Tamana Tetris or That Other Halloween Entry

On the night of October 30th, there was a Halloween party in “nearby” Tamana (玉名), a mere two and a half hour drive away.  My friend Emily was once again the source of most of the awesome that is contained in this entry, as it was her idea to do a group tetris costume.

Not going to lie, making these things was a pain.  We couldn’t find square boxes, so had to fold out a single flap on each box to get it closer.  This led to a lot of headaches with cutting, tapping, and manipulating the boxes into the shapes they needed to be.  After that came the painting, which was honestly not so terrible except that we totally ruined Emily’s tatami in the process.  Speaking from experience, that stuff is really hard to get out.

We were working right up to the deadline, applying the black tape along all the edges to make the shapes really pop.  But was it all worth it in the end?

This first place trophy says "yes" and the bowl of Halloween candy concurs.

In my honest opinion, this is probably one of the best costume concepts ever, for at least 5 reasons:

1. Instant Recognition

Everyone at the party, be they American, Japanese, British, or Greek God slayer, knew what tetris is.  It’s a classic game pretty much everywhere and has had enough revamps over the years to keep it from becoming totally stale.

2. Great Presence

These things were huge, which while an annoyance to transport…

Did not think that through...

meant that once we actually got to the party, we stood out pretty well.

3. Part of a Set

I like the idea of a group costume, especially if that group represents something more than just four random people or friends.  It was great to be representing Amakusa together, though our mere four participants certainly don’t represent ALL the Amakusa ALTs (although, how cool would that have been?).

4. Sharable

Sharing is caring, and as much love as the costumes got on their own, people had an even better time being a part of the tetris experience.  We had a lot of people come up to us and ask if they could wear it for a while, which we gladly agreed to.  Not every costume is as versatile.  Even better, thanks to group mentality, the costumes tended to congregate in one place, so we never lost track of them.

5. Just Nerdy Enough

With its wide appeal, the tetris costume says “Yeah, I play video games” without saying “I own two Wiis to satiate my addiction”.  It’s nerdy, but not overly so, saving you from the embarrassment of having to explain that you’re the Doppler effect.

It was a great Halloween following up a great week.  Shame it was in the middle of some of the busiest times I’ve had here or I could have really let all that sink in.  Again, I hope your Halloween was great and will try and still get a “Photo Friday” entry up for today.