Just got the annual Halloween costume e-mail from Amazon and decided to explore the selection a bit. I am seriously starting to miss when things were better done. I looked at a variety of costumes, from Halo 3 characters (I think I might be one of those this year) to more traditional things like cowboys and cops. I understand that it is difficult to affordably create costumes, but some of the stuff people are coming up with is absolute crap. The cop and the inmate are apparently supposed to carry either plastic or rubber handcuffs. Who is going to have a good time with some goofy plastic shit, wondering all night if it is going to break. I remember cheap stainless steel handcuffs that I used to have as a child, and they were not particularly expensive, but they were better suited for a night of trick-or-treating, or even a Halloween party than the stuff currently sold. Biggest letdown with the cuffs is the sound. Rubber and plastic don’t make the same sound and the effect is lost. Aside from the props, what about the costumes themselves? Fabrics used in their construction seem to be getting worse. I looked at some of the Star Trek costumes and discovered that many have communicators and pips that are merely screen printed. Is it really that expensive to add a few silver buttons for things like that? The costumes that are actually decent have a lot of pieces missing, such as the gunslinger, which I thought was kind of cool. To do that costume, I would have to get a hat, boot cut jeans, cowboy boots and a gun holster (it isn’t included). I would probably also need to obtain a big-ass belt buckle. Among the most interesting and complete is the firefighter, it includes everything except boots, and I already have a pair of tactical boots, not that it would stop me from considering a pair of fire boots (Morgan’s has them). Halloween just seems like it would be more fun if costumes were actually made decently. Anyone got any suggestions for what I should be?