New Build A ESB Imperial Officer

[Fox]

The mystery shipment is that hat.

I just placed an order for belt from Darman. Pretty sure I won't be getting a correct signed belt from DN anytime soon. When the last of soft goods arrive on Friday I'll place an order for the metal bits. Pretty sure the hat has the wrong disc butm I'll wait till I have it in hand.

[Fox]

Follow up on the DN situation. A restock of belts is due in early 2023 or if I don't want to wait, they'll send me a Solo belt, a belt buckle or an Imperial hat.

I have a couple thoughts on this. Once they learned that they couldn't provide the belt that I ordered why didn't they try to find out when they would be restocked? Send me an email apologizing for the inconvenience tell me the new eta? I would have said, I'm disappointed but I'll wait. Instead, I get a sorry we don't have it, you already paid and we're not going to do anything from the customer service rep. I had to reach out to PR on social media to get them to do the bare minimum.

Already ordered a non DN Imperial belt after learning no stock, not planning on a Solo costume, a black officer hat could be useful for that Tie pilot. Never mind only size in stock is a small. Maybe a spare olive officer hat? Going to wait to see how the large hat I ordered fits me. I could still just wait for the belt but part of me is thinking get a replacement product and be done with this company asap.

It is a little early to give a full review until I get the rest of costume but here's my quick review on DN. They make a fine product. When you have one of them in your hands it feels like it is a quality collectible worthy of its premium price. Unfortunately, all that credit goes to the product designers, the material suppliers and the factory that makes the physical product. DN's sales/customer service department is not equal in that regard. There's a reason why someone will pay $5 for a can of coke at a fancy restaurant when they also buy the same can for 75 cents at the 7-11. It is called service. Considering the bad rep of the company they inherited you'd think they would be on top of providing good customer service. I shouldn't have to give them a push to for them to do the bare minimum.

I'm not saying never buy from this company.  The product (that I have so far) is really good and eventually it looks like I'm going to get what I ordered. I would suggest not making any pre-order. As their pre-order policy won't adjust if something goes on sale. You will pay and see better deals come along while you're still waiting for your pre-order to arrive. See a sale on an in-stock item order it.  Their customer service is not worth paying full price and wait for.

[Fox]

Hat and trousers have transferred from UPS to my local post office at 5am this morning. UPS says I'll get them today. USPS tracking says, we haven't put in our system yet. Don't think they'll be making a special trip for a UPS package.

Ordered Code Cylinders Monday and they arrived 6am this morning by USPS. A small 1st class package across the entire country. The shipping industry is messed up. Doesn't matter if you purchase the least or most expensive shipping option there's no such thing as good delivery estimate. I did read from reviews dating back a few years that pocket for the code cylinders was too shallow on Anovos's tunic. Did DN update this minor flaw? No. Did I cry a little on the inside as I cut a hole inside the pocket's lining of this expensive new tunic I just bought? Yes.  DN doesn't sell half sized code cylinders. It couldn't have been that hard to improve this part of the design.

Thinking of replacing my gloves for the second time. 1st pair was way too tight. 2nd pair were very loose. wore them with the tunic for the first time. My hands look oversized. I don't have the trousers yet. Maybe the flared legs will balance out the gloves.

[Fox]

Got the hat and trousers today.

The trousers run on the small side. I don't need to use a belt. They're snug around the calves even before tying them. My calves aren't beefy. If I wear the trouser at proper waist height the upper laces are above the boot. If I wear them a bit lower the lace is hidden in the boot but, then they look a bit baggy.

As for the hat. It is a little off from the original trilogy hat in my opinion. Need to review the officers in the Disney's era to see if it matches their look more. It appears to be taller than what appeared in the original saga. My urge is to wear it lower on my head. When I do that, it feels tight. That's why I decided to order the hat again next size up as my replacement item for promo fiasco.

I feel a little bit like a gorilla in the uniform. I'm tall and slender with board shoulders. The tunic is structured to give the appearance of strong shoulders to people who have weak shoulders. On me I look like I'm wide enough to wrestle a Wookie.

[Fox]

As mentioned, the tunic lacks a modesty panel for the collar. Hit 2 fabric stores today. Best match was still off by a few shades of green and $16 a yard. Don't need that much and don't want to spend that much money. Went on Amazon and found a fabric sample in better shade, for $5 shipped. Seller sent me a message asking if my order was a mistake.

Nope just needed a swatch's worth.

[Fox]

Fabric swatch for collar modesty panel has been shipped.
Darman Belt has been shipped.
Got the replacement gloves. Looks and fits good.
DN's PR rep informed me they'll pass my replacement item request along.

Got a black officer hat from Wampa Wear. Picked it up for the code disk and the hat for my Tie build. Thought I could easily swap out the disk as needed. Nope you need a micro screwdriver. I can see something breaking. I'll pick up another disk later. Once the fabric swatch and belt are here, I'll have everything that I need to complete this build.

[Fox]

Fabric swatch for modesty collar arrived yesterday and belt arrived this morning it was delayed a day because of the weather.

Going to make a simple removable modesty panel. First step is to fold the piece in half and sew the two halves together. Look I still have a tube of fabric glue from that other project from 3 years ago. I'll just instead of hand sewing. Why isn't more coming out the tube feels full - Oh crap the glue inside separated and now just exploded over the fabric! A day later the glue is all dry and fabric really smells of glue. Giving it a few days to air out. The belt looks fine. Only complaint is they forgot to punch a hole in it, and I did give instructions to add one. Now going to trying adding one myself with a basic household tools.

Still waiting on replacement item update status from DN but I now have all the pieces to complete this build. In week or 2 I'll setup the home photo studio and make myself all clean shaven for some pictures.

[Fox]

Finally got my replacement item from DN. It only took bypassing the customer service department for a social media PR rep and then reminding them to remind the shipping department to send it.

Here's my opinion of DN. The designers, marketing and manufacturing departments do a good job. Their customer service and fulfillment are bad. You can't be a seller of high-end collectibles when half of your business is acting like a discount shop.