History Main / ForHalloweenIAmGoingAsMyself

-->"[[http://www.s-anand.net/calvinandhobbes.html#19861029 Maybe I'll just go as myself!]]"

*** Played straight in Season 4. Willow dresses as Joan of Arc while boyfriend Oz dresses in his civvies. When asked, Willow says "I'm Joan of Arc because I'm small, powerful, and have a close, personal relationship with God." Oz peels back his jacket to reveal a nametag reading "Hello, I am '''GOD'''."

* {{Dexter}} likes Halloween because it's the one night when he's not the only one pretending to be something he's not.

For the paranormal, their mere appearance in a blissfully unaware society can cause chaos and panic. Thus, they constantly have to [[TheMasquarade hide their nature]] from [[Muggle those not-in-the-know.]]Except for one glorious day... Halloween. On this singular day they could walk out and be among people who look like zombies, ghosts, goblins, sorcerers and demons. And all that they'll receive are glowing compliments on the workmanship of their "costume". Or [[YourCostumeNeedsWork the opposite]].

For the paranormal, their mere appearance in a blissfully unaware society can cause chaos and panic. Except for one glorious day... Halloween. On this singular day they could walk out and be among people who look like zombies, ghosts, goblins, sorcerers and demons. And all that they'll receive are glowing compliments on the workmanship of their "costume". Or [[YourCostumeNeedsWork the opposite]].

* In ''VampireTheMasqueradeBloodlines,'' a few NPCs mistake [[LooksLikeOrlok Nosferatu]] players for a body-modification buff... and one of them compliments you on the work done on [[PointyEars your ears.]]
** Of course, a few NPCs also assume that the Nosferatu PC's just wearing a mask: in a particularly amusing case, Venus politely informs the PC that there are no mosh pits in ''her'' establishment and redirects you to a DeathMetal show in a different club.

* A [[SubvertedTrope subversion]] happens in an issue of the ''Gargoyles'' [[SpinOff follow-up comic book]] where the Gargs celebrate their SECOND Halloween(See their first Halloween example in 'Live Action TV' below) by going in costumes based on [[ShoutOut 'The Wizard Of Oz']].

** TheSpirit Holiday Special had a similar story, where-in a group of five criminals perform a late-night robbery disguised as the Spirit, and go unnoticed because it's Halloween. The Spirit manages to infiltrate and take down the group because none of them noticed a sixth man in the same costume.
* In an issue of ''Harley Quinn'', Harley shows up to one of Bruce Wayne's masquerade balls in her own costume. She even introduces herself as Harley Quinn. He is actually suspicious - but then, he is Batman.

* Batgirl's origins invoke this trope somewhat, as Barbara Gordon created the Batgirl costume for a Halloween party, and didn't tell anyone about it, so that when she went to the party no one knew it was her, however when a group of criminals crash the party she defeats them as Batgirl and has used the costume since.
* An issue of ''Impulse'' has him going to a school Halloween party in his costume. He is, of course, not the only Impulse there.

* An arc of ''Legends of the Dark Knight'' entitled ''Idols'' features a craze among Gothamites for dressing as Batman. Bruce Wayne attends a party wearing a bat pendant, then has to steal someone else's bat mask in order to save the day as Batman when there's a riot.

* In Chapter 30 of the MahouSenseiNegima short-story collection [[FanFic/ADayIndoors A Day Indoors]], Kotaro rises to the challenge of playing the Big Bad Wolf in Little Red Riding Hood by transforming into his {{Wolfman}} form.

* Agent Myers covers for Film/{{Hellboy}} and Sammael this way in {{The Movie}}. "Great costumes, huh?"

* In the new {{TMNT}} movie, Michelangelo passes himself off as a ninja turtle impersonator by donning a large fake looking turtle head, and sticking a fake zipper onto his chest. No one seems to take notice.

* In ''Idle Hands'' two undead teens turn up to the school dance- one of them with the murder weapon still embedded in his skull. When asked who made their costumes, they give the name of their killer.

* In flashback, the protagonist of the ''Anonymous Rex'' TV movie recalls trying this as a kid, only to be dragged home by his father because his "amazingly realistic ''Velociraptor'' costume" drew too much attention.

* In the first book of the MalazanBookOfTheFallen, Anomander Rake has a remarkably realistic dragon mask. Did we mention he can turn into one?

* Although he does wear a costume, in ThePhantomOfTheOpera it is implied that Erik is not wearing a mask when he attends the masquerade as Red Death.

* Spider Robinson's CallahansCrosstimeSaloon story "Unnatural Causes". An alien Krundai comes to Callahan's bar on Halloween night as himself (green, furry and pointed, over-sized ears).
* Used hilariously illogically in TheNeverendingStory 3. Somehow, it's the first day of school, Chinese New Year, and Halloween all at the same time. The only reason why any of this happens is because the latter two events allow the fantastic characters to be out in the open.

