My 2020 Halloween Costume
October 30, 2020
Josh Sundquist
Paralympic ski racer and Cancer Survivor
Dressing up for Halloween each year has become a favorite tradition of mine and with all of the challenges we've faced this year, it felt more important than ever to create a costume that would bring a smile to people's faces.
So what's my new costume? I AM GROOT. I'm a huge fan of superhero films and comic, so it was a blast to become one of my favorite characters from Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy.
Nothing to see here, just a man dressed as an extraterrestrial tree monster in downtown Santa Monica.
Here on Planet Earth, Groots are grown from the brilliant mind of cosplay master Calen Hoffman. I was inspired by Groot's shape at the end of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 1 when Groot appears as a baby. He's shown as a single stem in a simple flower pot. Boom. Perfect costume to showcase my own single stem. I also love that he's dancing, smiling and just generally having a good time despite all the challenges that the Guardians had just been through together. Dressing up as an extraterrestrial tree monster who has overcome a tough year is so 2020.
Here's the cosplay master himself Calen Hoffman sculpting a bust of Groot in his workshop.
To make the costume, we created a "Duct Tape Mannequin" and shipped it to Calen's workshop in Kansas City. He reconstructed the duct tape into a mannequin to have a perfect representation of my unique body shape to build a costume for. He'll be keeping that life-sized mold somewhere in his house (sorry to his wife and daughter!) for the next project we work on together. Anyway, Calen spent weeks crafting the costume entirely from scratch. Using basic materials like foam, paint and duct tape, he created a world-class piece of art that I hope would have made Stan Lee proud. (Though we do know that director James Gunn is apparently a fan!)
Here's Calen dressed in his homemade "Grown Up Groot" costume with writer and creator, Stan Lee.
My wife Ashley appropriately dressed as Groot's best friend Rocket Raccoon, the feistiest anthropomorphic sidekick in the galaxy. We took Groot for a leisurely autumn stroll along the Santa Monica Promenade where we gave out flowers to spread Halloween cheer to our neighbors. Mostly I just said "I am Groot" over and over.
Here's my wife Ashley and I dressed as Rocket Raccoon and Baby Groot.
Why? Well, if you reaaally want to get down with some nerd facts, Groot is technically a flora colossus that hails from Planet X, which is home to "branch creatures" who are basically tree-like beings whose speech is impossible to understand due to the stiffness of their larynxes. Classic tree problem. This adaptation makes all of their words sound like they are just repeating the phrase "I am Groot." So now you know! You're welcome.
Anyway, while we were out and about we even ran into our Amazon and UPS delivery guys! We also made a stop at the local gardening center so Groot could be among his fellow trees where he felt quite at home. Unfortunately he cost 4,000,000 units so no brought him home.
Peace, Love and Groot
It's been a tough year, but I hope this costume brings a smile to your face. And like Baby Groot, we'll keep dancing, keep smiling and grow back even stronger than we were before.
Check out the entire video here. Happy Halloween!
P.S. For more photos of Baby Groot and my past Halloween costumes, check them out here!