History Main / HalloweenCostumeCharacterization

** Mr. Garrison, being gay and gender-queer, dresses as fabulous actress Creator/MarilynMonroe.

* ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'': In "The Middle Earth Paradigm", Leonard dresses as Frodo, mentioning that both are short and unassuming. [[InsufferableGenius Sheldon]], on the other hand, chooses a very abstract costume that is meant to represent the Doppler effect, and doesn't understand why it's not obvious to anyone else.

TheChick, and TheLeader.]]

* ''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.]]
** 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.

* 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.

* Invoked by the witches in ''Literature/NightWorld''; it's stated in ''Literature/{{Spellbinder\1996}}'' that on Halloween, witches dress in costumes that reflect who they truly are or who they aspire to be, rather than disguising themselves like humans do. Many witches in Thea's peer group dress as deities they admire or patronize (e.g. Dani dresses as the Egyptian goddess Isis). Thea dresses in her traditional white circle robes and vaguely states she's going as [[FamousAncestor her ancestor Hellewise]]; she wants to feel as comfortable as possible for [[spoiler:when she faces [[VengefulGhost Suzanne]]]].

* ''Webcomic/PixieAndBrutus'': On their first Halloween together, Pixie wants to do a costume pair. Originally, the innocent kitten suggests a bee and flower, or the princess and the pea. Brutus turns down both ideas, but when Pixie proposes Batman and Robin, the more active theme appeals to Brutus. Unfortunately for him, it's subverted when [[GrumpyBear he]] ends up as [[HeartwarmingOrphan Robin]] and [[CuteKitten Pixie]] gets the [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold Batman]] costume.

* ''[[Literature/MercyWatson Mercy Watson, Princess in Disguise]]'': Played with. Mercy's costume ''does'' indeed indicate someone's character, but it doesn't display Mercy's personality so much as that of her doting mistress. Mercy only agrees to wear the costume to get treats.

* In the Halloween episode of ''Series/{{Euphoria}}'', the costumes all say something about the characters' personalities. Rue and Jules dress up as ''[[Film/WilliamShakespearesRomeoAndJuliet Romeo and Juliet]]'', reflecting that they're doomed lovers. Nate dresses up as a convict, mocking the fact that he just escaped a serious assault charge. Kat dresses up as Thana from ''Film/{{Ms 45}}'', reflecting her desire to avenge herself on all the boys who've supposedly ignored or abused her over the years. And Maddy dresses up as Alabama Whitman from ''Film/TrueRomance'' because she's Nate's "outlaw lover".%% Meanwhile, Lexi dresses up as Creator/BobRoss, because why ''wouldn't'' you dress up as Bob Ross if you could get away with it? %%Commented out until we can confirm that the gushing about Bob Ross occurs within the story.

* In ''Series/FreaksAndGeeks'', many of the cast's costumes reflect their personalities; CloudCuckoolander Bill dresses as Series/TheBionicWoman (which show creator Paul Feig really did do one Halloween), Sam makes a homemade costume of Gort from ''Film/TheDayTheEarthStoodStill1951'' out of some cardboard boxes, and Neal (who is into comedy but whose references are somewhat dated) goes as Groucho Marx (at first, he tried to go as Charlie Chaplin but when he applied the mustache it just made him look like Hitler). Meanwhile, Harold dresses as a vampire (a ShoutOut to Joe Flaherty's Count Floyd character).

* On ''Series/LastManStanding,'' Mike Baxter suggests his family all dress up like each other for Halloween. He however, being a staunch Republican ([[Creator/TimAllen like his actor]]), dresses as President Creator/DonaldTrump. Chuck Larabee, Mike's [[ItMakesSenseInContext Blaa..frican-American]] friend and neighbor, also dresses like President Trump, but with a Devil's Tail. Chuck looks at them both and says that him dressing like that is ironic, Mike dressing like it is a tribute.

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* ''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/TheGirlWithTheDragonTattoo The Dragon with the Girl Tattoo]].

* ''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".[[/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]].

* ''WebAnimation/HomestarRunner'': Every Halloween (and one [[YouMeanXMas Decemberween]]), the entire main cast dress up as characters that often go hand-in-hand with their own personalities. For example, Strong Sad goes as celebrities or fictional characters from the 1960s to the 1980s (Tony Clifton, Vyvyan from ''Series/TheYoungOnes'', Andy Warhol, Mikhail Gorbachev, and the fat kid from ''ComicStrip/TheFarSide'') while the King Of Town goes as food mascots or characters with facial hair such as ComicStrip/HagarTheHorrible, Cap'n Crunch, and Franchise/SuperMario. Coach Z ends up being the most consistent as he dresses as a rapper almost every Halloween, usually one from TheNineties. The Poopsmith seems more than a bit of a nerd, favoring niche sci-fi and video game characters like [[Franchise/StreetFighter M. Bison]] and [[WesternAnimation/ThundarrTheBarbarian Ookla the Mok]].

