Assassin's Creed Brotherhood: Desmond

[Risu]

I used the search but didn't find any posts where anybody had actually done it. Has anybody here ever made Desmond's hoodie from AC: Brotherhood? I saw one on Etsy, but it's got the wrong symbol and the sold out Ubisoft one looks like a joke, despite the quality embroidery on the back. After playing through the first two games really quickly the last couple of weeks, I just started Brotherhood tonight and loved the new design. It'll be a while before I can get around to making an Altair costume, so I think this is a good project to hold me over. It is pretty difficult to find good photo reference, though. I've managed to piece together the front, hood, and upper back from screen grabs, promo art, and the licensed hoodie (with a grain of salt). Does anybody have any idea what the lower back looks like?

 

[jabh123]

go to UbiWorkshop | Home they're currently sold out but will re-stock them sometime soon

 

[Risu]

Aside from the embroidery, that one looks terrible. I wouldn't pay more than $40 for a hoodie that's that inaccurate.

But anyways, I've sort of dropped this project. Working on my Altair now, and I probably wouldn't choose the Desmond hoodie over my Fett hoodie very often anyways.

 

[Lutso]

There was a lady on Etsy that made an incredible (no seriously, breathtaking) version of it when the game was new. To my knowledge she only made one, and I think she dropped the Etsy account because of the insane traffic of requests she was getting after that.

 

[Risu]

If it's the same one I saw, it looked nice except that the embroidery was a kind of poorly done applique. Otherwise, I think the seams were all mostly correct. I think a couple might have been different on the hood, but I can't remember.

 

[MinginDub]

i bought the Ubiworkshop version and it is actually a very nice hoodie. don't know how you can call it inaccurate when they made desmond a digital reality, they have the best reference material available. they stitching on the back it top notch and the seams on the hoodie are all bang on what you can see in the game.

 

[Risu]

Just because the developers made the character doesn't mean whoever they farmed the construction of the hoodies out to will get them right. The seams are good and the embroidery is excellent, it's the small details and construction that fell short.

 

[AssCred]

Just because the developers made the character doesn't mean whoever they farmed the construction of the hoodies out to will get them right. The seams are good and the embroidery is excellent, it's the small details and construction that fell short.

I definitely don't mean to necro a topic, but this is why I actually registered. It's late and old, but I have some good information for those still interesting in this idea. Risu never really got the feedback he asked for, so if my info will still assist you, it makes it worth it!

I actually started Brotherhood myself and grew to really like Desmond's hoodie myself and began browsing, so I've found a few things since I've begun researching. I am 100% in agreement with you, first of all, that the Ubisoft hoodie is overpriced garbage.

From everything I found, the ones you may want to look at are the ones from China, specifically the black top zipper variant, even though the other isn't quite as good, both still trump the Ubisoft hoodie.

Unfortunately they are not reliably available; there is one Chinese variant on Ebay, but for the same price as the Ubi hoodie (don't know if they're trying to deceive or what, but it's best avoided). However, you can find such hoodies readily on sites like Aliexpress, but you can't pay with Paypal, so be prepared for that. But they retail for a very fair 34-35 dollars and are thick functional hoodies. The Ubisoft one is very thin and stretchy fabric, akin to costume fabric.

The variant I prefer is the black top zipper variant, thick fabric with an excellent hood that sits correctly in the shape of a beak (I'll post my own pics when mine arrives) and looks great up or down.

And you can even see a video review here; yeah, it's a kid, but his information is still valid:

He helped me out quite a bit with this video, actually. I could see how it sat and just how nice the fabric is. As he says, the one downside (and the one benefit I will give to the Ubi) is that the red is not all inside... but you'll hardly ever see it. It's a minor nitpick at worst.
I'd say buy it only at Aliexpress; you can find it elsewhere, but it's usually double the price. Aliexpress is THE. BEST. DEAL. Period.


And the other Chinese variant which isn't bad, but is a bit more expensive and not as good to me is here. Technically more screen accurate, but I don't like the fabric of the red inside and it sits... weird on your face. You can see THAT in the last pic, with the asian guy. It's all right, but not the best one available.

And to go along with Risu, you can really see what's wrong with the Ubi hoodie from this review alone, and you should actually compare this one to the other just to see the difference in quality I was describing.

