Ahh, that breeze is in the air. Autumn; Images and dormant feelings of the season at hand are in our hearts and minds. Words that we tend to forget throughout the year spring to mind: Harvest moon, Hunters moon, Fall, Pumpkins and, for me; Halloween.

More images flood my mind; Blood, Black Cats, Zombies, Evil Jack-O-Lanterns daring you to come a little closer...Perhaps the shriek of some tortured soul in the night? I love Halloween! I've always made a big deal out of the holiday, because it's that one time of the year that everyone can let loose and be someone else without being admitted for mental instability. A worldwide Cosplay. It is also one of the fastest growing holidays in the world today.

While I was in Israel, there where all kinds of monsters walking around on the 31st and while in South Africa, I saw people making a huge Jack-O-Lantern and dressing as zombies; the indigenous tribal descendants really take that scary mojo to heart and have many "customs they use to free themselves of ghosts and other paranormal entities. While in Japan, there were all kinds of creatures walking the streets and scary images carved into pumpkins on many door steps. In Germany, the raves were monster themed, and Oktoberfest was littered with semi-drunk ghouls. We all wanna be kids sometimes. I have a love of latex and fake blood; I make my own fiends and dismembered bodies to scatter throughout my yard ever year, without fail. If you ever see a commercial in the states, for Spirit Halloween stores, and you see a table with a dismembered body being served up on plates, that's mine. Plus plenty of other monsters and technically advanced graveyards. I've made it a life-goal to manipulate dry ice with a cooler so that it creeps along the yard and I have actually put my college robotics classes to use with walking trees and stumbling creepers of all sorts.

In my years raising children, we have over the last nine or so, opted for Anime costumes. Last year I was Mouse, from the short anime series by the same name. No one knew who I was, probably because it wasn't a huge market success; but I loved it. A master thief with three assistants/sex slaves...who wouldn't want to be that guy?

My kids were, for years either Pokémon or InuYasha characters and later, Kiddy Grade agents. Now in days we've evolved I suppose; my kids are into MANY more series' and mangas. My kids this year will be characters from D.Gray-man; and while I'm not fully up to speed on the series, my oldest daughter has given me an order and a box set to sit and watch.

So, as enlightened, anime aficionados and purveyors of the fine art associated with it, what do you do for this fine time of year?

I play video games on halloween. Heck where I live only the little children who dress up to something "scary" and go and knock the neighbours to do trick or treat. Don't know how it's rest of the Sweden but I see it that we don't care about halloween. If it where a red day it would be bigger I guess.

Not a damn thing, really. 8 years in the Navy, so no dealing with Halloween really. I was overseas in JPN most of my enlistment. Though I noticed that the neighborhoods around US military bases take part in the practice.

I'm also single and never went trick or treatig when I was younger. Halloween is sorta just another day to me. The only reason I remember it is because of all the color schemes and the merchandising/advertising that appears for it. Hell, I saw a place stocking up and display Halloween stuff at the end of LAST month over here. My thoughts: "WTF?! It's not even Fall yet!"

The 31th of October right.. That's when my exams start, so I'll be studying like there's no tomorrow.

Arrg! Three replies and no people having fun? Get with it people, I'm 46 years old and did 20 years in the Navy but I never outgrew Halloween. I always dress up and scare kids! Pumpkin carving is fun, and so is playing creepy monster sounds loudly out your window to dare people to come closer. And the colors; Orange and Black...love'em!

Do it for the Masochist inside you; he needs a little exercise too!

Well can't be helped. As Stahn said it's another normal day for me. With the little freetime I have left I'm spending it mostly on gaming, anime and friends.

FoliFF said:
Well can't be helped. As Stahn said it's another normal day for me. With the little freetime I have left I'm spending it mostly on gaming, anime and friends.

Perhaps you can just (think about) scaring people while playing video games and hanging out? That would qualify.

My problem is I never got into it to begin with, even as a child. So I can't "get with it" if I never had a interest in it to begin with ^_^;

I like your spirit Animeticklesmytoes! I love Halloween! For the very reasons you listed! And a few, more sadistic ones, but none the less! I'm not sure what I'm gonna be this year...I got some tubes of authentic fake blood and shredded clothes...

Animeticklesmytoes said:
Do it for the Masochist inside you; he needs a little exercise too!

Wait... Masochist or sadist? Masochists like taking some form of pain while sadists like inflicting it.

StahnAileron said:
Wait... Masochist or sadist? Masochists like taking some form of pain while sadists like inflicting it.

