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Power Loader Halloween Costume From Aliens Movie 60

Posted by ScuttleMonkey from the don't-drink-and-drive-this-costume dept.
Ant writes "Chairboy's Halloween costume this year was a Caterpillar Power Loader J-5000, the hydraulic utility vehicle seen in the James Cameron's 1986 movie, Aliens. There is a journal of him making it from scratch, a photograph/photo gallery, and a video clip of it in action from yesterday."
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Power Loader Halloween Costume From Aliens Movie More

Power Loader Halloween Costume From Aliens Movie

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  • Looks like his family got the scrimp regarding costume planning. Themed pajamas for the kids, massive who-da for dad.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by eln ( 21727 ) *
      Yah, but those kids are young enough that they only want to go as their favorite cartoon characters. I told my son he could be anything he wanted for Halloween, and he picked a $12 costume that was basically Spongebob's face on a giant piece of felt. I'd wager that kid thought his costume was awesome and his dad was a weirdo for spending days making a bunch of yellow styrofoam to wear.

      That said, the costume is pretty cool.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Tenareth ( 17013 )
        haha, My kid went with that costume too... It's all about what is interesting to them at the time when they are little.

    • Re:went to the gallery... (Score:4, Informative)

      by Chairboy ( 88841 ) on Wednesday November 01, 2006 @04:56PM (#16679319) Homepage
      Heh, I used to make costumes for the kids. First year, my wife dressed my son as a fox, so I made him a big tank to be driven around in with german markings. In one step, he became Rommel. Next year, he gets a pilot jacket, so I built the mech-warrior battlemech costume (http://hallert.net/mech/mechcostume.htm) with him as the pilot. After that, wifey put the kabosh on my involvement with their costumes.
      • those costumes are really cool. so you made the dot with the tank cam and now this. you are almost as famous as the star wars kid.
      • First year, my wife dressed my son as a fox, so I made him a big tank to be driven around in with german markings. In one step, he became Rommel.

        Awesome! So how many people did you meet along the way who a) got the reference or b) got offended by the WWII-era German insignia?

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Chairboy ( 88841 )
          Of the people who got the reference, nobody was offended. I was curious about that myself, too, but it turned out that the folks most likely to flip out didn't really know their WWII history. Good times were had by all.

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by elhaf ( 755704 )
        That's hilarious. You rool. Between this and the Master Chief costume [bungie.org], I'm inspired to do something really wacky next year.
      • Love the loader costume and your others too :) Been watching your work for some time now. Can't wait to see what you do next year! Cheers!
    • When the kid is old enough to make his own dam costume then the kid can do somethign about it. Till then Dad gets to play. :-)

      jason
  • There's nothing like the sight of a wet cardboard powerloader crumbling under its own weight.

    • Re: (Score:2, Funny)

      by malvidin ( 951569 )
      It was pink styrofoam insulation, which doesn't lose strength when it gets wet.
      Unless it rains acetone.

  • You'd think... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Churla ( 936633 ) on Wednesday November 01, 2006 @04:44PM (#16679071)
    If he was going for the theme he would have gotten a space marine outfit for his wife and had one of the toddlers bursting out of her stomach.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by antdude ( 79039 )
      Nah, I suggested that he makes his kids as Aliens like they did in the original movie(s?) when special effects were limited. Oh and someone had to be the queen alien for the fight like in Aliens.
  • dust off and nike the website from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.

  • Mostly... (Score:1, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    They mostly trick or treat at night... mostly.

  • Is Taco anti-Halloween? (Score:3)

    by From A Far Away Land ( 930780 ) on Wednesday November 01, 2006 @04:50PM (#16679191) Homepage Journal
    Slashdot makes a big deal out of April Fools, but features Halloween material a day late?

    We need a Halloween theme along the lines of OMG Ponies, except it should be OMG Ghosts - by Symantec.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by noretsa ( 995866 )
      Slashdot makes a big deal out of April Fools, but features Halloween material a day late?

      You're right! We should have seen the photos of him Trick-or-Treating weeks ago.

