Costume Quest is an Amazon cartoon series based on the children's video game and graphic novel. Just before Halloween, four 12 year old friends go out to test their homemade costumes. They discover that a mysterious group called the Repusians have transformed most of the townsfolk into monsters (secret monsters wearing human suits). They must draw on their costumes' special powers (and their own inner strength) to discover the monsters' secret agenda and save the day.
1. Lucy (Allie Urrutia), the mystical one.
2. Wren (Gabriella Graves), the fighter.
3. Her brother Reynold (Sloane Letourneau), who lacks superpowers
4. Everett (Issac Ryan Brown), the responsible one.
They are voiced by actual children (top photo), which makes their attempt to pronounce complicated dialogue reminiscent of classic Peanuts.
Their main ally is Norm (Fred Tasciore), who provides the costumes, and has secrets of his own.
The tv series is produced by Will McRobb, known for the gay-subtext (and text) children's classics Doug, The Adventures of Pete and Pete, and Sanjay and Craig. and Frederator Studios (Fairly Oddparents, Adventure Time), so expect a fully-realized world, a complex mythology, an endless amount of adult beefcake, and some gay subtexts (or texts).
1. Full-Realized World: Yep. Auburn Hollow is known for its nougat and superhero Abraham Lincoln, Jr., so those products appear in a variety of guises.
2. Complicated Mythology: Yep. Monsters often cross over into our world and live among us. Most just want to start a new life, but some are evil, and need a maguffin to give them enough power to take over the universe. There are back stories, dark secrets, hidden agendas, game changing revelations, and so on, not as complex as Adventure Time, but enough for ashort series aimed and preteens.
3. Adult Beefcake: Not much. An occasional muscle man in the background, an occasional monster with 6-pack abs.
4.Gay subtexts: Not a lot of romantic pairings of any sort, but some inclusivity:
Teen idol Rooty Tootz (Robbie Daymond), who is heavily gay coded, has male and female fans.
When Norm is lonely, he looks for friends, not a girlfriend.
Everett wants to get closer to his teenage brother Benjy, not a girl. And Benjy's teenage friends consist of a boy and a girl.
I'll give it a B.