HEY! I actually wore the Admiral Ackbar Costume. Of course I was a little tapped as a kid...

Most of these costumes have the pictures on their chests. Made by the same manufacturer?

Yes, they would have been made by Ben Cooper- king of the craptacular halloween costumes of the 70's.  Almost every cheap kids halloween costume back then was just a mask with an image of the character on the chest.  Not just Darth Vader, but all of the Star Wars costumes followed the same pattern.  It was a dark time for the Rebellion.

Not all of them Wyldstarr... I found a few costumes that were really good. X-Wing Luke, Chewbacca, C3PO and a great stormtrooper!

"From one the most boring films of all time comes one of the most boring characters in the Star Trek universe."

What, not enough boobs and explosions in it for ya? The movie is a classic example of good Sci-Fi for people with an attention span.

 ultra, I've tried to get through it... but it is pretty long and drawn out... i think Robert Wise did a great job but it is pretty lame... still better than 5 though

ST:TMP is good sci-fi? Lucas used it as an example of how SFX cannot be used in place of a plot (which he then promptly forgot while making Jedi, Howard the Duck and the prequels).

Gah, I remember shopping for these beasties at Woolworths and they came in those flimsy little boxes that look like they should have donuts in them. "They just don't make them like they used to" can be a good thing.

I had a Stormtrooper costume movielord, and it was of the picture on the front variety.  They may have released a better one in the 80's.

I am a serious sci-fi fan ultrazilla, and I've got a reasonable attention span.  The first time I saw ST:TMP, I was in my die hard trekie phase too.  That still didn't stop me from falling asleep twenty minutes after putting the tape into my VCR.  I eventually had to make three viewings before I was able to see the entire film.  The story is indeed good sci-fi, but it could have been told in a one hour format easily.  The rest of the time is just padded with visual FX that do nothing to move the plot forward.  The entire sequence where the Enterprise is trapped in a wormhole and headed towards an asteroid is a complete waste of time.  The constant sequences showing the Enterprise moving through the inards of V'ger add nothing, and are coma inducing.

Small children like having the picture of the character on their chest.  They can look down and see it and admire the fact that they are in costume.  It may seem hokey to adults, but the costumes aren't made for adults.  They are made for small children.

Back when these costumes were around the packages were designed so that you couldn't see the costume.  They were in a cardboard box with a clear window on the front that allowed you to see the mask, which blocked the buyer's view of the costume underneath.  The box they came in was generic, so there was no picture of the costume anywhere on it.  Just a spot where the name of the character was printed.  It wasn't until you took the costume out of the box that you discovered how lame it was.  If children truely do generally prefer costumes that just have an image of the character on the chest, then they would still be around due to market demands.  I don't remember seeing any the last time I was on the Halloween isle at Target.