[Ghoulish Delight]

The "sick joke" in my title came much from the setting. I mean, these items, before one catches sight of the price tags, are indistinguishible from any of the other items around them in the store in terms of level of fashion. Steps away from the charcoal line-drawing line of character merchandise, which is a style that was just as "edgy" and "a-typical of Disney" when it debuted, selling for "reasonable" prices (i.e., under $30 for a t-shirt). The ONLY thing that distinguished these as "couture" was the price. So yeah, I did view it as a sick joke. Not as an indictment of anyone who might pay triple digits for clothing, but aimed toward Disney (or whomever dictated the pricing), 'cause to me it's lke they were saying "Let's see what these suckers will think if we jack up the prices and put them right next to items of equal or better quailty/fashion-value. I bet they'll call it 'High Fashion' and shell out!"

I have no problem with high fashion fetching exhorbitant prices, even if I dislike the taste. But I think the jokes on the consumer when high fashion is defined merely by the price, not by the content.

And yes, I cringed and scoffed when I saw the price of the Shag map. Of course in partial defense of it, they only printed 300 of them, so the ridiculous price is partially driven by scarcity. But still over the top.