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It’s time for me to rag on costumes. It’s after Halloween, what do you expect?

Halloween has come and gone. As I handed out candy I noticed a rise in vampires but a steady stream of super hero costumes this year. There was one costume that stood out for me: Spider-man. It was something about the costume. Imagine a 5 year old, wearing a black-suit Spider-man costume with biceps. That’s right, this 5 year old costume was a muscle suit. Please tell me I’m not the only one who sees this as creepy.

I am big fan of super hero costumes. Who didn’t want to dress up as Batman, Superman, etc. for Halloween? It was the best time to get away with wearing a cape and a great mask. In recent years, the costumes have become more elaborate, with more details in the masks, more details in the costume. This is saying something considering that masks are still held together with rubber bands and staples.  But how far should little kid costumes go to make them look like their super-hero counterparts?

The addition of a muscle suit really threw me for a loop. When I say muscle suit, I’m saying the kid had a chest, six pack, and biceps under his costume. Not only is this weird on the kid but its also weird for Spider-man. On one hand kids shouldn’t look like body builders, on the other Spider-man looks like an average person. He has muscles but not like a body builder does. It’s creepy because of the age of the 5 year old and wrong because the costume does not do a good job of representing Spider-man.

I know kids want their costumes to make them look more like their favorite super heroes, but lets not push things too far out. Costume makers need to make some changes, either all super hero costumes need a muscle suit in them or costumes need to find other ways to make kids feel like they are actually becoming their hero for Halloween. Sometimes it is easiest if you keep it simple, cape and mask. Or just red and blue. No need to complicate things.