hey everybody norm from tested here and I have a show-and-tell for you today so
over the past couple weeks and months I've been working on a bunch of
laser-cut projects at home and some of those I've been having a ton of fun with
but I've also been using as really an excuse to get back into some figure
photography to make the most of some of my collectibles that I have at home and
I realized there's one figure that has shown up in some videos in the past I
haven't had a chance to talk about and I definitely want to talk about it because
it's one of my favorites it's this guy right here this is from Hot Toys and
it's their quarter scale Darth Vader from the turn of the Jedi because it's
one of the few Darth Vader collectibles out there that have the helmet off the
dome off and have a likeness of Sebastian Shaw so many people portrayed
Vader of course saber Prowse and voiced by James Earl Jones but Sebastian Shaw
was Vader at the end of Return of the Jedi and this is actually my first
quarter-scale hot toys now in the world of collecting I've collected a bunch of
hot toys in the past I have their six scale versions as our 12-inch ones and I
have some quarter scale Premium Format figures from the sideshow those are the
more fixed pose poly stone statues which allow for a great artistic
representation of these characters but in the world of hot toys it's about the
pose ability as well as the character sculpt and really trying to get these
collectibles to be as true to the original characters in terms of the
likeness in terms of the costuming the props and the details and here's an
example of for example 1/6 scale Vader this is Vader from a new hope
release the hot toys is about four or five years ago 2015 and it's a new hope
you can tell because the widow's peak here it's pointed at the tip of the dome
as well as of course the chest box it's green and red as opposed to the blue and
red that it got changed to an empire and it's sort of the Jedi and I
love this six scale Vader it's extremely poseable I love the cutting so on it you
know the the armor the pose and this one specifically has a built in light up
lightsaber function connected to the hand it's a great Vader that wasn't sure
going into quarter-scale like what do you get when you go from 12 inches to 18
or 19 inches in this case and I was really blown away shocked really at the
extra level of detail how much extra detail is present yeah at this size of
figure it starts with of course the the facial sculpt the character sculpt here
and there's no Jar comparison because there's no shot to shop but you know
looking at the portraits at other six scale figures I have and they're
wonderful and the paint jobs are incredibly detailed and here at quarter
scale there's just that extra level of detail at least the detail is more
visible from the scars on his head so the wrinkles and the veins popping over
his temples to just that around the eyes it has that iconic the glassy eyes that
you see in these characters which i think is so important because it's
really what helps these characters look alive in photos is catching that bit of
light on the eyes at this level it's just it's remarkable how much detail
there is at quarter scale and then you look at the the costuming and you know
it has that same wonderful different finishes in the fabric so the cape is
different on the inside as well as the outside but something like the 'la tunic
the cloak on the inside of a derp which i think is one of the most important
parts of vader because it allows the form it allows some separation between
the cape and the body and hides some of that kind of hockey pad like armor that
you see in his padding it gives very more form makes them look more a monk
like more a little more of that samurai inspiration you see the pleating here on
that tunic it's you don't get that at six scale the four extra
here the way that when you see light bounce off you have extra dimensionality
in the shadows even just between the layers of fabric the the stitching here
is more visible and feels more like real costuming when it's at this size and
then there's also the capacity to pack more functionality of lighting inside
you can there's LEDs inside the belt boxes as well as the chest box and and
batteries that you can put in there as well and I want to go back to the helmet
because you know it does include a standard Vader helm which for this
deluxe version has a separate display stand for which is nice and I can flip
on the lights it's illuminated from the bottom as well as red from the top and
this is it's a pretty good I think Vader likeness and portrait I like that
they do add some extra you know revealing detail that you can show in
terms of all electronics above and under under the dome and if you remove this
you can actually see there is also some extra revealing of Sebastian Shaw's that
the back of Vader's had here as well but the inside of the helmet was just
something like I can't stop looking at and you can even if you remove the the
head here you can see there's the extra detail like the the wiring on the inside
the tubes the different types of paint finishes that allow to look like a
mixture of matte and shiny metal and all that just adds up to the ability for
this to look lifelike when it's photographed for light to bounce off it
realistically both on the inside as well as the back and it really is something
that you can pose in all sorts of directions it is very posable in terms
of the head the arms and it does include a wide selection of different gloved
hands so you have everything from your classic Vader point to a pinched choke
pinch as well as you know the classic Vader hands at the hip pose
although I prefer a little bit of more dynamic pose an action Vader pose which
is something I'm gonna try to attempt right now take some photos and let's see
how he looks
so consider me sold on the world of quarter-scale hot toys something that i
didn't think i would dive into but i think i really have to start collecting
now has me going back to Sideshow Collectibles and eBay and looking to see
what other ones are available or coming in the future there is an amazing Iron
Man mark 3 at quarter scale that just got released in at San Diego Comic Con
last year we got a glimpse at prototypes of the Iron Man mark 2 armor at quarter
scale that one I am loving the look I hope they release as well as a
spider-man homecoming at quarter scale with the vulture wing that one looks
super super cool and speaking of Comic Con it's not happening in person this
year though there is gonna be Comic Con at home but Sideshow Collectibles is
doing they just announced are doing their own online convention called
sideshow con and that's gonna be their booth their famous booth at comic-con
set up in their headquarters with display cases no glass around the
figures and they're gonna do a lot of videos from that and close-ups to
announce exclusives and that's free for anyone to attend so that's what I'll be
checking out later this month I hope you enjoy these shots of hot toys
quarter-scale Darth Vader I'd love to see what you have in your own
collections and how you pose and repose York figures and photograph them if you
do please share those in the comments below and I'll see you next time bye
you