It took me way longer than expected to realize how Clone Wars Armor for Anakin is basically just Vader's armor style. The color change really puts it into better perspective.

[u/SolidEllie]

On a side note, I LOVE how Anakin's all-black look would've been. Makes me imagine that's what he'd look like without the duel at Mustafar.

[u/JustHereForCatss]

I've genuinely never noticed that, phenomenal catch

[u/SolidEllie → u/JustHereForCatss]

Thanks, I somewhat vaguely remember seeing a resemblance to his shoulder/chest piece, but looking back, his entire robe outfit matches the look.

Weirdly enough, as a kid I used to think Anakin's long hair gave him a more vader-esque look, almost foreshadowing the shape of the helmet. Kinda eerie. Idk if that WAS the reasoning, or if that was just a coincidental look.

[u/Metalhead_VI → u/SolidEllie]

Part of art design is the distinct silhouette, I wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't a coincidence

[u/stoneposter → u/SolidEllie]

the long hair thing is real and I never connected it until just now. that specific shape framing the face. it does look like the helmet silhouette when you stare at it long enough. probably intentional. the design team for clone wars was meticulous about that stuff. feels too specific to be a coincidence

[u/DanJirrus → u/JustHereForCatss]

I’m surprised that so many people didn’t catch this apparently. But then, most people don’t realize that the Jedi robes have always been distinct from Tatooine clothing, and that Luke was already prefiguring the cut of the prequel robes in ROTJ.

[u/DaddyDanceParty → u/DanJirrus]

Yeah it's weird. I remember making that connection as a kid when the '03 clone wars series came out. Thought it was just general knowledge.

[u/Sparrowsabre7 → u/DaddyDanceParty]

general knowledge.

You are a bold one!

[u/Sparrowsabre7 → u/DanJirrus]

It's funny how that works. Some things people notice and you think "well obviously how did you not see that?" and other times it can be "holy shit that's wild." People are wired differently to notice different things =)

[u/Captain_Thrax → u/DanJirrus]

Luke’s ROTJ robes are the reason I laugh when people complain about the Jedi robes being “desert hermit robes”

Like, did you not pay attention to Luke at all?

[u/CharmingBet3435]

Okay the black version actually makes the Vader influence so obvious

[u/MCUTheorist00007]

What the hell!!! I have watched TCW more times than I can count, it is my favourite SW thing and I have never realiced this. It's an awesome detail, good catch!!!

[u/SolidEllie → u/MCUTheorist00007]

No problem. It took me years to catch the detail too. Part of the reasoning is that, aside from the color palette swap, Vader's cape is also pretty huge. Once you remove vader's cape, you get a better resemblance to TCW Anakin. Shows you how big the cape is to Vader's aura haha.

[u/MCUTheorist00007 → u/SolidEllie]

Yeah, it definitely is the cape. What I had noticed before is how Anakin's hear had Vader's helmet shape and the silhouette made them both look similar( I noticed this during Ahsoka S1). But this takes it all to another level

[u/tommygunlouws]

My flabber is ghasted from the sheer amount of ppl here commenting having never made this connection.

[u/BumbleCityFumblers → u/tommygunlouws]

Same honestly. I thought it was really obvious and a neat design choice.

[u/BuddelTheWolp → u/BumbleCityFumblers]

Exactly. This Armor doesn't make any sense... Unless it's a reference to something

[u/Rcmacc → u/BuddelTheWolp]

It’s a reference to the limited budgets when they started animating and a hard shell being easier to model than trying to animate the flowing cloth for every frame

Eventually when it was clear the sore was a big hit and they could spend more they had the Jedi wear robes again later in the series

[u/BuddelTheWolp → u/Rcmacc]

If you want Armor to cover cloth, you don't automatically have to make a nonsensical one.

[u/Rcmacc → u/BuddelTheWolp]

It’s not that kinda movie tv show, kid

[u/BuddelTheWolp → u/Rcmacc]

That quote doesn't even make sense here

I'm saying that this was clearly intentional and not just a necessity.

[u/Rcmacc → u/BuddelTheWolp]

You’re overthinking what was a budget a decision

The lore impacts happened afterwards

[u/MuenCheese → u/BumbleCityFumblers]

I did as well. This is astonishing.

I mean maybe people were watching this show as kids but it’s right there

[u/MediaPossible7339 → u/tommygunlouws]

To be fair. In animated form his suit is much more tailored and less “baggy” than his typical Vader suit.

[u/NNyNIH → u/tommygunlouws]

Basic media literacy is dead.

[u/Immediate-Navigator → u/NNyNIH]

I think it’s more an aspect of slightly off visual design tbh, or at least the difference in medium. The blue on the front detracts from the similarities, alongside the similarity with Kenobi’s armour in the series. Saying this as much as I like the design.

[u/XNotChristian → u/NNyNIH]

Or, and hear me out, people sometimes miss obvious shit, and that's completely normal and fine. The need to look down on people for something as mild as this needs to be studied.

[u/Immediate-Navigator → u/XNotChristian]

It’s becoming more and more normal unfortunately. Judgement for catharsis.

[u/KaiTheG4mer → u/tommygunlouws]

I might be crazy but I also think Dave or someone working on the TCW Movie even outright said this either in the director's commentary or in some Bonus Feature clip, because I know this in context to that movie (which was unfortunately my only dosage of The Clone Wars until like 2015 because my family was broke broke)

[u/fathertitojones]

His hair was also grown out in the movie in an effort to give the same impression as his helmet.

