I have noticed a disturbing trend on Doctor Who message boards especially amongst the Cosplayers, (that sad and lonely but generally harmless subset of fandom), that whenever anyone asks a question regarding costumes, one gurning idiot appears as if by magic.
This idiot goes by the online name of 'Timelord25' or 'Manofsteel25' but his parents know him as 'Bob'. Like the Candyman, he materialises dressed in an appalling caricature of Tom Baker's season 12 outfit gurning like a simpleton to offer his definitive and authoritative advice on all matters concerning Who costumes.
Nothing wrong in that, if this cocksicle actually possessed even a modicum of observational ability. Sadly, he doesn't. However, undeterred by this fundamental handicap he enthusiastically bluffs, blunders and stumbles his way through the finer points of Doctor Who sartoria with all the finesse of Stevie Wonder in a knocking shop. Anyway, Mr Bob Mitsch has teamed up with a character we all know and love, Mr Daniel Pawlik aka 'Risu' to produce Tom Baker's Season 12 neckerchief with what he can say with "certainty that it's at least 90% accurate to the real thing.".
Allow me to show what a deluded fuck nugget this man is.
Pic on the left is Baker's screen worn neckerchief. Right is Mr Mitsch and his "90% accurate" replica.
As you can see, they look NOTHING alike. The base colour is wrong for a start. Pattern is utterly wrong and the stripe colour is like nothing I've seen. How it can be "90% accurate" is anyone's guess. Obviously Mr Mitsch's mathematically ability surpasses his observational ability.
Blind leading the blind? Blind and dumb leading blind and dumber.
In the very near future I shall be expanding into costumes and for the first time ever I shall make museum quality, accurate costume pieces available to you all. Judging from the mess above, it can't come a moment too soon...
What a gurning fool !!!
ReplyDeleteI look forward to the introduction of your costumes. Very apt direction, may I say, judging by some of the extremely poor efforts out there.
You've obviously invested a great deal of time into your research. Different sources of light and shadows have different effects on fabric. The color I picked was a very good match to what I saw in each of a large collection of publicity stills and on screen in the early Baker episodes. That's a nice shot you posted, one I haven't seen, it does shed some light on parts of the pattern I was unable to make out before. I'll be sure to make a change to my pattern. It's a good thing you're here to watch me so closely and make snide comments about every little thing I do. I don't know what I'd do without you.
ReplyDeleteOdd. I met Bob for the first time in 2005 at SDCC and since then have always found him to be helpful and open for more information and improvements. He'd be the first to point out the shortcomings of any of his several Doctors' costumes. At least he has made serious roads in actually putting the stuff together to get started and making improvements as they have come along or revealed. The craft would certainly improve for the better if there were more people like him who actually had stuff to show for their efforts and compared notes civilly rather than just the typical talk about stuff nobody has, ever sees or can actually get. One can easily get sucked into the details to the point of never completing a thing.
ReplyDeleteAll in all, your assessment of Bob seems very mean spirited and simple posturing to build yourself up by bashing somebody else. If that wasn't your intent, I'm sorry to say that's how it comes across. Your description of Bob and his posts is certainly not at all consistent with the guy I've come to know and respect through the years. He's not a merchant and has no agenda to be some sort of top dog. He is very knowledgeable but has no illusions of being the definitive source. If his neckerchief is the centerpiece of his being targeted with such vile insults then you merely come across as being part of that sad and lonely bully subset of fandom. BTW, aren't those sad and lonely people the ones you're actually trying to cater to?
If you come up with great stuff. Fantastic. If you genuinely know your details and can correct inaccuracies or point out viable resources. Awesome. But let those things and actions speak for themselves rather than taking low tactic shots at a guy who has done nothing to warrant this kind of treatment.
Good luck with your future endeavors in your costume expansion. I mean that sincerely. But leave other people alone because it will only hurt your reputation rather than build it. That's not a threat but just a simple fact and I want you to be able to succeed as well as have fun while you're at it.
