Harry Potter Wands

I thought that with Harry Potter mania sweeping the nation just before the release of the new Half-Blood Prince movie, I would take the time to write about some of the accessories to go with your Harry Potter Fancy Dress costume.

Harry Potter Wands
Probably the most important accessory of all if you are a wizard is the wand. In most wizard stories, it is the wand that chooses its wizard, due to the unique character of each wand, which must match that of the wizard. When trying out different wands, an aspiring wizard may cause some damage when he encounters wands that don't get along with him!

I am not sure if any will choose your little wizard, so you may have to do it for them!

There are a bunch of wands available and on Amazon I counted over 20 different types and so this is a great place to start:

Shoppers in the UK
Harry Potter Wand on Amazon.co.uk


Shoppers in the USA
Harry Potter Wands on Amazon.com

New Harry Potter Fancy Dress Costumes

As most of you will know, Harry Potter is far more just about the J. K. Rowling books and films, there is a massive array of merchandise: Harry Potter Games, Harry Potter Pictures, Harry Potter calendar, Harry Potter figures, Harry Potter quizzes, Harry Potter toys... you name it, if man can make it, there will be a version of it with with this little wizard on it.

So what about Harry Potter Halloween Costumes and Fancy Dress? Plenty of that too, I wrote a blog post a while back on Harry Potter costumes, but with the release of the new Half-Blood Prince film, I thought it may be an idea to update things a little and see if there are any new Harry Potter fancy dress costumes available.

The good news (for parents) is that unlike football merchandise, and Superhero costumes, Harry Potters outfit does not really change every time a new book or movie comes out. As far as I can tell the Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Costume will be the same as his others, this is great news if you already have one.

So if you or your child already has one, but you still want to get something to add to the costume, you are spoilt for choice, below are some ideas:

Harry Potter Costume Accessories:

• Harry Potter Wands
• Harry Potter Broom
• Harry Potter Glasses
  
• Harry Potter Tie
• Hogwarts Banner
• Harry Potter Scarf

If you don't already have the Harry Potter fancy dress costume, probably the best is the Premium officially licensed Harry Potter Gryffindor Robe Child Costume (picture in this post)

This premium deluxe hooded robe is made of luxurious black velvet and lined in burgundy satin with a front clasp and the Gryffindor Crest on the front. Perfect for Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley, and any of their other members of the Gryffindor House at Hogwarts! It is available in child sizes: Small (4-6), Medium (8-10), and Large (12-14) and only includes the robe, you will have to buy the glasses, Wand, Scar Kit and School Tie separately.

Shoppers in the UK
Harry Potter Costumes on Amazon.co.uk


Shoppers in the USA
Harry Potter Costumes on Amazon.com

Transformers Costumes

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
The new Transformers release date for the film is Friday 26th June 2009. The movie is also sometimes called Transformers 2 and is one that both big and small kids have been looking forward to.

Transformers Fancy Dress Costumes
As with all big films these days, there is always a bunch of official merchendise to go with it and Transformers is no exception. With everything from Transformers coloring books, Transformers games, Transformers toys, transformers masks, helmets and of course Transformers Costumes. The two main costumes available are for the two main characters: Bumblebee and Optimus Prime. These are available in both childrens as well as a few adult transformers costumes available.

Transformers Optimus Prime Costumes
Optimus prime is a great role model as is in the story of Transformers, he is the leader of the Autobots (The heroic Transformers). Optimus Prime and the other Autobots come from the planet Cybertron where they are constantly pitting themselves against Decepticons (The Bad Transformers) for peace in the universe. One of his famous quotes is "Autobots, transform and roll out!"

The fancy dress costumes (main image) are available in both adult and childrens sizes. The officially licensed Transformers Optimus Prime Deluxe Adult costume comes with a character jumpsuit, mask and sculpted chest piece. The adult vesion is available in one size only, but should fit most adults (42-46)

The Childs Optimus Prime Costumes are available in two styles, the Animated version as well as the movie version:

The Optimus Prime deluxe costume comes with a red, blue and gray jumpsuit, chest piece, toy arm weapon and face mask.