* In ''Theatre/BeMoreChill,'' Jeremy wears a cyborg costume to the Halloween party, representing how the SQUIP implanted in his brain has essentially made him part-robot. Christine wears her [[Theatre/RomeoAndJuliet Juliet]] costume to the party since her life practically revolves around doing theater. Brooke wears a "sexy dog" costume, and as a later scene demonstrates, she is practically [[AlphaBitch Chloe's]] [[BetaBitch lapdog]]. As for Chloe herself, her "sexy baby" costume hints at her disturbing view of sexuality, as demonstrated during "Do You Wanna Hang?" when she nearly molests Jeremy.

** Fluttershy, the LovableCoward of the group, normally doesn't dress up because she finds the whole holiday too scary. In "Scare Master", when her friends convince her to give Nightmare Night a try, she has trouble finding a costume she likes: she notices how most of Rarity's suggestions would obscure her vision so she can't see danger, or prevent her from running away from danger. She eventually settles on a vampire-esque black dress.

Can overlap with HalloweenCosplay if the character is dressing up as another known character. Compare the HollywoodDressCode and CultureEqualsCostume, which are similar cases of a wardrobe communicating personality. Contrast ForHalloweenIAmGoingAsMyself, which has the ''lack'' of a costume as a key point.

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[[quoteright:350:[[WesternAnimation/{{SCOOB}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/scoob1_2.png]]]]

** In an early ''Series/MightyMorphinPowerRangers'' episode, the whole cast has costumes that fit with their personalities: StandardizedLeader Jason is Myth/RobinHood, showoff Zack is a pharaoh, TheSmartGuy Billy is Literature/SherlockHolmes, GranolaGirl Trini is UsefulNotes/{{Pocahontas}}, and GirlyGirl Kimberly is a princess. ThoseTwoGuys Bulk and Skull go as "punks" -- which shows off their stupidity since that's what they ''are''.

* ''VideoGame/AvengersAcademy'' had a number of costumes during Halloween events reflecting the wearers' character. Iron Man displayed both his ego and irreverence by wearing a cardboard-box CheapCostume version of his regular armor. Loki dressed as his brother Thor, in an attempt to mock him (and a thinly-veiled display of jealousy). Hulk riffed on his alter-ego Dr. Banner by dressing as a MadScientist -- as he puts it, he's [[YouWouldntLikeMeWhenImAngry mad]] and a scientist, so the costume was a no-brainer. TheComicallySerious Maria Hill got stuck in a ridiculous banana costume. And Black Widow was cynical and sarcastic as always, with a "This Is My Costume" FunTShirt.

** Daryl appears as a piece of candy because he wants more of it and invokes this in the hopes of getting more.

* In ''{{Series/Bones}}'', Brennan, the show's co-hero, dresses up as Wonder Woman. Angela also counts as she's a go-go dancer, which does fit her free spirited pre-marriage lifestyle. The others, interestingly, avert it. Hodgins is Captain Smith of ''Titanic'' fame, Cam, despite being one of the good guys, is Catwoman. Zach is the rear end of a cow with a paleontologist as the front, while Booth is a nerd.

** In 2009, Diane's costume (Baby Bjorn Borg, a pun on the Baby Bjorn from ''Film/TheHangover'' 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 ''Theatre/BeMoreChill,'' Jeremy wears a cyborg costume to the Halloween party, representing how the SQUIP implanted in his brain has essentially made him part-robot. Christine wears her [[Theatre/RomeoAndJuliet Juliet]] costume to the party since her life practically revolves around doing theater. Brooke wears a "sexy dog" costume, and as a later scene demonstrates, she is practically [[AlphaBitch Chloe's]] [[BetaBitch lapdog]]. As for Chloe herself, her "sexy baby" costume hints at her disturbing view of sexuality, as demonstrated during [[DoubleStandardRapeFemaleOnMale "Do You Wanna Hang?"]]

** In 2009, Diane's costume (Baby Bjorn Borg, a pun on the Baby Bjorn from ''Film/TheHangover'' 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, they already connect on a personal level.

* 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 dresses as a mad scientist, Plankton wears a devil costume and [=SpongeBob=], who doesn't like how scary Halloween is, dresses as a lovely flower.

** Chef dresses as Evil Knievel.

** Meanwhile, everybody thinks Kenny (who has been turned into a zombie) is going as Edward James Olmos.

* ''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.

* ''WebAnimation/HomestarRunner'': Every Halloween (and one [[YouMeanXMas Decemberween]]), the entire main cast dress up as characters that often go hand-in-hand with their own personalities. For example, Strong Sad goes as celebrities or fictional characters from the 1960s to the 1980s (Tony Clifton, Vyvyan from ''Series/TheYoungOnes'', Andy Warhol, Mikhail Gorbachev, and the fat kid from ''ComicStrip/TheFarSide'') while the King Of Town goes as food mascots or characters with facial hair such as ComicStrip/HagarTheHorrible, Cap'n Crunch, and Franchise/SuperMario. Coach Z ends up being the most consistent as he dresses as a rapper almost every Halloween, usually one from TheNineties. The Poopsmith seems more than a bit of a nerd, favoring niche sci-fi and video game characters like [[VideoGame/StreetFighter M. Bison]] and [[WesternAnimation/ThundarrTheBarbarian Ookla the Mok]].