Elliot’s backpack is the equivalent of Batman’s Utility Belt, just less… yellow. Although the show doesn’t make a big deal of it, he’s seemingly got every gadget, gizmo and life-hack in that bag to call upon when he gets into a tight sitch.
I mean, haven’t you ever wondered what’s in that backpack? Ghost Dad sandwiches? Ghost Dad Shark Repellant?
Like every good snail, every introvert hacker needs a shell. If not a home, then a bag to call his own as proved by the famous saying “A hacker’s backpack is his castle.”
So, let’s begin with the backpack itself as it’s extremely fucking cool and we know you’re gagging to get bagging…
Mil-Tec Military Army Patrol MOLLE Assault Pack Tactical Combat Rucksack Backpack
Don’tcha wish your backpack was ARMY like me? Don’tcha? Don’tcha?
Along with his black hoodie, sunken eyes and boyish good looks (that defy Rami Malik’s 35 years, the bastard!), that backpack is one of the things that has come to define Elliot Alderson. It’s gone so far towards becoming a cultural icon that I bet if you were to go to a Halloween party dressed as Elliot without one, the very first question you’d be asked is:
“Hey Shorty! Where’s ya Mil-Tec Military Army Patrol MOLLE Assault Pack Tactical Combat Backpack?”
Assuming you’re in New York City, where everyone is called Shorty
The backpack is of military spec, holds 36 liters and is available in a variety of colors, but you can have any color, so long as it’s not black as most stores seem to have a long waiting list since the show hijacked the airways. Until supply meets demand, you’ll just have to live out of a shopping bag like Mr Robot.
“I’m angry, son because you never use that nice Buzz Lightyear backpack I bought you.”
Laptop
“Tidy Desk. Tidy Mind” as Edward Alderson used to say before he became a Force Ghost terrorist
You might be surprised to hear that, however unlikely, Elliot chooses E Corp brand! His work laptop was provided by Allsafe and branded by E-corp (yet one website I saw stated it was probably a Lenovo.)
Nowadays he’s probably placed a Thrasher skate magazine sticker over the E logo.
What’s a hacker without a laptop? Yeah, you need an operational base and somewhere to sleep, but if you can’t bring about the collapse of the financial world from your local Starbucks or Ron’s Coffee, then you’re not fit to wear the F_Society mask.
Don’t say Elliot wouldn’t be seen dead in a Starbucks… he’s definitely been in one. Once!
MultiBlue USB Dongle
To this day, I can’t hear the word “dongle” without thinking of the word “schlong”.
Told you there’d be more dick jokes this week!
Remember in S01E06, when Elliot busted Vera out of jail and found his sweetheart Shayla’s body in the trunk of a car? It may have been the most heart-breaking episode but what’s important today is that our hero employed a MultiBlue USB Dongle to gain access and type on the police cruiser’s computer from his own laptop.
Darlene did a great job distracting the cop but next time, know that bag of Dunkin Donuts does the job just as well.
You can find out how to pwn any mobile using a dongle here.
Credit Card Lockpick Set
Any excuse to see that face again!
Speaking of Shayla, again waaaaaay back in Season One, when Vera had drugged and assaulted her, Elliot pulled out his lock picking set and used it to open the locked bathroom door, just in time to save her from drowning.
Elliot also uses his lock picking kit when he’s at Steel Mountain, because being a hacker ain’t all zeroes and ones, ya know. Sometimes it’s zeroes and sevens.
As in 007, as in James Bond. A very introverted James Bond who’s only had one girlfriend.
Pwnie Express PwnPhone
Even Elliot himself described the PwnPhone as “a dream device for pen testers”
The Pwnie Express PwnPhone is a cutting edge, sleek LG Nexus 5 that doubles as a powerful penetration-testing device, so you can evaluate wired, wireless and Bluetooth networks. to stop people like Elliot Alderson pwning you!
It comes with over 100 pre-installed built-in and ‘one-click’ tools, can run third-party scripts and you can even build your own customized Pwnie phone over at Pwnie Express.
But it’s not just to protect you from hacks, if you’re Elliot Alderson you can also use it to hack the FBI’s cell phones!
As well as this incredible piece of kit, Elliot would by now surely also have a set of burner phones and a veritable stash of throwable SIM cards.
Swiss Army Knife / Mini Tool Kit
Any self-respecting hacker needs a box of tricks within his or her bag of tricks, be that an old-fashioned Swiss Army knife or a mini kit featuring a plethora of tiny Philips screwdrivers, wire-cutters and electrical tape for taking apart and/or destroying hard drives when there’s no microwave on hand! Also, if Elliot does end up being transported back in time to the 1950’s, that thing on a Swiss Army knife that no-one knows what it’s for is great for picking stones out of horses’ hooves and carrying parcels wrapped in string.
