Excited children disconcert adults with their fortified fervor of Halloween

The Halloween Halloween store closest to KotakuThe office is located in a very bright basement. The walls are cement and the interior of the store is a loose collection of temporary shelves. Every part of this store is full of costumes, whether it's wigs or face paints, or full outfits in a plastic container. While I'm hiding near the kids Fortnite section, I hear two children arguing with their parents about whether or not they can be Fortnite skins for Halloween.

"I said I wanted a Brite Bomber suit," says one of the children, a blond little girl, to her mother. Her friend – whose name was Max when her mother reprimanded her for pressing all the buttons on a toy pistol – had picked up a Drift mask, which her mother had ordered her to put back.

"You know the problem with a full-face mask," she told him, "you'll never want to wear it all night."

Fortnite Halloween costumes are incredibly popular. When I got in touch with Spirit, the only company that sells officially licensed products Fortnite costumes, they would not give me the exact figures but said that these costumes were stealing shelves. After visiting a store, I believe it. Less than a minute after entering the store, I met a confused father who was trying to find a Cuddle Team Leader mask. In search of this new trend, I received emails from parents and teachers describing the same thing: kids want to be Fortnite skins for Halloween, even if their parents are not in the idea.

When I was in the Spirit store, I swept the scales of children and adults. Fortnite sections. The store offered a lot of skins; The bright pink outfit of team leader Cuddle stood out, as did the purple Brite Bomber suit. Skull Trooper's outfits had been picked up. The accessories have impressed me the most. If you wish, you can buy a Boogie Bomb to carry, which lights and plays music. I do not even play Fortnite, and I was tempted by that one.

An employee who I spoke to, Ivan, does not play Fortnite neither, but checked that they could not keep the costumes on the shelves.

"Fortified products are sold as soon as we get them," he said. "We will receive a shipment that sells in one hour."

Another Spirit store employee, Zoe, a journalism student who told me that she was reading Kotaku for her Overwatch news, said that they were on their fifth Fortnite paraphernalia.

"With each shipment of costumes we receive every Tuesday, the Skull Trooper and Black Knight sold out almost immediately," she later said by e-mail. "Most kids, at the last chance, would just have the team leader cuddling for something FortniteShe also added that adult costumes are not as popular.

There are other video game costumes available in the store, but nothing has been as erased as Fortnite when I visited. There is a large part of Overwatch, Halo and Assassin's Creed costumes for adults, but they did not have clients around, and they all seemed to be well stocked compared to Fortnite section. If you are a child, you can also get a Five nights at Freddy's costume, but none of the children seemed interested.

Last week, I went to a Party City and their offers were even smaller in terms of gaming suits. There was Zelda, Mario, Halo and Overwatch outfits, but the video game section was by far the smallest in the store. It's not like the kids are not interested in geeky stuff, a girl I've seen screaming all the time, "Supergirl! Supergirl! At her largely unselfish mother – but if you look at trends, it would seem that if kids want to do something similar to Halloween, it's Fortnite or bust.

It's not as if these other gaming suits looked less cool than the Fortnite but they are just not in the mind right now. If Halloween is an indication, FortniteThe popularity of children has not weakened. Who wants to be Altair or D.va when we can be a Dark Voyager? There is something about Halloween in the spirit of Fortnite as well as. These costumes are read as spooky, fierce or scary, but are as light and fun as the game. Spirit even offers a 17-foot inflatable bus as a decoration on their site. Imagine seeing this in a suburban lawn while you are dealing or dealing, it would be like going into another world.

That said, the kids I saw begging their parents to get them Fortnite the costumes are not the only ones to have this experience. Not all parents are as enthusiastic about this trend as their children. Zoe said one Spirit employee was tied to the parents' reluctance. The price is an understandable source of hesitation. "These suits cost about $ 60 and no coupon is valid," she said. Another problem that Zoe has noticed, however, is the parents of little girls trying to get them away from Fortnite costumes in favor of more stereotypical outfits "girly".

"Despite costumes like Cuddle Team Leader or Brite Bomber (sold to girls), some parents I've seen would like to get a simple unicorn or princess outfit for their daughters.

One of the parents I talked to by email, Tero, said that Fortnite his 10-year-old son and his friends had the opportunity to speak, although he adds that other parents he knows do not see him this way. These other parents, he says, say that Fortnite costumes are "unimaginative", but he does not agree.

"I would say maybe a quarter of the parents here in Ridgefield, CT forbid Fortnite entirely and many who allow it hesitate to go with the Halloween outfits, "he wrote. "But what's interesting is that even though macho-killing avatars are popular, boys really like to combine them with wacky attributes – a rainbow unicorn ax, and so on. sinister commando. I find that interesting. He added that he had seen children combine the Dark Knight outfit with cherry blossom umbrellas, just as they could customize their avatars in the game.

McKay, who was a fourth grade teacher, described their students' enthusiasm for Fortnite as "adorable". Two of their students had planned to be Fortnite skins this year, and five had made it the year before.

"They could not believe I was playing games and were so excited to talk about it – that reminds me a lot how much I'm sure I was with Pokémon and other games in my own childhood, "said McKay. "They also did the dances EVERY time we had a dance party, it was amazing."

Tero has tried to exploit this enthusiasm at home to open discussions on the topics on which these skins are based.

"The avatars are in fact infinitely inventive and varied, opening discussions on Nordic mythology, national hobbies and different cultures," he said. "Fortnite is [my son’s] touchstone of the generation: social network, exercise of team cohesion, narrative. Nothing is as boring and predictable as the suburbs of Connecticut against children who want to express themselves in their own way. "

Leaving the store, I picked up a tail and devil horns for my incredibly slutty cheerleader costume, which is not a Fortnite the skin, but maybe it should be – Max and his friend were still debating the pros and cons of Fortnite costumes with their parents. I think about all the strange and sometimes nerdy shits I had for Halloween when I was a kid. A year ago I was Haruhara Haruo's FLCL; another year, I was Sailor Saturn from Sailor Moon. My mother made these two costumes by hand, and when I made a mistake, no one knew who I was. It was not important for me at this age. I was just happy to see the adults interested in my current obsession (or, at least, politely listening at the door while I was explaining my costume to them) and disguising themselves as characters that I discovered or admired . It was a bonding experience for me and my mom, who still does not understand why I love anime and video games so much. If your child begs to be a Fortnite this year's skin, maybe just listen to them. After hearing their long explanation of what Tricera Ops is, you may feel closer to your child.