canofhumdingers

No they’re not too old. I watched 35mm prints of Monster Zero and War of the Gargantuas at the Alamo drafthouse Denver last summer and they were from the original US release in 1970. Both were showing various stages of fading to red, but both were still very watchable and for the most part had plenty of color left in them.

Also, I had my hands on 35mm prints of the 97 SE just a few years ago and they still looked brand new. Granted they had been professionally stored and refrigerated, but I can’t imagine even privately held copies would look much worse unless they had been seriously abused.

sigh I’m having trouble posting the pics using my tablet. I’m doing it right with the markdown syntax, but these pics are from rebelscum and they way their image galleries work make it seemingly impossible to grab the actual image url from the webpage. The only workaround I’ve found is to copy the images to my device and rehost them elsewhere and that’s just too much work right now. So here’s the links. It’s the best I’ve got right now.

Life size:
http://www.rebelscum.com/2016-SDCC/2016-SDCC-Sideshow-Collectibles-Star-Wars/image7.asp
http://www.rebelscum.com/2016-SDCC/2016-SDCC-Sideshow-Collectibles-Star-Wars/image8.asp
http://www.rebelscum.com/2016-SDCC/2016-SDCC-Sideshow-Collectibles-Star-Wars/image9.asp

legendary scale:
http://www.rebelscum.com/2016-SDCC/2016-SDCC-Sideshow-Collectibles-Star-Wars/image31.asp
http://www.rebelscum.com/2016-SDCC/2016-SDCC-Sideshow-Collectibles-Star-Wars/image34.asp
http://www.rebelscum.com/2016-SDCC/2016-SDCC-Sideshow-Collectibles-Star-Wars/image37.asp
http://www.rebelscum.com/2016-SDCC/2016-SDCC-Sideshow-Collectibles-Star-Wars/image38.asp

So we may have our first look at what the rogue one Vader suit will look like thanks to sideshow collectibles booth at San Diego Comic Con.

They have two statues (one life size and one “legendary scale” that I think is like 1/3 or 1/2 scale) on display that are rather odd ducks. They seem to be a mish mash between the original beat up looking suit more polished look from ESB. There’s nothing actually confirming that this is the RO Vader, but I can’t imagine what else it could be.

Things that match ANH: The helmet has the widows peak and small chin vent like the original, the tunic goes over the chest armor, the chest box looks like the original (less detailed, grey and white “switches” along the bottom, etc.), and the gloves have the same stitching pattern as in ANH, although they seem to be longer going further up the forearm.

Things that match ESB: The armor, including the helmet is very polished and glossy. The shoulder bells hanging from the chest armor are all black (in ANH they were two toned black and gun metal). The chest box lights up in a similar fashion (the two colored boxes and the coin slots all have lights).

Basically it physically looks very much like the ANH suit but with the paint job and lights from ESB. I actually think it looks pretty good. I would’ve preferred that it be a totally accurate recreation of the ANH suit, warts and all, but I never expected that. This is certainly an acceptable compromise IMO.

I’ll try to post pics when I can if no ne beats me to it.

I have no insider knowledge so this is pure speculation. But based on my experience with the Alamo drafthouse (a movie theater by movie lovers for movie lovers if ever there was one), I’d guess they knew exactly what they were saying with each revision. They often have special 35mm screenings and they always make a big deal out of it. I know they didn’t ever specify 35mm for this particular event, but I’d bet they knew what they were talking about regarding which version they were showing. My guess based on what we’ve seen is they originally had plans to show 35mm prints from 97 (and they probably had access to them already) but then Lucasfilm poo-pooed their plans and insisted that they show the latest digital version or nothing.

Lucasfilm has a long history of being like that. The Library of Congress once thought about screening their original 1977 copyright deposit print of Star Wars at their Packard Campus theater. They were well within their rights b/c legally they can publicly screen any film in their collection without any studio permission. I can’t remember if Lucasfilm made any request or if the library just made the decision on their own, but in the end they decided not to screen it b/c they knew Lucasfilm only wanted the SE shown publicly. They made this choice b/c they have a really good relationship with Lucasfilm, who has always been one of the most cooperative and helpful studios when it came to acquiring materials for the library (OOT aside…) and they did not want to break that trust or damage that relationship.

Thanks. Disappointing to hear they didn’t include th DLC maps into the offline update. I really would’ve liked to play bespin and the Death Star in particular. Oh well, saves me $50.

Yeah I don’t have time or skills to build a gaming pc and consoles are WAY less expensive than buying a decent ready made one. Plus I much prefer veging out on the big comfy couch in front of my giant tv as opposed to sitting at a computer desk. (Though I’m sure those in the know will probably come tell me u can play the pc version on my big tv and comfy couch too). In the end, consoles are just way more convenient for me.