(forgive any typos or grammar mishaps since it's too late for me to proofread effectively) ;)
Danny-boy, without me you'll probably continue to live in blissful ignorance of your pathetic and miserable failings as a human being. Glad I could help you out. Though I could have posted a pic of the complete unfolded neckerchief and you and Bob would probably still miss the mark by several miles.
ReplyDeleteAnd what's wrong with my ethics? Just because I refused to take the bullying and scoffing from you and your window licking buddies does not make me unethical. I turned the tables and are giving you a taste of what it's like to be terrorised and criticised. It's not very nice is it Daniel? Have a long hard think about this before you accuse me of dodgy ethics again.
@Batfriend66..you have absolutely no clue as to what this is about. I am sure Bob is a perfectly nice guy who helps little old ladies cross the road and goes to church on Sundays. But that does not negate the fact that he's still a gurning bug eyed moron for claiming 90% accuracy on a piece that I wouldn't blow my nose on.
My issue with Bob is not so much his enthusiasm (which he has in spades) but the fact that he sets himself up as an authority on Doctor Who costuming. I'm sorry, but anyone who ends up looking like a technicolor caricature cannot be expected to be taken with anything but a large fistful of sodium chloride.
Highly accurate pieces made by artisans from reference material taken from ORIGINAL pieces are out there. Fuck, I've been responsible for some of them. But the reason why pictures and reference shots have never been made available is because 1) these things are NOT cheap and are not aimed at cosplayers but for full sized displays 2) the moment you start posting pictures up Bob and his cheapskate buddies will use these to try and augment their own costumes or will try and have them reproduced cheaply thereby benefiting from other people's research and hard work. Sound fair to you? It doesn't to me either. The fact is, accuracy COSTS - both time and money. You want something screen accurate you have to be willing to pay top whack for it. Those that have already got some of my costume pieces know how good they are but will not post pictures online of them to protect their investment and my time and effort. On a par with my sonic screwdriver in fact.
Dear CT,
ReplyDeleteI strongly believe you to be a cunt.
In all sincerity,
Kevin Kittridge
Thank you Kevin, you made my day.
ReplyDeleteThe picture of Bakers original neckerchief is of such poor quality, that it is impossible to do a fair comparison. Why don't you put your money where your mouth is and make one that matches the original 100%. I am sure that a know-it-all such as yourself can do it. I am sure all of fandom would get on their knees and worship you as the god you think you are if you could produce props and costumes that are 100% accurate.
ReplyDeleteAs far as the Doctor Who Cosplayers being a sad and lonely subset of fandom, you are so wrong. We are a happy and very supportive group of friends who are always willing to help one another out with our props and costumes. The only sad and lonely people in fandom are the ones like you. People who enjoy making others miserable by claiming that their costumes and props are nothing like the originals. I pity you and all those like you.
Obviously the picture above flew right by your visual cortex. I think it's a fair enough comparison to see that NOTHING on Mr Mitch's 90% accurate replica matches.
ReplyDeleteI don't need to put my money where my mouth is. I'm not the one claiming a 90% accurate replica. I am, however, pointing out what a deluded claim that is. Trust me, if I was to do a replica, I GUARANTEE that it will be at least 90% accurate and a damn sight better than Mitsch/Risu's effort. Look at my sonic screwdriver. It's close to 99% accurate and the missing 1% is deliberately designed in. My fob watch has been compared side by side to an original prop by a former detractor of mine and is about 98% accurate and better finished - that is without having access to the original prop. Every time I have been called out I have put my money where my mouth is and served up a big helping of crow to my detractors. So why don't you go fuck yourself? Why should I produce something so easy for cunts like you copy? If I did, I'll probably charge a thousand for it just to make sure that those that shelled out will be reluctant to let it be copied as it would devalue their investment.
Trust me pal, I have made near 100% accurate costume pieces for my customers and don't need cheapskate wank monkeys like you telling me I can't because I have nothing to prove to you. Tell me, do you see anybody else produce stuff like mine? No? Point made, so fuck off.
Listen to yourself. You have got to be the most pitiful jerk I have ever seen. A majority of fans have either limited resources, limited info, or lack the skills to make super accurate props. And when they do try and make something, people like you just tear them apart with your put downs. Your attitude suggests that you are nothing more than a lonely man who devotes his life to fandom because he has no life in the real world. Take my advice and move out from your mothers basement and get yourself a girlfriend, or boyfriend.
