ALBOTAS - A Little Bit On The Awesome Side

If you are a fan of Star Wars, you might recognize such similarities as the design of Queen Amidala’s resembling a Geisha, or even the shootouts between spacecrafts that evoke thoughts of Word War II dogfights. One of the more subtle character designs that drew inspiration from the past is that of the ominous Darth Vader and his slight resemblance to a Samurai.

Earlier this year the Yoshitoku Company transformed the iconic villain back into the design that inspired his well-known image in the first place. Yoshitoku’s “Samurai Vader” is a ¼ scale costume that even features a traditional bow and Samurai sword! The suit was created for a Japanese festival back in May called Tango no Sekku, which means “Boy’s Day”.

While some parts of the armor required cutting-edge sculpting technology, a lot of it is hand crafted with traditional materials. Even more interesting is the fact that most of the artists who worked on this are over 70 years old. They’ve obviously put their years to good use by producing such a masterpiece.

Such mastery definitely doesn’t come at a small price. Be ready to drop about $1,500 just for the helmet and weaponry alone. The whole set will set you back around $5,200 if you can find it, that is. The only place I could find that had this beast for sale is out of stock.