Fortnite seizes control of 2018 Halloween trends ... but keep an eye out for clowns, too!
You leap from the airbus, parachuting into the parking lot of your local department store or Halloween specialty store.
But you'd better rush through those doors if you want first crack at the top-notch Fornite costumes!
The online video game, released summer of 2017 by Epic Games, has exploded in popularity this year and, related, is generating a blast of interest this Halloween.
"A shipment came in [last] Friday, and most of it was gone that day," Jordon Reese, district sales manager with seasonal pop-up shop Spirit Halloween, said of recently delivered Fortnite costumes.
For those not in the know, Fornite is a first-person shooter game that starts when your character is dropped from an airbus into a field of play, and it's every character for itself in a battle royale.
"I'm gonna be Cuddle Team Leader if the costume comes in," Brittany Stover, assistant manager at Spirit, said excitedly in a statement that somehow totally makes sense to a significant portion of our younger population.
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Stover, of Mount Wolf, works at York's Spirit store in the Delco Plaza off Route 74 in West Manchester Township. Spirit and Spencer's Gifts have a partnership with Fortnite to sell official costumes and accessories.
Reese, of York, helps oversee the stores in York, Hanover and Chambersburg. There are also local Spirit stores in Camp Hill, Lancaster, Harrisburg, Mechanicsburg and Carlisle.
In addition to Fortnite, the Spirit folks said gear from the video game Overwatch (another first-person shooter) and the 1993 films Hocus Pocus (celebrating its 25th anniversary with exclusive costumes) and Nightmare Before Christmas (also celebrating 25 years) are expected to be hot sellers this Halloween. All are partnered with Spirit.
Steampunk outfits regularly sold out last year, just as Fortnite gear is this year, and endures as a fairly popular theme in 2018, Reese said..
For pre-teens, Harry Potter costumes remain hot, Stover said, while the younger crowd remains fond of superhero outfits even though the superhero theme has fizzled among teens and older crowds this year.
Bad news for those with coulrophobia
In York Township, Debbi Reck, as she has for 35-plus years, prepares for a more customized Halloween experience
Her locally owned and operated shop along Queen Street in the Arlington Plaza, Make Believin' Costumes, remains open year-round but really picks up steam as the Oct. 31 holiday approaches.
Reck, a Dallastown native, started making costumes in the early 1980s and, soon after, turned her talents into a business, which also services proms, parties, theater, weddings and a lot more throughout the year.
While the non-corporate shop might lack the partnerships and licensing rights you can find at department stores -- Barney & Friends lawyers came after Make Believin' more than a decade ago for having a purple dinosaur in its mix -- Reck and her 11-year-old Goldendoodle, K.C. (a store greeter), remain on top of the trends.
Clowns, she said, are always popular at Halloween. Reck even theorizes that the creepy clown sightings that infested the news two years ago were secret marketing efforts for the "It" horror film that came out in 2017.
In addition to clowns, she expects Roaring Twenties gear to be hot sellers, as well as renaissance costumes.
"Game of Thrones" stuff was hot last year, though she's not sure yet about the HBO fantasy drama's prospects in 2018.
And while she doesn't sell official gear from popular video games and anime, Reck helps finalize and customize outfits from those seeking to create from their own wardrobes or those found at local thrift stores.
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She agrees that superheros are trending downward this year, citing what she described as a "really depressing" recent movie from the Marvel universe. (No spoilers here!)
The exception, she said, is "Black Panther" for kids. The outfits she sells -- Make Believin' does sell some licensed gear -- have been blowing off the shelves, she said.
"When I started [this shop] in the mid-'80s, people weren't near as concerned about being elaborate and being authentic," she said. "These days it's developed into cosplay.
"And when all else fails? Zombies. Zombies are always cool!"