ESB Shoulder Studs/ White? or Silver?

Has it been "officialized" that they were keys?

Not in my opinion. While they may have been cast from keys, I think it is pretty clear that they are castings and not the keys themselves.

shoulder_studs.jpg
 
I see the dark grey stud in pics 2 and 3 spidey posted originally, but not in any of the others so I would definately buy that they used which ever ones were handy at the time with no reason at all. Not at all disapointed with your answer Art, thanks for throwing in your input.
 
Not in my opinion. While they may have been cast from keys, I think it is pretty clear that they are castings and not the keys themselves.

on the one holding down the cape you can really see the rough edge suggesting that it was a casting, nice shot, I'm not sure if I've seen that one before or at least never payed close enough attention to it. Is that from CIV?
 
WOW 32 studs???? wow.... begining to think that continuity wasn't much of a Priorty back then when dealing with Fett...:lol:

Thanks Art for clarifying... bout time...really good info. though.

(sending Jeremy a new set of WHITE STUDS as we speak) ;)
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Cool stuff Art! I was being too generalized in my Supertrooper - ROTJ....it's kinda where I was headed. I guess I never really thought about the smorgasboard of parts that were available to make the ESB suit by the time production was going on. The darker gray stud and the red topped right stud in the Lando/Trooper/Boba/Vader/Lobot scene really do indicate that was the case in the "grab bag" that was Fett back then:lol:.

With the recent pics posted up by Alex:love, it gives hope to many more ESB discoveries being made.

......drat....now with the new pics and the studs in question, I may be onto a repaint sooner than I expected:lol:....at least paint is cheap.

Viva' la' ESB!!!(y)
Steve
 
I originally wasn't even going to touch on this thread. It's an interesting theory, but in the end it's one that can never be proven without a doubt.

First I want to applaud Alex for what he's doing. We all need to look at Fett with fresh eyes. We all have our assumptions of what we think is going on with ESB; some ideas that have carried over from other versions of the suit, and some that have entered our subconscious from replica suits made over the years. We need to throw all that out the window to really figure out this version of the suit.

I agree that we should not just assume that the studs are silver. But let's not just assume that they are white because they look white in pictures. I've been doing a lot of color research on ESB, and picture are VERY misleading. Of the few known colors on the suit, they are several shades darker in real life than in pictures or stills.

In looking at all the pictures again with this thread in mind, I really have no answers. They could be white, silver, or even light grey. But the one thing that jumps out at me is that the shoulder studs appear flat. I can't seem to find any picture that shows them reflecting any kind of light. That to me opens up the option that they could be painted silver or aluminum, but just with a flat coat.

Since the real costume parts are either repainted, lost, or hidden away in the archives, the only way to figure out this puzzler is with a lot of tests. Shoulder studs painted in every possible variation, photographed under bright studio lights. But even then there might not be a definitive answer.

Again, great thread! I love the challenge of trying to figure out ESB Fett. And to close, here's my favorite quote about Fett from Joe Johnston:

"I painted Boba's outfit and tried to make it look like it was made of different pieces of armor. It was a symmetrical design, but I painted it in such a way that it looked like he had scavenged parts and had done some personalizing of his costume; he had little trophies hanging from his belt, and he had little braids of hair, almost like a collection of scalps"

-Ryan
 
I originally wasn't even going to touch on this thread. It's an interesting theory, but in the end it's one that can never be proven without a doubt.

First I want to applaud Alex for what he's doing. We all need to look at Fett with fresh eyes. We all have our assumptions of what we think is going on with ESB; some ideas that have carried over from other versions of the suit, and some that have entered our subconscious from replica suits made over the years. We need to throw all that out the window to really figure out this version of the suit.

I agree that we should not just assume that the studs are silver. But let's not just assume that they are white because they look white in pictures. I've been doing a lot of color research on ESB, and picture are VERY misleading. Of the few known colors on the suit, they are several shades darker in real life than in pictures or stills.

In looking at all the pictures again with this thread in mind, I really have no answers. They could be white, silver, or even light grey. But the one thing that jumps out at me is that the shoulder studs appear flat. I can't seem to find any picture that shows them reflecting any kind of light. That to me opens up the option that they could be painted silver or aluminum, but just with a flat coat.

Since the real costume parts are either repainted, lost, or hidden away in the archives, the only way to figure out this puzzler is with a lot of tests. Shoulder studs painted in every possible variation, photographed under bright studio lights. But even then there might not be a definitive answer.

Again, great thread! I love the challenge of trying to figure out ESB Fett. And to close, here's my favorite quote about Fett from Joe Johnston:

"I painted Boba's outfit and tried to make it look like it was made of different pieces of armor. It was a symmetrical design, but I painted it in such a way that it looked like he had scavenged parts and had done some personalizing of his costume; he had little trophies hanging from his belt, and he had little braids of hair, almost like a collection of scalps"

-Ryan

Great post Ryan..(y)...very well said...glad you did post.

