ANOVOS Colonial Warrior Battle Jacket - Battlestar Galactica

monolith21

Sr Member
https://www.anovos.com/products/battlestar-galactica-classic-colonial-warrior-jacket-pre-order

I was pretty stoked to get the email announcing these. It has been a long five and a half year wait since these were announced. The market for BSG uniforms has pretty much dried up in the last two years.

First up, I'm buying one. The money is already sent. I'm sure these will become collectible in their own right just like all the other versions from various vendors have become over the years. I have yet to be disappointed by Anovos. I'm reserving judgement until I'm wearing this thing.

My first impression based solely on the pictures on the site and the prototype I got to see a while back at Comic Con is that there are some hits and some big misses.

The Good:

The colour looks pretty spot on. The buckles look great. If the pictures are any true indication of quality, it looks sharp! Many replicas kind of just hang whereas the screen used jackets had a nice uniform look to them. These should hit a few months before the 40th anniversary which is nice.

The Bad:
The fabric. Why micro corduroy? sure, the alova/contour suede the originals were made of did have that lined look to the fabric if you got up close, but that's a stretch. The Unlimited jackets from the 70's and 80's were made from corduroy. It was okay at the time, but Battlestar costuming is finally at a place where suitable fabrics for these have been located for pretty cheap (though not always in the right color and they need heavy interfacing) as well as decent alternatives. The subject has been studied to death on Blackstar Squadron. Old rumors have finally been put to bed (no...they were not made from Ultrasuede...) and all that information has lead us to...micro corduroy? Not even a suitable suede cloth alternative?

The lining. I can only hope that the blue lining is a mistake or a prototype. It took years to convince people that the gun belts were not blue. Jean Pierre Dorleac went so far as to comment about how he would never have put a blue belt on a brown and tan uniform. Blue lining is a horrible idea and far...so very far from screen accurate in any way. I've seen grey and light brown lining on originals, but I've never seen blue.

The Ugly:

The sleeve cuffs look too much like the Battlestar Galactica.org jackets which many fans have been trying to get them to change for years. The split in the cuff/lower arm should go up a few inches beyond the cuff as well. This one little detail really creates a very memorable difference in how the jackets looked on screen and has become the mark of a quality replica. Plus, why add a zipper for a form or function the original jackets never had?

Overall:
Why come this far and put that much work into something only to overlook these considerable inaccuracies? I'm in regardless because I do think it will be a great jacket that will be built to last, but so far it isn't very accurate. I'd love to see something a bit better. I recently purchased the Picard jacket from Anovos and that jacket is fantastic. Parts of that jacket are made from a similar fabric to the orignal BSG jackets. Those might make for a good comparison. Why go so far off? Once again, I'm holding off judgement until I have the jacket on, but these things did come to mind. I really hope the jacket does well for them! I love that they have interest lists up for other warrior uniforms from the show.

What do you all think? Has anyone else placed an order?
 
As I have posted elsewhere HUGE DISAPOINTMENT.

The color looks off, the patch, as well, zipper, fabric lining, the only thing they got right was the buckles.

With the fabric they are using the jacket simply does not work.

A spring of 2018 date as well as the customer support or lack there of just seals the deal for me, no thanks.

This will be looked upon as the offering from Anovos that destroyed their reputation for releasing quality accurate replicas. :unsure
 
I really hope not. Those guys are pretty awesome and I'd hate to see that happen. I'm excited to get the jacket when it comes out but I am having a hard time with the fabric. At worst I'll have a collectible but I did hope for something more screen accurate. The color was actually something I liked. lol
 
I talked to them at Comic-Con. I've been asking them for 3 years now when these would come out, and the girl working the booth was very excited to say she had the prototype in her car. Why it was not on display, I think speaks volumes.

Their pre-order system is a bit of a joke. they offered a discount on the Into Darkness Jacket at SDCC 2016. It's still in pre-order a year later.

I own a bunch f their TOS trek stuff and it's pretty good although the sizing is all over the map, and if you guess wrong, tough luck, they don't take returns for sizing.

I'll have to hold one of these before I order one. They are based here in LA. wish they had a store front.

BrianM
 
I ordered an XL based on the Picard Jacket I bought which fits perfect. I hope that works out sizing wise. It seems that the soft goods have had a bit of trouble in the last year or two. The Ghostbusters flight suit was a bit off with minor details as well. Namely the storm flap was squared off and not rounded. It also seemed pretty heavy duty. Definitely a lot heavier than a nomex flight suit.