The Transformers Animated Optimus Prime Deluxe Child costume consists of a jumpsuit with attached foam chest and upper arms, two foam arm cuffs and a Optimus Prime mask.

Transformers Bumblebee Costumes
In the Transformers univese, Bumblebee is the "little brother" of the heroic Autobots, he is always trying to prove himself to the taller, stronger robots, especially his leader, Optimus Prime.

Like the Optimus Prime Costumes, the Bumblebee costumes are available in both adult and childrens sizes, in both the classic movie styles as well as the animated versions. The best costume is the Bumblebee Movie 3-D Deluxe Costume that has a black, gray and yellow jumpsuit with 3-D armor that looks like real robot parts as well as a robot mask that matches the costume and completes the look of an autobot. It is available in child sizes: Small, Medium and Large.

Where to buy Transformers Costumes:

Shoppers in the UK
Transformers Costumes on Amazon.co.uk

Shoppes in the USA
Transformers Costumes on Amazon.com

For those of you in the US, you can take a look at the Halloween 4 Costumes page on Transformers Costumes >>

Transformers vs Harry Potter Costumes

Forget Alien vs Predator, the real battle this summer is Transformers vs Harry Potter.



Unless you have been living on a dark planet somewhere on another galaxy, I am sure that you are aware that both the new Harry Potter and Transformer films are soon to be released. What is exciting for me is both these movies offer an exciting opportunity for fancy dress with plenty of Transformers Costumes and of course Harry Potter Costumes available.

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
Also sometimes also called Transformers 2, The Transformers release date here in the UK is Friday 26th June 2009.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
This new Harry Potter (Harry Potter 6) film is due for release on the 17th of July 2009.

So like my previous posts of Battle of the Movie Costumes and the Sequel, Battle of the Movie Costumes 2, I have decided to pit the genius that is Harry Potter against those crazy robot car, helecopter, plane things to see who is more popular at the moment:

Google Insights: Harry Potter vs Transformers
Once again I have used Google Insights to see which film is being searched for more often (click image to resize):



And as you can see over the last three months, Harry Potter overall has been more popular, but just over the last few days, the Transformers have been fighting back hard, with both films gaining in popularity.

Harry Potter Costumes
I have already written an article on Harry Potter Fancy Dress Costumes that has links to where you can buy them both here and in the UK, which you can find here: Harry Potter Costumes >>

Transformers Costumes
With Transformers Fancy Dress, the most popular costumes are Bumble Bee and Optimus Prime costumes. Easily found in childrens sizes, but I have also seen an adult Optimus Prime costume. Read more about Transformers Costumes here.

Shoppers in the UK
Transformers Costumes on Amazon.co.uk

Shoppes in the USA
Transformers Costumes on Amazon.com

Star Trek Costumes

With the new Star Trek film id due for release on the 8th of May, to be followed by a TV series, I thought now would be a good time to take a look at what Star Trek Costumes are available as well as delve a little into what the film is going to be about.

Star Trek Film
The film will chronicle of the early days of James T. Kirk and his fellow USS Enterprise crew members. There is a new cast of fresh faced actors including Hot Fuzz's Simon Pegg taking up the role of Enterprise engineer Scotty, the revamped outer space odyssey is already generating huge buzz among film fans. Star Trek, directed by JJ Abrams (Cloverfield and Lost), is certified 12A and runs for 127 minutes.

The New Star Trek Costume from the Movie
The only place that I so far have found that sell the new Star Trek uniform is BuyCostumes.com in the USA - They can however ship to the UK and they say you will receive your order within 2 to 4 days which is really good. The have the full range of mens Star Trek uniforms - just no female ones yet! (click on the banner below to take you to their shop)





Other Star Trek Costumes
As for the other uniforms, Amazon.com have pretty much the entire range, including all colours of the Next Generation Uniforms for the retro look, Star Trek Voyager costumes as well as the Deep Space Nine Costumes including a Deep Space Nine Commander Sisko costume and a Dr. Bashir Star Trek Costume.

