Back in ’04, when Shaun of the Dead was just a little, out-of-the-box zombie comedy creeping into theaters, Simon Pegg was able to walk the floor of San Diego Comic Con and enjoy the convention like anyone else. However, that’s not the case anymore. With the entire Cornetto Trilogy under his belt and his role in other huge franchises like Mission: Impossible and Star Trek, people have realized what a genius he is, thereby making walking the Con floor basically impossible. As he told Rebecca Ford at The Hollywood Reporter, it would only take one fan recognizing him and asking for a picture to start up a frenzied mob of fandom.

Still, Pegg is a geek through and through, and he told Ford that getting to experience Comic-Con was a blast for him. Having to forego enjoying the convention seemed like a pretty raw deal for him, so he decided to dabble in some very strategic, disguising cosplay to allow him to enjoy the Con. After a few years of this, he’s become somewhat of an expert.

One year, Pegg wore a Joker mask to the convention. While it effectively hid his face, he learned a very important lesson about conventions: it gets really effing hot. So just to breathe, he’d have to pull up the mask from time to time… which would, of course, incite a fan mob. The same temperature problem exists when wearing a Stormtrooper costume. Pegg doesn’t expressly tell Ford that he’s tried attending a convention dressed as a Stormtrooper, but his keen knowledge of how toasty one can get in the armor makes it seem like he’s given it a go.

His best look, however, came when he was gifted a custom-made Boba Fett helmet, complete with a cricket bat instead of an antenna (a shout out to Pegg’s weapon of choice in Shaun of the Dead). So he wore a Shaun of the Dead tee with his helmet, and was able to explore the convention floor in complete anonymity… that is, as long as he remembered to hide his badge, which bore his name in big, giant letters.

Hiding in the light. Walking the convention floor at #SDCC 2013 pic.twitter.com/ku0UFxvaJV

— Pegg News (@simonpegg) July 20, 2013

Even though his fame has forced him to the point of employing these methods when walking the convention floor, he still manages to engage in all of the fun SDCC has to offer.

Of course he isn’t the only celeb to have done this. Osric Chau crashed a Supernatural panel in full, face-covering cosplay; Andrew Garfield has, appropriately so, gone to the convention in full Spider-Man cosplay—as has Daniel Radcliffe; Matt Smith once walked the convention floor under a Bart Simpson mask. So keep a keen eye out at Comic Con this year, friends. You never know who is really hiding behind that mask.

…And keep an eye out for someone in a Boba Fett masks with a cricket bat instead of an antenna. Just be cool if you see him.

Have you, knowingly or unknowingly, encountered a celeb in disguise at Comic-Con? Tell us about it in the comments!

Image credit: Paramount