History Main / HalloweenCostumeCharacterization

** Daryl appears as a piece of candy because he has a big SweetTooth and invokes this in the hope hope that him being a big piece of candy would make the givers hand out more.

** Hannah is a fairy princess, reflecting her innocence and naivety.

* ''ComicStrip/FoxTrot'': Jason Fox is a 10-year-old geek with ComplexityAddiction, so [[https://foxtrot.com/from-the-archives-halloween-comics/ many of]] [[https://foxtrot.com/tag/halloween/ his costumes]] are weird schemes to get candy (even if some never got past the planning stage): a Xenomorph using its {{Nested Mouth|s}} to grab candy, a lineup of five trick-or-treaters, [[WesternAnimation/ItsTheGreatPumpkinCharlieBrown Charlie Brown's ghost costume]] (hoping to get extra pity candy to compensate for "IGotARock"), a candykinetic "[[Franchise/XMen Magsweeto]]", "Trig or Treat" (dressing as a calculator and [[EverybodyHatesMathematics blackmailing candy-givers with advanced math]]), a bathroom scale (to scare weight-conscious adults into getting rid of candy), and [[Franchise/StarWars Obi-Wan Kenobi]] attempting a JediMindTrick. He also occasionally attempts things that are ''intended'' to be scary, but wouldn't frighten anyone but other nerds: Creator/GeorgeLucas planning to re-release the (then-)six ''Franchise/StarWars'' movies in 3D (his siblings mistake him for a lumberjack) and pages of ''Series/GameOfThrones'' spoilers from [[Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire the original books]] (his brother was just happy to avoid reading the {{Door Stopper}}s). He did get some success scaring people as a UsefulNotes/BlueScreenOfDeath and, oddly, as an [=iMac=] (terrifying his brother with the fact of having no floppy drive).

* The ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'' short story "Fat Tuesday" is set, as the title suggests, during [[ItsAlwaysMardiGrasInNewOrleans Mardi Gras in New Orleans]], and stars a guy in a Batman costume, who is mistaken for the real Batman by criminals. He is rescued by ... Franchise/{{Zorro}}, who explains to him that ''everyone'' has heroes.

* In ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'', "[[HalloweenEpisode The Legend of Boo-Kini Bottom]]" has Mr. Krabs, who is very greedy and cheap, dress up as a dollar bill. Sandy, the resident science nerd, dresses as a mad scientist, Plankton, the show's regular antagonist, wears a devil costume and [=SpongeBob=], who doesn't like how scary Halloween is, dresses as a lovely flower.

* In the HalloweenEpisode of ''Series/HowToRock'', the members of Gravity 5 were going to be dressing up as a hand- each of them having to wear a different finger costume, with the positions being somewhat meaningful to their personalities. The rebellious Stevie, for example, played [[FlippingTheBird the middle finger]]. Kacey, however, decided to dress up in an elaborate princess outfit once the band got booked to play at the AlphaBitch's Halloween party- suiting her self-absorbed and attention-hogging nature, especially considering it made the group costume impossible.

* In ''Series/TheOfficeUS'', Dwight dresses as various horror characters (Pinhead, Joker, Jigsaw's puppet, etc.) to show his love of horror and dark fantasy. He also is usually armed with real weapons, showing his SeriousBusiness attitude (and lack of common sense).

* ''Series/WandaVision'': Whether they realize it or not,[[note]]Vision doesn't recognize what he's supposed to be and guesses a MaskedLuchador, while Wanda claims she's a "Sokovian fortune teller" but might know better.[[/note]] Wanda, Vision, and [[spoiler:Pietro]] wear CheapCostume versions of what they wore when fighting with the Avengers; with the added joke that they're [[MythologyGag based on their uniforms from the source comics]] rather than their actual outfits from the movies. Regarding spoiler characters: [[spoiler:Billy also wears a version of his comic-book "Wiccan" outfit, though there's no in-universe basis for it. Tommy, meanwhile, wears a miniature version of Pietro's costume instead of his own comic outfit, out of admiration for his CoolUncle.]] And Agnes dresses up as a witch, [[spoiler:{{Foreshadowing}} that she really is one]].