No I don’t play online, and there’s others on this board that don’t either. I’m not interested in paying a subscription fee and I really don’t enjoy playing against a bunch of kids half my age who beat the snot out of me. I’m in my 30’s with a family of four and I don’t have the time (or the desire honestly) to spend to get even decent enough at these kind of games where online multiplayer even becomes fun. Much less good enough to actually be competitive. I just want to plug in for 20 or 30 minutes once in a while and have fun blasting away at stormtroopers, driving an at-st, or flying the millennium falcon.

I did try the free two day trial and it only confirmed my position. I could hold my own in the aerial dogfights (I usually ranked in the top 25%), but I’ve always been pretty decent at flying games. But in the ground combat I routinely got absolutely trounced. I rarely made it more than a few steps before I got killed. I NEVER got the vehicle or hero power ups (if I stayed alive long enough to even get to one, it was always either snatched up by someone else right before I got to it or I was sniped to death trying to activate it). It was not fun at all. Just frustrating. And then my account was bombarded with all these incomprehensible messages and invites and such that I wanted nothing to do with. Maybe I’m old fashioned but I’m just not interested in making friends with random people across the globe just because we both play a video game. Real life is busy and full enough.

But offline I can play well enough against the bots that I often get the vehicle or hero I want and get to have fun with it. And I even win a match here or there. I really enjoy the game and I’m happy that now I can play what I personally consider the two most fun game modes without having to pay a subscription or deal with all the headaches and frustrations of playing online. Video games are one of the things I do for my (admittedly rare) “me” time when I want to relax and escape for a bit. For me they are the polar opposite of being social, in a good way.

And I’m obviously not alone b/c the news item made it sound like this update was due to fan demand.

So the new update came out today. It has two new offline single player/split screen co-op modes. It has fighter squadron which is an aerial melee game. FINALLY I can fly all the ships! - well, you still have to buy the dlc to get the ships that come with those levels I guess, but at the very least you can fly the X-wing, a-wing, TIE fighter and interceptor, Slave 1 and the Millennium Falcon! Yay!

The other game mode is called walker assault or something. Basically an imperial force with a couple AT-ATs is attacking a rebel force who is trying to defend. You can play as pretty much anybody, be any of the heroes, activate and use any of the vehicles, etc. its essentially the most complete gameplay mode where both air and ground forces are all fighting in one area and everything’s available.

So pretty much they gave us the option to play offline in the two game modes I’ve been wanting the most since day one. Awesome! And there’s like 5 or 6 different maps to pick from. It took 6 months from release, but we finally have the game I was looking for from the beginning.

If anyone has the season pass, can you confirm whether the DLC heroes, maps, and ships are useable in these new offline modes? I’d actually probably buy the DLC if I could play it offline.

Well poo, I was hoping it was permanent. Oh well. Glad I caught it by chance. It was fun to play as Lando and Dengar. Nien nub was kinda lame and I didn’t have a chance to try Greedo. But of the three I did play, Dengar was by far the most fun.

I never saw a message explaining it, so thanks for the info. I DID see the news that they’ve got more single player content coming. It sounds like one mode might actually be an offline flight combat level so those of us who don’t play online can FINALY fly something other than an X-wing or snow speeder.

Also, the Death Star DLC apparently has a space battle level. Sounds like that might be awesome.

So I haven’t bought any of the DLC and I don’t have a PS+ subscription. I selected to play a single player hero battle offline and it let me play as Dengar! What gives? Is this a temporary promo (I hope not)? Or are they letting everyone have the new heroes for free now? Either way it’s cool to finally get something new in the single player!

Fwiw I googled for an answer and came up empty handed.

Yeah but I’m pretty sure the live action was some other aspect ratio than 2.35:1 (16:9 probably?) hard-matted to the correct ratio. Thus the actual live action footage from AOTC and ROTS aren’t even full 1080p, much less true 2k

Yeah, I’ve always seen Vader as the Emperor’s enforcer who has no real authority in the imperial military except that given To him by the emperor on a case by case basis depending on his particular mission at the time.

In Star Wars it’s, “hey, go find those plans. Here’s a star destroyer to get the job done with.” And once he had Leia, but no plans, it was, “Oh, go visit Tarkin and see what he can do to help pry the info out of her. Show her we mean business. Blow up her home planet or something.” But Tarkin was still the military leader in command.

By ESB it was, “hey, an unkown force user just blew up our flipping Death Star! FIND HIM!! Take whatever the heck you want. Do whatever you have to. GET him.”

But then by ROTJ he was being reigned back in a bit. Perhaps because of just how far he went in ESB…

I’ve also been rather enjoying how the new marvel comics are reinforcing this concept. The writing and stories have been uneven but the over all impression of Vader’s place in the empire is very much what I just described. But he’s also shown to be a very cunning and powerful Sith who is always walking the tightrope of obeying his master vs pursuing his own agenda, which also fits right in with the Vader we see in the films (i.e. Hunting down Luke like he was told only to invite him to join Vader in overthrowing his old master).

