Another challenging build with the black pieces @ 693 pieces.

Completed helmet is spectacular, a lot of criticism around this helmet, I love it, each to their own

Oh god, where to start... First, I would like to state, that I was looking forward to getting and build this set. I even liked it more at the beginning than the Vader helmet... However, this changed during the building.

It has some strange techniques. I would say some of them are not so stable, and this is a huge issue in my opinion. I mean if this would be a MOC purchased from rebrickable, I would be fine. Would be still a bit upset, but overall I would be fine... However, this is an official lego set... and it has several parts which could be easily broken off from the set, or not very well-designed. Like the part under the neck. Which is connected only with a couple studs. And I am pretty sure I broke it off like a dozen times during the build... or the side panels, which if you are not careful enough can brake half of the helmet while you put them in place...

Immediately after finishing the build I checked the ratings on lego.com. And I can't believe it... it's over 4/5 points... which is nonsense. Also now I am not so surprised that this set had 5xVIP on this year's May4th Promo...

While it is not a helmet it is still a part of the helmet line which is acceptable for me. The front of the face looks great and the detail looks good around the sides and on the back as well. The continuation of the face lower than normal is done well. The only thing that does not look very good is the top part of the head which is very smooth in the show but is completely studded here. There was no way for them to tile the whole head so its understandable as to why its studded.