also order a helmet kit if adjusting the assembled one is difficult. The Tested helmet build video made it sound like trial and error to get the faceplate lined up. I wish they would have had an option to get the helmet kit with the armor kit.

Even the December email update was postponed because it wasn't approved in time. I can't imagine how bad the scrutiny is for actual product before they are allowed to release it.<br><br> Some of the people are complaining about things that aren't really very late if at all. I guess they didn't read the minimum lead time before ordering. Some items certainly are well beyond the minimum lead time.<br><br> Keep in mind it might still take a while to receive an item after shipping starts if you are down in the ordering sequence.

Even the December email update was postponed because it wasn't approved in time. I can't imagine how bad the scrutiny is for actual product before they are allowed to release it.<br><br> Some of the people are complaining about things that aren't really very late if at all. I guess they didn't read the minimum lead time before ordering. Some items certainly are well beyond the minimum lead time.<br><br> Keep in mind it might still take a while to receive an item after shipping starts if you are down in the ordering sequence.

It is likely some people will decide to sell their kits after receiving them. Some may be trying to make a profit, others may decide the build is too intimidating, others may not like the kit.

The lens difference makes sense. The difference in the frown still seems odd. The idea that the stunt needed a larger frown because of the distance may be an explanation, but that certainly doesn't fit with how they used the stunt helmets. Other than the lenses, I can't think of anything that actually makes the stunt version better for stunts. Things like weapons are way more obvious. The stunt version of weapons frequently look really bad up close. Ironically, someone would probably be rejected for 501st approval if they tried to use most screen used stunt items. They generally aren't meant to be seen up close. The arguments about the number of rivets on the holster seem a little odd. I understand the ones with two rivets generally went with stunt armor and the ones with four rivets generally went with hero armor, but it appears they didn't always keep them as complete distinct sets of armor during filming. The film makers didn't seem to care what combination appeared on screen, but people trying to make screen accurate armor do care.

I have also been looking into Imperial Officer uniforms. The impression I get on their forums is they sometimes go against screen used accuracy for consistency. The rank bars are an example. The classic Stormtrooper approach seems much more screen accuracy focus even if the accuracy doesn't make sense in the Star Wars universe. An example is the distinction between stunt and hero armor. The empire would not have issued armor with those slight differences as distinct uniforms. I never understood why they sculpted a slightly different helmet for the hero costumes. It doesn't appear to be better built, it's just a slightly different design. Usually stunt props are cheaper, more practical for stunts, or some other advantage but I can't think of any advantages to using the stunt vs hero stormtrooper costumes during filming.

The prototype pictures most likely are not the Anovos kit at all. That is a legitimate concern with how they are handling the orders. It is very difficult to know what you will get since the actual product isn't pictured and some people want to know specific details of the product before ordering. I would have preferred that they added more photos of the actual product like some of the photos they had in the newsletter updates. I wonder if the Shadowtrooper armor from the Tested YouTube video is the Anovos design.

Does anyone know why some posts show the <br> tags and others don't? I'm posting through Chrome on Android.

I think this comes down to some people wanting replicas of the screen used props and others wanting replicas of what the screen used prop was meant to represent. The screen used props had bumps and blemishes because they only needed something good enough to get the shots. Quality of the props in the 70s and early 80s was less critical than it is now with much higher resolution images.<br><br> The empire would not have issued armor with all of the bumps and blemishes the props had.<br><br> I prefer replicas of what the props were intended to represent not what the actual prop looked like.<br><br> It is interesting to see how bad some of the actual props look in person, but that isn't what I want to display.