Google has released its annual list of the most popular Halloween costumes, based on search records. Like in previous years, the list is split among several categories: overall, kid, pet, duo, and horror. Like in previous years, the list is reflective of current trends in popular culture. Also typical of Google nowadays, the Halloween imagery on their list’s site is generated with AI, sparing the massive multi-trillion-dollar Silicon Valley conglomerate (market cap $4.12 trillion as of this writing) from paying actual artists.
Below, I look at the top cartoon-related entries for each category (horror didn’t have any). I define “cartoon” as basically anything not live-action: comics, Western animation, anime, manga, and video games.
Top 10 overall
- Lily Lovebraids (“Poppy Playtime”)
- Verity (“Minecraft”)
- “Disco Scooby-Doo”
- Thragg (“Invincible”)
- Bowser Jr. (“Super Mario Bros.”)
- Princess Rosalina (“Super Mario Bros.”)
- Green Lantern (DC Comics)
- Skeletor (“Masters of the Universe”)
- Cyclops (“X-Men”)
- Viltrumite (“Invincible”)
This year’s cartoon entries don’t show strong trends, besides video games and current movies. Many of the overall trends seem dominated by horror films (#1 is “Buddy the Unicorn” from this year’s horror film “Buddy”).
“Poppy Playtime” is a series of horror video games launched in 2021.
The most popular superhero this year is Green Lantern, presumably riding on the popularity wave of HBO’s “Lanterns” series. Cyclops also made the top 10. Just outside the top 10 (at #24 and #25 overall) are Nightcrawler and Doctor Doom.
“Disco Scooby-Doo” is probably a reference to a scene from the live-action movie “Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed.” One scene has Shaggy and Scooby sneak into a villains nightclub disguised in 70s-style clothes.
On the non-cartoon side, the late country singer Dolly Parton comes in at #12. Dr. Frank-N-Furter from “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” is at #22 (per Tim Curry’s passing).
Top 5 kids
- Ash Ketchum (“Pokemon”)
- Spider-Gwen (Marvel)
- Pomni (“The Amazing Digital Circus”)
- Judy Hopps (“Zootopia”)
- He-Man (“Masters of the Universe”)
This year’s entries seem to be perennial entries: “Pokemon,” Disney films (“Zootopia”), and so on. I assume Spider-Gwen is the most popular superhero thanks to the popularity of Disney Jr.’s “Spidey and His Amazing Friends” (or the “Spider-Verse” movies). There’s also “He-Man,” an entry that probably appeals more to kids’ parents.
The #1 overall entry on the kids list is, of all outfits, the late country singer Dolly Parton. A creative choice, but do kids really know who that is, or is this their parents’ idea?
Top 4 pets
- Bullseye (“Toy Story”)
- Pua (“Moana”)
- Tow Mater (“Cars”)
- Cousin Itt (“The Addams Family”)
The oddest entry is from the non-cartoon side of things: at #6 is “Lamb Chop.” Unless it’s a reference I’m unfamiliar with, I assume it’s a reference to the old Shari Lewis puppet character. Which is odd… how many people below a certain age have even heard of Lamb Chop? Or is there some online meme/TikTok video thing/etc. that made Lamb Chop popular again?
Top 5 duos
- Disco Scooby and Shaggy (“Scooby-Doo”)
- Cyclops and Jean Grey (“X-Men”)
- Wall-E and Eve (“Wall-E”)
- Woody and Bullseye (“Toy Story”)
- Gamora and Star-Lord (“Guardians of the Galaxy”)
Again, the top entry is the aforementioned Scooby-Doo reference.
On the live-action side of things, Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers came in at #25. There’s also two entries for “Off Campus,” Amazon Prime Video’s cash-in on the popularity of gay hockey romance series “Heated Rivalry”. “Off Campus” is a similar hockey romance series, but with straight people.
Image: “Zootopia 2.” (Disney)
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