E.S. Raye

With a title like that I should probably start off by saying this isn’t a big, full-blown cosplay, and I am not a big-time cosplayer.

I have dabbled a bit for specific events (many, many years ago I went to Burning Man and made a few things for that, and I made a Nostromo uniform and chestburster from Alien when I went to San Diego Comic Con in 2024), but I don’t do it often.

However, I do participate in a subtle, daily cosplay. I’m sure there is a real name for this, but I don’t know what it is, so bear with me.

I like subtle cosplay I can wear often, that, while not necessarily “screen-accurate,” could exist in the universe of the property it’s from, just off screen.

A solid example of this is the Cadmus Labs hat I wear literally every day:

If you’re not a comic book/superhero nerd, Cadmus Laboratories is from DC Comics, specifically Superman. My wife Jessie worked in the supersuits/wardrobe department on the TV show Titans, and got me this extra patch. I added it to the hat.

This isn’t something ever seen on screen, but it could have been.

It’s this kind of subtle, casual, everyday cosplay I enjoy most, and it is what inspired the project I just finished and am here to share.

Aliens Era Weyland-Yutani Jacket

Jessie, on a different show, got her hands on a nice Carhartt jacket for me, and don’t ask me why, but it immediately brought me to Hadley’s Hope on LV426.

I got to work ordering and then sewing patches on it–when the iron-on glue failed–and ended up with something that you never see in Aliens, that no one on Hadley’s Hope was ever wearing, but it’s a big galaxy, and Weyland-Yutani could have made these jackets available elsewhere.

So, without further ado:

Here, on the left breast, I have the Weylan-Yutani wings prominent on the Nostromo crew uniforms, the officer pin worn by Dallas, Ripley, Kane, and Lambert, as well as the more corporate WY logo found in Aliens.

On the right breast I added a blue-collar worker uniform style name patch, with a suitable nickname, as well as the drinky-bird pin I got at SDCC!

The left arm sports a patch for the Caterpillar powerloader Ripley fights off the Queen in.

And for the right arm I wanted a “mission patch.” I searched high and low for a Hadley’s Hope patch and came up empty. That’s when I had a fun idea.

If you’re a big ol’ nerd like me, you might recognize that patch as the independent Browncoats from Firefly.

This was a deliberate reference to a reference.

In the pilot episode of Firefly (in which this patch is prominent), the main character uses an anti-aircraft gun. The heads-up-display for this weapon features the instantly recognizable WY logo at the top of the screen.

They put an Aliens reference in Firefly, so I put a Firefly reference in my Aliens casual cosplay!

And finally, I have one more patch I have not sewn on yet, but I think you’ll agree it’s a necessary addition:

This little guy will go on the inside of the right breast, so I can flip it out to reveal him.

Perhaps this is a bit less subtle than my hat, which no on has ever recognized (in fact, I get comments on the jacket nearly every time I wear it out), but I still think it falls squarely in the category of “not screen-accurate, but it could have been!“