Anyone who thinks men can’t sew has not met Luke Boroughs, 22, a Web-development major at the University of Central Arkansas.
Of course, he isn’t exactly making couture.
During his time off this summer Boroughs used a needle, cloth, and foam to create a life-size Plants vs. Zombies peashooter.
The peashooter is the first plant that a player obtains in the record-selling mobile game that pits weaponized plants against hungry zombies. It’s not the most powerful plant in the game but definitely iconic.
“I chose to make him one day when I was looking around,” said Boroughs. His inspiration came from a replica Army helmet he found lying around. “My mind went directly to the gatling pea,” said Boroughs. A “gatling pea” is a powerful type of peashooter that can be unlocked in the game.
It took Boroughs two weeks to plan and create the plush peashooter. He started by using a compass and ruler to create the shape of the plant according to screenshots from the game. He then shaped the head out of foam and covered it with cloth using glue. He hand-sewed the seams.
The replica he ended up making is generic but with just a few small alterations, can be turned into any of the three types of peashooters in the game.
Boroughs posted a photo of the peashooter on Reddit where it collected more than 120 comments and 2,900 upvotes.
Some redditors noticed how familiar the peashooter was to Bellsprout, a plant Pokemon, while others wanted to know where they could buy one.
And it looks like people won’t have to wait long.
Boroughs plans on making more peashooters to sell on Etsy after seeing the positive response the plant received on Reddit. After that, he plans on creating some Portal- and Minecraft-inspired plushies.
“I just like trying to push myself to do things I haven’t done before, and that is usually making things,” he said. “I like keeping my hands busy and integrating that into my love for video games.”