Shame All Other Ripley Cosplayers With This Replica Power Loader from ALIENS

I recently attended a Halloween party in which everyone’s costume had to begin with the letter “T.” It was a weird notion to me at first, but once you’re there it’s fun to see people’s imaginations (or lack thereof) and to see how the restriction kind of forced people into being creative. But you also run the risk of duplicate costumes. It happens, but the last thing you want at a party like this is to be the second - or, God forbid, third - best version of a given costume. Imagine being the guy or gal who half-asses it, next to the person who went all out. If you’re reading this site, as movie geeks you know phoning in the costume is unthinkable. Having chosen Travis Bickle, the title character of Taxi Driver (doubly covered on the “T”!), my course was clear: I sourced the screen-accurate jacket, patches, sunglasses and boots, then shaved my head into a mohawk that really tied the costume together. It’s now Christmas Eve, and my hair is still growing back. (Not only were there no other Travis Bickles, but I actually had to tell a 40-year-old man what the costume even was.)

I’ve never been to Comic-Con, but I have to assume the cosplay competition is a little more fierce than at a suburban costume party. You need to raise your game, go all in. A screen-accurate costume with the correct insignia and patches and whatever just isn’t going to be enough. If you’re going to be uncomfortable in a crowd full of people sweating greasepaint onto their shirts, you might as well aim to impress.

That’s where this replica “Caterpillar” Power Loading Walker J-5001 comes in. It’s a 1:1 scale, screen-accurate (to my eyes, anyway) replica of the machine Ripley used in the climactic battle of 1986’s Aliens. There’s only one available, so there’ll be no risk of embarrassing duplicates at whatever convention or party you hit. And at $1750, it’s a piece of cosplay kit that really separates the women from the girls.

Head over to the seller's Etsy store to check it out. And good news: the seller accepts Etsy gift cards!