I was on my way to the Space Needle when I saw a billboard outside the Museum of Pop Culture that said, “Heroes & Villains: The Art of the Disney Costume.” New plan! I’m buying a MoPOP ticket!

I’d been past MoPOP before whenever I visited the Space Needle, and it wasn’t until this time that I realized it’s a building and not a sculpture. The exterior is made from 21,000 shingles in gold, blue, and fuchsia that change with the light as you move (sort of like pop culture).
Unfortunately the Disney costumes exhibit had ended six weeks earlier, and at first I felt duped, but it turned out to be a bait and switch … and switch, because they had other cool stuff instead.
I found the fantasy room first.
French soldier’s helmet from Monty Python and the Hold Grail!! (“Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries!”)
I was definitely geeking out over the Harry Potter stuff. Here we have a Gryffindor student scarf, Professor Lockhart’s book from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Luna’s Quibbler from Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Dumbledore’s glasses from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, and Harry Potter’s wand.
Harry Potter costumes! Beauxbatons Academy of Magic student uniform, Dumbledore’s robes, and Sirius Black’s post-prison coat.
On to the science fiction section!
The Greedo mask and hands worn by Paul Blake in A New Hope.
A Jawa costume from The Phantom Menace.
Hoverboards from Back to the Future Part II (the Pit Bull hoverboard, the Mattel hoverboard, the No Tech hoverboard, and a futuristic Slice Bottle).
Alien! A concept painting, facehugger concept art, and an egg from Alien: Resurrection.
The Viper pilot flight suit worn by Katee Sackhoff in Battlestar Galactica.
MoPOP also has a lot of music displays. This is a giant floor-to-ceiling guitar tornado sculpture called If IV Was IX: Roots and Branches. It has almost 700 guitars in it, 40 of which are self-playing and controlled by a computer that plays jazz, blues, country, folk, and rock tunes. Most of the guitars were donated by Guitar Center.
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