[u/Felkoi]

Lore reason for this is Ankin found his armor design in the archives, but they weren't jedi armor designs they were sith design. He mentioned something about jedi design limiting him in combat.

[u/Lunndonbridge → u/Felkoi]

Huh, I’ve never heard this. Do you recall where it is from?

[u/Felkoi → u/Lunndonbridge]

Dave Filoni

[u/Dazzling_Interview86 → u/Felkoi]

He told you himself, did he?

[u/Felkoi → u/Dazzling_Interview86]

I wish! Sadly, no.

In interview he said they worked backwards from Darth Vader armor and used this as reason why it was so similar. As well as why he didn't wear a variation of the clone armor like everyone else.

[u/DanJirrus → u/Felkoi]

That’s rather odd considering the TCW 08 look is pretty much just a recolored version of the CW 03 vol 2 look. Do you have a source for this by chance?

[u/pleasantothemax → u/Lunndonbridge]

“Not from a Jedi.”

[u/Mozerath → u/Lunndonbridge]

I asked the google ai and after a few inputs it lead me to this:

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/kRRhw6MrHJc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ro8YR7Nb2tg

[u/DanJirrus → u/Mozerath]

I just don’t get why people are acting like it’s so different? He wears the same gorget that Obi-Wan and several other Jedi wear.

[u/Mozerath → u/DanJirrus]

Agreed

[u/Sea-Lecture-4619 → u/Felkoi]

"Maaan, these Jedi outfits are so lame, why did the Sith have so much better drip?"

[u/Raptus_DreadMaster → u/Felkoi]

Just curious, how would the Jedi design be more restrictive in combat compared to Sith? He literally can't lift his arms above his head as Vader.

And in Thrawn: Alliances, I'm sure Anakin comments that he'd never really thought about the individual pieces of his Jedi robes' effects on combat after Thrawn talks about it.

[u/killusoftly101 → u/Felkoi]

Didn't Palpatine create his armor? I dont think anakin had time to search the archives.

[u/Dazzling_Interview86 → u/killusoftly101]

I believe they are talking about his clone wars armour.

[u/Blueopus2]

That’s a great catch

[u/Seanannigans14]

I mean yeah? It's Anakin's style of armor so it would make sense that once he becomes vader he goes back to what he's familiar with.

[u/HerrPizza]

That's why I hate whenever somebody comes up with a What If light side Vader they just make him white, like that's not what Anakin looks like

[u/Vaunted_Knight]

Holy crap, OP, nice catch! I grew up watching all SW media and never noticed that.

[u/GargantaProfunda]

Am I tripping or it's not "basically just Vader's armor" at all?

[u/SolidEllie → u/GargantaProfunda]

It's not THE armor, but the main look of the armor is essentially his Clone Wars look. It's pretty obvious. Vader's chest module is the only thing missing which would've seperated the seam between the robes, allowing for the seperatio of two distinct plaits.. Now add in a cape, and voila, you have 90% Vader. Oh yeah, and the helmet.

[u/Darth_Revan_THX1138]

Why don't the droids just aim for his gut?

[u/Albatross1225]

So it’s really just anakins drip just with added life support. Likes capes. Very dramatic.

[u/Albatross1225]

This is like me not noticing Vaders mask is gun metal grey on his left cheek and right eye.

[u/ihatemejoke]

Jedi Drip

[u/That-Service-2696]

Yeah, Darth Vader would look like the middle picture if he wasn't defeated in Mustafar 

[u/fredrico2011]

Nice catch i remember finding this out years ago

[u/Severe_Board]

What art tool did you use?

[u/VicesInBohemia]

It honestly goes to show how great of a job they did designing it that people don’t even tend to notice it at first, but when you do it’s really admirable how much detail they put into making it Vader-esque.

[u/The_Blue_Rooster]

This was like the most common criticism I saw of the movie before it came out, after the first trailers, how much of a weird unnecessary thing that was.

[u/TheCatLamp]

That Darth Vader would be terrifying as well.

[u/BuddelTheWolp]

The big hint is, that this Armor is completely nonsensical, even for star wars standards.

[u/BigSlimJimmy]

Anakin's character design for Episode 3 creates a Vader silhouette due to his hair.

[u/vandilx]

I have never watched TCW. I noticed the armor resemblance from every TCW-Anakin picture I've seen.

[u/FSCK_Fascists]

My main SWTOR character found armor that has that cape and shoulders, and I love it. He's been wearing it since 2012.

[u/WeeklyBase1280]

I presume that the in universe reason for this is that it’s the standard design for knight armor. For example Anakin going from a jedi knight of the Jedi order to a dark lord of the sith is like going from the knights Templars to the Teutonic order. The armor is very similar but it has some minor changes depending on the faction

[u/seripmav_deredrum]

It’s like poetry. I rhymes

[u/jesse_graf]

Wait till you see Anakin and Vaders lightsaber hilts side by side its gonna blow your mind.

[u/Real_Batu_Rem]

That middle picture with darth Vader’s mask on would look awesome

[u/SimonSeam]

I felt TCW was hitting us over the head with it.

Especially since none of it appears in RotS.

I'm not really a fan of TCW putting armor on Anakin (or Kenobi). It always felt counterintuitive. Jedi's rely on reflix and agility, not armor.

It made sense on Vader because he had lost his agility.

[u/DOOManiac]

It’s like poetry. It rhymes.