ANOVOS Productions Blog » Joe S.

2010, 1st Comic Con – Day One

Joe S. — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 10:05:03 +0000

Day One was very interesting. Admittedly, this was the first time our CBS colleagues like to eloquently put “being on the other side of the fence”. After years of going to Comic Con as a con-goer and partying all night, so far as we expected, this has changed drastically. Its one thing to visit the booths, its another to present as we found ourselves constantly promoting the product doing our floor time. Its different for sure, but its just another aspect of our beloved hobby.

One of the highlights of the day was seeing person who was blind be guided to touch and really feel our Star Trek XI shirt. Watching him was really the epitome of why we do this. If being able to hold the weight of the fabric in his hand and feel the print of the pattern as he ran his fingers on the surface, somehow contributed to his “experience” of the movie, we’ve accomplished what we’ve set out to do.

The first day ended as it started – still working !

Tomorrow is the first full open day (yesterday night was just preview night). This will be a mad house.

Additionally we’ll also be showcasing the long awaited, Viper Pilot prototype.

Good night folks !

Not a Costume… Uniform

Joe S. — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 05:03:41 +0000

When we first started the company we proposed the idea to our Licensees of a new arena of “costuming,” much like what higher prop replicas are to toys in the current collectibles scene. We suggested the concept of a higher brand of replication much more faithful to the original designs. In the arenas of Battlestar Galactica and Star Trek, we were blessed with two properties whose costume designers and creators always maintained the highest quality in the original outfit creations and in many cases created pieces that very much could be imagined in some capacity of a modern day uniformed service. Today, we received our first prototype for the Battlestar Galactica Officer piece which will represent our highest tier in uniform replication. When I received this, to say that I was astounded at the quality is an understatement. This piece is not only professionally tailored and great looking outside, but also has hidden fasteners and internal buttons to keep the suit in place much like a fine italian suit or public service uniform. Furthermore, the fact that we’ve been able to secure the process and materials to bring this into the public for purchase is even better, ensuring that your purchase will look and function exactly like this prototype.

Okay, enough talking; I promised your sneak peak into our San Diego Comic Con 2010 releases … here it is. Be sure to stop by the EFX Booth (gracious sponsors of our booth space) to touch, inspect and see this prototype in person and even place your reservation !

Enjoy!

(Be sure to click picture to get the full peek)

This isn’t your typical “costume” !

~Joe

A Dye Update…

Joe S. — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 08:14:52 +0000

With the Star Trek XI Blue coming along quite nicely, I thought it would be neat to show you the newest test for upcoming product. To say our team nailed this dye job is an understatement. Take a look for yourself ! Once more, this is a statement of our commitment to you to put in the time, effort and blood to get you the best possible replica…

…as indiscernible to the real thing as possible.

-Joe

UGO Gets First Look into ANOVOS Star Trek:XI line….

Joe S. — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 16:20:30 +0000

Read it up !

http://www.ugo.com/the-goods/exclusive-first-look-at-the-star-trek-uniform-replicas-by-anovos

UGO Exclusive Article

Joe S. — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 03:08:55 +0000

Check it out ! Want some first pics of our BSG line ? Take a quick look and read on UGO’s new fan area based on “need-to-have” for fans. Its an exclusive area of the internet devoted to the fandom of shows. We at ANOVOS are extremely humbled and honored to be part of the site’s launch. Thank you !

Article : http://www.ugo.com/the-goods/exclusive-first-look-at-battlestar-galactica-replicas-by-anovos

A little love for BSG …

Joe S. — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 01:10:38 +0000

Great day today – I was able to track down the original maker of the highly specialized fabric for the Battlestar Galactica ______ uniform. Isn’t that awesome ! It turns out this fabric had to be completely made and not a “found” fabric. The story goes that the miniseries fabric was in such limitation that when the show was given the green light to make whole seasons, the production team couldn’t source the original mini-series fabric due to its scarcity. Therefore, they had to turn to this company to create fabric that matched the mini-series fabric for the rest of the following seasons. We’re very excited.

Oh wait…That was kind of mean, wasn’t it? Here’s a hint : Its Blue and you pretty much saw the uniform on every show… in my opinion.. sometimes too much.