ReplyDeleteComing from a Cosplayer that is fucking hilarious. Obviously the irony of you telling me to get a life is lost on you. Not projecting your own insecurities are you?
ReplyDeleteOh please. Most cosplayers do have a life outside of fandom, including me. The fact that you spend so much of your time copying the work of others to make yourself feel important is proof that you have no life.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry, but I cannot take seriously a cunt that spends his time dressing up in (admittedly shit) Doctor Who costumes yet dares to question my talent and skill in creating replicas of the same show you are cosplaying.
ReplyDeleteNow let's be honest, if you even had a smidgin of the talent I possess you would be doing exactly the same. Just because you are an impoverished, talentless and lonely individual with possibly a microscopic penis, you really don't have to engage me in this quite one sided debated.
Now this can go two ways, you can quit right now or we can continue this ad infinitum and I will just bitch slap you again and again.
Your move, dick cheese...
You are not worth the time. I just hope that you realize the error of your ways before it is to late. I will pray for your soul.
ReplyDeleteGod botherer too? Save your prayers, you dumb shit, I'm going to hell anyway.
ReplyDeleteWhere's the fun in it for you? We make props and costumes because we enjoy doing it and we like to share our work with the community. The only reason you seem to do it is to prove how much better you are than everybody else. You can put us down all you like, because at this point there couldn't be many people who still have an ounce of respect for you as a human being.
ReplyDeleteDaniel, I do what I do to raise the bar. For far too long misinformed, half baked observations and shitty execution in replicas has become the standard. It pains me to see it when morons like you and Bob claim '90% accuracy' in a job and it patently isn't. What happens? That '90% accuracy' figure gets taken as gospel and before you know it there is a plethora of crap copies of Baker's neckerchieves out there with the wrong colour and the wrong pattern. That may be fun to you but it isn't for me. I find it annoying and an insult to the originals. I would never make a claim like that about my own work unless I knew damn fucking sure I could back that up and I am just as harsh about my own work. I don't expect you to like me. There are a lot of cunts in the prop world. In the world of Star Wars there is Gino. A bigger cunt you a probably never going to find but he is a stickler for accuracy. Fair play to him. He lacks my wry humour and subtle wit, but at least he knows his stuff. In the same vein, I don't expect you to like me Danny, but heed what I say, respect my work and look hard at your own standards before you start judging me and my attitude to others.
ReplyDeletehttp://kittridge.wordpress.com/2010/02/13/659/
ReplyDeleteAh yes, Steven Ricks. What a dire effort. The less said about that hack's work the better. So close yet so far off the mark. B+.
ReplyDeleteReading through your blog today (having just discovered it), you definitely seem to have an amazing eye for detail. To that end, would you care to chime in on the accuracy of the Magnoli Tennant suit ( http://www.magnoliclothiers.com/doctor-who-tennant-suit-by-magnoli-clothiers-tailor-made-suits-p-103.html )? I have plans to plunk down some hard-earned cash on it, but I'd like to know how accurate it actually is before I do so.
ReplyDeleteThank you Shawn.
ReplyDeleteYou know, I've never understood the appeal of Indy Magnoli. He's a competent propmaker and his Grail Diaries from the late nineties were very good however but his venturing into clothing is a massive mistake. First of all, he knows next to nothing about costumes or tailoring. All his stuff is made for him by bog standard Thai custom tailors and are not of good quality. Slightly better than bargain high street but still a world apart from true custom tailoring.
Anyone with even a moderately discerning eye can see that 'his' costumes are terribly inaccurate. You'd have to be a mug to purchase from him at those prices. Better go straight to the source and contact any Thai tailor direct for cheaper pricing and better control over the final product.
His Tennant suit is atrocious. The cut is incorrect, the cloth is wrong, the pockets are wrong. It's just inaccurate in virtually every respect. A straightforward comparison with the original will tell you everything you need to know.
The only way to get a good, accurate suit for a decent price is to research it yourself then get a tailor who you can work with.