    • He comes from Holland, MI, a small, mainly Dutch community in West Michigan which is so ridiculously conservative, it makes Utah look liberal. Most of the schools in that area don't have Halloween parties because of the Christian right's pervasive presence. It's so bad that people have been shunned (yes, actual shunning) for mowing their lawns on Sunday. Honestly, Taco probably forgot that Halloween even happens anymore.
      • It's strange that Christian conservatives would be anti-Halloween. I thought conservatives liked to scare children, and throw eggs, when not handing out candy to the masses in order to keep them docile? Kidding.
        It is strange though, since All Hallow's Eve is only where it is because of a Christian holiday All Saint's Day on Nov. 1 today.
        • I know the begining of your post was in jest. But All Saint's Day, and All Soul's Day which is Oct. 30, are way there are to disrupt the pagan holiday of All Hallow's Eve not the other way around. Much like the placement of Christmas around the Winter Solstice festival.

          • I know the begining of your post was in jest. But All Saint's Day, and All Soul's Day which is Oct. 30, are way there are to disrupt the pagan holiday of All Hallow's Eve not the other way around. Much like the placement of Christmas around the Winter Solstice festival.

            Christmas is on December 25th because that's when Jesus was born, dumbass. Why the hell else do you think his folks couldn't find room at the inn? Everybody knows Nazareth didn't have a conference centre till 14 AD.

            • Re: (Score:2)

              by Abreu ( 173023 )
              I am probably feeding a troll... but what the hell,

              Can you cite chapter and verse where it is stated the actual date of birth of Jesus?

              Face it, the date was decided by the Church around the fourth century, mainly to "mask" the pagan celebrations of the winter solstice. The Orthodox church fixed a different date, and they celebrate christmas on January 6th.

              • What's that wooshing sound?

                If you missed the suggestion that there was no room at the inn because it was Christmas, did my claiming Nazareth built a conference centre in 14 AD not give you tiny clue that I may not have been being entirely serious?

                • Re: (Score:2)

                  by Abreu ( 173023 )
                  yeah, whoosh indeed...

                  Its just that lately it has become hard to be a rational christian, when theres people who insist that the earth is 4000 years old and that fossilized dinosaurs are a trick of the devil... Or those wackos that claim that all humans spoke english before the tower of babel, and that the KJV is the "real and only valid" word of God...

                  [rolls eyes]

          • Actually All Soul's Day (The Day of the Dead) is today, Nov. 2nd. I know this only because most of the town where I live shuts down in observance, including the DMV, which I actually needed to visit today. Too bad for me I guess.
    • ...but features Halloween material a day late?

      It's not a day late! It's 364 days early!

  • Kevin Smith? (Score:3, Funny)

    by Viking Coder ( 102287 ) on Wednesday November 01, 2006 @05:23PM (#16679887)
    Shouldn't this guy just get a trench coat, a T-shirt, a baseball cap and a packet of cigarettes? That way he can play Silent Bob.

    The guy's an exact duplicate of Kevin Smith!
  • He did a fantastic APU costume in previous years, that was my grand plan for this year, except that my 4 month old son Orion was going to be strapped into the pilot's seat. However procrastination got the better of me and with a few hours before the first halloween party I attached some constrols to his baby carrier and wired them into a cardboard hat that said 'Mind Control Unit' - it may not have been 10% as cool as the power loader outfit, but it did win a prize for originality.

    There's some photos here,
  • It's a great costume, but it reminds me of something that's always bothered me about the Aliens movie:

    Why do they need a big, hydraulic power-loader on a spaceship? If they need to move large, heavy things around, why don't they just turn off (or down) the artificial gravity?
    • Yeah, you're not dealing with gravity, so moving things around is easier, but still, you need to get that mass moving, and that does take expenditure of energy. Even without gravity, mechanical advantage is damn useful.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by ledow ( 319597 ) *
      Zero gravity - you push large object - still takes quite a lot of oomph to move it (plus you would have to have something to push AGAINST in order to make it work). Then the real problem shows itself... how the hell do you stop that nuclear bomb you just pushed from careening across the warehouse and smashing into the wall without hurting yourself?

      All "zero gravity" does help with is reducing friction from the floor. It still has mass and the problems associated with things just floating about are one of
  • Joel did the power loader costume on MST3k.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by VWJedi ( 972839 )

      So did Dr. Forrester and TV's Frank.

      Or was that a "drum machine" that looked just like a powerloader?

  • Warning. On that site, do NOT click "Full Size" for a picture of the woman in red.

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