rubies helmets

Following the loss by Don Post Studio's of their Star Wars license, Rubies stepped to the breach taking on many of the old Don Post designs. However Rubies never really got to grips with the top end of the license, producing decent enough "budget" Halloween style helmets although failing to really approach the "quality" collectible market.

Rubies 2008

Update February 2008 - Here's a sneak peek at Rubies new Supreme Stormtrooper costume, which follows on from their successful Supreme Vader and Chewbacca costumes launched a couple of years ago. Pricing wise its expected to be around the same $850 mark so aimed at a more "serious" market than their standard wares. From this early publicity shot of what I presume is their prototype, they've gone for a RotJ design which does look very accurate - and certainly a vast improvement over the standard FX Armour still used by the majority of 501st members around the World. However we should be wary that this is a prototype and there's no guarantee at this point the final product will match this.

Helmet-wise, in the photo Rubies looks to have used a fiberglass Don Post Deluxe helmet - presumably just for this photo shoot. You can tell this quite clearly from the new close-up shot below. If this helmet is carried over to the finished product I would expect that either they'll produce a "Classic Action" type version of this in vinyl or perhaps we'll see a different helmet altogether?. For more info on the Don Post Deluxe/Classic Action this check the DP page here

Given the Classic Action used a slush mould and produced Latex helmets I'm wondering if Rubies are going to go a similar way for the whole costume. If not latex then we could expect them to use a similarly soft and flexible plastic for the armour that can withstand more rough usage (and therefore be less of a customer service/returns issue).

Above, a better photo of this new "Supreme" costume and this time I've adjusted the armour a little to remove the annoying "round neck" that made the chest section look wrong. It looks to me from the original shot that the armour was not being worn correctly - hence a CG "adjustment" gives a much more accurate overall appearance. Below a close up of the chest piece and shoulder bridges.

Taking a close-up look at the armour it does look very promising. The chest section has the nice "lip" around the edge and the ab section, though missing the painted buttons it has good definition.

Taking a look at the arms, the bicep seems to show the "thumb print" found on the originals and the forearm has good definition. All this points to a cast off an original RotJ set which is great news.

Below legs look really defined and the detail around the knees is very good. In addition you can see the nice sharp join down the front of each shin which from this photo suggests the armour looks more like ABS. At this stage this has not yet been confirmed so keep checking back for updates.

IN Rubies' literature its described as "Jumpsuit with molded armor pieces (chest and back pieces, codpiece, belt, shoulder and bicep pieces, gauntlet, thigh and shin pieces) and collectors edition helmet. Size Standard."

Many thanks to Rubies for providing this additional info, more as I get it......Given Rubies has done something no licensed provider has ever been able to do before, this could be a very important development for the hobby as I'm sure it could entice a whole host of new prop collectors.

Rubies 2005 Helmets

Rubies have announced their new range and as always their decisions are rather puzzling. Along with the three "deluxe" Fiberglass helmets they made last year (the ESB Vader and misguided AOTC Jango Fett and Clone helmets), they've now added:

	A low-cost but really nice "Supreme Edition" Vader ($130 and very much like the Don Post Classic Action)
	A "Deluxe" Vader Suit ($800 and pretty good for the price including the above helmet)
	A "Deluxe" Chewbacca Suit (WTF!)
	A Limited Edition Silver Vader (at $2,000!)

Now forgive me but what is it with Rubies? The low cost Vader helmets and possibly deluxe suit I can understand but just how many life-size Chewbacca's do they think they're going to sell? I tell you how many - less than 10% of a deluxe clone trooper (and I mean deluxe) that they should have produced. And the Silver limited Edition Vader is a really strange decision. Its clearly going to be of very limited interest and yet despite the enormous price tag they've merely painted rather than chromed it!

Supreme Edition Vader Helmet

Anyway, rant over and onto the helmets, firstly the $130 Supreme Edition Vader. Now I just got one of these and given the price its a really nice helmet. Its practically 1:1 scale (i.e its BIG) and features a 2-tone Gloss and Matt Black paint scheme similar to the RotS Vader.

Its an interesting helmet and to be fair, given the price-point Rubies have been working to they've done a really good job, especially given the metal billets and mouth screens which they could have easily copped out on and done in plastic.

