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2nd November 2018 - Princess Leia's Boushh Bounty Hunter disguise is one of the least accessible costumes from the Original Trilogy - not helped by Licensed costume and helmet makers, who have historically shied away from producing this wonderful 'character'.  Sure its not the most-known and instantly accessible Star Wars costume - but we cant help but feel part of the reason is that its a damned hard helmet to get right. Up to now the only Licensed company producing these were Altmann's in Australia about ten years ago. This combined with very few fan-made makers has meant we've been starved of a quality Boushh helmet. Until now!

So it was great news to hear a few months back that UK based company "Clothears Costumes" are producing a version of this - so we were quick to get our name down for one of these. After nearly five months it arrived and DAMN - it was well worth the wait...
First lets kick off by saying THIS THING IS BEAUTIFUL!  Sure I know a lot of people are going to look at you funny when you say that a replica Star Wars Bounty Hunter helmet is "beautiful", but then those people aren't going to be reading this. To us sad, nerdy aficionado's this really is an object of beauty!
The Clothears Boushh is a strictly made-to-order item and typically cost around UK675, including an installed lighting kit - with a current nine month expected delivery window. However given recently delays from Licensed providers like EFX and even Anovos - nine months is pretty good!.
Looking at the helmet you can instantly tell as soon as you pick it up that this is a real quality replica. Each helmet is completely hand-made - and the time and effort that goes into them is clearly evident when you look at the fantastic detailing, delicious leatherwork, and screen-accurate weathering. I'm sure Boushh's original designer, Nilo Rodis-Jamero would be pleased!
As mentioned earlier it comes with an optional lighting kit - you can subtract about UK75 from the price if you don't want that, but we thought it was a nice touch. Note that the above photo was taken with a long, 2+ second exposure so its showing both LED rows together - when you see it "live" the top and bottom rows flash in sequence. It looks great. They also do a "comfort lining" option for another UK75 for serious cosplay wearers, but TBH its not something we're likely to wear and found it a pretty easy fit ourselves with some well placed foam pads.
Front on in all its asymmetrical glory, with that slight droop on the left hand side that you can also see on the original.  This shot shows off the cool weathering and blaster damage - including that lovely top-centre/left dent. The guys at Clothears have been making Boushh costumes since 2005 so CLEARLY know what they are doing here. They sculpted their own helmet in 2012 and produced their own helmets soon after that. Numbers are very limited due to the sheer hard work that goes into every one of these - but in our opinion they're absolutely worth the wait!
Above, a comparison against the original in the Lucasfilm archives. Considering this isn't a direct cast off it - its clear Clothears has done an incredible job in reproducing all the little nuances in the original helmet. The visor looks to be a little bit wider than the original, but its hard to tell as our photo was taken 6 feet away with a 50mm lens - however we just don't know what camera/lens/distance the original was photographed with. Maybe that visor could be a little narrower - but we're nit-picking as its looks incredible.
Above and below a couple of close-up shots showing the fantastic level of detail present on this helmet, with includes both resin and aluminium parts including the targeting pointy thing to the right of the forehead scanner (we really should know what these parts are called!). Either way, they look great.
The main body of the helmet is made from vac-formed ABS, which looks to be reinforced in a number of places so it has a real solid feel about it - without hampering it with unnecessary weight. So you'd have no problem costuming in this if you really wanted to. We mentioned it earlier but the leather work is stunning too. Colour- and texture-wise they've nailed it - just the feel of it exemplifies the quality of this replica.
Another side on view. This was a bespoke sculpt produced by Clothears for their replica - and a pretty excellent one at that.
Below a shot from the other side for completeness. The rear strapping is held securely in place with Velcro - and again looks completely accurate to the screen-used prop to us...
Below, internal shot. As you can see the "base" helmet already comes with padding so after a bit of tweaking, adding extra foam its  a nice snug fit. However if you're a serious cosplayer then it might be worth going for the UK75 "comfort lining" option to allow more prolonged wearing.
...and a top-down shot which shows off some of the great weathering - and some of the more subtle detailing around the scanner.
Below another side by side comparison. The replica on the right isn't positioned exactly the same, but you get the idea. Very impressive!
One final shot to show off this beauty.
So in conclusion what can we say other than its: Its fantastic. Its also another perfect example of how small artisan prop makers can produce something of such high quality, something Licensed companies simply wouldn't be able to get close to achieving. To be fair I suppose its unrealistic for a factory in China to be able to mass-produce something like this - and probably explains why Clothears need a lot of time to pull them together.

You only have to look at the mess EFX has landed itself in with the Legend Scout Trooper helmet to realise there are some helmets, like the Boushh that Licensed companies will never be able to crack. However the good news is that we have Clothears Costumes to fill the gap.

 

The old section which has some more fan-made Boushh Helmets is now here.