Homestarloween Costumes

Welcome to the first of two Halloween Entries!

If you're like me, you're a fan of Homestar Runner.com's crazy cartoon adventures. If not...shame on you, it's really a fantastic cartoon.

The topic I'm trying to get to today is that every year since 2000, the website has produced a Halloween-themed cartoon where all of the characters dress up in costumes. The costumes are different each year, each one representing some facet of obscure Pop Culture. When the cartoons started it, the outfits mostly stayed within the 80's, but recent cartoons have had more current costumes. I'm not complaining, as the choices have been the most original and inspired ones that I've ever seen.

I was holding off on this entry to wait for this year's Halloween cartoon to be released. This entire week has involved lots of F5'ing to check if the toon would finally arrive. Last night, "Most in The Graveyard" was posted, and it's one of the best ones the HSR team has ever done. I suggest watching it before continuing on, as a few costumes from that cartoon have earned a spot in this entry.

So, in part, this is another list post by me. I first thought of a straight-out "Best Costumes" list, but I figured it would give Strong Bad an unfair advantage, as his costumes have been consistently excellent. Instead, we'll look at the best costume by character.


Homestar Runner - The Greatest American Hero (The House That Gave Sucky Treats)

Let's start with the star of the show, Homestar himself. This was quite a tough choice for his best costume, as I had to flip a coin between The Greatest American Hero (from the show of the same name) from "The House That Gave Sucky Treats" and Artie, The Strongest Man! In the World (from The Adventures of Pete & Pete) from last year's "Jibblies 2."

He's had some obscure costumes, like the character of Moocher from the movie "Breaking Away," and Yahoo Serious from "Young Einstein" this year. Hell, it took me until the end of "Jibblies 2" to have the memories of Artie come flowing back to me.


Marizpan - Beaker (Halloween Potion-Ma-Jig)

Marzipan is Homestar's on/off girlfriend, and has had some consistently good costumes. Since she's the lone woman and hippie-like character, she's dressed up as women, but most of her current costumes have been musicians such as Joey Ramone, Lisa "Left Eye" Lopez, Willie Nelson, Frida Kahlo, Prince, and Stevie Ray Vaughn.

Out of all of them, Beaker was her best costume. It fits her body type and pink skin perfectly. I've wondered how the creators hadn't thought up that costume for her until they actually did it.


Pom Pom - Walter Sobchak (Halloween Potion-Ma-Jig)

Pom Pom is Homestar's best bud and the mack daddy of the ensemble. The fact that he is a large yellow balloon that only speaks in bubbles hasn't stopped him from wearing great costumes that don't fit his body type. Sure, he's dressed up as the Kool-Aid man, Michael Moore, Kamala The Ugandan Giant, Mario Batali, Bob's Big Boy and the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man, but he's also dressed up as the rail-thin SCUD from the comic book "SCUD: The Disposable Assassin."

Fitting with his round theme, my favorite costume of his was Walter Sobchak from "The Big Lebowski." Speaking of which, I dressed up as "The Dude" for Halloween this year. (Check back here later on to see the costume!)


Bubs - Coach McGuirk (Happy Hallow-day)

Bubs runs the Concession Stand in Free Country USA, the only such establishment in the area. He has a running theme of shady, fat characters that are incredibly obscure. He's been Rerun from "What's Happening," Mel from "Alice," Captain Lou Albano, Mars Blackmon from "She's Gotta Have it," Apollo Creed, Ross The Stage Manager from "You Can't Do That on Television," and wrestler The Junkyard Dog. His most obscure one by far is One of The Three Most Important People in The World (the one played by Clarence Clemons) from "Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure." Yeah, I had to look up every single costume except for Rerun & Apollo Creed.

I've chosen Coach McGuirk from "Home Movies" due to the almost-uncanny resemblance, as well as being one of his most easily recognizable costumes.


Coach Z - DJ Lance Rock (Most in The Graveyard)

Coach Z is, well, a Coach with a hilarious speech impediment as well as being an amateur hip-hop artist. Due to this, he has dressed up as a different rapper for every Halloween cartoon.

While he's dressed up as rappers like Flavor Flav, Kool Moe Dee, Kid of Kid n Play, Humpty Hump, Tupac, and Queen Latifah, he got creative in recent years and dressed up as Theo Huxtable (Jammin' on the one!) and the So So Def Recordings logo.

That brings us to this year, where he dressed up as DJ Lance Rock, the host of "Yo Gabba Gabba." For one, it's very inspired, and if you click on him at the end of the cartoon, he gives us a jumbled version of the character's catchphrase "Yooooooooooooooor Gorble Gorble!" I still can't stop laughing over that, and I've seen the cartoon about 4 times now because of it. If this wasn't Coach Z's costume this year, I would've went with Humpty Hump from "The House That Gave Sucky Treats."


The Cheat - Sigmund (Halloween Fairstival)

The Cheat is the adorable little sidekick to Strong Bad. The most animalistic and shortest of the characters, his costumes have usually been of small and/or furry creatures. This was also a hard choice, as my favorite costumes of his were Sigmund from "Sigmund & The Sea Monsters," Gizmo from "Gremlins," Toad from the Mario Bros. Series, and Penfold from "Dangermouse."

