Halloween Costumes and Conundrums

I have a strange relationship with Halloween these days. I'm 90% I wrote about this last year, but I might as well give it another go. People love reboots, right?

So, as I began, I have a strange relationship with Halloween. As a child it was like any kid. Ninja turtle here, Dracula there. In high school I started branching out and I started playing with things outside the typical wheelhouse. One might even call it cosplay. Except I didn't know what that was. I just liked dressed up at Hercule / Mr. Satan from Dragonball Z. He's still awesome. And you know what, I completed that little outfit years later with the spiritual successor of Dan Hibiki. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

You see, during college I really went all out. We'd start planning pair and group outfits in June. It was all because one Halloween I had a crappy costume. Waited too long. It was some skull makeup and a Jack Skellington foam top hat. That's when things took off. 

Jay and Silent Bob was probably one of the best I did. My friend had long blond hair and I wore a wig. Our hairstyles are now opposite. Either way, I completed the look with a genuine Mooby hat (I was Silent Bob, of course!). It just kept going. We did the Mario Bros. with myself as Wario. I worse the prosthetic nose and ears and even paid for everything with gold coins. I made a bob-omb and a chain chomp (Trevor and Chompy, respectively) for the princesses that joined up.

I really got into making costumes. They were like little puzzles to solve. What piece of media had been important in our lives that year? How can I incorporate 2-5 people? What needs to be made by hand? This led to me doing Dan Hibiki to my wife's Chun Li, Sun Wu Kong the Monkey King, and my favorite of all, Guru Guru the Organ Grinder from Zelda: Ocarina of Time. Yes, I made a functioning, spinning organ.

But now? I haven't done a costume in years. I think my last one was a composite Ganondorf. Since then, we haven't had the time, money, or resources. People have moved on. Trying to craft something felt like a waste of money when we've had other financial stresses. Not to mention moving around, not knowing if we'd still be  living in the same place in a few months or not. All in all, it's been a lot of things that stopped me from indulging in a beloved past time. Crafting outfits, figuring out how to make them work, it's been such an integral part of who I am for year. Now it's kinda gone. 

Will I ever get back to it? Here's hoping. But for all you out there who are dressing up, enjoy it! Have a blast. 

DFTBA