Design new suit/armor for Darth Vader

[Darth Tedious]

I'm sure he's been injured badly enough at some point to at least need some minor repairs and maintenance to the suit...

Maybe the time he stabbed himself with his saber to kill a ressurected Darth Maul.

[Naly]

Repulserlift units in his feet and backpackish area...couple it with his force abilities he'll cut down rebel scum like a U.S. Cavalryman with his trusty saber...only faster

(Correct me if I'm wrong, but it is possible for the Empire to produce units that small that could support a man (even Vaders weight) with ease, right?)

I like the sensor/communication package idea, as well as the chest armor plate in the front

Grievious-style arms as optional components, (maybe even on the torso retracted as a shitty backup? How many times has this man lost a limb in mid-combat?)

A personal shield generator could be useful, but I'd bet he'd veto it

As for force lightning, maybe a method of electrifying his armor/hands without harming himself...I have the sneaking suspicion that he'd rather grab an opponent anyway, but that's just my opinion

[Sarevok]

Darth Vaders armor is perfect the way it is. Adding wrist mounted guns or some such silliness just turns an iconic image of American science fiction into a cartoon villain.

[Simon_Jester]

Yeah. I agree.

Maybe a little armor to cover exposed blinky lights or something, but that's it. No fancy gizmos- the whole point of Darth Vader is that despite his crippling injuries, it's the man you should be afraid of, not the armor and prosthetics.

[Sarevok]

Indeed. He is so powerful despite being encased in a suit of armor, not because of it. That is the mystique of Darth Vader, a man who refuses to give up despite being reduced to a cripple on life support.

[Crazedwraith]

Wow. That's deep. Here was I thinking people just liked him because he has a deep voice, a cool costume and a red lightsabre.

[Simon_Jester]

Well, you need something to tie those things together- you can create a character who theoretically should be well liked based on the traits they have, and not have it work. In Vader's case, what ties it all together is that the man is a goddamn badass, as is very apparent in his actions.

[NecronLord]

I've got to agree, Darth Vader's armour is pretty good. We've got to remember that he also has to go to social events and things. While trundling around as a Dark Trooper or some kind of Space Marine Deadnought may make him more lethal, he'd be less effective as the Emperor's emissary.

Can you imagine the conference room scene with guntank vader?

[Eternal_Freedom]

Can you imagine the conference room scene with guntank vader?

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!

That is actually rather amusing, in case you missed the meaning of my first line.

[Naly]

Very true, I wouldn't make any changes if I were Lucas or any other heavy hitter in the franchise.

But this is a hypothetical design question anyway: Considering social events and Vader himself is alright, I'm not sure how we really feel as fans pertains to this question.

[Simon_Jester]

FL actually specified (implicitly, at least) that Vader's new armor would have to be socially functional and retain "the Vader look:" Implicitly, that means a humanoid chassis that can enter normal-sized buildings and the like, no guntanks or wrist blasters or other features that blatantly turn him into a combat cyborg.

Within those bounds, I think aside from scaling up the armor protection there's not much that needs doing. Vader is already as deadly as he needs to be in personal combat, and his very nature as a Sith Lord means that he's going to stick to his lightsaber and Force powers for combat.

Adding inlays of lightsaber-resistant materials, and increasing the armor over the chest plate so he isn't so vulnerable to random exploding shrapnel taking it out, is about the limit of what I'd envision.

[aussiemuscle308]

Darth at least needs an arm compartment to store his lightsabre. it could even be mounted on a little motor that deploys it into his hand.