Cosplay Sky - season 12 corduroy jacket

This month in my costume reviews I’m looking at the season 12 shooting jacket offered by Cosplay Sky.

Based in China, Cosplay Sky has been making costumes for over five years and specialise in a lot of Anime and genre films and tv shows. Their style can be very angular with broad lapels and flared skirts.

Dark Red Corduroy Trench Coat

Price as of April 2013 - $150

The CosplaySky take on the season 12 shooting jacket, is a stark contrast to the version Baron Boutique I previously reviewed.

The immediate difference is the colour. Where the Baron Boutique jacket is way too light, this is way too dark.

The colour chosen is a deep burgundy rather than a more screen accurate burnt orange colour. This reminds me more of the season 18 greatcoat, which I’ll be reviewing in due course.

The pocket are correctly constructed, but are all way too big, boxy and angular to look right.

The original jacket has a shabby, baggy feel to it and this is all just too crisp and sharp for my liking.

The pockets are correctly trimmed along their tops, but it is too wide and bold as well as the wrong colour.
With the jacket too dark and the trim too light and wide, it makes them stand out too much.

The jacket has grey elbow patches which are by far a much better match to the real jacket compared to the Baron Boutique version, but they look to be fabric, possibly a felt rather than leather. I may be wrong - please correct me if you have one of these jackets and can confirm it to me.

There is an interpretation of the sleeve pocket, but it looks to be too large in my view.

The one part of the jacket that to me is seriously lacking is the back. The belted back is very unflattering and lacks the looseness of the real thing.
There are the gusseted sides to the back, but they just don’t look right and the overall effect of the back is that it is more fitted than it should be.

So, looking beyond the colour, how well does the jacket look?

Well the only way I can describe how I see it is to describe it as a caricature of the jacket.

All the details are there - the flapped box pockets; the belted back; grey elbow patches; the gusseted rear; the curious flapped sleeve pocket - but they are thicker, bolder, wider than they should be.

You can see the cutter of this jacket is more used to making the replica Anime costumes seen around comic conventions the breath of the US, with their angular lines and shapes.
This should be the original shabby-chic look The Doctor is known for. His slightly disheveled appearance that masks a brilliant intellect.

Getting my ducks in a row

You’d have hopefully seen my completed Fourth Doctor costume.

One thing which finishes of the ensemble and is the icing on the cake are my set of flying duck brooches!

They are something I have always associated with the coat, but now I look back over photographs and episodes they only appeared in one adventure, The Power Of Kroll.

I’ve been looking around for a decent set, and along the way have picked up some suitable candidates.

Here’s what I found.

This was the first set I found, and I’ve seen several sets of these on eBay.

Cast in resin, the colouring is very stark and cartoon-like. I can’t help thinking of Daffy Duck when I see them.

As a quick place-holder set they fitted the bill very well, but I was always going to be on the look out for a better design.

A set identical to these are on the coat on display at the Doctor Who Experience in Cardiff.

This set are quite a bit smaller my the first set I bought, but are just as effective.

They are more like the ceramic versions original seen in the 1970s.

I like them, but am not too keen in the blue colouring.

This is actually the latest set I have bought and are a more stylised design.

I think they are actual ceramic, so I’m pretty sure they date from the 1970s or 1980s.

The colouring is much nicer, in oatmeal and brown with a touch of green.

They are wonderfully kitsch!

This final set are the same moulding as the blue ducks above, but are painted in a more subtle colour scheme, akin to the brown tones of the period set I recent purchased.

The way they have been painted and partly rubbed off, gives them a nice aged appearance.

These are my personal favourite and are the ducks I currently have on my coat.

FURTHER 4th Doctor items on eBay

A few more original costume pieces from the Fourth Doctor era have popped up on eBay.
Here’s what I found.

Robots Of Death
Skirt worn by Toos

SOLD FOR £350

This is the skirt worn by the character Toos in the classic 1977 Doctor Who story Robots of Death.

It is simply a stunning piece of design and has obviously taken many hours to produce. It is in near perfect condition for a costume piece of this age, with no loose seams or missing pieces. Dozens of ‘jewels’ and adornments have been painstakingly attached. I can’t over-emphasise just how impressive this piece looks up close – it’s amazing!

This is a rare opportunity to own a costume worn by a key character from the Golden Age of Doctor Who – don’t miss out!