I know some might say that aspect isn’t part of his character in the original film. But I’d argue just because the film’s story doesn’t require Vader to be more than a lackey doesn’t mean he wasn’t also everything else we see later. And I’m talking just in terms of the character in the fictional universe. Not Lucas’ plans or “original vision” or any of that nonsense.

Yeah, it’s weird because the correct view looks pretty normal and straight (possibly because we’ve just been desensitized to it over the years?). But the mirror image looks like he took a wicked hook to the jaw that left him permanently lopsided. And then once you see the mirror image the proper view never quite looks right again… Sorry! 😄

yotsuya said:

I can’t say what they were going for, but the way I take it is that in ROTS, the helmet is new and perfect. By the time 19 years pass, Vader has been active, doing things. From what we see of how things go for him in the PT, he likely has done plenty to get his armor and helmet all beat up, maybe even replaced, a few times. Maybe in ANH, things have been too quite for a while and his armor is looking worn and then when he comes back in TESB, it is freshened up. A single outfit is not going to last someone like Vader for 23 years without some maintenance, upkeep, and the occasional replacement. I think making the outfit look new and pristine in ROTS was a logical choice. No, it doesn’t look as menacing as in the OT, but it isn’t supposed to.

Yeah, I actually agree with that idea in general, and I’m pretty sure I even mentioned the idea of Vader having to replace parts of his suit over time from wear and tear or battle damage in a thread somewhere on here recently as being my personal way of explaining the minor differences in each suit from film to film.

However, for ROTS i think they hit this weird no man’s land. They made a suit that’s clearly intended to be the “same” as the OT suit but cleaned up and changed so many details that the final result looks like a crappy knockoff. They should have either stayed truer to the OT shapes, proportions, and details. Or they should’ve gone much further with the changes and gone with some kind of proto suit that is quite clearly an earlier generation that would eventually evolve into what we see in the OT. Going with something based on McQuarrie’s early concept art would’ve been awesome.

@Anchorhead

Yeah, the ROTS Vader is crap. And most Vader obsessives (like on the propden forum) feel that way too. As mentioned, the original helmet was VERY wonky and lopsided. Check out the real deal, and mirrored version below (ignore the third one, it’s a fan made photoshop)

The ROTS helmet is a 3D mirror image of half of the original that was then HEAVILY cleaned up and sanitized. The mask seems smaller in proportion to the helmet and the helmet itself is wonky. On the original, the transition from the upper dome part to the lower flared portion is a very crisp and sharply defined line. On the ROTS helmet it’s much more blended and less defined.

The paint is also different. The ROTS is uniformly black and, again, very clean. The original was supposed to be black, but they found it too hard to light properly so they changed it to a two toned black and gun-metal gray checkerboard pattern that actually looks much more menacing. And, as you say, the original is very weathered, beaten, and used looking which also lends to its menace.

Finally, the eye lenses are changed. The original had Amber (NOT red!) lenses with a bubble curvature. The ROTS has flat lenses that give him a look like a state trooper wearing mirrored sunglasses.

As for the OT helmets… The original is by far the best. The ESB is a slightly cleaner (in both sculpt and paint) vesrion of the original that still retains a lot of the original’s menacing presence. The ROTJ version is a much more sanitized version of the original with softer details, much shinier paint, and a far less menacing appearance and is easily the weakest of the three but still light years better than the prequel junk.

Those are pretty cool. I especially like the first one. Really gives you perspective for the vast difference in size of the two ships. Makes Leia’s attempted flight seem even more futile and the Empire even more imposing.

Anchorhead said:

Lucas said it himself when he wrote a letter to the producers of Lost:

“Don’t tell anyone … but when ‘Star Wars’ first came out, I didn’t know where it was going either. The trick is to pretend you’ve planned the whole thing out in advance. Throw in some father issues and references to other stories – let’s call them homages – and you’ve got a series.”

Source? (Not that I doubt it, but it’d be nice to have the proof for these very kinds of dscussions)

Man, I wish I could unsee the missing lasers… 😕 Of course I want this latest version but I don’t have access to a dual layer bluray burner (heck, just to burn the single layer discs I was already having to pester a friend who I don’t really know all that well to come over and use his computer) so I was content to keep watching the first release. But the missing lasers are gonna bug me every time now…

Does anyone know just how many lasers were erased? Or even a rough estimate?

Actually, I understand armor quite well and have pretty extensive experience in real life with medieval armor (mostly Japanese).

Unless that chest and shoulder armor is reactive (like some real world tank armor, that actually has an explosive charge that blasts outward to counteract the incoming force of a shell or missle), then no, his shoulder wouldn’t just be scraped up. It would be decimated. Whatever hit the armor in that picture penetrated it and destroyed it. It is millimeters from his flesh. Do you really think that huge amount of force was dispersed in those remaining millimeters leaving his flesh (which is FAR softer and more fragile than that armor) unscathed?

