JCC Anyone else remember those old pastic mask and vinyl smock Halloween costumes of yore? (IMAGE HEAVY)

I remember when I was five, I wore pretty much this same Batman costume for Halloween:



and looking back on it, don't you think it's rather silly they just had to put Batman's name on his chest, and the Bat-symbol on his forehead, as if you couldn't tell he wasn't Batman?

But that's how silly these costume were, with pictures of the characters on the costumes themselves and the like. Here's what a kid going out trick-or-treating as Boba Fett in 1980 had to look forward to:



(is it just me, or did the artist who did the artwork on the costume use the old Kenner Boba Fett action figure as a reference?), as compared to today:



It's so unfair nowadays that kids get Halloween costumes that stay pretty identical to the source material, when we got plastic masks with rubber bands that hurt like heck and vinyl smocks that, if you were lucky, didn't get ripped at the end of the night from all the trick-or-treating.

Another reason to look at these costumes with a WTF? attitude: the ones made of unlikely characters, like the leather guy from The Village People:



or abstract concepts, like the Atari video game Asteroids:



So, what memories do you have of these type of Halloween costumes, and do you want me to post links to photo galleries of them?

 

I remember sweating profusely inside them and almost vomiting from sickness.

 

i have fond memories of my johnny space commander mask.

 

Cheap plastic fumes will do that to a kid.

 

Oh so thats why I still enjoyed it.

I had a Road Runner Foghorn Leghorn, Tweetie Bird Stormtrooper and skeleton.

 

I remember in the first grade (which was in '83), I had this G.I. Joe costume:



(Yes, back when the 1980s G.I. Joe revamp had all the Joes wearing green, before they loosened their dress code.)

 

"Clone Power!" *throws up fist*

 

Grunt! Marvel's GI Joe rocked my kid world. Coolest action figures too.

 

First one I can remember was a skeleton costume that was a hand-me-down from my older brothers, so you can imagine what kind of condition it was in when I wore it. Next year I went out as Scooby-Doo, then moved to costumes where I didn't wear a mask, and that probably scared people even more.

So what did everyone haultheir candy around in? Paper/plastic bag, plastic jack o'lantern, or one of Mom's pillowcases?

 

Yes I had a Baby Bop one. I assure you it was an enormously terrifying sight.

 

My candy was always in a plastic jack o' lantern, thanks!

 

I remember thinking those costumes looked cheap and silly even when was a little kid. No, I wanted realistic-looking Boba Fett armor. I had no concept of how expensive that would be and how it wouldn't be worth doing for a dumb holiday.

 

Home made costumes FTW.

 

One year in college I bought the largest Skeletor costume they had. Cut it at the waste and was actually able to wear the top. Couldn't stand to wear the mask for more than a few minutes at a time.

 

I remember it would be in a plastic bag that we would get free somewhere, that my parents got from work or something like that.

 

1979 Halloween costume courtesy of your friendly neighborhood Spiderman.

I probably had Spiderman underoos on as well. Still do.