And thats exactly what I'm trying to do....is to figure this costume out...ROTJ has all the reference in the world, but ESB until now is just not on the same level in terms reference....but I think we can change that with some of the photos that have been released and Facts we do know about.

I think you are 100% right on point, you can't say for an absolute fact that they are silver or white based on photos.... it's just impossible to do it that way.

I think DL Blaster said it best...it was a "smorgasboard" of parts by the time Fett hit the screen for ESB...:lol:..and no one will ever really know for sure.


 
Great posts! I agree 100% that at this point there's no way to know without a shadow of doubt that they were one color or another. Photos definately aren't the best tool to judge color accurately, especially without a greyscale/grey card reference. The costume was painted to look like scavenged parts, and in some ways it kinda was scavenged missmatched parts from the various versions, especially the ROTJ and more so in the SE.

Where do we go from here?
 
:lol:lol:..good question...

I say we take a vote or a poll?? maybe?...so we can call this one done.;)


Personally, I'll probably paint them white. :lol:


Personally, I'll paint mine silver, but I'm doing ROTJ :lol:

Great topic, i've said it before, but I'm saying it again.

By what's next I was meaning what mystery are we going to attempt to tackle next?
 
I vote white...
I like to be different:D
It makes me feel good that I didn't buy a aluminum set and decided to go with real keyboard keys...

:lol:lol:..good question...

I say we take a vote or a poll?? maybe?...so we can call this one done.;)


Personally, I'll probably paint them white. :lol:
 
I know I dont post on here much but I must say that I think they are still silver. I used to have a silver car that under bright light it would look like it's white. Maybe this is what we are seeing.



Also, look at other things in those pics that you know are silver, they also look white.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Comparison to trooper armor may help??
and contrasting to the red background I see white..:p
also we know the left ear has white at the top sooo ... it seems to have the same value.

SF posted it already but i thought a whole pic may change some minds.


esbhdbdt6.jpg
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Comparison to trooper armor may help??
and contrasting to the red background I see white..:p
also we know the left ear has white at the top sooo ... it seems to have the same value.

SF posted it already but i thought a whole pic may change some minds.

http://imageshack.us

Yeah, that's the pic that makes me believe they're white, just as you said Sixxgunn because of the value of the "whiteness" of the trooper compared to the stud....as most of the silver in that pic has grey values with white highlights, the studs don't...

Great shot.(y)
 
the studs look gray to me in that last pic, which seems like what a flat aluminum would be, but I may be seeing it differently somehow. I think an analysis of how they look in motion, how they appear as they move around might reveal more than a still by itself. The thing is, they have flat sides, and under the bright lights of the set they are unlikely to show gradations of color, so comparing to the suit's other silver parts could be misleading. Interestingly, the silver strip on the hexagonal center chest piece, which is flat-sided like the studs and at the same angle to the camera, is showing up a similar whitish/gray color as the studs, but I believe it is universally acknowledged that it is in fact silver there. Am I wrong? I could be. Maybe that is not agreed upon. Anyway, aluminum color can easily light up as white as has been suggested here already. Watching the studs move through the light might reveal gradations in color if they are actually silver. Trouble is, I believe they go to a wider shot when he starts walking through the set in this scene, making the resolution too low for any helpful analysis. I actually have 35mm film of this scene that one could take to a lab for color density readings if we are desperate enough. :lol:

Also, not to confuse the issue, but... I see a lot of ESB fett armor vests that are bright white, but here in this frame from the film, if going on the other values of white in the image, that vest is clearly a light gray and not a blindingly clean white I so often see in repros. In fact, there is even a clear difference of color between the vest and the neck seal which appears whiter. I think this gray vest suffers from the same problem as the gray/silver studs... all lit up, they have a tendency to look white when in fact they aren't.

But I am happy to acknowledge I have no idea what the answer is. My opinions are admittedly subject to extreme error. :eek:
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Sixxgunn, that's a pretty interesting point with the stormtrooper in the shot, however as Lufo mentioned there is the center diamond piece which appears to have the same value as the studs. Also if you look at the last shot that Alex posted in his original post look at the calculator pad compared to the studs. The calculator pad is universally accepted as silver and it appears to have the same value as the studs as well.

We may never know for sure, but I am closer to accepting white as a possibility than i was before but I think for now I will still hold to my opinion that they are silver.
 
Heres a silly question, but it says, and not a direct quote...

'trophies hanging from his belt'. What are the trophies on his belt?
 
Here's that same pic, but with a little color correction. It's really all in the eye of the beholder, but I see a flat aluminum. I'm going to watch ESB again, and see what these look like in action. If they are really white, it should be very noticeable.

-Ryan

esbhdbdt6.jpg
 
This thread is more than 10 years old.

Your message may be considered spam for the following reasons:

  1. This thread hasn't been active in some time. A new post in this thread might not contribute constructively to this discussion after so long.
If you wish to reply despite these issues, check the box below before replying.
Be aware that malicious compliance may result in more severe penalties.
Back
Top