My Rad Halloween Costume

Last year I was tossing around the idea of going as Data from the Goonies but I ended up going as the mailman who delivers tacos from MTV's The State. Since I was short on ideas this year, I thought I would give it a shot. I got the jacket at a thrift store up in LA. For $35, this was the most expensive part of my costume. The pants were mine. The shirts were from Old Navy and a thrift store. Thanks Robin for letting me borrow the shoes.

My chest box was a little different than Data's, but it had lights and buzzers that worked with the switches. The box was an electrical box from Home Depot and the electronics were from Radio Shack.

I have to thank my dad who helped me solder the electronics together and engineer the mechanical parts of the costume.

One of the lights burnt out in a matter of minutes. I'll never see that dollar twenty five again.

I tried to do my hair like his from the movie but I couldn't get the right look so I decided to get a blue knit cap like the ones the Goonies wore at the end of the movie. Got this hat for $1.99 at the 99 Cent store. I thought everything was supposed to be 99 cents there. But I guess just some items are. By this logic, I guess every store in this world could be called a 99 cent store as long as your intentions are to sell at least one item at 99 cents.

This is a belt from the Big Lots near my house and my mom stitched some elastic to so that it could hold a bunch of batteries like the bandolier that he had across his chest. Thanks mom, I can always count on you to make excellent stuff for me and then I take credit for it, like that fucking amazing multi-leveled, multi-dimension diorama in fourth grade that had a sweet volcano, under water scenario, and cave complete with blue cellophane skylights to darken the inside. I don't even remember the book it was for, but I remember how awesome the diorama was.

Probably my favorite part of my costume. The utility belt.

I drilled into the back of this smelly sardine can and screwed it to a belt I found at the thrift store. The lid to the can was really sharp after I had opened it so I had to bend down the edges and hammer it smooth again. Safety first.

It had a working plunger button that made the front of the belt spring open when it was depressed. This was made from a light bulb holder, a spring from a ball point pen, a really small washer, a rubber grommet type thing, and a piece of metal from a mouse trap.

Thanks to my little brother Dalton for coming up with the idea to use a mouse trap to help spring the face of the belt open. When the button was pushed it released a latch that holds the door close and the tension from the mousetrap part causes the front face to pop open.

And when the door opens, boom! A suction cup dart made from a toy from the 99 cent store that was actually 99 cents and a piece of a chop stick. It was attached to a piece of red electrical wire. I didn't have enough time to create a dart that could actually shoot out, but you better believe that had I thought of this a week before, I would have had it made.

If Data has a yellow backpack, Derek has to have a yellow backpack. I picked this gem up at a Ross up in LA.

I really have to thank Morgan for all the help that she put in making this costume as far as chauffeuring my ass around LA to find pieces of my costume and for sewing a bunch of patches onto the jacket for three hours in the car and another hour at Colter's house. Such a great girlfriend. She even pointed out the boy scouts store that I found a bunch of patches at. I was going to go without patches but at the last minute we found some. I tried to buy a bunch more but apparently you have to be certified to purchase certain patches. I guess the black market for boy scout patches has been pretty harsh in recent years. We actually had to stick a webelo with a shiv out back for his fire starting badge. The poor little bastard never saw it coming.

This nonfunctional yet essential accessory to the costume was made from a boxing glove toy I got at Big Lots and a spring from a sprinkler. This spring was obtained 100% legitimately from an undisclosed hardware store and was not obtained by taking the spring out of a $9 twelve inch sprinkler and putting it in a $2 sprinkler. The idea to go around neighborhoods kicking sprinkler heads until I found a good spring had also not crossed my mind at any point.

Here are some pictures from the movie that you can use to compare my costume to. Not totally accurate, but pretty close. Not bad for coming up with it 2 days before the party.