Goosebumps Horrorland #16: Weirdo Halloween (Part 2)

Previously...
Meg and Chris were at Horrorland,where they met an odd form of Madame Doom, everyone's favourite Bootleg Zoltar. Then, they ended up at Chiller House, where Meg bought a strange lookng doll called the floig. The night before Halloween, back at home, Meg and Chris stumbled across the most terrible creature in the multiverse (normal and dark): Bim. Bim was the most annoying creature in the world, running around making everyone's life a living hell. After several failed attempts to get rid of him and back rubs from Meg, he was pacified by the floig and went home. And eveything was lovely once again. Except, wait, no it wasn't. What could be worse than Bim? At least a dozen Bims, that's what. And they've shown up in Meg's room. Will Earth ever be safe from these pestilent creatures? Is the formulaic ending bit going to happen where the Horror doll teleports Meg to Chiller House? Find out, erm... right now!
(For a full run down of what happened, click here)


Plot
Right, let's get this over with.
PART -Pumpkin-Topia
We open with Meg in her room, surrounded by loads of Bims, who have apparently shown up for the back rubs.

What a nightmare! A room full of chattering Bims!

Meg, that's an understatement. Pack your bags, everyone, we're moving to another universe. Preferably one where I'm famous and have just died. "Where's Bim?" enquire all the other Bims. Meg delivers the good news that he left. "Whoops," say the Bims, and then they go home. Crisis averted, folks. Meg wins the Nobel Prize for saving us all. Meg and Chris celebrate for a while. My sentiments exactly. Hey, how long's that party bus gonna be?

Afterwards, Meg goes back to her room... again... where she discovers a glow coming from her closet. And it is of course coming from the Horror doll. Well, that didn't take long. There's a flash , and  all of a sudden, she's been teleported to Chiller House. As she acts confused for a bit, Jonathon Chiller appears. And he's somehow even better than usual. He says that he brought Meg to Horrorland so that she could spend Halloween there. Aw, isn't that nice. He also wants to play a game with her, one with a simple objective: prove that she is, well, herself. It's delightfully creepy and ominous. She can explore Horrorland, playing as she goes along. Well, I have to admit, this is a really good premise, and could've worked well as it's own solo outing, without the-tangerine-who-must-not-be-named and the other books. However, I doubt that the majority of people got this far what with You-know-who.

So, Meg is kicked out into the park. Her first port of call is to ring up her Dad, despite the fact that Horrorland has no phone signal, and she should probably be aware of this. However, someone does pick up - Jonathon Chiller. Well, at least that's out of the way quickly. A Horror comes up to her and asks her if she knows any good Halloween jokes. Given the quality of jokes in this book, I'd think not. And I'm right. "Neither do I," replies the Horror. Well, that's just invalidated my previous statement.

Meg sets off to an attraction called the Haunted Pumpkin (Oh no, it's a crossover between 2 dreadful short stories!), because some guy dressed as a gorilla had told her to. Because that seemed sensible. So, Meg enters the Haunted Pumpkin, where kids are throwing pumpkin innards at each other. Move over, Nemesis, we've got an even better ride!  Suddenly, the ride starts tilting all around. OK, that actually sounds pretty fun. (Better than the bloody Tunnel of Screams, I suppose.) Then the walls ignite, because at this point, safety in Horrorland is about as necessary as a straight pride parade. (Don't give me that look, it's true) Man, it's been out less than a month and already people are trying to ride The Wicker Man's coat-tails. So, everyone dives out of the mouth of the pumpkin, including Meg. Outside, there is no more fire. Because Horrorland.

Meg strolls around, and it seems like everyone - families of 7 (bloody hell), girls in lizard suits (nice Mark Zuckerberg costume!), teenage couples (Here comes Twitter with their judging buttons ready) - is staring at her. That's rude. Then we get a creepy scene in which everyone starts asking Meg if she's wearing a mask in unison. Which is immediately spoiled by Meg realising that this might be a clue. She heads to the mask shop (are Britney and Molly Molloy still there? [*cries softly]), where the Horror in charge is wearing a Horror mask. OK, that's pretty funny. Meg browses, but can only find another Zuckerberg costume, identical to the one that girl from earlier was wearing.

Meg sets off once more, and quickly realises that she has no idea what she's doing. Dammit, Meg, I asked you if you understood the instructions! She goes into a haunted house, where the walls are covered with caterpillars. Oh no, now Shell Shocker's back too? (Actually, that one's alright) Suddenly, the walls, floor, and ceiling start closing in on Meg. I see they've re-purposed the House of Mirrors. Meg takes the natural response of punching a hole in the ceiling, Because 12 year olds can do that, I guess. Then, she pulls herself through the hole, and continues onwards through the haunted house, only to discover a shrunken head, which starts asking Meg who she really is. It's pretty creepy. Meg finally makes it to the exit, only to discover that it's locked. Suddenly, a ghoul appears, and dives at Meg, knocking the door down by accident instead. And then he just falls over and dies, or something.

Suddenly, Meg is met with the girl in the Zuckerberg costume. They reveal that they got the same costume at the same mask store, and Meg notices that they have the same eyes. They both take their masks off, revealing that the girl is... Meg. They argue over who the real Meg is, and start fighting, but are interrupted by a familiar voice - Chris. (Oh yeah, he's in this story) He says that he was teleported to Horrorland by Jonathon Chiller as well, and sked to play a game. How? (Don't answer that, it'll make sense later) Chris is naturally confused by the 2 Megs, so the Meg that's narrating just goes "Sod it," and runs off with Chris. For proof that she's the real deal, Chris asks her the name of their street. Meg, somehow, gets it wrong. Chris asks some more questions, which she gets wrong as well. Then he runs off. Rude.

