A new discovery about the Discovery Helmets

[Agent RayBans]

This story begins almost exactly a year ago. On June 19th 2010 at ‏‎8:41 PM, I saw this small little picture for the first time.

I was really confused by this image, as it depicted a version of the helmets I was not familiar with. At first I thought they were the transition helmets that I had "discovered" quite some time ago, but that didn't make any sense because of the presence of Guy-Man's rainbows, Thomas' ear lights, and other details NOT present on the transition helmets.

Ultimately though I did not have enough reference material to figure out what these helmets were, when exactly they were used, and their features.

But now, thanks to the work of ifcwdjd and his impressive collection of magazine scans, I believe I have made a new discovery.

A few weeks ago ifcwdjd scanned an article from a magazine called Q, that featured some great high resolution photos. Some I had seen before, but smaller, and other I had never seen before. Though most interesting part though, would turn out to be in the article. In the interview the writer described Daft Punk's costumes, and one part in particular stood out to me. As seen on page 58:

Although its pretty common knowledge that Daft Punk's helmets have always undergone some changes during their use, this is the first time I heard anything about a second set of helmets being used in conjunction with the Discovery helmets we all all familiar with. Basically, it was my understanding there was only one set of helmets with complex animated displays. I was wrong.

Yesterday ifcwdjd shared with us another magazine scan, from Mixer Magazine. In it, was the source of the image above. And with them, came the discovery of a new breed of Daft Punk helmet...

I call them: The Diet-Discovery Helmets.

As you can see, these helmets are IDENTICAL to the other set of Discovery helmets, except for one key detail. The areas I have highlighted in yellow bellow have NO LEDs in them, thus allowing Daft Punk a greater range of vision.

In addition, the discovery of these helmets also solved another mystery. That is, the case of Thomas' changing ear LEDs.

As you can see, the ears with two rings of LEDs belongs to the Diet Discovery Helmet.



The truth is these helmets have been under our noses this entire time, and can be seen is these well known photos. Notice how the Diet Discovery Helmets have considerably less tubes going to their backpacks.

...and many more!

Thanks for reading all, I hope you enjoyed it.

ARB

[spamwichx]

Nice find bro! *rep

[rustypolished]

Nice! This is awesome, man - I love this sort of thing. This is really enlightening

[ifcwdjd]

Haha, Diet Discovery helmets.

Excellent analysis, the narrow LED bar on Thomas' visor and the presence of green "eyes" on Guy-Man's (compared to the earlier, full LED helmets) were always an indicator to me that there were 2 different sets of helmets. One thing I never noticed though is if you look closely at Guy-Man's less complex helmet, you can see some kind of black mesh on the inside of it. I think since because of the lighting effects, they couldn't tint the visors at all, not like the HAA set. So they had to come up with some other way of blocking out their faces while still allowing them to see.

I felt kinda bad for them after reading that Q Magazine article, which explained what they had to do to get into those Discovery helmets. They had to powder their hands and probably their necks too since their balaclavas and gloves were rubber, and the helmets and gear (especially on the earlier ones) must have been heavy. They looked darned cool, but jeez, they must have been so uncomfortable underneath.

[Agent RayBans]

Haha, Diet Discovery helmets.

Excellent analysis, the narrow LED bar on Thomas' visor and the presence of green "eyes" on Guy-Man's (compared to the earlier, full LED helmets) were always an indicator to me that there were 2 different sets of helmets. One thing I never noticed though is if you look closely at Guy-Man's less complex helmet, you can see some kind of black mesh on the inside of it. I think since because of the lighting effects, they couldn't tint the visors at all, not like the HAA set. So they had to come up with some other way of blocking out their faces while still allowing them to see.

I felt kinda bad for them after reading that Q Magazine article, which explained what they had to do to get into those Discovery helmets. They had to powder their hands and probably their necks too since their balaclavas and gloves were rubber, and helmets and gear (especially on the earlier ones) must have been heavy. They looked darned cool, but jeez, they must have been so uncomfortable underneath.