Star Trek Costumes on Amazon.com

If you are looking for more information on then check out this comprehensive guide to the Star Trek Costume and Uniforms

Battle of the Movie Costumes 2

Back in February, I wrote an article called Battle of the Movie Costumes, where we took a look at the popularity of films about to be released, using Google Insights and is based on the amount of people searching on the web for each film. I thought that with a few of the films having been released and a few about to be released, it would be interesting to compare them again and see if there have been any changes. In this way if you want to wear a fancy dress costume that has a current movie theme, you will know which is the most popular.

Films recently released that you can find fancy dress costumes for:

• The Pink Panther 2 (Feb 13th)
• Friday the 13th (Feb 13th)
• Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li (Feb 27th)

And then a few about to be released:

• X-Men Origins: Wolverine (May 1st)
• Star Trek (May 8th)

Google Insights - The Most Popular films of 2009
Once again I used Google Insights to compare the search terms from February until today:



What is interesting is back in February, Street Fighter and Star Trek were neck and neck as to which was the most popular, with Street Fighter just edging it.

Street Fighter
Now we can see that there was a huge spike in the number of searches for Street Fighter, just before and then just as it was released on February the 27th and even though it was released over 2 months ago it is still more popular than the Pink Panther ever was - So a Street fighter costume is definitely cool.

Wolverine & the X-Men
This film is due for release tomorrow (May 1st) and whilst there was a spike in interest in early April and the number of searches continues to increase the closer we get to the release, it is never going to match Street Fighter. So a Wolverine Costume is still cool, just not Super Cool.

Star Trek
Next in line, just behind the Wolverine is Star Trek, it still has a few days before it's release and whist it is popular, It again is never going to reach the heights of Street Fighter. Check out the Star Trek Costumes on Amazon.com

X-men Origins Wolverine Costume

With the new X-Men Origins: Wolverine film due to be released on the 1st of May, it makes for an excellent opportunity, if you are going to a fancy dress party, to dress up in a Wolverine Costume.

The Wolverine Costume
What is interesting is that the costume for the Wolverine has changed over the years and sometimes more often than a contestant on "America's Next Top Model". So what costume should you wear if you want to be the Wolverine?

I think the most iconic look, and the costume that most people think of, when they think of Logan (Wolverine), is the blue and gold costume. It is also the the Halloween costume that is most often sold by fancy dress companies. This Wolverine costume has a long history as it made it's first appearance way back in 1975, in the Marvel Comic Book Giant-Size X-Men #1. Logan was to wear this costume again for a long period during the 1990's and that is why I think this is the costume that most people think of, when they think of the Wolverine.

Other costumes over the years have included a brown and tan costume, a biker look with plenty of black leather, and in X-Force Logan wore a blue red and gold costume.

Where to buy the Wolverine Costume:
Shoppers in the USA:
Wolverine Costumes on Amazon.com


Shoppers in the UK:
Wolverine Costumes on Amazon.co.uk

Check out my previous post: The Wolverine costume, for the X-Men Origins: Wolverine Trailer and if you want to learn a little more about The Wolverine character.

If you are in the USA, you may wish to check out this page on the X-Men Origins Wolverine Costume

Zorro Costumes

The Zorro Fancy Dress Costume
Zorro is usually depicted in films and books wearing a black costume with a flowing Spanish cape and wearing a flat-brimmed Andalusian style hat. Zorro also wears a black face mask that covers the top of the head from eye level upwards.

For authenticity, you should use a rapier as the correct style of "sword" Zorro uses this to slash his famous "Z" as his mark. Most Zorro costumes come with the Zorro sword, or you can purchase it as a separate accessories. Zorro has also been known to use a bull-whip and some costumes come with one included. If you cannot find one being sold with the Zorro costume, you could check the accessories for Indiana Jones as their whips are similar.

Child Zorro Costumes - World Book Day Costume Idea
The Children's Zorro costume available is almost miniature replica's of the adult costume and for me makes an excellent fancy dress idea for World Book Day as not only has Zorro been featured in many books, but the costume is undeniably cool, which you know as well I do, is extremely important at school!

