HIM

Costume Debut: Halloween 2024

Costume Reprised: April 2025

The most visually arresting villain of The Powerpuff Girls, the evil known only as HIM, has long been on Irvin's longlist to cosplay.  So for Halloween 2024, Irvin decided to finally go for it and make the costume.

The first tricky element was the pink collar and tunic trim, given that it's supposed to be floofy yet solidly visible.  Irvin got a colossal amount of tulle and sewed it onto the tunic and a neck ribbon sixteen-fold.  The lobster claws were easily procured online, but the Halloween in question was very warm, and those claws quickly became quite swampy.  The ears, which were supposed to come from Amazon, did not arrive - so Irvin had to craft the ears himself from prior owned elf ears and red fabric.  Not bad for a last-minute effort!

But of course, the tricky part was the makeup.  Irvin used the shortcut of red tights and shirt so the makeup wiuld be confined to the face and neck.  But the red had to be a very solid red, since the black widow's peak and pink cheek dots would have to be drawn on over it.  Irvin got some fancypants makeup from his friend Jillian, which absolutely doesn't smear or melt off...  It took well over two hours to put on, but not much less time to get off since it only comes off with oil.  Irvin's Halloween concluded with him getting his face oiled up like a Greek wrestler to resume his natural skin tone well after 3am.

Ironically, the single trickiest part of the costume proved, as usual, to be the fake beard.  Fake facial hair remains Irvin's cosplaying Achilles heel, and no amount of spirit gum could withstand the pink tulle.

However, it was all worth it, because this is one of Irvin's best received costumes ever.  PPG fans loved the dedicated take on an iconic character.  Muggles were impressed with the creepy devil and the thorough makeup.  And children absolutely adored HIM - all of them wanted high fives and fist bumps, with none of them seeming remotely scared.  Maybe it's the pink tulle combatting their fear?

But the best part of the night was definitely the fact that it was a large group costume.  Irvin sent out the Powerpuff beacon to his friends, and they rose to the occasion.  There was Jillian as Blossom, Taylor as Bubbles, Yelena as Ms. Bellum (complete with plushy mayor), Dan as Professor Utonium, and Dylan as Butch the Rowdyruff Boy.  The whole group can be seen below.

Such a group offered an absolute plethora of cool photo opportunities - highlights of which can be seen in this gallery.  Irvin got to be HIM mind-controlling the citizens of Townsville (as seen in the episode "Tough Love").   He had a villainous teamup with Yelena as Ms. Bellum, or rather Sedusa impersonating Ms. Bellum.  And, of course, HIM fought the Powerpuff Girls at every opportunity, including staging punchouts throughout the parade for the entertainment of the masses.

Irvin also made sure to lead the Powerpuff group in a rousing rendition of the end credits theme song to The Powerpuff Girls, as seen here. 

Funnily enough, Irvin and his friends were not the only ones to be inspired by Powerpuff Girls that Halloween - NYC was positively lousy with PPG characters!  Irvin ran into no less than three other HIMs (none as hammy as himself), so apparently HIM really was the hot Halloween costume of 2024.  The group also encountered two Mojo Jojos (or Mojos Jojo) and a Buttercup to complete the Powerpuff set.  Evidently the cartoon has quite the cultural legacy two decades on, judging by how recognized HIM was and how enthusaistic people were about PPG costumes!

HIM went over so well, Irvin decided to go through the hours of putting makeup on and off again at AwesomeCon the following spring.  The costume proved a huge hit at the convention, with lots of people stopping him for photos, and many commenting that they'd never seen a HIM cosplay before.  (Ironic, givent he proliferation of HIMs at Halloween... maybe the cosplayers just never go south of NYC!)  The funniest part was attendees pointing it out to others - "Oh my god, it's HIM!"  "Who?"

Irvin wore it on the Saturday of the convention, so HIM wouldn't have to ride Amtrak in full getup, and Saturday was also the day he was getting photos with celebrities.  So this is how his meeting with Ming-Na Wen and Summer Glau was immortalized.  Summer Glau was particularly taken with the costume, describing it as a "confection" and saying it "definitely made an impression!"