Firefly and Serenity Patches
December 9th, 2007 Posted in Browncoat News, Fan-Made FF/Serenity Merchandise, Serenity Collectibles
Fans who’ve been about the ‘verse for a while will recall Browncoat Patches fondly as their supplier of patches, but unfortunately Bruce decided to close up shop a while back.
The next quality entry into this arena was www.outtotheblack.com with their Independent patch, the first released with the newly canon blue star (rather than the black). Prior to the release of the Firefly Visual Companion, fans had assumed the star to be black. The Out To The Black patch is excellent quality, and sold by one of the most respected sellers in the browncoat community.
Now there is a new kid on the block, www.PatchesNPins.com - a site that recently added Firefly and Serenity to their lineup of film and TV patches. They say they don’t actually produce the patches, they just distribute them.
They are the first company to provide screen-accurate Independent triangle patches, using the photos in the Firefly Visual Companion as reference. PatchesNPins offers three different versions of the patch, one for each variation in the Visual Companion. The average price of their patches is $7.00, which is a bit high compared to previous offerings (Out To The Black, for instance, offers their Independent patch for $5.00) but does include free shipping. They also sell a set of all three variants of the patch for $18.00.
In addition to the Independent patches, they offer up a Serenity logo (the Firefly based one, not the movie logo), several variations on the Alliance logo, both the red and the blue Alliance security shield patches, a medical patch, an Alliance troop patch, and of course Blue Sun.
I have a set of the three Independent patches here, and they are quite impressive - not quite as thick as some of the other fan-made patches I’ve seen, but the quality seems very good - they are precise in design and there are no loose or out of place threads. They are extremely accurate replicas of the patches shown in the Visual Companion, and I recommend snagging a set for your collection. When I ordered from their site I recieved my patches quickly and in great shape. This site could well end up being an excellent resource for collectors and costumers as they are continually adding new patches; I’d like to see a Serenity movie logo patch and Kaylee’s bear patch added to the selection.
Lyndono patches: There are significant differences between the Lyndono patch offered by Patches ‘n Pins and the one formerly sold by browncoatpatches.com - and I have to admit I don’t know which is the more accurate. The original Browncoat Patches patch is on the left; the Patches ‘n Pins version is on the right. It’s smaller and more vividly colored. Anyone? I should use this as an excuse to plug in my Serenity DVD, but I’m busy and lazy! I notice the colors on the Patches ‘n Pins version are similar to the Independent colors. Interesting……
Independent patches: Shown in the top row is the set of three screen-accurate Independent patches from Patches ‘n Pins; below is the one formerly sold by 
browncoatpatches.com. I wanted to include the blue-starred Independent patch sold by Out To The Black Outfitters in the photo, but I couldn’t find it! It’s very similar to the black-starred patch on the bottom, only it has the canon blue star. The star appears black on screen and was used until the Firefly Visual Companion revealed it to be blue. The patch was officially intended to be worn point down, but during the Firefly combat scenes Mal is shown wearing his with the point up - reportedly a mistake in the wardrobe department. However, a case can be made that whatever the original intent was, the point-up patch is canon, at least for Mal, because that’s how it actually appeared in the series. You choose!
Serenity Patches: Unfortunately, you can’t buy either of these right now. The patch on the left is a rare collectible; they were given to members of the old, official Serenity movie forum as rewards for collecting a certain number of points by completing tasks on the website. There were very few of these patches ever distributed; perhaps at some point someone will make a replica? It’s a very nice patch. The one on the right was produced and sold by the no longer operating Browncoat Patches.
Rating: Worth The Cashy Money
Approximate Price: $7.00 each
Available From: http://www.patchesnpins.com