Why a Child Zorro Costume makes a perfect World Book Day Costume
Did you know that Zorro who was often called Señor or El Zorro in the original stories about him was first created in 1919 where he appeared in the serialized story of "The Curse of Capistrano" written by Johnston McCulley. The original story "The Curse of Capistrano" was reprinted by Tor books in 1998 under the title "The Mark of Zorro". ISBN 978-0-8125-4007-9 (see below for links to the books, DVD's and costumes)



Adult Zorro Costume

Of all the Zorro costumes, I think the official deluxe version is the best. The Zorro outfit comes with a one-piece black jumpsuit complete with a padded muscle torso, chest, bicep, triceps and deltoid muscles, that makes you look like you have spent the past decade in the gym! The costume comes with attached black knee-high vinyl boot covers that makes it look like you are wearing Zorro's boots. This costume also comes with the long black cape, Zorro's black Andalusian style hat has a 3D raised golden trim and Zorro logo. Finishing touches include a belt with printed decoration and Zorro logo and the Zorro face-mask.

To complete the look you will probably have to buy the Zorro sword and whip separately.

Other Zorro Fancy Dress Costumes
Other than the child and adult Zorro costumes, there are also infant Zorro costumes, Pet / Dog Zorro costumes and women's Zorro costumes (La Bandida) costumes available.


Where to Buy Zorro Costumes
To buy the adult, child, women's, infant and pet Zorro costumes, I would suggest the websites below:

UK Shoppers:
Zorro Costumes on Amazon.co.uk

The Mark of Zorro on Amazon.co.uk

Amazon have the adult men's and woman's Zorro costumes as well as the child and infant outfits. There are also the accessories like the masks and swords. As well as the books and DVD's!

US Shoppers:
Zorro Halloween Costumes on Amazon.com

The Mark of Zorro on Amazon.com

Like the UK site, Amazon.com have every Zorro costume that you could ever want including all the available accessories for sale.

Battle of the Movie Costumes

Pink Panther vs. Street Fighter vs. Wolverine vs. Star Trek

In the next few months there are a few films due to be released that make perfect fancy dress costume themes:

• The Pink Panther 2 (Feb 13th)
• Friday the 13th (Feb 13th)
• Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li (Feb 27th)
• X-Men Origins: Wolverine (May 1st)
• Star Trek (May 8th)

So if you are going to or planning a costume party in the next few months and would like to dress in a topical costume, that has a film theme, which one should you choose?



Most Popular Film Search on Google
According to Google Insights for Search, over the past 30 days, slightly more people are searching for Street Fighter than Star Trek. If you combine the searches for Wolverine and X-men, it shows that this film is pretty popular in as far as web searches, with the Pink Panther lagging a little behind.

I am not sure if the amount of people searching for the films on the web will have any bearing on the box office, or how popular the respective fancy dress costumes will ultimately be, but if you want to wear a popular film costume now, I'd go for either the Star Trek Costume, Street Fighter Costume or the Wolverine Costume. But if you are after pure comic value perhaps either the Pink Panther Costume or Inspector Jacques Clouseau costumes would be the way to go.

Harry Potter Costumes

With the popularity of all the Harry Potter novels written by British author J. K. Rowling and then the film and merchandise spin off's, it is no wonder that one of the most popular fancy dress costumes for World Book Day was last year and will probably be again this year a Children's Harry Potter Costume.

For anyone who has been living in a cave, the story of Harry Potter is basically about the adventures of a boy wizard named Harry Potter during his struggle against an evil wizard named Voldemort, who killed Harry's parents. Even though you are born a Wizard, Harry and his friends, Ron Weasley and Hermoine Granger attend the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry, to learn the skills necessary to become a successful wizard.

Harry Potter Costumes
As you would expect, there are plenty of kids Harry Potter fancy dress costumes available, all of which consist of his basic costume, that being a robe. For the deluxe version pictured, the costume comes with the maroon and black hooded robe with clasp with an embroidered Gryffindor badge over left breast. Unfortunately as with many of the harry potter costumes that I have found you will also have to buy the Harry potter glasses, wand and possibly a wig and tie separately. (You could also just use you school tie)

Other Potter Characters Costumes
Other than Harry's costume, you can also find Dumbledore Masks and costumes, Voldemort costumes and masks, Hermione Granger costumes and Death Eater Costumes.

UK:
Harry Potter Costumes on Amazon.co.uk

USA:
Harry Potter Costumes on Amazon.com