It's especially bad when he unzips the back and you can see the white seaming and it looks like a literal grandma-made-costume. He even states how many loose threads there are. In a 100+ dollar hoodie, why is that ever an excuse?
And one more picture of another fan, just to show it's not because video guy clearly bought a size too big:

It sits bad, it just looks bad. It's a very pricey and poorly made 'costume'.
Just because Ubisoft made the games, doesn't mean they make the best or definitive clothing. I've talked on Etsy to many scammy artists and they confirmed Ubisoft commissions artists and designers like them, so usually the quality of their merch is many times, overpriced and substandard.


Let me know if you're still interested in this cosplay, Risu, but if not, hopefully my info can still help someone else out!

 

[Risu]

Thanks for the heads up! For $35, that's not bad.

 

[AssCred]

I have an update from my previous post. DO NOT BUY FROM ALIEXPRESS.

Every listing, even the one that states it's the black zipper variant only sell the mediocre silver one:


This one. It's very low quality. As you can see in this picture, it sits very badly and the inner red lining is beyond horrendous. It's akin to red Santa Claus fabric.

I got refunded for my purchase because they seller used pictures of that black zipper model, so I hope I didn't give them anymore business. I wouldn't buy anything off Aliexpress, regardless of what they list.


I'm doing more research and so far, the best one I can find is on a site called Red Gorilla. Google it, as I can't post links. Updates soon after I buy it and receive.

 

[AssCred]

So after all my research, this what I found out:

Most things online are junk. They only thing decent you can find are the shirts, which are everywhere. The Chinese hoodies suck, and I suppose that black zipper variant is an older model no long available.

But the official Ubi hoodie takes the grand prize of garbage, both in price and quality, and for hoodies, it seems the best place to find them is the website Subject-17, but it doesn't appear they ship worldwide. If you can figure it out, please share. I've tried messaging them with no luck and cannot order. They are nice hoodies.

And affordable too.
I saw these same pics on Red Gorilla, but I can't confirm if they actually sell it. It's double the cost, so I don't want to find out either with an order. They might just use 17's pictures and then sell the Chinese version. Who can say?

The biggest slap in the face, however by Ubisoft was this:

It was made by a mother on the Ubi forums and she posted:
"Athene Jordan | January 13

Hi, I’m Geoff’s mom, Athene. This was not really hard to make,just hard to get details from the game!I did save all the patten pieces,and I can let you know how we did it all,however remember Ubisoft designed the jacket, and they own the design.The hardest part was coming up with the design on the back of the hoodie-couldn’t find it any where in the game with out the backpack(next project/school break…). Tried looking for it under Assassin Creed Brotherhood Concept Art, ACB screenshot, and so on. So I just blew up the part of the design and winged the rest.
I can say that the hood of this alone has 9 outside white pieces, and 3 red lining pieces. The pockets take up most of each side of the front, large items,maps,knifes,and such can fit in either or both sides.Figured Desomd would need/have big pockets for all the stuff he picks up from the bodies. Geoff did the cross hatching with a special double machine needle, and a lot of sewing! The basic hoodie design was taken from a Tee shirt that fit Geoff, and I traced the shape, and drew the different lines/angles of the pieces on that and then added seam allowance. 3 yards of white sweatshirt fabric, 3 yards of red fleece, 4 zippers, and 2 and 1/2 spools of thread, 6 needles, 4 broken…2 hours of design/drafting time, about 10 of sewing time, which Geoff did a good 1/3 ofand $70 for it all,wholesale costs. Next one would take me about 5 to 6 hours.
Thank you so much Ubisoft and everyone for kind words and posts. This was a ton of fun to do. If you need more info, let me know! Or pictures of the patten pieces. I will not sell it to anyone, since it is not mine to sell, but if Ubisoft wants to trade for the next game or two , or needs it they can get hold of me or Geoff. David, get on the honor roll and we will talk…."

Notice how she said she could whip out these in 5-6 hours and it would cost no more than 70. How did Ubisoft see this design and instead commission the failure design they actually ended up with, for way more?

What a slap in the face. I might get in contact with her if I can and offer to pay her to make me one. I really love what she made.


And lastly, the bags. You can't find any good bags out there. You get two variants: Subject 17 again, which is just a square bag with some lines. Or a leather bag from China. But the stripes are dark maroon and not orange and while it's the right shape, it's quite poorly designed. If they had actually found a nice picture of the design, they could've done something well, but they winged it, and we get a truly horribly designed bag. It has near microscopic pocks on both end, impossible for actual use.

If you've browsed, you've found either of them. Don't waste your time.
If anyone would want a great reference picture though, to try their own hand, try this:

That's all for me for now. If Red Gorilla can get back to me to confirm their goods are actually what they list, I might risk a buy and then report back. Until then, no way.