* {{ALF}} did this one, too, with a zipper attached to his fur. It still left guests wondering about his height, though.

* Similarly, in a Halloween episode of ''Supernatural'', the demon Samhain is able to walk around amongst all of the trick-or-treaters with no one taking notice of the injury he's sustained to his stomach, or all the blood that's seeping from it.

* Played straight and subverted in an episode of {{Friends}}. Rachel and Joey both seemingly have forgone costumes. Rachel says that she is a pregnant woman who wants to wear her new dress because soon it won't fit anymore. The subversion is when Joey reveals that he actually ''is'' wearing a costume: he's dressed as Chandler.
* On the American version of TheOffice, Jim does this every Halloween.

* Invoked in ''Misfile'' with Vashiel's brilliant idea to go as an angel. [[http://www.misfile.com/?page=1424 It's immediately shot down.]]
* As seen on their cast page, the creators of CaseyAndAndy once went to a Halloween party dressed as their webcomic selves.

* The {{Gargoyles}} loved Halloween for just this reason. The younger gargoyles, getting into the spirit of the holiday, wore actual costumes (such as a pirate outfit) and were complimented on wearing "a costume over a costume". Goliath, meanwhile, went out as himself with Elisa (who went as [[Film/BeautyAndTheBeast Belle]], both as a ShoutOut, and because their relationship is also BeastAndBeauty), and apparently the fact that he's about nine feet tall passed unremarked upon as part of his "costume".

* In ''Tutenstein'' episode "Day of the Undead," Tut walks among mortals on Halloween, impressing trick-or-treaters with how much his costume looks and smells like a long dead mummy.

** In ''Eric'', Astfgl the King of Hell dresses in royal diabolic regalia of his own design ... which is, basically, a kid's cheap Halloween devil-costume, complete with silly strap-on hornlets and a trident that keeps falling apart.

** In Monstrous Regiment, the heroes need to sneak into a heavily-fortified... um, [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment fortress]]. Since the squad is comprised of [[spoiler: Girls pretending to be boys]], they take of obvious route of masquerading as ''Washerwomen''. They get caught out by the guards because they are ''obviously'' [[spoiler: Boys dressed as women]].

* In ''{{WordGirl}}'', one of Becky Botsford friends, Todd "Scoops" Ming, realizes that she may be the titular superhero, citing several reasons including "You dress up as [=WordGirl=] every Halloween!" When the Narrator reacts, Becky responds "Well, I already had the costume...." In addition, a support character, Violet, dresses as the titular character in the Halloween-themed episode ''Tobey's Tricks and Treats'', and is mistaken as the superheroine by Tobey himself.

* In the ''{{X-MenEvolution}}'' episode "Cajun Charm," the X-Men find themselves in the middle of [[CityOfWeirdos Mardi Gras in New Orleans]], while looking for Rogue, who's been kidnapped. A random person comes up to Kurt, who's in his X-Men uniform and not wearing his image inducer, and tells him that his ''costume'' is great. Kurt's response? "Thanks! They are one of a kind."

* The ''{{Sanctuary}}'' episode makes mention of this. Henry is absent and is said to be at Comic-Con. It's also revealed he took the Big Guy with him because it's the only place he can fit in.

* In the modern times, the titular {{Inuyasha}} went to Kagome's SchoolFestival wearing a hat to hide his [[UnusualEars dog-demon ears]]. When the hat was knocked off in front of Kagome's friend, she paid no attention, assuming he was simply cosplaying as there were dozens of background charcters dressed in cosplay-esque outfits.

** [[FridgeLogic Cosplaying]] [[CelebrityParadox as what?]]

* In ''TheAddamsFamily'' movie, Wednesday declares that she is going dressed in her normal clothes as "a homicidal maniac" stating "they look just like everyone else."

** [[FridgeLogic Cosplaying]] [[CelebretyParadox as what?]]

* In ''VampireTheMasqueradeBloodlines,'' a few NPCs mistake [[LooksLikeOrlok Nosferatu]] players for a body-modification buff... and one of them compliments you on the work done on [[PointyEars his ears.]]

* This trope was played memorably in {{''ET''}}.

* This strope was done memorably in ''ET''.

* ''[[ETTheExtraTerrestrial E.T.]]'' - not quite straight - His shape is too inhuman, so actually he goes under a cheap ghost sheet, not as himself.

* Inverted in 1992's ''BatmanReturns'', in which Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle come to Schreck's costume ball, as themselves (no costume). Despite this they accidently revealed their secret identities to each other.

Compare AllPartOfTheShow, YourCostumeNeedsWork, BruceWayneHeldHostage, IAmSpartacus, MistakenForAnImposter, and CityOfWeirdos.