Merry Halloween!

I apologize. My health has been a roller coaster, but here it is... the wrap up details.

Behind the scenes movies and prop concepts we played with:

Movies:

Independence Day

The crazy mad scientist with the beakers that fogged became Brackish Okun, the scientist that wound up telepathically linked to the aliens, became part of the hive mind, and begins having visions of a second strike by the aliens.

Lilo and Stitch

We can't have aliens without making sure Stitch is hanging around somewhere! He is a rascal though, and as many of you saw, he was playing with the lights in tent 3.

MIB (1, 2, and 3)

I’ve already mentioned the reason for naming Agents U, W and Y in a previous post.

Finding Agent Y was a little challenging. We had wanted one more MIB and had purchased the uniform (grad formal wear from the Costume Shoppe) before her, so it was amazing that it fit perfectly. Once we found Agent Y, Clifford coloured her lips. We never saw a mannequin with ear piercings, but we decided to make the most of it, so I rummaged in a keepsake box of jewelry, pulled out the earrings I made for my graduation and gave them a small alteration.

One of the watches we found (and put on Agent W) was a Pikachu watch. I loved how she had the Eaglepoint RD 8, a seriously kick butt gun and a kiddie watch.

Did you know we had Agent C? Clifford decided that he was an MIB Agent, mostly undercover given the serious nature of the fact that Christine Koch, a NASA Astronaut was incapacitated in the battle of the third tent.

 Paul the Alien (2011, Universal Pictures)

The alien in our UFO was Paul.

At one point he abducts a cow… so clearly, we ensured there was a cow being abducted.

Ruth Buggs was the lab assistant with the alien on the platform. In the movie, she couldn’t stand up well and fell over. The mannequin we used tended to fall over too!

Toy Story

We always aim to find items that bring a smile and an unusual twist. That was the case with the alien dressed up as Nemo for Halloween and Buzz Lightyear greeting aliens in the tent 1 display (under the platform). Of course, the alien was placed next to the tank of water for the Swamp Thing.

X Files

We gave two of the props the names “Dana Sculley” and “Fox Mulder.” Interesting that in real life, David Duchovny, who played Mulder, didn’t believe in aliens and Gillian Anderson, who played Dana did. X Files was about unusual events that could be alien related.

Binders

The binders behind the scientist in tent 1 were labeled for reference. The binders tied in with the theme. Aliens – Invasive Species was a little humour since we cope with invasive species that threaten ecosystems.

Weapons

 All the weapons had names and stats. We had a Star Trek Phase, an AVP Plasmacaster, MIB noisy cricut, and the standard MIB issue Agent Pistol aka J2. Where possible, I looked them up on the web and then used that as the jumping-off point for description and stats. For example, the Rough Cut 2x4 has "8 projectiles, four on each side of the chamber", then I added in: "known to have a rough kick and shred things to ribbons when two are fired at once. Just like getting hit with a 2x4.

The weapon I labeled The Ladybug, goes along with that vein of humour. A ladybug will eat up to 5000 bugs in its lifetime, so the weapon will atomize up to 5000 aphids and aliens.

Interestingly, the M10, aka the MAC 10 was designed after the real M10 which was developed by Gordon Ingram in 1964.

The Iron Man Strike Blaster V2 was "excellent for end-of-the-world battles, features and extending barrel accessory for added accuracy. When it comes to establishing a personal defense perimeter, this does the job well."

The slingshot CAF 2 used Clifford's initials and the description read: "when you're desperate, this handy little unit will assist you, just like David against Goliath. Fires up to 27 meters when your aim is true, you know where to aim and your arms aren't tired. This is a last-ditch effort weapon!

Then there's the Edgars... a pair of rubber boots. Effective for a single cockroach, they do not provide protection against an intrusion of them. These are not recommended for MIB use.

NASA Astronaut Down - Christine Koch

We were walking into Canadian Tire when I saw this gal loading racking and a few mannequin pieces. I commented that was cool, and dang I was too late and needed one more for our HH. She said: “here, you can have the torso, a leg, and an arm.” What to do with most of the body… Purely providential, we had a jumpsuit from our daughter’s Halloween costume from a few years ago. It had badges from the Artemis Exploration, so I looked up who manned that mission, found Christine Koch, pulled a blonde wig, and made a name tag for her. Poor thing, she made the risky trip to space and back but didn’t survive the Mars Attack.

Here is a funky video of this year's HH! There will be another video on the facebook page .