(Pocket-lint) – Halloween is upon us and you can fully expect to see a host of ghoulies, ghosties and altogether spooky shenanigans going on throughout the day. But let us not forget that scariest of darkened room dwellers, the ghastly geek. They often emerge from their grisly abodes at this time of year, moaning and a-groaning – mainly about JJ Abrams’ overuse of lens flare effects on the Star Trek/Star Wars franchises.
They also light up the internet with their fine examples of tech-tastically carved pumpkins. And we have curated a mighty fine collection of their wares for you so that you can get in the mood for a spot of trick or treating.
Wonder Woman
The new Wonder Woman film took the box office by storm and even managed an impressive 92 per cent score on Rotten Tomatoes. We’re equally as impressed with the Pumpkin Geek’s portrait of Gal Gadot in the lead role.
Khal Drogo from Game of Thrones
Khal Drogo is a menacing warlord of the Dothraki – a fierce warrior with a magnificent mane. The piercing eyes of this legendary warrior stare back at from the husk of this Halloween lantern.
Rocket and Groot (Guardians of the Galaxy)
“I am Groot!”
Rocket is too busy to hear the cry of his fellow Guardian of the Galaxy and is often frustrated by him anyway. We love these little critters and Alex Wers’ attention to detail in capturing every little part of their characters.
Subliminal pumpkin messaging
What list of awesomely geeky pumpkins would be complete without one that includes Pocket-lint’s logo? We certainly couldn’t resist this one.
Tetris
Gaming classic Tetris reimagined in the side of a pumpkin. This one must have taken a fair while to do and a very steady hand indeed, much like the game itself.
Gengar (Pokemon)
The Pokemon craze is not over. Pokemon might have had its birth in 1996, but love for the characters and the world the games created has grown and grown. Gengar is one of the ghost/poison species from the Pokemon universe and a fan favourite. We usually see him in purple fur, but have to admit he looks pretty awesome carved into a pumpkin too.
QR code pumpkin
QR codes might be the bane of the marketing world, but you certainly have to admire the intricate work that goes into crafting one onto a pumpkin. We don’t know whether this one will scan as easily as a black and white printing though.
A cheeky chappy
This beauty is one of several intricately carved pumpkins by Villafane Studios. Some brilliantly detailed works are available for viewing in the company’s gallery and we’d recommend checking them out.
The Fail Whale
If you’ve ever seen the Fail Whale, then you know the pain and misery of Twitter being down. This is a famous internet image of a white beluga whale being carried aloft by a flock of birds and is commonly seen when Twitter is overloaded or down for any reason.
Game of Thrones logo
Game of Thrones is proving to be fairly popular on our list of geek pumpkins, and it’s easy to see why. Fans of the series have a certain flair for creating marvellous works of art. Here we can see the logo from the TV series recreated in wonderful splendour.
Space Invaders
Another classic gaming legend, Space Invaders was one of the first video games to hit the market and bring gaming to the mainstream. These pesky little aliens needed to be dealt with swiftly in order to win the game. We’re just sad this pumpkin probably doesn’t feature the classic theme music to go with it.
Pacman
Pacman and his arch nemesis captured in a single pumpkin. We love that the ghost is the one being chased here, when our memories of Pacman mostly involved running away from the spooky fellows.
Death Star (Star Wars)
The planet-annihilating Death Star might be an obvious choice for pumpkin carving due to its moon-like shape, but that’s not to belittle the detail that’s gone into this one.
RSS feed
The humble RSS feed might not get the same love it used to, but we still get a warm and fuzzy feeling when we see this logo. Knowledge is power after all. The younger generation might mistake this one for the Wi-Fi symbol though.
Pixel Mario
Here he is again, the legend that is Super Mario but in his original pixelated form. This one is a marvellous homage to a fantastic gaming legend.
A bite out of the Apple
This one is probably the simplest carving on our list, but still a wonderfully geeky bit of artwork from an Apple fan. We’re not sure we’d want to take a big bite out of this apple though.
R2-D2 (Star Wars)
Although he doesn’t have any legs here, this pumpkin is an unmistakable likeness of R2-D2, the small but lovable astromech droid from the Star Wars films. We doubt he’s capable of projecting holograms though.
Mario portrait
Just when you thought there couldn’t possibly be another carving of Mario, along comes this portrait of his face. We love the detail of this one and lit up it looks even better.
Red ring of death and a winky face
There’s a little cheeky humour in this one. One pumpkin has been carved with the infamous red ring of death from the XBOX 360, the other with a winky face emoji. Of course, we doubt anyone who had seen the warning lights for real would enjoy seeing this but hopefully, the rest of us can enjoy the humour.
Wii controller
Nintendo fans out there might enjoy this one – a carving of the famous Nintendo logo and a hand holding the Wii console controller.
Emperor Palpatine (Star Wars)
The Emperor from the Star Wars franchise is neatly carved, disfigured withered face and all into this humble pumpkin. We just hope the pumpkin didn’t have the same fate as its likeness.
Zombie Pirate LeChuck
Inspired by the gaming classic originally released in 1997, this pumpkin carving is an awesome representation of zombie-pirate LeChuck from The Curse of Monkey Island.