From certain angels it photographs really well, although from others maybe not quite so good. However for costuming it would be an excellent start and many will be buying these and adding their own lenses, 2nd set of mouth screens and a repaint to produce a great low cost costuming helmet.

The packaging suggests that its cast off the Original Revenge of the Sith moulds, but I'm pretty sure its actually off one of the ESB helmets and most likely derives from something Rubies picked up off Don Post when they took over the LFL License.

Its going for about $100 from eBay sellers and at that price for costuming its a no-brainer. Go for it!

Below a Rubies Studio shot which is actually not all that flattering.

The following new photos of their "Supreme Edition" Vader Helmets are all courtesy of Stormtrooper527. His excellent photos show off just how good this helmet can look.

Made of vac-formed plastic, this two-piece design actually has metal tusks as well as proper grills. It looks like its an ESB rather than a RotS, which is not a bad thing. Again it has the incorrect reversed black/grey colour scheme which I can only think is under the direction of Lucasfilm who don't want it to be mistaken for an original. Mad.

You can see that the dome's quite thin, but then for $130 what do you expect? I think many people are going to use this as a base for a costume since you're not investing $100 in something you know is going to get knocked around, plus its lightweight.

A close-up of the eyes and nose section. I think its introduction will signal a fall in price of the old Don Post Classic Action Vader which used to be the preferred costuming helmet and would demand huge prices on ebay (for what was originally a $120 helmet). Below an inside shot showing the strap and padding - very comfy.

Below some photos from Joe S who having just received his Rubies helmet, has already done some work to it with a custom paint job.

Joe explains " I received the helmet last week and the mould used was nice, but the helmet was boring since it lacked colour. So I painted it gun metal and gloss black and added an extra grill on the inside. The difference was like night and day. It looks like a totally different helmet. I used the incorrect reverse paint scheme since the lines were already moulded on the helmet."

Well for what appears to have been only a small amount of effort, the results are EXCELLENT and I think that to take it one stage further and replace the lenses and nose section would really make this a great low-cost Vader helmet.

And above Sascha sent me this composite shot of his Rubies Supreme Vader suit. Not a bad off-the-shelf "low cost" costume! Below is Daniele V's Rubies helmet, along with Altmann's shoulders, a GT chest-box and shine - with the soft parts made himself - nice work.

Below, a couple of shots from Federico in San Marino of his superb, heavily modified Rubies Supreme helmet

Not sure what the should armour's derived form but great work either way!

Below, these pics were sent to me from Bounos in Australia of his Rubies Vader helmet which he's adapted as rubies helmets. However I'm not sure if it was a plastic Supreme or the Fiberglass Deluxe (I presume the latter which would make it similar to the old Don Post standard)

Extremely impressive work!

Limited Silver Edition (Fiberglass) Vader Helmet

In addition to the usual (Black/Grey) Fiberglas Limited Edition Deluxe Vader Helmet, Rubies are also doing a limited edition Silver Version. Odd one this as it looks painted silver and would have looked a lot better if it had been Vacuum Metalised/Chromed.

Here's the Vader Costume, although for a recommended retail price of $1,000 its still going to be sold to quite a niche market. It features the Plastic "Supreme Edition" Helmet and also includes a Vader voice changer! By the time it hits eBay this will be available at a much lower price I'm sure. The parts all look like injection moulded plastic (rather then Fiberglass) and the cloth looks lightweight but it could stll be fun.

Below, here's some photos from Dan from http://www.thedarklordofthesith.com/ of his Supreme Vader costume, although this one is paired with a Don Post Classic Action lid (not the Rubies Supreme)

The supreme costume is not bad but the capes are very lightweight, as is the body suit and hard parts. But on a mannequin it looks more than half decent, although the helmet that Dan's used (a totally remade/painted etc.) Don Post Classic Action has made a huge improvement. See the Don Post section for more shots of the Classic Action helmet.

and here's the chewy (apparently he's grown a moustache!). This is a studio shot so its hard to comment until I've seen a production version.

It begs the question "why", since I would have thought most people tend to want to dress up as Clone Trooper rather than a Wookiee and maybe they should have gone for a deluxe version of one of the fantastic new Ep3 troopers, but then what do I know?

