On the back of every box he has those ugly pipes attached to his blue angular plates on his back, but in all the actual loose photos of him, he doesnt have them and he looks MUCH better. So was it an error or are they removable or what?

 

not removable, but you can decide for yourself whether you want to attach them to the side of the cylinders in the back or to those angular blue plates. The choice is yours, really.