Darth Vader (Star Wars)
Perhaps the most well-known villain from any film franchise, Darth Vader is instantly recognisable, even when carved into a Pumpkin. We love the simplicity of this one, now all it needs is a James Earl Jones soundboard to make it complete.
Yoda
Fear of pumpkins is the path to the dark side. Fear of carvings leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering. These are the learnings of the Jedi master.
Transformers
They’re not likely to transform into anything, but there’s no denying that these Autobot and Decepticon pumpkins are pretty neat.
Alien
We all remember that scene in Alien where a little critter burst forth out of the chest cavity. We’ve seen some clever horror style pumpkins before, but this one is something special.
Lego pumpkin
If you’ve not got the skills to carve a pumpkin or don’t want to spend money on something that’s just going to rot anyway, why not go this route and invest in some orange Lego to build something that’s going to last a bit longer.
Cylon (Battlestar Galactica)
Cylons are the cybernetic warriors in conflict with the humans in the Battlestar Galactica Universe. We love the detail in this carving, right down to the LEDs to represent the Cylon visor.
Predator
“You’re one ugly…” Arnie’s famous line from the Predator film nicely sums up the hideous face of the Predator. Nonetheless, this carving is something pretty special – intricate, detailed, ugly. We love it.
Spock
It’s perfectly logical to have a Spock carving on our list twice. There’s wisdom in those Vulcans.
Winky face emoticon
We wouldn’t be surprised to see more emoticon styled pumpkins this year. Emojis are extremely popular, but we’re not sure anyone will manage to replicate Apple’s Animojis.
Master Chief (Halo)
Master Chief and the Halo series has plenty of fans that’ll love this one.
Bird of Prey (Star Trek)
Star Trek fans might be up in arms about the latest iteration of the Klingons in Netflix’s new series “Discovery” but we’d imagine this Bird of Prey carving would make them happy. We love the starry background in this one that really makes it stand out.
Minecraft
One of these was certainly easier to make than the other, but if you’re a Minecraft fan then you’re sure to recognise these carvings. Minecraft continues to grow in popularity even with the basic pixelated graphics and goes to show a game doesn’t have to feature bleeding edge tech to do well.
Spiderman strikes again
Another radioactive spiderman graces another pumpkin. There’s a bit more detail in this one that even includes the spider logo on his superhero costume.
The Comedian (The Watchman)
The comedian is a cigar-chomping, gun-toting vigilante from The Watchman. This likeness is impressive as it is accurate. Cracking film too!
Ghostbusters
The classic Ghostbusters logo from the original films. We love this one and cracked a little smile at the clever use of toothpicks to keep the eyes and mouth in place on the ghost.
Linux penguin
There’s a strong chance that this is the geekiest pumpkin on our list. A carving of a Linux penguin would surely show people how nerdy you are if you had this in your window.
Windows 7
If you’re looking for a spookier pumpkin, then the Windows Vista logo might have been a better option. Perhaps this pumpkin was just created to celebrate the bug fixes and improvements that came with the new operating system.
WordPress
People are such nerds. We know WordPress is popular, but we never expected to see the logo on a pumpkin.
Link (Legend of Zelda)
Often mistaken for Zelda, but actually known as Link, this is the main hero from the Legend of Zelda games. Link is an everlasting hero, with many incarnations, even this one on the side of a pumpkin.
Bill Gates
We bet when Bill Gates was a young man he never imagined that one day he might be one of the world’s most famous and richest men. We imagine he also didn’t ever think someone would take the time to carve his likeness into a pumpkin either.
The Tardis (Dr Who)
The Tardis is said to be larger on the inside than it appears from the outside. We’d imagine this is equally as true with this pumpkin, but there aren’t as many interesting things going on inside this one as there are in the real-time travelling police box.
Cassette tapes
The youngest generation might not even know what this one is, but it fills us with nostalgic joy. Though we’re glad we don’t need a pencil to rewind this one.
Big Daddy (Bioshock)
Big Daddies, also known as Protectors are characters from the Bioshock games. These giant chaps are actually genetically enhanced humans with diving suits grafted to their bodies. Their primary purpose was to escort Little Sisters around Rapture, but this one’s purpose is just to make this pumpkin look awesome.
Pi
Pi is the symbol used to represent the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter. We doubt a pumpkin would count as a perfect circle, but it’s certainly a geeky use of one if we’ve ever seen one.
Apple logo and Steve Jobs
This is the second Apple logo carved into a pumpkin appearing on our list, but this one is something special. If you look carefully you’ll notice that instead of the bite out of the side of the apple, there’s a head that looks like Steve Jobs.
Tetris
We love this Tetris carving. A classic gaming legend brought to life in full pumpkin glory.
Pacman, Ms Pacman and some friends
We have a special fondness for Pacman, so that’s why he’s snuck onto this list twice. We love the collection of Pacman characters here. Ms Pacman and the ghosts make an appearance too, as do the food Pacman snacks on as he makes his way around. Brilliant.
Gears of War
You have to admire the attention to detail with this one. There must have been some careful carving to get the logo in the middle without the pumpkin breaking. The Gears of War logo has never looked so good.
