Hello, it's midnight (12:04 and resisting a Limozeen joke) on October 24th 2022, the 20th Homestar Runner Halloween toon just got uploaded and the Homestar Runner Wiki page for the episode currently looks like this:
Under these circumstances I begin doing the old fashion style research for each of the Homestar Runner Halloween costumes running completely off of hyperfixation euphoria adrenaline, but I will admit either I'm getting better at this or it's an easy year because I recognized everyone, possibly both.
The Costumes :
Homestar: (Black Knight) Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Costume Category: Movies and Short films- Comedy
I swear I've seen people joke about this one over and over over the years, and they finally did it. Monty Python and the Holy Grail is considered a quintessential movie in nerd circles and likewise in Homestar runner's hayday the internet was probably 1% Monty Python references to the point people got sick of it. Now I don't hear people talk about it much at all. That being said, finally giving Homestar the most obvious costume possible feels oddly appropriate for big Halloween toon #20.
Strong Bad: (Dr. Crygor) Wario Ware
Costume Category: Video Games - Nintendo
Dr. Crygor is a recurring character from the WarioWare game series. In the series he is one of a dozen or so Microgame stage hosts in the series. Homestar Runner has a history with the game WarioWare D.I.Y.'s game creation system, with the Chaps having made custom microgames in the games dedicated game creation engine. These microgames were available for local download at a few conventions and documented on the Homestar Runner official YouTube.
Marzipan:(John Lennon) Yellow Submarine
Costume Category: Movies and Short films- Animated
Marzipan is dressed as John Lennon from the Beatles as he appears in the legendary animated jukebox musical Yellow Submarine. The movie is a trippy fairytale made when the Beatles didn't want to work on a movie but had to have a movie made anyway. There's also an easter egg with storybook marzipan in regular Marzipans costume and two storybook Homestars dressed as Paul and Ringo. Also on a meta note, I'm going to count this for animated films because Marzipan is specifically dressed as the caricature of Lennon that originated in this film.
Pom Pom: (Timer) Time for Timer
Costume Category: Toys, Advertising and Theme Parks- Other Advertising
Timer is charterer originating from a series of PSAs that ran on ABC in the 1970’s who existed to remind kids to eat and sleep and such in an apparent attempt to help set up their body clocks or something. Pom Pop is dressed as his appearance in the “I Hanker For a Hunk of Cheese” ad.
Bubs: (Office Space) Office Space
Costume Category: Movies and Short films- Comedy
Based on a series of shorts by Bevis and Butthead and King of The Hill Creator Mike Judge, Office Space is Judge's first live action feature film. While its box office only broke even, the film sold well on home media and is considered a cult classic. This is the second Homestar Runner Halloween costume from the movie after Marzipan dressed as Joanne in 2017.
Bubs is dressed as a man made of post-it notes that appeared in the film's advertising materials but not in the film itself. Apparently Judge hates the post-it man because he thinks he looks too much like a big bird or something and it's not actually a visual from the film itself.
Coach Z: (DMC) Run DMC
Costume Category: Music - Hip-hop/Rap/R&B
Coach Z is dressed as Darryl "D.M.C." McDaniels from the Hip-Hop group Run DMC. Run DMC is best known for their cover of Walk This Way by Arosmth and Their Song "It's Tricky" that was briefly mentioned in a previous article and had an amazing snowboarding video game named after it (yes I mean SSX Tricky, my favorite sports video game ever).
Also I'm sorry but I can't think about the Run DMC Walk This Way without thinking about the fact that the They Might Be Giants song "Last Wave" was written as a "Bad Lip Reading" style parody of the DMC Walk This Way music video. I wouldn't bring it up at all except Homestar Runner and They Might Be Giants are direct word associations in my head.
It is now 1:40 am, and I'm going for water and debating if I should post this when I finish it, in the morning or in November.
Homestar Runner Wiki update:
The transcript is unfinished and the costume page is not up. I don't know enough about wikis to even know how to offer to help.