* ''WesternAnimation/BobsBurgers'': [[CreepyChild Louise Belcher]] tends to dress as characters from darker works like [[Literature/NoCountryForOldMen Anton Chigurh]] and [[Film/Drive2011 the Driver]]. The kids in general have a fondness for [[PungeonMaster pun-based costumes]]; in "Nightmare on Ocean Avenue Street" Gene dresses as [[Music/{{Outkast}} André 3000]] [[Wrestling/AndreTheGiant the Giant]], Tina dresses as a nun with a briefcase ("Nun of Your Business"), and Louise dresses as [[Literature/MillenniumSeries Lisbeth Salander]].
* The HalloweenEpisode of ''WesternAnimation/BoJackHorseman'' depicts Mr. Peanutbutter and his ex-girlfriends' various costumes over the years. Mr. Peanutbutter always tries to match costumes with his girlfriends, showing his need to connect with them, but it doesn't always work out. The costumes also usually reference something contemporary for the time period during which the flashback takes place.
** In 1993, Mr. Peanutbutter dresses as a hippie, while Katrina barely dresses up ("Can't I just put on a stupid hat and say I'm Series/{{Blossom}}?"), hinting at how little she cares about the party and the apathetic personality she would develop in her later years.
** In 2004, Mr. Peanutbutter misunderstands his girlfriend Jessica's request to go as characters from ''Film/TheNotebook'' and dresses as an ''actual'' notebook. This hints at how poor he is at communicating with his girlfriends.
** In 2009, Diane's costume (Baby Bjorn Borg, a pun on the Baby Bjorn from ''Film/TheHangover'', The Borg from ''Franchise/StarTrek'', and tennis player Bjorn Borg) is something complex that Mr. Peanutbutter supports even though he doesn't understand it. The only one who gets the costume right away is [=BoJack=], showing that even before he and Diane formally meet each other, [[StrangeMindsThinkAlike they already connect on a personal level]].
** In 2018, Mr. Peanutbutter's girlfriend Pickles, an influencer obsessed with social media, dresses as a strange new app that Mr. Peanutbutter barely understands, demonstrating how young she is.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheGrimAdventuresOfBillyAndMandy'' HalloweenEpisode "[[Recap/TheGrimAdventuresOfBillyAndMandyS1E8 Grim or Gregory]]": Billy’s costume is a toilet paper mummy, reflecting his silly and simple nature. Mandy’s is as she says, “a ruthless, high-priced, prosecuting attorney”, with the addition of monster claws for “rending human flesh”, which reflects her cold, ruthless personality.

* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' has two episodes set on Nightmare Night (the pony equivalent of Halloween), [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E4LunaEclipsed "Luna Eclipsed"]] and [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS5E15ScareMaster "Scare Master"]].

* In ''Literature/EleanorAndPark'', Park reminisces on some Halloween costumes he wore as a child that nobody got, such as Doctor Who and Groucho Marx. This ties into both being a geek and his difficulties fitting in to his predominantly white and non-geeky community.

* ''Series/{{Superstore}}'': Jonah always has low-key, politically relevant Halloween costumes that reflect his SoapboxSadie politics and personality. In one Halloween episode, he goes as Brexit (an exit sign over a British flag shirt), in another he goes as "the disappearing bee crisis" (a yellow and black striped shirt, a bee antenna headband, and a question mark over said shirt), and in yet another, he goes as Gerrymandering (wearing a blue and red patterned shirt to represent districts). [[RunningGag Every year, no one understands his costumes despite his claims that they're very obvious]]. So in the fifth season he decides to quit it and goes as a normal cowboy, and everyone assumes it's still a politcal costume meant to highlight the plight of first nations people during the Wild West era.

* ''WesternAnimation/BobsBurgers'': Louise Belcher tends to dress as characters from darker works like [[Literature/NoCountryForOldMen Anton Chigurh]] and [[Film/Drive2011 the Driver]]. The kids in general have a fondness for [[PungeonMaster pun-based costumes]]; in "Nightmare on Ocean Avenue Street" Gene dresses as [[Music/{{Outkast}} André 3000]] [[Wrestling/AndreTheGiant the Giant]], Tina dresses as a nun with a briefcase ("Nun of Your Business"), and Louise dresses as [[Literature/MillenniumSeries Lisbeth Salander]].

* ''WesternAnimation/{{SCOOB}}'' shows the Mystery Inc gang as kids on Halloween. Shaggy and Scooby are their favorite superheroes, establishing their fandom for [[WesternAnimation/DynomuttDogWonder Blue Falcon and Dynomutt]] (which goes on to factor into the movie's plot). Daphne is also a superhero as ComicBook/WonderWoman, while Fred is a KnightInShiningArmor. Meanwhile, Velma goes for the obscure nerd reference by going as [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruth_Bader_Ginsburg Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg]].