You're right! I got that backward. I like inflicting pain much more than receiving it.

Black Rock Shooter: Good for you! I get all giddy this time of year!

Halloween isn't celebrated so vigerously and openly in the Netherlands. I can't even remember if we ever had any kids asking for trick or treats. Nope.

I haven't done anything for Halloween in years. When my family used to give out candy, I'd hide out in the yard (usually dressed as the grim reaper or something else black) and frighten the passing children. Made me fell all ninja-like...

Now I just use Halloween as an excuse to watch a shit load of horror movies. Even more so than usual...which is a lot.

The "magic" of the holiday has disappeared from my life. I was always excited to dress up as a monster and get candy. It used to be my favorite holiday, until I just lost that "magic." Growing up took that feeling away from me.

Devilman said:
The "magic" of the holiday has disappeared from my life. I was always excited to dress up as a monster and get candy. It used to be my favorite holiday, until I just lost that "magic." Growing up took that feeling away from me.

I agree. Some days I think we all wish we were kidnapped by demons on Halloween just to get the feeling back. Although I'm sure demon Kisumi would do that for free if you called her.

Agos said:
*snip* Although I'm sure demon Kisumi would do that for free if you called her.

That would be interesting.
I used to always find a neighborhood that would be Trick or Treating in my town the day before and watch the parade on Halloween. No trick or treating around where I live though. Last year I went to a party with relatives where there was no kids there my age (about 10 years difference both ways) with my ninja uniform (with my cheap set of dual black swords(yes, real)) and baby sited all the kids (about 15) though the whole area, getting paid in the candy from the houses (and it was a rich neighborhood, so they had good stuff at almost every house) I think I am going to be doing something similar this year.

Actually, thinking about it, part of the reason I never grew into Halloween (at least in my later life taht I can remember), I never had much of a thing for candy. As I grew up, I slowly lowered by sugar intake via candies, especially the near-pure sugar ones. I mean, I still eat sweets and stuff. Just not very often in candy form. I prefer less sugary ones. I'm a sucker for Pocky ^_~

Also, I just remembered. I'm from an Asian family and the neighborhood we lived in was mainly Asian, African-American, and Hispanic. Halloween wasn't a typical asian-type event/holiday, so we didn't do much to begin with. So there's a cultural barrier to consider as well in some cases.

I have Way~ too much sugar. I love my sweets and everything sugary. I put way too much in my coffee. I drink too much soda (so much that my dad put a vending machine in at his house). And, whenever I can, I steal sugar packets from restaurants and put them in one of my jackets many pockets (half of which a filled with snakes/candy) and just chug them every so often throughout the day. And I am as skinny as can be, healthy, and my teeth aren't too bad.

Yeah, now I'm gonna dress up and hide, waiting for some little kids to come up to our door, wait for them to get candy, then jump out and scare the shit out of them. Mean? Yes. Funny? I think so.
I'm too old to actually go around, but I can still get the "trick" part in from now on ^_^

If your lucky you can scare them enough to leave the candy behind for you. Just avoid those tootsie rolls you scared out of them.

I really stopped trick-or-treating when I was 12 or so. We lived in a trailer court and pretty poor, so I would have to trek to other neighborhoods to do it. I tended to grow up pretty fast due to having to get a job at 13 to help pay the bills at home; but after getting the shit scared out of me by evil home owners and such, a demonic seed grew within me, and I vowed to take my revenge on the trick-or-treating world.

As I grew older and joined the military I had the chance to see world-wide strife, and world-wide enjoyment of people's native customs; and having my own children later, I vowed to make their childhood last as long as possible, due to a world filled with shit waiting for them. So, I suppose I embraced the evil soul-sucking part of me that wanted to scare people and the father side wanting to create a childhood filled with good memories for my kids, hence our role-play and graveyard making efforts every year. I grew to love the holiday more every year after that. And I almost never miss the Halloween Haunt at knotts Berry Farm every year!

I grew up in the Bronx, NY. Not exactly the area I would ever want to bother with. (Especially in the 80's and 90's.) Even to this day, I dislike having to go anywhere near my old neighborhood. I had to this past summer, but given the choice, I'd never go back.

Also, in all the time I live there as a kid (before I up and left for the Navy), NYC in general isn't a very Halloween-y place unless you lived in the more suburban areas of the city (like outer Queens, Staten Island, outer Brooklyn, or the uppermiddle-class areas of the Bronx.) I kinda lived in that gray zone between the South Bronx and the better areas. Mostly lowermiddle-class.

