Adam Savage, erstwhile co-host of MythBusters and forever king of the nerds, lived up to his awesome surname at San Diego Comic-Con 2016. As his fans know, the famed model builder is also way, way into cosplay. In fact, it’s one of his annual traditions to do an “incognito walk” through the Comic-Con floor, mingling freely among the unsuspecting rabble, while dressed in a costume so concealing that it obscures his identity entirely. Generally, fun though it may be, this is an extremely uncomfortable pastime for Savage. Walking around in a meticulous replica spacesuit from Alien nearly killed the poor guy back in 2014. So, as documented in his web series Tested, Savage decided to take it easy on himself this year by donning a head-to-toe bear costume.
But, wait, wouldn’t that be heavy as shit, especially in this merciless July heat? To ask that question is to underestimate Savage. Instead of padding the costume with foam rubber to give the illusion of musculature, Savage merely sewed a corset into it. The thing is hollow and weights 10 pounds, tops. Okay, but aren’t Savage’s costumes usually based on some movie or TV show? He’s thought of that, too. By dragging around a dummy made to look like Leonardo DiCaprio, complete with an Oscar, Savage becomes the bear from The Revenant. Does it matter that the bear is completely the wrong color? Nah. Savage is a ginger, so his bear is a ginger. Deal with that, nerds.
Though he does end up sweating buckets, even in his lightweight bear suit, Savage deems the walk a complete success, since virtually no one recognizes him. Plenty want to take his picture, though, and the DiCaprio dummy gets plenty of laughs. That’s what Savage was going for all along. Those who follow Savage on Twitter had the opportunity to figure out his true identity, since some clues were posted there. And, just like one might expect, a few fans did follow that particular trail of breadcrumbs to its proper destination. “We started tweeting some actual hints,” Savage says. “The last hint was: ‘ROAR!’” In retrospect, that was a dead giveaway.