SOTW: Don Post Stormtrooper Helmet

First, no I'm not a part of the 501st. I often thought it would be cool to have Stormtrooper Armor, but I'm not about to take that dive off the deep end. This is a full Stormtrooper helmet though, from the Don Post Company. Now I could not tell you the exact year this one was produced because it has what looks like the sloppiest copyright statement I have ever seen, you can barley make out "20th Century Fox ©".

Also, you may look at the condition of this bad boy and wonder what war has this thing been through, many my friend, many. This was purchased back in 1994 at Disney World MGM Theme Park, at the Star Tours Ride. We were on a family vacation and I noticed there was a Sci-Fi store in Florida that was selling these helmets, and I had planned to go and pick one up there. See, I remember seeing these advertised in the back of all the Sci-Fi and Horror magazines when I was a kid, and I've always wanted one. At the time this was the best that there was, as in 1994. Well needless to say we didn't make it to the store that was carrying these, but the souvenir shop at the end of the Star Tours ride had them and at a better price. So not only did I make away with the Stormtrooper, but Lord Vader as well. But we couldn't stop there, I told my son to pick out a couple and he grabbed an Ewok and Yoda Mask. So we had quite a collection.



This mask brings back memories of this particular road trip as we were heading home by way of Tennessee and we really had no room for the masks in the trunk, so we all decided (except for the driver) to wear them through most of trip in Tennessee. Cars were honking and laughing, I think a pretty good time was had by all. The mask has been through several other minor battles and light saber duels in the House of Howell along with age, which leads to it's character.

I love the fact that since it is made of vinyl, they couldn't put lenses in the eye holes so it is drilled out in a sort of screen and painted black, that and the communication areas on the ears are just foam. When I bought this the stickers had started to peal then, so Disney was nice enough to give me an extra set of decals (which I still have), when I think back how much trouble it must have been for them to stock extra decals and hand them out when asked without so much as a groan, it is really amazing customer service on their part. I will never get rid of this mask, but I do have my eye on a newer version with lenses, and then there is this ultimate version which I will probably never own because of price, but man it's cool to imagine the possibilities, like looking at all those old magazine ads.