Balbriggan boy wins prize for Predator costume

A great movie can inspire creative minds, and Balbriggan boy Sean Ryan has took his love of the Predator movies and spun it into homemade gold.

The 13-year-old won top prize at the Dublin Comic Con costume contest earlier this month, and his father Declan spoke to Northside People about how Sean emulated the famous sci-fi baddie.

“Sean sourced it all himself, my heart was broken buying all this glue and cardboard for him,” Declan joked, but allowed his son to commandeer his garden shed to let him indulge in his passion.

Declan says that Sean has ADHD and dyslexia, and somewhat struggles in a traditional educational setting, but creating the Predator costume gave Sean an outlet to focus his creative energy.

“It can be hard for him to focus on traditional stuff like maths or English, but when Sean is given an opportunity like this he really excels,” Declan said.

“Sean is a young man who overcame difficulties to achieve this fantastic win,” he added.

Declan noted he shares Sean’s passion for sci-fi, and was happy to support him, saying that the entire family are proud of his win at Comic Con.

Sean has an “uncanny” ability to replicate or copy costume designs he has seen from YouTube, and used what is reported to be an industrial amount of cardboard, glue and masking tape to help him become the alien creature that faced off against Arnold Schwarzenegger.

“Sean started out on the kitchen table, but after a few ungodly messes we decided it was best for him to go out to the garden shed and give him a proper workman’s set-up!,” Declan said.

A visit to the Arachnid FX workshop in Swords got Sean’s creative juices flowing, and served as a spark for him.

“All you need in a situation like this is one visit or one moment to go ‘oh, this is what I want to do’, and we think Sean has found the thing he loves.”

“All Sean needs is an outlet,” Declan says “and we’re happy to keep supporting him no matter what he does.”

Sean is hard at work designing his next custome ahead of the next Dublin Comic Con, but as for Declan, he’s happy to have his garden shed back for the time being.