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Vader Helmet Comparisons

Thomas has put these montage shots together as a comparison chart of the different Screen-Used and fan-made Vader Helmet's

Top row
ANH movie shot, JB ANH, ROTJ movie prop, Original ANH 1977 Tour Helmet?, ESB movie shot 
Bottom row GH ROTJ, 20th Century, KL DP deluxe helmet, KL's old DP Deluxe , ESB movie shot

 

Top row
JB ANH, ANH movie shot, ESB movie shot, KL DP Deluxe helmet
Bottom row
KL DP deluxe helmet, ESB movie shot, “Planet Hollywood Orlando"  ESB Original prop

Here’s another set of Vader comparison photo's that I think  you’ll find very interesting. Again this has been put together by Thomas and details what he believes to be the history to the helmets and how they were used from film to film

Based on under the assumption (that we all buy into) that there is more than one ANH movie helmet, I proceeded to compare similar angle of helmets with movie shots of what are clearly two different ANH helmets. Keep in mind I haven’t included what I believe is a third ANH helmet from the movie…the one, for example from the Leia torture sequence and the “meet the Millennium Falcon on the Death Star” sequence. That’s the one with the more elfine face and really low dome. Anyway, I’ve included two montages that are the same except one has letters to help refer to the many images. 

First in (A) we have the GH ANH helmet and, as previously compared, a screen shot of Vader when he steps on Obi-wan’s empty robe from the
Movie (E). The faces are identical BUT the domes are not. The rim of flaring in the front of the dome (the eyebrows if you will) are thinner on the
GH ANH than the movie dome, especially looking at the left side. Ok so in (E) we have the SAME face but a DIFFERENT dome. Let’s go to (B). This is the
ROTJ helmet…the new one from your website. Not only is the face surprisingly similar to the ANH movie helmet (F), look at the domes…the eyebrows
and degree of flaring outward from the face are also nearly identical!!! This similarity carries on with a Cking ESB helmet (C when compared to G).
Except for differences in the notches in the nose (notice there’s no such difference between B and F) the similarity between helmets AND domes
is striking. I’ve done the overlays of these to confirm the similarities….especially in the cheeks…it’s amazing how similar the
cheeks are in ABC versus EFG. It might be the lens used to take the picture in (B) but it looks like the mouth area of the ROTJ sticks out more than
the ESB in (C)…in this way it’s more similar to the GH ANH in (A). Any important point here then is that the dome of the GH ANH is different
from the movie helmet in EFG and the helmets in BC. Now onto the new VM ANH helmet (D). This helmet does not share similarity in the face or dome
with the screen ANH helmet in EFG. However, it’s dome DOES resemble the dome of the GH ANH! NOW, remember from a previous comparison that the Tantive IV closeup helmet (H) was different from the the GH ANH helmet so I concluded there’s more than one helmet in Star Wars ANH. If you
overlay and compare the faces of the VM ANH (D) and the Tantive IV closeup ANH (H) they are STRIKINGLY IDENTICAL…especially in the structure of the
cheeks…note the straighter upper cheek bone on the right and the nose slots…even though the lighting on (H) makes it difficult to compare,
in overlay the similarities are obvious. This was really surprising to me because if you compare the domes of (D) and (H) they are different in
the eyebrow structure. HOWEVER, the dome of (H) is the same as the dome in EFG!!!! Not only that, the dome of the VM ANH (D) is, at least in
terms of the eyebrow flaring, the same as the dome of the GH ANH!!! 
Therefore, the conclusion from these comparisons is as follows:

1. (EFG) helmet, the most common one in Star Wars ANH, has GH ANH face but a different dome similar to domes in later films. Furthermore, the EFG
helmet has a face AND dome strikingly similar to the faces of ESB and ROTJ helmets.
2. Tantive IV closeup helmet (H) has a different face from the GH ANH and (EFG), but a face similar to the VM ANH, and a dome similar to (EFG)
and the ESB and ROTJ domes (BC).
3. The dome of the Tantive IV closeup helmet (H) is different from the GH ANH dome.

Ok, now the really good stuff! Looking at the bottom row, we have images you are familiar with already, the GH ANH (J) compared to the on-set
publicity shot of the Tantive IV helmet (I). Now the domes and faces of these two helmets are almost identical. I say almost because in
another shot of the Tantive IV helmet, this time in the Death Star (K) this helmet
overlays extremely well with the GH ANH, but it seems the curvature of the right upper cheekbone is less on the GH ANH than on the two screen
helmets….however, this could just be a problem with the lighting of the GH ANH, which doesn’t show the curve of the cheekbones as clearly. Also,
and I mentioned this before, the nose rim on the GH ANH is clearly thicker (like the Cking in C) than the screen helmets. This nose problem is
about the only thing I don’t like about the GH ANH (yes I am VERY picky).  But, it’s attributes far outweigh that one discrepancy with the screen
helmet. Ok, in (L) we have the older (?) VM ANH helmet and I put it there to show it has no relationship with either the Tantive IV helmet (I and K) or
the Tantive IV closeup helmet (H)…either in front or 3/4 view. 

Now, if we compare the results from the bottom row with those of the top two rows, an important point comes up. For the bottom row helmets (I,
(J, and (K) the domes are IDENTICAL. That is to say that the GH ANH helmet is identical to the Tantive IV helmet. However, as described above, the
Tantive IV helmet dome in (EFG) AND (H) is DIFFERENT from the GH ANH dome in (A) and also different from the Tantive IV screen helmet domes in
(I) and (K). 

Therefore, in Star Wars ANH, there are instances when they used the SAME face piece but DIFFERENT domes. And, the dome in the Tantive IV closeup helmet became the father of all subsequent domes in the series, whereas the dome of the Tantive IV or GH ANH helmet did not continue in the series.