I saw James Cameronâs ALIENS at the Egyptian Theater when I was sixteen, summer of 1986. Walking out of the theater into the bright Hollywood sunlight dazed and thrilled, I passed a shoe store on Hollywood Boulevard next to the theater. Lo and behold, they actually had the Reebok âAlien Stompersâ featured in the film, and I instantly bought them.
Not really knowing how collectible theyâd become, I actually wore them fairly regularly for about a year. Eventually, I learned that they were a very limited edition; realizing how much Iâd lucked out in finding them, I put them in the back of my closet for safekeeping.
I pulled them out of storage once in 2009 to wear to a screening of ALIENS here in LA â which ended up having a surprise appearance by Cameron himself for a Q&A after the film. Everyone crowded the stage at the end for autographs; Cameronâs handlers yelled âno autographsâ and tried to quickly usher him out of the theater. I quickly pulled one shoe off and thrust over the crowd, right in Cameronâs face. He gasped and said âOH MY GOD where did you get these!?â, grabbing the shoe and immediately scrawling his name on the top in Sharpie. Out the door he went, and the remaining fans had nothing but laser-beam scowls aimed at me.
Reebok had reissued the âStomperâ shoe type a few times, and in 2017 I bought the two-pair âFinal Battleâ pack â one yellow âPower Loaderâ pair, and one shiny-patent-black âAlien Queenâ pair, which also had the best box of any of them, fully themed as a Weyland-Yutani crate.
And now this year, for the Alien 40th Anniversary, itâs come full circle. This latest pair is a reissue of the original 1986 color scheme, inspired by the (much taller and more boot-like) versions worn by Ripley and Bishop in the film. Theyâve got some fun fan-service details like Weiland-Yutani logos on the inside.
So, when the alien invasion happens, at least Iâll have the right footwear.