Halloween often is better than those December holidays for nerds and geeks. It’s wicked fun and a source of pride to design a costume with precise measurements and structural integrity, something that will hold up all night and stand out in a sea of Balloon Boy and Slutty Nun clones. Plus, it’s the one time some of us get to pretend to be Buffy, so that’s cool too.

That’s why I feel no qualms about posting this piece of awesomeness, even though we’re a half-month past Halloween:

Your eyes are not deceiving you — that absolutely IS a furry tauntaun with a mounted Luke — and it moves via stilts! This Scott Holden guy used plaster, wire, foam and more in his masterpiece, and honestly, it looks good enough to slice open and warm yourself in.Visit cockeyed.com for his story on how he built the creature, as well as this lovely tidbit:

He literally almost had to spend the night trapped inside the tauntaun’s body!

Thanks to geekology.com for the heads-up on this find, which should be inspiration for all of us next October.