Master CD
It can’t all be high-tech gadgets and gizmos, we had to find something personal too!
Two of the most important tenets of being a great hacker are the ability to problem-solve and think ahead, and when you’re part of a worldwide conspiracy, you gotta react quick and think well into the future! So, while we haven’t seen Elliot’s music CD’s (which contain information on everyone he comes into contact with and will surely feature in the show again at some point) are probably hidden somewhere safe. To cover all bases, I reckon he probably keeps a master CD with him as backup and for easy access.
Yes, there is the danger that if he was caught, the FBI may find the CD, but its contents are buried deep as Elliot always uses Deep Sound audio converter when burning data into his CD collection, whether that be Pink Floyd, Soundgarden or The Beastie Boys. I bet Elliot is sentimental enough to have hidden photographs of his dad on one of these discs.
First Generation iPod
Remember these? You could be rich beyond your wildest dreams if you still own one!
Despite Elliot’s obvious disdain for Apple, a guy’s gotta have some way to listen to Sonic Youth or The Cure. If not a first gen then an early version, so long as its a Bluetooth-less, Wifi-less, self-contained, non-hackable mp3 player so it can’t be hacked, right?
Let’s take a little break to think about how Elliot affords all this kit. He’d have been on quite good money at Allsafe, but when that job went bye bye, he’ll have needed to live on his wits. Some items come real cheap, but laptops, Pwnie phones need some more cash… It’s never been mentioned in the show, but do you think Elliot has used his hacking skills to make money illegally? Or is it more likely that Mr Robot brings home the illegal bacon while Elliot sleeps?
That said, if he did have a first gen iPod, he could have bought all this kit and more with the $20,000 they are fetching on ebay!
Raspberry Pi
They could’ve used a hand model who hadn’t just stepped out of an hour-long bath
As we’re sure you already know, a Raspberry Pi is a single-board computer developed in the U.K. to promote computer science in schools and the third world… but Elliot had other ideas like gaining access to HVAC systems like at E Corp’s server backup, Steel Mountain!
Elliot probably used a Raspberry Pi 2, which was released in February 2015. As of September 2016, ten million Raspberry Pi’s have been sold worldwide.
They’re real neat little gizmos; all models feature a Broadcom system on a chip, which includes an ARM compatible CPU and an on-chip GPU (a VideoCore IV). CPU speed ranges from 700 MHz to 1.2 GHz (for the Pi 3) and onboard memory range from 256MB to 1GB RAM. SD cards are used to store the OS and program memory. Most boards have between one and four USB slots, HDMI and composite video output, and a 3.5 mm phone jack for audio. The B-models have an 8P8C Ethernet port and the Pi 3 has on board Wi-Fi 802.11n and Bluetooth and the best thing is Raspberry Pis are than the X-Men mutate and they cost as little as $20 – $40!
Speaking of Steel Mountain, even though this next device was Mobley’s, Elliot would soon have realized he’d have needed a…
Bishop Fox Tastic RFID Thief
It’s all well and good planting tiny computers like , but you gotta get inside the secure server facility in the first place, and that requires both the skills of a haxor and a secret agent/pickpocket. Since RFID is long-range radio frequency identification, our heroes only need to get within a yard or so of any Steel Mountain worker’s badge, and the Bishop Fox Tastic RFID Thief scanner can pull the data off it as easy as… pie. Raspberry Pi!
Pringles and Monster Energy Drink
This was Elliot and Darlene’s original design for the F_Society mask.
Every haxor exists on a diet of energy drinks and potato chips. Kevin Smith’s Warlock prefers Red Bull and Doritos but Elliot finds the silver, red and blue of Red Bull just too damn bright and too damned happy. And need we mention that both empty Pringles tubes and those tall cans of Monster make excellent cantennas?
Once you pop…
Plus, in a historic piece of Mr Robot mythology, if Elliot and Darlene had never seen The Careful Massacre of The Bourgeoisie, then Mr Pringle would have become the F_Society mask.
Lastly, there’s one thing that’s at the bottom of every freedom fighters backpack…
Hope
Even once you’ve used up every dirty trick, illegal gadget and underhand hack, even when you’re at the end of your rope and it seems you’ve done all you can to fight for the good of mankind, even when you’ve got no gas left in your tank, there’s always one thing left – hope, Just like Pandora’s Box. And that’s what’s at the bottom of Elliot’s backpack.
Hope and gizmos and belly button lint. Dark blue belly button lint, because it doesn’t matter what color clothes you wear, it’s always dark blue.
We hope you’ve enjoyed delving through Elliot’s backpack. It’s just a good job his dirty laundry wasn’t in there.