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Modern technology makes dressing up for Halloween (or any costume occasion) more fun than ever! Not only do we have materials to make special effects (affordably, with a little imagination), but the internet gives us access to some great ideas -plus, if you post your awesome costume, it may be referenced and emulated for years after you wear it. Here are ten costumes that turn imagination and creativity into something awesome.
1. Resident Evil Executioner
The graphics in video games are a wonderful source for awesome Halloween costumes. The challenge is to make a fantasy image work in reality. A gamer named Collin took on the challenge and constructed a costume based on the Executioner from the game Resident Evil Afterlife. He attended DragonCon in character, along with his fiance who was dressed as game character Claire Redfield. You can see photos of the building process in this extensive forum thread.
2. AT-AT
Katie Mello of LAIKA House in Portland made this AT-AT Costume for her dog Bones.
Bones now has his own Facebook page, where you can see more pictures: in this costume, other clothing, and as nude as other dogs. In fact, there's a photoset that takes you through the process of building this costume.
Warning: some of the costumes listed after the jump are bloody and/or gory. Those are situated at the bottom of the list. Proceed at your own risk.
3. Death Star
Image by Flickr users Bob909 and Anditron.
Anditron always dresses up for Halloween, but two years ago was pregnant. She wanted to incorporate her condition without being too traditional, so she made a Death Star costume. Or rather, her round belly was the Death Star, with small x-wing fighters attached. The rest of her was dressed in black. The Darth Vader helmet was incidental, but worked well. Take a look at the Death Ray deployed:
Image by Flickr user Bob909 and Anditron.
It appears to be some fiber optics and a few light sticks, but the effect is, um, not earth-shattering, but Alderaan-shattering!
4. Coppertone Girl
It's a logo everyone knows from as far back as we can remember. The little Coppertone girl's tan line is revealed when her puppy dog pulls on her swim pants. The modern version has no tan line, but I don't know why they bothered to change it when they are keeping the company name "Coppertone." Oh well. Anna at A. Party Style dressed her adorable daughter in a tan leotard and tights, then reconstructed the backside to reflect the logo, puppy dog and all!
5. Leg Lamp
You can buy a Leg Lamp Halloween costume referencing a prop from the movie A Christmas Story. But redditor mjr214 has a friend who has only one leg, which made her homemade costume so much more fitting -and awesome! You can see the comparison in this photo.
6. Walk the Dinosaur
Alison at Mod Mischief put together a dinosaur illusion costume last year. She even wore stilts! The dino she is riding is an allosaurus made of papier-mâché. See some of the construction pictures in this post. Allison set the bar pretty high for herself after the kidnapped mermaid costume she posted at Instructables from the previous year. This year, she is working on costumes of Bebop and Rocksteady characters from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series.
7. Flying Genie
Allison also posted an Instructables guide to recreating this Genie on a Flying Carpet costume one of her friends pulled off last year. The secret to carrying this around all night is a walker on wheels that supports the carpet!
8. Zombie Cat
Cyriak Harris and Sarah Brown made an animation featuring zombie cats called Meow. Dawn Weast and Suzy Gruber were inspired by the video and made a Zombie Cat costume for Weast's 5-year-old daughter Bell. The handmade costume is a dead ringer for one of the cartoon cats that gets turned into a zombie.
9. Shark Attack
Redditor notsohipster has a young cousin who has no legs. He and his little sister trick-or-treated in these clever costumes portraying a shark and her surfboarding victim.
10. Pregnant Zombie
Image (cc) by Flickr user ian aberle, some rights reserved.
Amanda Fite was the pregnant zombie that stood out from the crowd at the 2009 Texas Frightmare Zombie Walk. Be assured, it was totally fake. A series of photos give you some idea of the work that went into this costume. See more photos from the 2009 Texas Frightmare Weekend Zombie Walk in Flickr user Ian Aberle's photo set.
Is that all? No! Watch this space for more awesome Halloween costumes to be posted next week.
Previously:
10 Amazing Costumes for Halloween
Internet Meme Halloween Costumes
10 Awesome Homemade Halloween Costumes