I often wish I lived in the States where Halloween is so much bigger a holiday than it is in the U.K. Then, and only then, could I get away with wearing this costume – and I really do want to wear this costume.

Kids can obviously get away with this sort of thing but I fear if I wore this out, even on Halloween night, I’d be laughed at, lynched, or beaten up. And I doubt my cardboard lasers would help much.

The parents deserve a medal for giving their kid what he wanted, as I’m sure he whined and moaned until they agreed to put the mech costume together.

This really is a brilliant costume, well-conceived and constructed to look as good as real. It may not be scary in the ghosts and ghouls sense of the word, but I still wouldn’t like to meet this kid in a dark alleyway.