Strong Mad: (Operation Guy) Operation
Costume Category: Toys, Advertising and Theme Parks - Toys and Board games
The classic board game that makes a loud noise at you, Operation is like that old wire loop carnival game except you are simulating a surgical procedure. This costume was clearly chosen for its similarity to Strong Mad's first Halloween costume, Slim Goodbody.
Strong Sad: (Guillermo)
Costume Category: TV - Comedy/Sitcom
The surprise contemporary costume this year, but one that fits Strong Sad pretty well. Guillermo de la Cruz is a character from the "What We Do in the Shadows", a TV series based on the film of the same name. I haven't watched this show yet (it's on my list but I need to watch the movie first) but my friend Kevin loves it and from my understanding Guillermo is a human guy the vampires just have around. He might be dating one of the vampires or something, I don't know. Regardless, the fact it's a vampire comedy makes it a perfect costume source for Free Country's resident goth.
The Cheat: Riff-Raff (Heathcliff)
Costume Category: TV- Animated/Anime
Riff-Raff is kinda a weird case because he is from the Heathcliff cartoon, but he's not really a Heathcliff character. He's the protagonist of the Catillac Cats, the B-segment series on Heathcliff's 1984 animated adaptation the two segments don't really Intersect outside of having a shared setting. Riff Raff didn't even interact with Heathcliff at all until a few cameos in the Heathcliff comic In the late 2010's. Heck, the Catillac Cat segments have even been repackaged as their own series, renamed Cats & Company, complete with an alternative theme song.
King of Town: (Quaker Oats) Quaker Oats
Costume Category: Toys, Advertising and Theme Parks- Food or Beverage
This one was long overdue. Like what can I even say it's the king of town as the Quaker Oats guy it's a perfect costume for him.
Poopsmith: (Rinzler) TRON: Legacy
Costume Category: Movies and Short films-
Rinzler is the evil Tron from TRON: Legacy. Legacy was a distant sequel to the original Tron that suffered from being a live action Disney film from 2010. I watched it when it came out and if I can remember the only thing I liked about the movie was its Daft Punk soundtrack. Like I remember the pacing just being awful. Anyway like a few others this year this is definitely a derivative costume on the fact the Poopsmith was Tron that first Halloween.
Homsar: (A Light in the Attic) Shel Silverstein
Costume Category: Books and Comics- Poetry
This one comes with a new sub-category, Poetry. Homsar is dressed as the cover of the poetry collection A Light in the Attic, by Shel Silverstein. Shel Silverstein's poems are known for being bizarre and whimsical yet kinda snarky. Homsar just fits in this costume well.
It's 2:50. Wiki still doesn't have a costume page and I can't blame whoever takes care of that for probably going to bed. I'm just not tired. I'll give you guys the updated numbers and then my favorite costume this year.
"Movies and Short films" has up to 52 costumes, maintaining its iron grip on the leaderboard. "TV" is up two costumes to 45, ending this year on a nice, divisible by 5, number. "Music" and "Video Games" each got a costume each. This brings Music to 35 costumes and Video Games to 34, their near tie inching forward. "Toys, Advertising and Theme Parks" had a lot of costumes this year so it's count is up to 25. "Books and Comics" only gained one costume, but it was in a new category, leaving the mediums with a solid 20 costumes. No new costumes in the "other" or "sports" category, leaving 16 other costumes and 9 sport comics.
And for my favorite costume this year: I have to say Homestar Runner as The Black Night. I'm not above enjoying a good Monty Python reference and I can't pretend I don't have The Holy Grail on DVD. It's just too obvious to both to do any year and to skip outright. It's a perfect costume for the guy on his 20th Halloween.Let's hope for twenty more, and I'm excited to see what else the Brothers Chaps have going on going forward. Aside from breaking into the CGI medium, I know they are working on a second board game, and they did tease a sequel to peasant's quest last Halloween, so who knows what the future holds for the Homestar. I just know I'll be happy to see him again whatever he gets up to next.
[Updated the next day after I woke up to fix 3am typos]
You really didn't sleep last night did you
The devil works fast but Homestar Runner wiki nerds work faster.