Xcoser Judge Dredd Costume Review by Tj Morgan

Review of The Judge Dredd costume

Article by Tj Morgan

Firstly I'd like to say thank you for allowing me to do the online live review,  it was a great experience and I would love to do it again sometime. Then tend to start my own YouTube channel very soon. Anything you'd like to send me to help perhaps even help me get off the ground with the channel and promote you would be greatly appreciated.

Now as for the costume first I will begin with the positives. Firstly the question came in amazing time we did cut it close for that wasn't due to anyone's fault that was just the way it went, when it came to unboxing the costume it was great to see that everything was packaged well. I will now go through each individual part of the costume and give my positive and negative points about it.

Firstly the jacket:

Positives: The jacket was very comfortable and fit me really well as specified due to my measurements the material felt great and there were no scratches to the material or any other damage that was visible. The jacket zipper is well made and the material very soft and comfortable.

Now for the negative points about the jacket: This first point relates to all of the costume, unfortunately as soon as they open the box I noticed quite a strong smell that was not very pleasant. This is nothing to do with the costume itself but it would say something that I would like to point out and it's not exactly a great thing for a customer to open a box and their costumes smell. This may have been due to shipping or other factors out of your control but I just thought I would point it out.

Next up the vest:

For me the vest was probably the worst part of the costume I had trouble getting it to fit properly due to Limited points to tighten the Vest.  I would suggest adding a way to tighten the vest and make it more loose if needed. The other problem I encountered relates to the shoulder pads: Firstly the shoulder pads on the vest don't sit very well on a person shoulder when they walk around. This would be an issue at a convention as they could be bumped and easily pushed out of place which is just a general inconvenience. Also the gold sections on the vest especially the shoulders and the badge are unfortunately lacking in detail. They look nice but it's not accurate to the movie as the ones in the movie are made out of a former plastic, unfortunately, having this gold fabric just takes away from the overall look of the costume and doesn't make it look as nice. That would be my major bright with the costume is that unfortunately a lot of interest in the costume is taken away due to the fabric on the shoulders and the badge. I would recommend replacing these with a form of resin or plastic where you get a high amount of detail as well as a sturdy costume piece to add the details of the padding on the vest. They don't look so much like I'm a plating as they do pillows within the armor.

The Pants:

The pants are probably my favourite part of the costume.  They fit well and they look great. The only recommendation I would have with them would be to look at the source material and change some of the colors to be more green like within the movie. Also where the knee connects to the soft fake leather it is still quite scratchy just like the jacket, this would be another thing I would look at changing.

The Belt:

The belt that the costume comes with is fantastic I would love to see more parts of the costume be made of the same material as the belt buckle the buckle is beautiful and gives a lot of detail to the costume.  I would look at adding this much effort to other areas of the costume, it gives a really nice and movie realistic look and attention to detail. The pouches that come with it is also really great. The only thing I would change is on the medical pouch-the large square looking one, is to add a little black cross embellished into the middle. This would just make the costume look a little more movie accurate perhaps including some props to go in the pouches would also be a great addition to the costume.

The Helmet:

The Judge Dredd helmet is by far the best part that comes with the costume. It is greatly detailed and well-made.  A few things I would look at checking would be when painting the gold on the helmet use an airbrush or spray paint instead of hand painting as the brush strokes are quite visible, it would have also been great to see some weather in done to the helmet. There is a large amount of detail in there that isn't seen due to a lack of wash, there are some awesome details in the helmet that would really benefit from some dark to really make the details stand out and Pop's this could be demonstrated on many of your helmets.  I would look at adding a different visor as the ones that are supplied a flimsy and annoying to put into place, also the visor is slightly to see through to match up with the screen accurate costume A Docket into would be fantastic as for shipping of the helmet it would be nice to see helmets have boxes that actually fit them as when opening up a package having the helmet be misshaping and squished isn't a very nice feeling for a customer. I would imagine things like this so easily fixed with a heat gun but for an amateur cosplayer it may present more of an issue.

Overall the costume is very detailed and looks great From a Distance I would look at changing up some of the colors and materials to make it more comfortable and more detailed to the eye. The costume is a great base for anyone that would be looking to build a Judge Dredd cosplay. I would definitely suggest looking in changing out the fabric shoulder pads and badge for other sturdy options like plastic it'll look better feel better and just overall improve the look of the costume.

That is all I have to say about the costume it's been a pleasure to work with Xcoser and I would happily do it again and again. <3

By Tj