June 05 - Kevin's Just sent me these photos of the actual Rubies Supreme Costumes in a Store he visited

I like them!

Rubies 2004 Helmets

Thanks to "The Living Source" for the use of these images taken at a show last year.


These Deluxe helmets are now in production with a "suggested" $1,300 price tag - a ludicrous figure. However they appear to be coming up on ebay at a more respectable $800-$900 although still an premium figure for a less then 100% perfect product!. I'm not sure about the Clonetrooper above as it doesn't seem to look quite right. To be fair to them it must be hard as no actual full size props were make as they only existed as CG.

..above are as of 1st May '04 the only pics of these helmets available.

Jango looks very nice, and certainly from this photo appears to be a close likeness.

The ESB Vader looks like they've taken the old Don Post Deluxe mould as the source, even down to using the same incorrect (reflected) colour scheme. The incorrect positioning of the dome in the photo above doesn't help though!.

Thomas in Germany has sent me these great shots of the Rubies Deluxe Vader

Superb photos Thomas, The Rubies Vader has never looked so good!





...and the prototype head and shoulders (non wearable) Yoda looks excellent, however there has been some reservations over whether the actual production props will be as good following the differences between the lifesize AOTC Yoda prototype and production props (see below with the prototype on the left and the production version on the right)

Looking at Rubie's 2002 "Collecters' Helmets" product range it looks that they have taken on Don Post's old Star Wars range, to the extent that they're probably using DP's original moulds.


Compare Rubie's Xwing....	...with Don Post's

Same again with Rubie's Scout Trooper..	..and the "original" Don Post version.

Note also that Rubie's new Attack of the Clones Jango Fett Helmet...	..looks suspiciously like a different paint job on their Boba Fett (which itself looks 100% identical to the old Don Post).

Rubie's Stormtrooper - ahhhhh, nice little puppy-dog. Woof woof.	Rubie's Tie Pilot's - this is from the old Don Post moulds (the undersize moulds used to create the Standard NOT Classic Action helmet

Now this is the disappointing one. Having now seen Rubies "Collectors" Clone Trooper (Ref 65002) at Memorabilia in August, it's less than impressive, and seriously undersize.	Can't blame Rubie's on C-3PO though, I've never seen a decent licensed version outside Don Post's $10,000 display model. However there are some excellent fan-made 3PO's here.

Strangely, according to their brochure, both the Collectors' Clone Trooper and Jango Fett look identical to their "Deluxe injected 2-piece mask" equivalents (ref 4118/4116). It looks like they incorrectly used the same photo for both models, as the 2-piece is obviosly different (see below).
	Left a photo of my little lad (6 years old) in his Jango Fett suit he got for Xmas. It's the "deluxe" dress-up gear with padded armour, along with a couple of Jango blasters from TRU (I couldnt get the Rubies blasters and holsters anywhere). The helmet is a two piece thin injected plastic. He loves it! Do you think maybe I'm indoctrinating my kids into the love of all things Star Wars?

OK not a helmet, but left is Rubie's Kit Fisto mask from AOTC. Very cheap and quite a nice likeness really.	Likewise with the Greedo. A really nice and very cheap mask from Rubies and essentially a 100% duplicate of the old Don Post, warts and all !!
Rubies Life Size Vader Statue
IN the 90's Rubies won the rights to manufacture a short run of licenses full size Darth Vader figures. Whereas Don Post got the rights for most of the figures (see here), Rubies got the Vader. Below the Vader Statue which was actually made for Rubie's by Michael Burnett. Either way it looks good although seems to suffer from the same neck flair as the"20th Century" mould. Note that the colour scheme on the face IS correct, unlike the DP Fiberglass Deluxe.



Below another pi of the Rubie's Limited Edition Vader, apparently both companies bid for all the figures and DP won most of them, but Rubies won the Vader

Below, a nice shot from "True Fan" of his Rubies Vader alongside the Pepsi Darth Maul.

Below, Brent has a few nice life-sizes, including this Rubies ESB Statue (which retailed at $10k at one point).................


And then below his Darth Maul, which I think is the Pepsi (see in the UK at KFC and Pizza Hut)