While a 12-foot skeleton is an arresting sight even if it’s just standing still, not doing anything in particular, Home Depot knows that Halloween fanatics will always shell out any time Skelly evolves. The spooky icon gets a big tech upgrade this year, and while it’s not quite lurching into self-aware robot territory yet, we’re inching ever closer with this latest model.
While you can still pick up the original Skelly ($299), which comes equipped with “LCD LifeEyes” featuring eight different expressive options, you can now choose a version “with app-enabled upgrades that let owners customize head and mouth movements with servo motors, speak through the Skelly animatronic in real time via Bluetooth, record up to 30 sounds, and choose from 20 different LCD LifeEyes effects,” according to a Home Depot press release.
The possibilities are endless, and one of them is that you can hide in your house and use a shrieking Skelly (using the included “voice-changing effects”) to terrify trick-or-treaters (on Halloween) or your nosiest neighbors (on any other day of the year).
We’re not quite to the “fully mobile Skelly” phase of human existence, but you have to assume Home Depot is working behind the scenes to make that a reality someday. In the meantime, Skelly has some new additions to his yard posse this year, including a new 11-foot mummy friend ($299). Its eyes and chest light up, and you can pose its shoulders and arrange the wrappings to find the right menacing pose for your display.
Other newbies for 2026 include several new interactive animatronics, with some famous faces: a Flying Monkey from Wicked, a trio of Gremlins, and a Stitch that’s more cute than scary and also comes with a holiday ensemble so you can keep him posted up through Christmas.
You can see the full array of “larger-than-life animatronics, immersive décor, and interactive features” starting tomorrow, July 16, on Home Depot’s website and app; they will arrive in stores starting in late August.
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