I actually went to HS in Manhattan (Stuyvesant HS). For the first couple of years during my home commute, I made it a damn point to get home before dark. (I had a 10-15 minute walk from the subway station to my home.) I was kinda conservative as child. Sorta always took the safer path/choice for things.

Probably part of the reason I never got into Halloween. Not that it was scary, but the activities seem kinda risky to me. There were also all the damn scare stories/report about people giving laced candy and stuff. So I just avoided the whole problem/issue by never doing anything. Plus my family was living on welfare, so not like I could dress up as much even if I really wanted to. (I was more of a Lego person anyway, not so much for dress-up of any type.)

Yeah, I'm kinda boring... ^_^;

I buy lots of cheap Halloween candy for my self, plenty of pepsi n root beer, & then proceed to whip out my pumpkin shaped bong n smoke a couple bowls while watching anime or playing DOD:S. No joke that's generally what I do unless im broke in which case its just the anime or DOD:S :P

Also to any others who may enjoy the wonders of weed beware watching freaky and or confusing anime like elfen lied or ergo proxy ... it's usually a total mind fuck 0.0 You may also experience some pretty messed up nightmares >_<

I made that mistake with higurashi last year and well yea it didn't end well ...

JJK said:
If your lucky you can scare them enough to leave the candy behind for you. Just avoid those tootsie rolls you scared out of them.

Buwahahaha! Oh that's nasteh XD

When someone tried that on me many years ago they went back to their house soaked. My costume had required a gun so I took a loaded water gun.

StahnAileron said:
I grew up in the Bronx, NY. Not exactly the area I would ever want to bother with.

Agreed! It's easy to see why you never got into it now. I hate the Bronx and Brooklyn, I make it a point to stay away from anywhere that's not in the middle of the tourist traps, and then, you can still get mugged. If you're not Italian, it's best to stay away from the docks too. I never go to NYC without my .45 on me. I had to pull it on a mugger near Times Square in 89 while there to visit someone, had I had my kids at the time I would have just killed him instead of giving him the chance to give me his knife and leave. It's scary enough in New York without Halloween. In all the cities I've been to, New York has the most assholes.

The only other time I had to shoot a guy (in the US) was when he and a group of guys tried to carjack us in New Orleans, and my baby son was in the back seat. I was stationed there to give training to CONAVRESFOR and cross-train the NOLA police for tactical home entries and such for six months and my wife wanted to rent an apartment while I was there so she could enjoy the city. I carried my MP5N back and forth to work in the car and my wife had just picked me up. Two cars blocked us in at a red light and the guys started rushing our car and had no time to communicate with them as they rushed and grabbed my wife through the window. I dropped about a fifth of a mag in him because my wife kept screaming and moving around and I couldn't get a clean shot off right away; needless to say, my wife never wanted to go back. Anyway, I'm rambling, but yeah, I hate bad guys in bad neighborhoods, so I see your point Stahn.

Why do those stuff on Halloween except cosplaying something scary but scaring people and candy etc. I do that on a daily basis <.<

where i live, there are 4 neighborhoods intertwined together, so there's a lot of kids here. also, got a couple of neighborhoods 'bout a mile down the street(s) from us (yes, we're sorta surrounded by houses here) so they all pile on some trucks and come over to our neighborhood, only adding to the sea of candy-grabbers. i would trick-or-treat, but i decided that last year would be my final run. i'll probably still walk around with a bag of candy and give some out to a random princess or sumthin', but i'm not going for any. most likely, i'll just stop at one of the houses barbecuing behind us. that never fails to happen: there's always some house that cooks, sets up a projector, and has some sport channel or horror film. and a house right down from them usually gives out juice boxes or soda's to compliment the burgers/dogs. i think one year, someone did chicken too. yeah, Halloween is a super party 'round here.

Animeticklesmytoes said:
Wall O text.

Wow fuck.

Yeah, NYC in the 80's and 90's wasn't really that nice... I was an indoor kid partially thanks to that. Might explain my lack of Halloween-ness.

The only thing I recall ever doing for Halloween back then were the class parties and activities in elementary school. (I hate candy corn, BTW.) I don't recall much of anything regarding Halloween once I hit middle school (5th grade) and up.

I love candy corn, but my favorite are those little candy pumpkins that often come with candy corn. Anything carmel-apple flavored is great!