If I cut clean through your samurai do (pronounced like “dough”, the Japanese chest/belly armor) then guess what. I’m cutting clean through you. If my blade got through the armor layers then the next thing it touches is your gut and its going right through that like a hot knife through butter.

The point of armor is to stop or dissipate the injurious force BEFORE it comes in contact with you. If it fails, then you ARE getting injured. If it fails as spectacularly as in that picture, then you’re getting hurt BADLY.

It is precisely my real world experience and first hand knowledge that makes me find those kinds of pictures so silly.

Lord Haseo said:

If the battle in which he is taking part in is immense then how could the injuries in that picture not be credible? Let’s say if a ship he was on crashed and he came out looking like that; wouldn’t that circumstance be a good reason for the so called “XTREEEMMMNESS”?

No, it wouldn’t. That’s my whole point. The “injuries” aren’t credible because there are no injuries. If his armor was blown apart like that, he would be too. It’s way past the point of suspension of disbelief to think his armor and suit could be THAT SEVERELY DAMAGED without it also causing Vader himself great bodily harm. His shoulder should be torn to pieces in that picture. And he should be dying or dead without his mask.

I haven’t gotten to watch Rebels yet so I can’t comment on it. But the type of thing I had in mind when saying I like the idea of him having to replace damaged pieces is more like things we see in the films. He took a lightsaber hit on the shoulder so the shoulder pads get replaced. He got a robot hand cut off - new hand and new gloves. Maybe he fought a Jedi and had his head slammed into a concrete wall or something else really hard that dented or even cracked the helmet/mask (but didn’t utterly destroy it or rip it from his head). Maybe someone hits and smashes one of his light up belt thingies with a blunt weapon. Maybe someone grazes him with a flame thrower and torches part of his cape and leather suit. Stuff like that.

This statue from sideshow is kinda more in line with my ideas:

Lord Haseo said:

canofhumdingers said:

Lord Haseo said:

I’ve always disliked heavily battle-damaged images of Vader like this. For one it totally ignores the whole “he needs his mask and electronics boxes to live” thing (you know, like how Luke hesitates to take off the mask in ROTJ…). And for two, am I really supposed to believe that he was exposed to such enourmous trauma that it blew away and actually melted his shoulder and chest armor (that withstood a direct hit from Luke’s lightsaber in ESB) but his pasty white flesh underneath is just fine? It’s like having a grenade blow off a medieval knight’s plate armor leaving him standing around in his skivvies unscathed. It just immediately makes my brain hurt and my disbelief just won’t be suspended.

Sorry you feel that way

Eh, I’m not. It’s not like I’m losing sleep over it or having anger management issues. It’s just an observation. Just one of those many things in the EU that makes me kinda roll my eyes when I see it.

I actually DO like the idea of a battle damaged Vader after some kind of big battle (either similar to what we got in the Vader Down comic run, or him hunting down the last few Jedi holdouts in hiding). In fact, that’s always been kinda my personal cannon to explain why his costume changes from film to film - offscreen battles that require repair/replacement of various bits.

It’s just the actual depictions of said battle damage, like in that picture, are usually just way too “XTREEEMMMZZZ!!!” for me to find credible or enjoy.

That final correction of the emperor shot above is obviously a marked improvement over the untouched or the “non blue” versions, but it still feels a bit too pinkish.

Lord Haseo said:

I’ve always disliked heavily battle-damaged images of Vader like this. For one it totally ignores the whole “he needs his mask and electronics boxes to live” thing (you know, like how Luke hesitates to take off the mask in ROTJ…). And for two, am I really supposed to believe that he was exposed to such enourmous trauma that it blew away and actually melted his shoulder and chest armor (that withstood a direct hit from Luke’s lightsaber in ESB) but his pasty white flesh underneath is just fine? It’s like having a grenade blow off a medieval knight’s plate armor leaving him standing around in his skivvies unscathed. It just immediately makes my brain hurt and my disbelief just won’t be suspended.

Lord Haseo said:

Actually it was in early to mid March…in either case I don’t care. The film had been out for months and the statue of limitations regarding spoilers had been passed for most people.

https://youtu.be/iq8gfaFqFpI

I think they could do plenty more OT heroes if they wanted. They’ve got Lando, Chewie, Obi-wan, all the ESB bounty hunters after Boba Fett. Heck, if they were creative enough, I think R2 could be a hilariously awesome hero with all his gizmos. Now that I think about it, why the heck was Nien Nunb the new rebel hero over Chewbacca or Lando? I mean Greedo… Sure. But Nien Nunb? We really shouldn’t be scraping the barrel yet…