Wii controller
Nintendo fans out there might enjoy this one – a carving of the famous Nintendo logo and a hand holding the Wii console controller.
PlayStation symbols
This simple gaming carving is equally as recognisable as any of the others on this list. The gaming symbols from Sony PlayStation.
Little Big Planet
Little Big Planet’s Sackboy has never looked quite so cool. We love that little knitted character, so it’s great to see his cheeky face on the side of a pumpkin in full glowing glory.
Xbox logo
This simple Xbox logo is probably the easiest pumpkin design on our list but certainly shows some love for Microsoft’s gaming brand.
Angry Birds
Angry Birds might not be as popular as they once were, but we still love this set of characters from the gaming franchise. Though we do feel like it’s slightly cheating to just paint a pumpkin rather than carve it out.
Angry Bird’s pig
If you love Angry Birds but want to see proper pumpkin designs rather than paintings, then this one might be for you.
Borderlands Psycho
This pumpkin carving features the psycho from the cover art for the Borderlands game. These deranged maniacs were a pain to deal with but are instantly recognisable as being from the Borderlands franchise.
Spiderman
Another spiderman pumpkin shows us that the web-slinging legend is a popular one. This simple carving works really well and looks great lit up too.
Zoom
Alex Barnard’s mother managed to pull off quite possibly the best pumpkin design for 2020. The familiar sight of a Zoom conference call but in pumpkin form.
The Android vs Apple rivalry
The classic rivalry between Android and Apple fans resulted in this image that quickly made its way around the internet and even can be seen on various t-shirt designs. This carving, though slightly vulgar is at least impressive and mildly amusing.
Cthulu
This bright and brilliant depiction of Cthulhu shows the cosmic entity first created by H.P. Lovecraft. Impressive attention to detail here shows a steady hand and plenty of patience.
Star Wars vs Star Trek
To finish off the list of the geekiest pumpkins on the list, it only seems appropriate to thoroughly geek out with a clash of Sci-Fi franchises. Here we see the Starship Enterprise battling it out with the Millenium Falcon. We’re not sure we’d want to say who’d win in such a battle, we’ll let you decide that one for yourself.
Pumpkin Trump
Even if you disagree with the sentiment, you’ve got to admire this one. A pumpkin within a pumpkin, carved to look like Donald Trump behind bars.
A Spock pumpkin that’s totally logical
The Pumpkin Geek, aka Alex Wer, creates some magnificent works of art on “faux” pumpkins that last much longer than a normal pumpkin that’ll rot given time.
These pumpkins are a logical choice if you want something that will live long and prosper. We love this Spock portrait, the attention to detail is superb.
U2
People might not have appreciated the free U2 album on their iTunes account but there’s no denying this portrait of Bono and co is impressive.
Negan and his bat Lucille (The Walking Dead)
Negan might be a menace to the Walking Dead universe, but he’s far less threatening on a pumpkin. Lucille is no less intimidating though.
BB-8 (Star Wars)
We hope this pumpkin doesn’t roll around as much as the little BB-8 droid does. Even without the accompanying sounds, this carved droid is pretty awesome.
Elsa (Frozen)
Parents across the world are probably sick of seeing her face and hearing her voice, but this depiction of Frozen’s Elsa might actually be the best we’ve seen and it’s not musical either, which is a relief.
Frodo Baggins and Gollum (The Lord of the Rings)
My precious! Forget the ring, this pumpkin is a thing of power and beauty. We certainly wouldn’t want to see it thrown into the fires of Mount Doom though.
Full-sized Groot (Guardians of the Galaxy)
Although the mini Groot might be cuter, we still have a soft spot for the original full-sized Groot from the first Guardians of the Galaxy film. This carving shows just how intricate the designs can be.
Winifred Sanderson (Hocus Pocus)
Winifred “Winnie” Sanderson is the leader of the Sanderson sisters in the 1993 film Hocus Pocus, but this pumpkin carving isn’t magic, it’s marvellous skill.
Hogwarts coat of arms (Harry Potter)
Harry Potter designs are always a firm favourite both for Halloween costumes and for pumpkin carvings. Here, The Pumpkin Geek has re-created the coat of arms from the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The school might be fictional, but this carving is a real work of art.
Super Mario
Super Mario is well over 30 years old, yet he’s never aged. This image of the super plumber is instantly recognisable across the world and we’re sure this pumpkin would be popular for years to come too.
Pennywise the Dancing Clown (IT)
Pennywise originally reached the big screen in 1986 and returned again in 2017. If you’re scared of clowns, he’s scary enough, but this pumpkin carving is particularly creepy.
Smaug the Golden (Lord of the Rings)
The last great dragon to exist in Middle-earth, Smaug the Golden is one heck of a monster. Smaug is also a massive hoarder. He’s known for hoarding gold and treasures all to himself for over 200 years. So it’s quite apt to see him cast in this golden light.
Spiderman
Spiderman, spiderman, does whatever a spider can. Can he be carved on a pumpkin? Take look, yes he can. Uh-oh, he is a spiderman.
Writing by Rik Henderson and Adrian Willings.
