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Don Post Star Wars Helmets, Masks and Costumes

 

Don Post lost the Star Wars license a number of years ago, something they'd held since 1977. Bit sad really as part of the reason for this is believed to be that Lucasfilm expect licensees to pay a large portion of licensing fees up front (as opposed to it all being  spread across the production). Don Post, like a number of other companies, "lost" a lot of money on Episode 1,  which from a marketing perspective didn't sell anywhere near as much as people believed it would (Dorling Kindersley almost went bust on the book side!). The Phantom Menace just didn't have the quality of characters present in the original trilogy and from a helmet perspective, I cannot think of one "must have" Phantom Menace helmet. It wasn't until Attack of the Clones that we saw a collectible helmet form the new movies - and that was too late for Don Post.

So after producing helmets for the Star Wars movies since 1977, Don Post left the license around 2000 and were "replaced" by Rubies. Rubies business model was based around the low-end of the market so apart from reissuing some of the original DP helmets under their own banner (effectively purchasing the Don Post moulds), Rubies concentrated on cheaper masks, helmets and kids costumes. A few years later Master Replicas entered the market and picked up the license to produce the high-end collectors helmets with some great results. Master Replicas in turn lost their license in 2008, which was then picked up by e-FX, of which there is much hope........

However I'm jumping ahead of myself, back to Don Post. starting with budget helmets in 1977 of Darth Vader, Stormtrooper, Chewy, 3PO etc. etc., by the 1990's Don Post had opted for a range based on 3 price points:

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Budget/Standard ($30-$60 price range) - these were the mass produced vinyl helmets Don Post produced from 1977 through the nineties.  The majority of which was from their own internal sculpts, so were quite inaccurate as aimed for casual/Halloween costuming.

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Classic Action ($100-$150). Much more accurate helmets that were screen-size at the very least and in many cases really quite accurate. Cast in latex from the same moulds as the Deluxe.....

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Deluxe Range ($400-$1000) - these were made of high quality (and heavy) fiberglass and were cast
from original helmets (although on some of the helmets like the Stormtrooper a LOT of work
was done to sanitise/symmetrise them - much to the frustration of many "hard-core" fans.

Please Click on a helmet below to take you to the section for that Don Post Hemet/Life-size
 

Darth Vader Deluxe, Classic Action & Standard Stormtrooper Deluxe, Classic Action, Standard
and Life-Size Statue

Biker Scout Deluxe and Standard Boba Fett Deluxe, Standard and Life-Size Statue

 C-3PO Life-Size Statue  R2-D2 Life-Size Statue
Luke's X-Wing Deluxe and Standard TIE Fighter Pilot Deluxe, Classic Action & Standard

Anakin Skywalker Pod Race Deluxe and Standard

Imperial Royal Guard Helmet (Standard)
and Others (miscellaneous)