Small saber, bent guns, and wrong arms aside, the Star Wars Mythos has been pretty much a complete success for SSC. All of their pieces have come out looking about as good as the protos and really do an outstanding job of keeping things fresh with characters we love. I have had 4 of the 5 and I can honestly say that all have been fantastic. The only one I have not seen in person is the GG... Which from all the photos I have seen looks to be fantastic.
Now comes the new Dath Vader - Dark Contemplations - Mythos statue. SSC has pretty much batted a 1000 here as Vader has come out as good as the others... However that is not to say that there are no flaws... Read on.
Helmet sculpt - 5 out of 5 - This is in my opinion the best likeness of Vader’s Helmet in products around this size. It looks film accurate from all angles. That seems to be the thing that many sculptors struggle with. Getting the Helmet to look good from any viewpoint. Not so with this piece. It looks just about perfect from no matter what angle you look at it from. Side, up, down, left, right, it's all perfect. Outstanding job!!
Face Sculpt - Both heads 5 out of 5 Vader comes with three switch out heads. His above mentioned Helmet and the OT Shaw face and the PT HC face. Both are sculpted very well and look like the actors who portray them. It is hard to see in photos but in person it is easy to see the differences in the sculpts. I prefer the OT version as there is a slight nobility to Shaws sculpt and thus more fitting IMO for the character. That and the PT is not really a fav. of mine.
Body Sculpt - 5 out of 5 / Pose w/helm on- 4 out of 5 - Total - 4.5 out of 5
Pose with Helm off and holding helm 5 out of 5
The Accuracy in the Body sculpt matches the head and Helmet sculpts. It's about perfect. You can see there is a story to tell here as Vader has some Battle Damage on his armour. All of it is done with fantastic detail.
I took a point off for the Helmet on pose because you can either have him with light saber in hand, which just does not look natural or with his Power of the force fist which, while far better, is not perfect. 1st off it seems to be a tad undersized. I could be wrong but it seems that it could be a little longer. 2nd the angle of the fist is not like the Proto and while it is better then the first messed up fist we got it still makes the overall pose a tad off.
However the "Dark Contemplations" pose is perfect and I mean Perfect. This pose, sculpt, and story that it tells sums up what SW is all about in one single moment in sculpted time. If you have a shelf where you can just put Vader on his own it really helps to sell the loneliness and tragedy of this character.
Paint - 3.5 out of 5 - There has been a lot of controversy surrounding the paint apps in this piece. Many can not stand the effect SSC was going for showing the reflection of the flames on Vader's Armor and cape. However this to me is a non issue. Mythos pieces are supposed to tell a story and that is what this piece does. I think that the Orange flame effect are nice. They could be a tad darker and if this was the only issue I would give this a 4.5 out of 5. However it is the dull coat that they used on his amount that brings it's score down. Vader's Armor just bever looked that dull. It is made even more apparent when you see how shiny his Helmet is. I don't know why SSC choose to go with this type of paint but it was a miss on their end. Otherwise everything is painted very well and accurately.
The two head sculpts are very well done and bring out the detail in the sculpt.
Base - 4 out of 5 - The Base like all the mythos pieces is classy but nothing great. It helps the story and the lava effects are done well. But in the end it is a pretty basic base.
Overall - 4 out of 5 - Had this had better paint apps and a better power of the force fist pose this would easily be a 5 out of 5. As is the Helmeted look brings it down half a point. The "Dark contemplations" would be a 4.5 out of 5 with only the dull black paint apps holding it back from perfection.
All that aside this still is the best Vader statue out there. At least it is for me. Fans of the Mythos line should pick this up.
Haha! Just kidding. The force be with you, bro!
