A cosplayer in Grand Prairie, Alberta, Canada got a little more attention than he bargained for when headed off to see his tailor. This was because he was wearing his Fallout: New Vegas costume. According to CBC News, reports of a man in post-apocalyptic garb was seen walking down the street with what appeared to be a bomb on his back, and toting a flag over his shoulder. What concerned citizens didn’t know was that the “bomb” in question was nothing more than a set of Pringles cans that were spray painted silver, and the flag was a recreation of the New California Republic flag from Bethesda’s war-torn story. Check out the New Vegas cosplayer below:

It makes sense that if one doesn’t know the story behind this gritty tale, the costume might seem pretty formidable. When reports came into police, RCMP Cpl. Shawn Graham stated that a squad of officers headed to the scene, ready with long guns and a will to stop whatever threat they could. According to Graham, officers contacted the owner of Lynn’s Alterations at Bell Tower Plaza, Hoa Huynh, to see if the individual could see wires on the costume before telling the man to slip out the backdoor of the business to safety.

Of course, when police finally made contact with the New Vegas cosplayer and took him into custody, they discovered that it was, indeed, just a costume, before releasing him. “Through conversation with the male they were able to determine that he was wearing a costume and there was no threat to the public,” Graham stated of the incident. “We have to believe everything is real until proven otherwise. In the end you’ve got a good feeling after going, ‘OK, there wasn’t a bomb, there was no intent to do anything criminal, it’s just someone with their costume.'”

Some major kudos should be given to these officers for responding so quickly to a perceived threat, though this does prove a rather humorous (though serious) point that cosplay should definitely be kept to appropriate venues. Cosplay is a serious business, and many creators go to great lengths to make their costumes look authentic to the source material. Unfortunately, many favored characters tend to come with some dangerous looking weapons, which shouldn’t be just worn out in public on a whim, for situations just like this may occur. It’s definitely lucky that the incident ended without coming to blows, and many of the officers from the scene were photographed smiling and laughing.

Even still, this is a valuable lesson for anyone planning on building their own cosplays. To think that someone could have gotten seriously injured should not be forgotten, and we at DFTG hope that this New Vegas cosplayer has learned from this event. According to Cpl. Graham, he thinks the same. “There’s a time and a place for it,” he said. “Wandering around downtown [is] maybe not the place to do it.”

Thoughts on the incident in Grand Prairie, Alberta, Canada? Should this New Vegas cosplayer have gotten a warning from officers, or has his lesson been taught well enough? Make sure to join in on the discussion in the comments below, or hop on over to the official Don’t Feed the Gamers Disqus channel. Also, don’t forget to follow DFTG on Twitter for live gaming and entertainment news 24/7. As always… game on, friends!