Meg gives chase, ending up at an attraction called The Halloween Hopper. It's just a really big trampoline that has some lame dance song that makes Superman (the song, not the guy) look butch. Meg proves that trampolining is not exactly her forte, as she somehow manages to land head first on the trampoline whilst climbing onto it. As Meg catches up to Chris, she suddenly realises that she can't stop jumping. And neither can anyone else. Then the trampoline bursts. In fairness, it's still the safest ride at Horrorland.

Chris goes off with the other Meg, whilst the Meg who's narrating follows them. However, she suddenly gets stopped by a bunch of dancing zombies. Meg, knowing perfectly well that it's Halloween, is confused as to why they're dressed as zombies. Man, I didn't think American Halloween was that bad. Suddenly, she notices that one of the zombies is holding a voodoo doll of Meg. How she can notice enough details to realise that is beyond me. Then the voodoo doll is chucked into some fire. Hey, I was gonna do that! In response, Meg plunges her hand into the fire and retrieves the doll. Unharmed. And then she extinguishes the somehow intact doll. Conclusion: Meg is Supergirl.

Supergirl uses her super-hearing to detect Chris telling other Meg (I don't know... Bizarro Meg?) that he'd lost her at the zombies. Meg tries calling her Dad again, because that went so well the first time. And, once again, Jonathon Chiller answers. Suddenly, Meg remembers her contact list, which will somehow prove that she's the real deal. I'm not entirely sure how that'll work. So, she leaves the lizard mask on the floor (Supergirl, you should know better than that!) and chucks the rest of the Zuckerberg costume in the bin. So, Meg hits the redial button to tell Chiller that she has some proof of her own identity... and Bizarro Meg picks up instead. Somehow. Then she discovers that her contacts have been erased. Someh- you know what, I'm done with this.

Supergirl chases after Chris and Bizarro Meg again (Don't you just love how there's always something new happening?), and they all wind up at, and I'm not even making this up here, The World's Most Dangerous Pumpkin Pie. Yeah, that's the name of the attraction. It's surprisingly not dangerous though, it's just a thin catwalk over a pumpkin pie the size of an Ikea. And everyone keeps falling in and presumably ruining their clothes. Supergirl Meg catches up to Bizarro Meg, and they get into a fight, causing them to fall into the pumpkin pIkea. As they begin to sink, a gigantic can of whipped cream (dear lord why) descends upon them menacingly. Well, as menacingly as a giant can of whipped cream can be, anyway. Then whipped cream starts spraying all over the pumpkin pie. At least they'll all be on Stupid Deaths after this is all over. It looks like it's all over for Meg, as she begins to sink. But it's OK, a giant pie cutter comes out of nowhere and she and Bizarro Meg climb onto it to escape. Must be Thursday. Never could quite get used to Thursdays.

After a shower session, Supergirl Meg finally catches up with Bizarro Meg, and confronts her. The 2 of them and Chris head to Chiller House to settle this once and for all. Once they get there, Chiller settles on a Q&A session hosted by Chris. Bizarro Meg goes first, and guesses correctly. Supergirl Meg at one point calls Chris out for claiming that an answer was right, yet when he asked Supergirl that question earlier on in the book, she gave the same answer as Bizarro Meg, and Chris said it was wrong. Is this what Tumblr claims school is like? (I'm not defending school, but come on guys) Supergirl herself asks Bizarro Meg a question, but she answers it correctly, seemingly proving that she's the real deal.


Supergirl, who is apparently now 6, starts throwing products everywhere. In fairness, it's not like anything in Chiller's shop would actually earn him money, given his business practises. Then she grabs Chris by the ears... because shut up... and they end up coming off in her hands. Oh, a fine way to use your powers! Actually, it turns out that Chris was a robot the entire time. Of course! Man, they're really using Chekov's Gun finely here, aren't they! Then she starts to twist Metallo Chris' head off as Lex Luthor Chiller starts freaking out, saying that it cost a fortune. This is hinting at what's to come at the end of the arc. He admits that Bizarro Meg is also a robot (nope, not changing it to Metallo Meg), and that he'd copied Supergirl Meg's memories and DNA with the scanner in the door of his shop. Because science.

And thus, Metallo Chris and Bizarro Meg are taken away to have their minds wiped. Except, hang on, Supergirl Meg is being taken away instead of Bizarro Meg! So, she grabs a convenient pin and jabs it into Metallo Chris' neck. Then she jabs it into her own arm, causing her to bleed (no, I'm not making that joke),proving that she's the real deal. Chiller apologises, and sends Meg home. Oh, it's alright. Don't we all inadvertently send people to get their brains wiped every once in a while?

Back home, Supergirl Meg meets with, I don't know, Martha Kent Penny. (Some hundred year old woman who was looking after Meg and Chris) Turns out that she'd only been gone for a few minutes. Wait, should I change it to Hunter Zolomon Chiller, or would the use of a Flash villain conflict with the Superman theme of the nicknames? As Meg heads upstairs to tell Jimmy Olsen Chris about what's just happened, she finds someone else on her bed... Bizarro Meg. The end (for now, I guess).

Part 1 Superman Characters
Lois Lane Kelly
Pete Ross Carlos
Mr Mxyzptlk/Prankster Bim

Conclusion
The second half of Weirdo Halloween was... decent. It certainly outstrips the marks Bim left on the first half, but there isn't much to see in this half, either. Horrorland at Halloween opens up a whole realm of creative possibilities, and what do they go with? A Halloween themed trampoline and an Ikea sized pumpkin pie. Woopedy-doo. The Bizarro-Meg plot was also creative, but definitely could've been handled better. Overall, this was a bit of a waste of potential.
The book as a whole is... passable, I suppose? Yeah, that's all I've got to say on the matter. Sorry for any inconvenience caused by me cutting the overall conclusion short.