Badass ED-209 Replica, Clever General Grievous Cosplay & Adorable Predator
This article is more than 2 years old
One of the things I love about hitting up any sci-fi/comic convention is seeing all the costumes people have pored their time and efforts into. Sometimes the sheer level of craftsmanship is enough to boggle the mind, whereas other times a clever concept alone can make for an unforgettable bit of cosplay (such as this gentleman with the tribbles). For this story we’ve rounded up three bits of very cool replica work and/or cosplay for your amusement. First up, the gorgeous ED-209 replica featured in the video above. If you haven’t watched it yet, you have 15 seconds to comply…
Shawn Thorsson and his team built the ED-209 replica in only 96 days, just in time to have it finished for Maker Faire 2014. The result is a beautiful recreation of the lumbering, violently malfunctioning, not-so-good-with-stairs deathbot from Paul Verhoeven’s original RoboCop. It’s all the little details that really make it sing, from the warning stickers, to the grease streaks and scarring, to the spent shells on the ground around it. All in all, a stellar bit of work.
Next up is a case where a little creative thinking can help sell the costume just as much as detail work can. The General Grievous costume above was spotted at the MCM London Expo, and it quite cleverly recreates the Star Wars cyborg’s chicken-legged stance by hiding the human operator’s legs behind the cape. It’s a simple idea that works brilliantly, giving you the sort of costume that I’m sure got a lot of double-takes as it wandered the floor.
Last but not least, we’ve got an overload of cuteness for you. After all, one of the joys of being a geek parent is the excuse to dress the kids up like miniature versions of your favorite fictional characters. Case in point: the cutest damn Predator we ever did see. Based on the kid’s expression when he (she?) pops off the mask, we’re guessing he wasn’t entirely sure what was going on, but the costume is good enough that at first I got the unnerving impression that an actual small Predator had skinned was wearing the face of one of its prey as a Halloween costume. It’s disturbing. It’s adorable. It’s distorable.
