Costume Idea: Green Army Man

Here at HalloweenAddict.com, we appreciate the dedication in coming up with and executing a good Halloween costume.

Anyone can buy a bagged costume and though it was cool when you were a kid and you wore the latest Ben Cooper vinyl masterpiece... there is an uncool laziness associated with people who just buy the prepackaged and go.

It's quite another thing to come up with the idea, plan, build and paint... and wear it well.

So I'd like to share with you this simple but brilliant costume: The Green Toy Army Man.

I've linked HERE to where the pictures came from, but there are no "How to" instructions to be found. Though, any person with half a brain can figure out what was done here.
Again, it's not the complexity of the costume, it's the brilliance of the simplicity.
A plastic tarp-like shell and pants... boots... helmet... toy M-16... a lot of the same shade of green paint and face-paint.... and boom--- Perfect.

I'll even give props to THIS guy, who made his own Army Man costume for trick or treating with his kids.
Sure it doesn't look quite as cool as M-16 guy... but he put some serious effort into it.

Per his Flickr page HERE he gives a recipe and the effort that went into his costume:

"... with like 10 cans of spray paint, so the color was all uniform (the picture doesn't do it justice). Carried the wooden base, house by house, and threw it down then got in position, before letting the kids ring the bell or knock on the door. People loved this costume..."

Of COURSE people loved this costume, Mike! You know why? You made the effort!
You even came up with a less messy way to make your skin green: Green pantyhose. I'm sure the camera flash makes it look washed bout, but in the dark I believe you were green.

Carrying a wooden base house to house, then posing before the kids ring the doorbell?
Fantastic.
TWO handfuls of candy for you, sir!

Mike also made some design choices the M-16 guy is missing.
1) He chose to be bazooka guy. A good costume is defined by choices. Good job Bazooka Guy.

2) A good costume is also defined by the details. He chose to include the plastic foot stand. Remember when you got the bazooka guy that had the stand? That sort of toy revolution blew your 8 year old mind.

And for those lazy bones who wonder "That's cool... I wonder if it comes in a bagged version."
It does.
Check out its lameness HERE. Or just compare the pictures.
If you showed up wearing the bagged version and bumped into THIS guy wearing the homemade cool version... how would you look?
That's right.
Like the TAN Army guy.
Blech. TAN.
THAT guy is LAME.