Fans Shell Out Thousands for Daft Punk Helmets

Want to make a few bucks? Figure out how to duplicate the odd, face-covering, sometimes rainbow-lighted helmets worn by the two members of Daft Punk, suggests the Wall Street Journal. There's apparently quite a demand for replicas of the iconic headgear worn by Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo and Thomas Bangalter, particularly since the French electronic music duo released its first album in eight years today. Customers have been known to pay thousands for lookalike helmets sometimes featuring programmable light displays—then again, they're not exactly easy to put together.

Harrison Krix decided to give it a go four years ago, and it took him 17 months to complete a 749-step process involving blueprints, molds, circuit boards, and an auto shop that did the chrome plating. The final result was apparently more than acceptable to fans, because he was able to quit his day job and go into prop-making (although now he sells only helmet-making kits, after an email from a "concerned" Daft Punk rep). Other helmet makers also have scored thousands for their homemade contraptions, and a fan site founder has set up a special forum for would-be buyers and sellers. "People are so desperate for these things that they are willing to wear everyday household buckets," he says. (More Daft Punk stories.)