The warrior jacket has a lot of little details that people seem to overlook or think won't be noticed when they make a replica. Those details are what set a quality replica apart. I know that there are certain things that those replicating look for (color, shape, size etc.) and others that are secondary (weight, internal construction etc) but if the information is out there and it can be done for fairly cheap I don't know why those corners would be cut.

The first thing I noticed when I first wore and examined an original jacket was the weight and solid construction. In my mind they were much lighter like many replicas. It made sense though. The weight and construction gives is that sharp, uniform look. The outer shell is made of a super lightweight fabric but it is interfaced heavily. I've seen a jacket that had a torn section you could see into which was helpful. The shell fabric (very similar to modern alova suede) was on top of something like a canvas. I thought backing it with denim or something similar would give it a comparable weight.Then the lining was added which is far from blue. It is closer to a dark grey. One thing that was interesting is that the shoulder leather looks like it was added last. You could see the stitching through the lining on the shoulders. I think that was the last element to making it sit right.

Not to say that Anovos should have constructed their jackets exactly like that, but the materials are available. Yes, to get the correct color they probably would have had to had Alova suede ordered in the right color, which can be done for relatively cheap from overseas if that is the route they want to go. They had the buckles made so they've got a handle on that sort of thing for sure.
 
I have been shouting to the rooftops trying to plug this offering when it was first announced so needless to say i am EXTREMELY disapointed with what I am about to say.

The bottom line is Anovos could have done this the right way but choose not to.

I find it interesting that they had the Proto in the car and chose to leave it there and after seeing the pics of it they should have left this offering there as well.

I certainly will not reward them for bad behavoir buy ordering a sub standared offering from them.

Again this will be the product that Anovos threw their reputation for Accurate reproductions out the window.

They have already thrown their customer service out quite some time ago
 
I ordered an XL based on the Picard Jacket I bought which fits perfect. I hope that works out sizing wise.

Careful, I did the same, the Velour TOS shirt at XL fit me great, so I ordered a XL in the 3rd session style. It's too big. When I quizzed them at the con they said, "each item is sized differently and to check the measurements every time before ordering". Really??? :facepalm:cry
 
They have bumped that realise date from fall, to winter, to spring, to summer to........ :facepalm

I as well noticed the different sizing on just their 3 rd season Tos Kirk Tunic on different runs let alone the Velours.


Their pre-order system is a bit of a joke. they offered a discount on the Into Darkness Jacket at SDCC 2016. It's still in pre-order a year later.

I own a bunch f their TOS trek stuff and it's pretty good although the sizing is all over the map, and if you guess wrong, tough luck, they don't take returns for sizing.
 
Careful, I did the same, the Velour TOS shirt at XL fit me great, so I ordered a XL in the 3rd session style. It's too big. When I quizzed them at the con they said, "each item is sized differently and to check the measurements every time before ordering". Really??? :facepalm:cry

Oh wow. Thank you for the heads up. I will check the sizing now!

I really hope there is still time for them to correct some of this stuff. The interest list they have up gives hope for some great items but it they won't sell if not done right. If people wanted something that just was a close enough or stylized version, they'd pay the $250 for a jacket from www.battlestargalactica.org. What BSG fans want is something that is done right. I spent $350 on a replica once but it doesn't fit right at all. I'd be willing to pay that much or even a bit more for something that was spot on.
 
Pants belt was black the gunbelts are a whole other story they varied but supposedly they were going for a steel grey color which ended up on some looking like a faded black to me.
 
The gun belts were supposed to be steel grey. The closest thing I have found is to dye a belt with Rit synthetic "graphite" dye. The best match I've gotten was from a black belt that I color stripped and then dyed graphite but a white parade belt dyed looks close as well. In certain light it can look slightly blue.

Great write up on the research. The original fabric has a smaller cord pattern than the micro corduroy. Alova suede is much closer but still a bit off.

Like I said earlier, I'm excited for this jacket. If they color is correct the jacket will be the best option out there.
 
Very telling that no pics of the fabric that IS being used is referenced there :unsure

here's why:

Production.jpgProductPage-BSG-Warrior-Jacket-buckle-open.png

Bummer. not for color, that's lighting, but for fabric weave.
 

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