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I’ve always viewed costumes as an opportunity to let my creativity (and geekdom) show through, so I thought it would be fun if I did a Halloween special of Chapel trying on different costumes! Most of them are inspired/directly taken from costumes I’ve actually worn in the past. First off, the Elizabeth Bennet costume (yes, it’s spelled Bennet, not Bennett – I was surprised too!) is inspired by the many versions of Pride and Prejudice I’ve watched on the BBC and the Dickens Faire I attend in San Francisco every year with my best friend. I actually never dress up in a costume like Chapel’s at the Faire. I always dress up like a street urchin.

The TARDIS costume is a costume that I constructed, painted, and wore two years ago for Halloween and still own. For the uninitiated, the TARDIS (“Time and Relative Dimension in Space”) is the spaceship from my favorite TV show of all time, Doctor Who. I even painted Bad Wolf on the side of my costume, which is an inside reference to Season 9. When I wore the costume, almost every single person thought that it was just a mailbox. A MAILBOX, I tell you. The only person who could identify it correctly was a guy wearing a Star Trek t-shirt.

The last costume is one taken from the anime Cardcaptor Sakura, which I watched when I was 8 or so and am now re-watching with my parents. I’ve actually never dressed up as Cardcaptor Sakura, but I have cosplayed as several other anime characters in the past: Chiyo-chan from “Azumanga Daioh,” Sen from “Spirited Away,” and Kiki from “Kiki’s Delivery Service.” The main character, Sakura Kinomoto, always wears these exaggerated, overly frilly outfits during her magical adventures of catching cards. Chapel’s outfit here is, I KID YOU NOT, the least ridiculous of many of Sakura’s costumes. Chapel’s mom has to dress up as Sakura’s best friend, Tomoyo-chan, who makes all of Sakura’s costumes. I wonder what blackmail fodder I’d need to get my mom dressed up like this… And Rupert is dressed up as Kero-chan (short for Cerberus) Sakura’s video-game-and-desserts-addicted animal sidekick.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed Chapel’s bit of costume-related fun. What are you guys dressing up as this year? Let me know in the comments! Happy Halloween!