Thanks ifcwdjd, and not just for your kind words. The truth is I wouldn't have been able to make this analysis if it were not for your contributions.

I noticed that black mesh as well, which you can't really see in the cropped pictures in my post. I think your hypothesis is correct about the visors being pretty much transparent, in these helmets at least. The mesh probably functions similar to a scrim, preventing light from seeping in but also letting Guy-Man see out.

And yeah, that Q article did go into a lot of detail. Can't really blame them for leaving the Discovery outfits behind and going with the Human After All suits. Definitely a lot simpler and comfier.

Looks like I am going to have to update my helmet history chart!

[rustypolished]

I felt kinda bad for them after reading that Q Magazine article, which explained what they had to do to get into those Discovery helmets. They had to powder their hands and probably their necks too since their balaclavas and gloves were rubber, and the helmets and gear (especially on the earlier ones) must have been heavy. They looked darned cool, but jeez, they must have been so uncomfortable underneath.

Oh definitely - I honestly wonder why they went with any sort of fabric that would need talcum powder to put on - It's not like the black of the gloves or the balaclavas is super visible to the point of needing to be specific fabric, you know? It could have been a more breathable spandex or knit, pretty easily I'd think - Unless, of course, the rubber/latex/whatever material was for insulation against the electronics? D: I have no idea.

At least they never had to actually play live sets in those, those poor boys probably would have collapsed from heat exhaustion.

[ifcwdjd]

Unless, of course, the rubber/latex/whatever material was for insulation against the electronics? D: I have no idea.

At least they never had to actually play live sets in those, those poor boys probably would have collapsed from heat exhaustion.

Oh yeah, that's true, because sweat (and condensation) + electronics = fried punks. But I kinda doubt it, I'm sure that everything was well-insulated to protect against that risk. I was also just thinking about them having to tour in that gear. It would have been impossible, maybe that's another part of the reason why they didn't do a Discovery tour.

[Agent RayBans]

Oh definitely - I honestly wonder why they went with any sort of fabric that would need talcum powder to put on - It's not like the black of the gloves or the balaclavas is super visible to the point of needing to be specific fabric, you know? It could have been a more breathable spandex or knit, pretty easily I'd think - Unless, of course, the rubber/latex/whatever material was for insulation against the electronics? D: I have no idea.

I'm pretty sure the only reason they used rubber gloves and balaclavas was for the robot aesthetic. Although you can't see the details in 95% of photos, when you look at their gloves and necks up close they definitely look more..."roboty"

[ifcwdjd]

Guess they had to do arm molds in addition to their heads. That must have been an interesting day at Alterian, coating Thomas and Guy-Man in plaster.

Kinda an off-topic note, I apologize, if you want to see Tony Gardner and his crew doing makeup work, check out behind the scenes footage from the 1993 movie Freaked, it's pretty cool.

[rustypolished]

I'm pretty sure the only reason they used rubber gloves and balaclavas was for the robot aesthetic. Although you can't see the details in 95% of photos, when you look at their gloves and necks up close they definitely look more..."roboty"

Oh totally, that's very true - I still feel like they could have found alternatives to get the robot-y look with breathable fabric, but I guess if you're going the whole 9 yards, you've gotta go the whole 9 yards...and really, they probably were very conscious of the fact they weren't going to do live shows in them, so it probably wasn't that big of a deal. I think I might be projecting my own crippling phobia of latex fabric onto them.

Guess they had to do arm molds in addition to their heads. That must have been an interesting day at Alterian, coating Thomas and Guy-Man in plaster.

Kinda an off-topic note, I apologize, if you want to see Tony Gardner and his crew doing makeup work, check out the bonus disc of the 1993 movie Freaked, it's pretty cool.

Oh man, I what I wouldn't give for video of that day to somehow magically turn up.