The Best Halloween Costume Is a Robot Halloween Costume

Foil, boxes, some old CDs ... and you've got yourself an amazing getup.

Fact: On Halloween, or really on any holiday, there is nothing better than a homemade robot costume. Swathing yourself in cardboard and aluminum foil is not only environmentally friendly, giving old boxes and outdated appliances a blissful second life; it also makes for an outfit that is just the right mix of "unwieldy" and "awesome." On adults, a box-n-foil combo is just nerdy enough to be fun; on children, it is just nerdy enough to be unbelievably adorable. 

Below are some of the best examples out there of robot costumes being their wonderful selves. These getups are the antitheses of the robot jumpsuit that Costume Hub is selling for $38.95 -- and of the sexy robot costume that Party City is selling for $35 -- and definitely of the mechanized robot suit that Suidobashi Heavy Industry is selling for $1.3 million. Instead, they're Halloween-y in the purest way: They're weird and wacky and whimsical. And they all have that certain beep beep beep bop boop.

******

Winning the office with "FREE ROBOT HUGS":  

Winning, if there's any justice in the world, a costume contest:

Being both helmet-headed and adorable: 

Roaming the streets ...

... And at rest:

Amazing-mouthed and out on the town: 

Not having designed a mouth opening, thoughtfully including a bottle and straw: 

Awwwww.

Awwwww, part 2:

Awwww, part 3: 

Awwwww, part 4:

Awwwww, part 5:

But robot costumes, be warned, can be unwieldy:

And robot costumes, be warned, can foil even the best of photographers: 

If you're out of boxes and foil ... this is an acceptable alternative. 

Though do whatever you can to find some foil. Because, really: The only thing better than Lederhosen Guy? CD-Eye Guy.

Finally, a ladybot!

Not to be outdone by ... a brand-bot!

Taking a break from trick-or-treating:

Ready for next year: 

This article available online at:

http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/10/the-best-halloween-costume-is-a-robot-halloween-costume/264042/