Ahh... the Bad Wolf returns... mwahahaha 8/9/12 reply Is it just me, or is the text in the TARDIS panel messed up? Great idea though.Have to say I'ce seen a few girls (no boys) dress up as the Tardis in the last 12 months - some with headpiece mimicing the light. 8/19/12 reply   I love those! Chapel always seems so real when I read your comics! 6/18/12 reply   Love the Elizabeth Bennet costume. I have never dressed up as her, but I have been to the Dickens Fair a time or two. I wish I had such good costume ideas - usually I just settle with a generic gothy dress and just call it something slightly different from last year. 1/16/12 reply   I wanted to be a either a TARDIS or a Dalek for Halloween one year. My mom and I made my costume together. No one, sadly, knew what I was, so eventually I stopped saying, "Dalek" and just went to "Alien Robot." Sigh. But that was about two or three years ago, I found much more fans here nowadays. Lessa 12/6/11 reply   Wait, what? Is your mom really willing to Cos-play with you? if that is so, you have an awesome mom! even with her poor taste in music. 11/8/11 reply As I said before, this is all fictional! I doubt my mom would ever cosplay with me (and if she did, as I said in the author's comments, I would need to blackmail her). 11/8/11 reply Actually, I would cosplay Tomoyo-chan because I'd only need add a hairband & black wig, a lovely coat, and a videocamera. Marie 11/9/11 reply I guess that would work, Mama! (By the way, meet my mom, everybody! She rocks.) 11/9/11 reply Sounds like you want a reason to go shopping. LOL maldar 12/8/11 reply well, women and girls like shopping. 12/24/11 reply   TARDIS!!!!!!!!!! :O (+) Bow ties are cool. That was the whole reason I clicked on the link, but I think I shall stay and check it out. (Also, CLAMP and Elizabeth Bennet ftw.) 11/4/11 reply Fezzes are cool! (In fact I own a vintage one and I bought it maybe 2 weeks before the Doctor wore one and that just makes mine more awesome.) Glad to see another CLAMP and Jane Austen fan reading my work, too! Just wondering, but which link did you click to get here? 11/4/11 reply Hmmm.... It was from another webcomic... Haha. I honestly can't remember which and my history doesn't help because I do remembering opening this link in another tab and then reading through other archives before coming upon this one... (P.S. Internet high-five for the Fez!) Emilie 11/4/11 reply Oh, maybe it was Gunnerkrigg Court. That's one of my absolute favorites so we put an ad there with the Tardis. Webcomics are probably my #1 source of procrasination...it's so easy to get *lost in archives* 11/4/11 reply That was probably it, yes. (looks back and attempts to avoid getting distracted again) Yup. That was it! You know, that was the first webcomic I ever read. A friend of mine showed it to me along with Sam and Fuzzy, Girl Genius, and Dominic Deegan. Now I have a whole folder of links to webcomics. (Yours was added immediately upon reading this comic) Emilie 11/4/11 reply Yay! My whole bookmark bar is webcomics, so it's great to know I've been added to someone else's. 11/4/11 reply I used to do that... then I realized that I simply just had too many! The folder is much easier, especially with the addition of sub-folders named "To Read" and "Behind on Updates". Keeps me snazzy and organized. Emilie 11/4/11 reply Ooh, maybe I'll try that! Probably a better system than mine...Oh, and if you want to, you can email me: etc[at]chapelchronicles[dot]com. 11/4/11 reply I found you through Gunnerkrigg Court as well, one of my favorites, and who can resist a Tardis?! Love the Bad Wolf reference, 10th and Rose are the best combo. You are incredibly talented and accomplished for being so young! I am officially a fan and bookmarking your comic! The fact that you are a Jane Austen, DW, and anime geek like me just makes you all the easier to love! Keep going! MsCptMal 12/19/11 reply My daughter dressed as the TARDIS this year. She was recognized, across the street in dim light, by a group of Wizard of Oz cosplayers. Easy costume, cool concept. Loved it. Judebert 11/21/11 reply   ummmmm............. I know what you said about least ridiculous but that is SERIOUSLY frilly!!!! oh and sorry about people thinking it is a mailbox. it dosent look like a mailbox to me!!! 11/4/11 reply I know, right? Google "Cardcaptor Sakura" and take a look at some of the other costumes -- they take frilliness to a WHOLE NEW LEVEL. And the whole mailbox thing is just pathetically hilarious at this point! 11/4/11 reply okay I did that and.................CREEPY 11/4/11 reply I knowwww. It's hilariously ridiculous. 11/4/11 reply   ummmmm............. I know what you said about least ridiculous but that is SERIOUSLY frilly!!!! 11/4/11 reply   I'm sorry people thought you were a mail box... but I think the tardis idea is awesome! 10/29/11 reply That's high praise from River Song herself! I wanted to bring my Tardis costume with me to the Doctor Who convention I attended the same year, but it was too big to fly with! 10/29/11 reply We are all full of spoilers aren't we sweeties? <3 the TARDIS, btw. I'm only in high school but I still recognize it. How could anyone not once they've seen it even once?! I even have it has my text tone! 11/4/11 reply YOU TOO? What a weird coincidence! I have the Tardis noise as my text tone and the Dr.Who theme as my ringtone! 11/4/11 reply Another high-five! :D However, my current ringtone switches off between the Green Lantern Corps oath and the theme song from xxxHolic. CLAMP once more! Emilie 11/4/11 reply Ooh the xxxHolic theme is SERIOUSLY amazing. I play that on repeat when I'm doing my homework. I wasn't too crazy about the xxxHolic or Tsubasa anime adaptations (didn't hold up to the manga) but I adore that song. 11/4/11 reply Yeah, animes never seems to properly follow mangas, but it's still fun to watch! Though... it's insanely easy to run low on money when you get manga. At least places like Hulu—legally—have anime. Emilie 11/4/11 reply Azumanga Daioh is the anime I've seen that stays closest to the manga--it's almost word-for-word at times. And for manga hoarding you gotta go the eBay route. I got my collection of all 58 "One Piece" volumes in a set for maybe 2-3 bucks each (retail price is 10 each). 11/4/11 reply   Wow! The dresses here are really nicely drawn. I think you've stepped up your drawing a notch. Barry 10/28/11 reply Thanks so much, Barry! I like drawing dresses so this was a really fun one. I sometimes get tired of Chapel's plain black dress, so I thought I'd mix things up! 10/28/11 reply   Have you seen any old Who? If kids at Halloween don't recognise the TARDIS, their parents might! =D 10/28/11 reply I haven't seen any old Who, but I'm planning on it! Sadly, no parents recognized it either -- in fact, THEY were the ones calling it a post office box! 10/28/11 reply   I loved that anime. =) 10/28/11 reply Me too! I used to watch it all the time, along with Azumanga Daioh and all the Miyazaki movies. And Sakura holds up to the test of time, too -- I still like it a lot! 10/28/11 reply i <3 chapel!!!!!!!!!!!!! you're SOOOO good at writing, emma...i bet u could win the newberry when you grow up--or at least get an honor or something. 11/13/11 reply Oh wow, thank you!!!! I've always wanted to win the Newberry, but hey. 11/14/11 reply me 2!!! i write stories 4 my family--my longest (probably short 2 u) is 27 pgs. 11/14/11 reply That's not that short! And besides, whatever length fits the story is the best length. One time I set out to write another book-length story, but the story I had in mind ended up fitting better in around 30 pages. 11/14/11 reply thanks, emma. you can make anybody feel really good. (even miss stupid!) 11/14/11 reply You shouldn't call yourself miss stupid, I'm sure you're not! And I'm glad that made you feel better -- you should never feel badly for how long a story is! 11/14/11 reply i call myself miss stupid because i FEEL like it. hehe 11/15/11 reply Fineeeee. 11/15/11 reply it's fine...i can add a smiley face after my name. 11/15/11 reply Anime?! Anime?! heretic. you too Emma. If it's manga first, you read the manga! 11/3/11 reply I DID read the manga first, in fact I always do. But I referenced the anime here because while that's Sakura's most iconic costume, it's also an anime-only costume. 11/3/11 reply I loved Cardcapter Sakura when I small but now I'm grownup I prefer Chobits. Stikibunn 11/9/11 reply Ch...Chobits?! Really? Okayyyyy, well, I actually have a strip about Chobits that's scheduled for two weeks from now. So keep an eye out! 11/9/11 reply