Due to the complexity & originality of the costume, I chose The Cheat's Sigmund costume. He was not, as Homestar said, a pile of leaves.


Strong Sad - Andy Warhol (The House That Gave Sucky Treats)

The youngest of the three "Brothers Strong," Strong Sad is a fat, depressed nerd. In such, most of his costumes either follow this theme, or are complete opposites to his personality. It would explain why he would dress up as Sam Kinison, Tony Clifton, and Vyvyan from "The Young Ones."

For me, the costume that best fit Strong Sad in both looks and personality would have to be his Andy Warhol costume. In "The House That Gave Sucky Treats," you had the option of giving one of three treats to each character. Giving Strong Sad a Cambell's Soup Can causes him to comment on how fitting the treat is, and how he wanted candy that you didn't have to prepare.


Strong Mad - Magnum PI (Three Times Halloween Funjob)

He's the oldest of the "Brothers Strong" and is the biggest & dumbest character on the show. Naturally, his costume choices range from athletes to big people. Nikolai Volkoff, William "The Fridge" Perry, Magnum PI, Gossamer, The Maxx, and a Thwomp are all great big hulks of things. He's been known to dress as the slender Slim Goodbody, as well as Ben Wallace.

There was also an instance where he dressed as a simple Bedsheet Ghost. Of course, with Strong Mad being Strong Mad, he cut the eye holes over his mouth instead of over his actual eyes.

While Gossamer was great yet an inaccurate orange color, and the Thwomp being really awesome, I'm going to have to go with Magnum PI. For one, I love the costume, and how it fit so well on Strong Mad. There's simply something inherently funny about a big cubic figure like himself wearing a hawaiian shirt, shades, and a fake mustache. I still laugh over his delivery of "HIGGINS!" and then simply tossing a roll of toilet paper through a wall. Also of note,the costume inspired me to dress up as Magnum PI (very awkwardly, I might add) for Halloween three years ago.


Strong Bad - Jambi The Genie (Halloween Potion-Ma-Jig)

The 2nd Star of Homestar Runner and the middle child of the "Brothers Strong," Strong Bad has been the most consistent with really awesome costumes. He was Carmen Freakin' Miranda, Carmen Sandiego, Ozone from "Breakin'" and "Breakin' II: Electic Boogaloo" (ok, so this was the dud compared to the ones that came after), Cesar Romero's Joker, Father Guido Sarducci, Beetlejuice, The Green Planet on the cover of "Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy," and a genius idea of dressing up as a Bee while being disguised as Homestar dressing up as Angus Young.

But as a child of the early 90's, I can't say no to his awesome Jambi The Genie costume. I especially love the detail of the box that he made the effort to carry around for the entire night.


King of Town - The Mayor of Halloweentown (Halloween Fairstival)

The King of Town is the self-appointed King of Free Country USA. Hes short, fat, and a glutton. Obviously, his theme of costumes consist of fat people and/or food mascots. My choice for my favorite KoT costume goes to The Mayor of Halloweentown from "The Nightmare Before Christmas." If this list WAS a straight-up best costumes list, this one would be right near the top. It suits him so very well. He's fat, short, and the figurehead leader of the town. Plus, the outfit is so very awesome, it even has the spinning head feature!

In case you're wondering, the King of Town has also dressed up as Colonel Sanders, The Hamburgular, Mario, Rev. Al Sharpton, The Gorton's Fisherman, Cap'n Crunch, Hagar The Horrible, and most recently, Hello Kitty. It was his favorite candy mascot...but it was probably some erasers.


Poopsmith - Dr. Zoidberg (Most in The Graveyard)

The Poopsmith is the King's handler of whatsit. He doesn't speak, is gross, and has a mysterious personality. In such, he has had a wide range of costumes, many of them incredibly obscure. Most notable of the fantasy genre would be Necron 99 from "Wizards," a Sleestak from "Land of The Lost," Lion-O from "Thundercats," and Ookla The Mok from "Thundarr The Barbarian." For other Halloween toons, he went Sci Fi with a Tron costumes years before Tron Guy did it, Doc Brown, M. Bison from "Street Fighter," as well as dressing up in a Lazer Tag outfit.

I almost went with Bison, but this year's Zoidberg costume was one of my favorite, because I loves me some Futurama. I simply didn't think that Doc Brown was a good costume for him, and I haven't had as much experience with the awesomeness of his other costume choices.


Homsar - The Noony Noony Noo Typewriter Guy (Jibblies 2)

Last, but not least, we come to Homsar. He's always accessed via an Easter Egg involving the Poopsmith. The strangest character in the series, his costumes have been quite associated with his random personality and has been notable for having some of the most obscure costumes, more so than Poopsmith & Bubs. Seriously, I never would've thought of dressing him up as Kumar from the Wes Anderson Movie "Bottle Rocket" or as Ghost Dog.

As a fellow child who grew up on Sesame Street, seeing the Typewriter Guy was a blast from the past and created its hold for my favorite Homsar costume.



So, which costumes were your favorites?