The Wonderful World of Spandex

Joe S. — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 19:40:07 +0000

Here’s a fun update: The world of spandex is complex. Just a little back history, the Star Trek XI shirt fabric had been identified as “jumbo spandex” by a combination of research and the fan base. In efforts to find a supplier of a seemingly simple fabric, in the last few weeks, I’ve taken the plunge head-first into the world of Spandex creation. This seemingly ubiquitous fabric is amazingly complex and depending on the use has totally different compositions. On top of that, I can’t tell you how many names the same thing is called and how many different compositions are called the same thing !!! Adding another layer to the complication, the Star Trek XI large reference swatches we were given, clearly show a ribbing texture and a sheen on only once side of the piece, thus making the search even more of a challenge. So, this seemingly simple fabric is anything but… simple !

In the past few weeks, I had tried various sources and had just about every spandex house in the nation send me their heaviest gauge spandex, lycra, jumbo spandex, super spandex, jumbo lycra sample out there. I even contacted China mills to produce the exact ratio of dull nylon, bright nylon and spandex to produce the elusive “Jumbo Spandex”. To our disappointment, most of the samples had either one element or some elements of the original piece, but none of them had all elements I was looking for in this quest for the perfect replica. Challenging ? Yes. But in all honesty, this is the part I love most in high quality costume replication. Unfortunately, the clock doesn’t stop ticking and we had a schedule to maintain in getting out our prototypes ready for order.

I quickly had to make an order from a fabric shop to start our prototypes. Its a nice family-owned business. As we were talking, I told them our purpose with the material and maintained a casual supplier/buyer conversation. We then started talking about their history in general and suddenly they started dropping names that became all too familiar, especially one of a good ol’ “Mike” (as in Michael Kaplan). I pressed further and realized I had serendipitously stumbled upon the original source for the fabric used in the ST XI shirts and one more piece of the puzzle solved. As you can imagine, this pretty much made my day and immediately signed them to the “team”. I met with them yesterday and they showed me the “good stuff” in the back and sure enough, it was the exact match for the shirts, with the exact ribbing and asymmetric sheen on one side of the fabric.

If you would grant me one second on a soapbox: This is why we do this and why ANOVOS was started. We love the quest for the perfect replica. In doing so, we are blessed with learning the personal stories of how this all came together. In certain cases, some suppliers had no idea the integral part they played. In fact, one of them just saw ST XI for the first time three days ago (his comments on it were hilarious)! (okay, off the soapbox).

So there you have it folks. You can check this off your list for exactness. If you have a tally so far, we have exact fabric and exact post production. Now on to prototypes ! I hope to have pictures of that process.

Trekker Lovers

Joe S. — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 15:52:23 +0000

I just wanted to quickly post that I had a conversation with Bad Robot Productions last week. I have to say how completely impressed I was with their love for the fans. These guys are one of “us” and are just as dedicated to see product’s quality meet previously unmet levels of excellence ! Here’s to a beautiful relationship !

The Magic of Fabric

Joe S. — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 09:54:18 +0000

I met with the our manufacturer for fine fabrics in the 2009 series. He’s a truly dedicated man to his art, as we met at 8p with him being more than accommodating to me. I showed him the 2009 fabric and what we hoped to accomplish. He looked closely at the samples and we started laying out a plan for execution. What still impresses me to this day is the level of attention they took in the design of just the base fabric in the 2009 uniforms. Remember the 10ft rule (looks good from 10 ft, good enough for the camera) ? Yah, that doesn’t apply here. The costume design team did their homework. This is fabric is stunning !

A Big Day ! CBS Press Release

Joe S. — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 06:51:09 +0000

Well its official folks ! Yesterday was the CBS press release announcing our recent license and potential offerings with Star Trek for both 2009 movie and the legacy movies/television series. It feels good to finally share this with everyone as it was a secret we had to keep for sometime. Please keep your communications, emails and suggestions coming through (BTW if you want to use the above pic as a banner, go right ahead !). We have more surprises coming up !!

Star Trek Replica Uniform Release