Halloween Costume Guide
Alex is the hacker on the Endurance who keeps the crew’s tech running and eventually seals himself inside a flooding ship to buy Lara an escape. The Esc key graphic on his shirt is the one piece worth getting exactly right, since everything else in the outfit reads as generic tech-guy casual on its own. He’s a supporting character from a 2013 game, so this one is closer to niche than broad. People who played Tomb Raider will place it fast; people who didn’t will just see a decent glasses-and-graphic-tee outfit.
Affiliate links. We may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.
The Esc graphic on the shirt is what people notice first, and if it’s faded, off-center, or missing entirely, the rest of the outfit just reads as “person in glasses with a backpack.” Nobody’s going to mentally fill in the rest of the reference for you. Keep the glasses on your face rather than pushed up on your head, since Alex wears his low on the nose in most of his scenes, and that detail is part of what reads as specific rather than generic.
Alex deflects his own fear the entire game by talking like he’s above the situation, and his best line for it is claiming he eats hardware problems for breakfast, with a side of malware. He says it while visibly nervous. If someone at the party asks if you’re scared of anything, that’s the response.
Clear lenses fog up faster than you’d expect
Non-prescription clear lenses fog when you go from a cold porch to a warm party, or after a couple hours of talking close to people. Wipe them down before photos rather than mid-conversation, since cleaning your glasses while talking to someone reads as a nervous habit, which is oddly on-brand but not what you’re going for.
The backpack gets in the way at a crowded party
A full-size tactical backpack worn all night bumps into people in tight spaces and makes sitting down awkward. Consider setting it down once you’ve arrived and picked your spot, since the costume already reads without it once the shirt and glasses are doing their job.
Couple Costume Idea
Excellent pairing with real weight behind it, since Alex dies protecting Lara’s escape and the game spends real time on his crush on her. Lara’s rugged survival gear next to Alex’s soft tech-guy look creates a clear contrast in who’s built for the island and who isn’t. Anyone who played the game gets the dynamic immediately.
Duo Costume Idea
Strong duo if you both lean into the wit-over-muscle angle these two share. Drake’s adventurer look and Alex’s tech-hacker casual don’t overlap visually, so the pairing needs someone to explain the “resourceful over strong” connection rather than have it land on sight. Works best with a crowd that knows both games.
Group Costume Idea
Strong for a group that wants the actual cast rather than a loose theme, but three of these four characters have no build guide here yet. Sam Nishimura, Jonah Maiava, and Conrad Roth all need to be built from scratch, which means the group only works if at least one person has played the game recently enough to nail the details.
Group Costume Idea
Might work, but the visual range is wide enough that it needs framing. Nathan Drake looks like an adventurer, Ron Stoppable looks like a teenager, Saul Silver looks like he just woke up, and Usopp looks like a pirate with a slingshot. The concept of “funny sidekick who talks through fear” holds up in theory, but nobody will read it as one group without someone saying so first.
Most of this build comes out of a normal closet. The shirt is the one exception worth actual effort.
Alex covers fear with confidence he doesn’t quite have, right up until the moment he actually earns it.
The Esc key graphic tee is the item that makes this Alex Weiss and not just a guy in glasses. Add the clear lens glasses, straight fit jeans, and a brown belt, then layer on the wristbands and backpack. Iron-on letter patches let you build the Esc graphic yourself if you can’t find the shirt pre-printed.
Niche. Tomb Raider (2013) sold well and Alex has a dedicated following among players who remember his arc, but he’s a supporting character in a decade-old game, not a mainline icon like Lara. Expect people to read the shirt as a cool tech-guy graphic before anyone places the specific character.
His last line to Lara through the flooding hull: “I know I’m not the bravest guy here, Lara. But I can do this. Let me do this for you.” Earlier, deflecting fear with tech-bro bravado: “It’s just a little hardware problem. I eat hardware problems for breakfast. With a side of malware.”
Alex Weiss is voiced by Andy Hoff in the 2013 Tomb Raider reboot (IMDb).
He gets trapped under debris inside the flooding wreck of the Endurance while retrieving tools for the crew’s escape boat. Lara finds him but can’t free him in time, so he seals himself in and detonates a gas leak to clear the enemies closing in on her.
No. Temporary tattoo sleeves or transfer tattoos get the geometric band detail across without a real commitment. Skip them entirely if you don’t want to deal with applying them.
Yes. A plain black and white raglan baseball tee plus iron-on letter patches spelling ESC gets you the same graphic for less than a pre-printed shirt usually costs. Center the patches carefully before ironing, since off-center text is the kind of mistake that’s hard to fix after the fact.
What graphic appears on Alex Weiss’s signature t-shirt?
What does Alex do to help Lara escape near the end of the story?
Which actor voices Alex Weiss in Tomb Raider (2013)?