What costumes were those kids wearing?

November 1, 2005 10:56 AM

Halloweenfilter: What were those costumed mini-men last night if not Power Rangers?

There seemed to be a fair number of kids that a half dozen years ago I would have thought to be power rangers but didn't have any masks and they didn't really -look- Power Ranger-y. Some sort of generic superhero? Nothing jumped out at me from mainstream media to explain this but I thought perhaps those with anklebiters of their own might explain.

posted by Ogre Lawless to clothing, beauty, & fashion (21 comments total)

Did the costume look something like Mr. Incredible?

I saw a few of them last night, none of them wearing the mask.
posted by mds35 at 11:06 AM on November 1, 2005

Uh... maybe Buzz Lightyear costumes? Shiny, greenish, little square wings on the back? I saw a fair number of them wandering down the sidewalk in my town. Sort of cute costumes, I guess, but not exactly right on the edge of the movie marketing tie-in, given the time since the movie was released.
posted by caution live frogs at 11:07 AM on November 1, 2005

If you take away the sword and the mask, did it look like this?

I think ninja was the most popular boys costume I saw this year.
posted by 23skidoo at 11:16 AM on November 1, 2005

I saw these too, and I actually thought they might be power rangers. Last I watched any kids TV was when my step-sister was 5 about 10 years ago, and I didn't stop to think that Power Rangers weren't around any more.

Could it be some sort of anime character or pokemon or something? Not that I know much about any of that.
posted by RustyBrooks at 11:30 AM on November 1, 2005

Nope, neither Buzz nor Incredibles and I did have a great number of nijas, but these had more of a superhero bias.

RustyBrooks -- your thinking is more or less in line with my own but I was thinking perhaps PowerRanger costumes have outlived the show. I did have one very clear cut Power Ranger (red, included mask) but the rest of 'em had muscle-cut suits and rarely ever had capes.

In retrospect: I should have asked "and who are YOU?!?"
posted by Ogre Lawless at 11:43 AM on November 1, 2005

Power Rangers are still around apparently.
posted by Pollomacho at 11:43 AM on November 1, 2005

I saw a surprising number of Ultraman costumes this year.
posted by j.edwards at 11:51 AM on November 1, 2005

Were they Fantastic Four costumes, maybe?
posted by Janta at 12:02 PM on November 1, 2005

I overheard a costumed teenager last night, bitching to a buddy about the general lack of recognition that he was, in fact, Strongbad, from Homestarrunner, not a Power Ranger. He had a mask, though, so I'm not sure this is applicable.
posted by nobodyyouknow at 12:18 PM on November 1, 2005

Someone at work with small kids spoke this morning about the plentitude of Power Ranger costumes.
posted by exogenous at 12:21 PM on November 1, 2005

My Mom sent pictures of my little brother in his costume, which was a blue outfit with muscle padding and a blue helmet. He also had a light saber-type sword, but I'm not sure if that officially went with the suit. She claimed he was a Power Ranger, but it definitely didn't look like any Power Rangers I remember. They just wore shiny spandex suits, right? I don't remember them being all muscley. Maybe there's a "New Power Rangers" series or something?

*After actually looking at Pollomacho's link...

That's it! He really was a Power Ranger. It's just that the new ones look really different to the old ones.
posted by web-goddess at 12:44 PM on November 1, 2005

Fuckin' A, nobodyyouknow. I spent hours making a Strongbad mask, getting boxing gloves, even dying a long-sleeved t-shirt, and I got the same thing. Power Ranger, and Andre the Giant and Muhammad Ali (WTF?!?), too. Cretins.
posted by MrMoonPie at 12:52 PM on November 1, 2005

I saw a similar thing last night. Turned out to be a NASCAR driver costume.
posted by Sorcia at 1:03 PM on November 1, 2005

I'm beginning to believe maybe it was the Power Rangers. I'll give Pollomacho it unless someone comes up with a hotter kidmeme than that. I figured someone who'd shopped for said outfits would have said something about being besieged with products from line X this year.

These costumes are pretty close, though nobody wore/carried the masks (early costume casualties perhaps).

As far as guesses go, they were logoless, at least insomuch as I could detect. F4 are pretty easy to figure but a fair number of costumes would require a stifling helmet to make the ID clear.
posted by Ogre Lawless at 1:41 PM on November 1, 2005

My boy was the Red SPD Power Ranger but went out without the helmet. Look familiar?

The fake muscles are my favorite part.
posted by SashaPT at 2:59 PM on November 1, 2005

I vote for Mr. Fantastic from the Fantastic Four.
posted by Bella Sebastian at 4:13 PM on November 1, 2005

Bionicles? Sans mask? Or this one. My 9-year-old brother is waaay into Bionicles.
posted by CiaoMela at 4:21 PM on November 1, 2005

Speaking of Hallowe'en, what sorta population of teenaged kids came knocking at your door for handouts last night?

Me: zero. Thank goodness. I figure end of elementary school should be the end of Hallowe'en trick-or-treating. Time to go to the school dances at that age.
posted by five fresh fish at 5:48 PM on November 1, 2005

5ff:Time to go to the school dances at that age.

Heh. The student council at my kid's school has pretty much cancelled dances other than Prom and Homecoming. Out of a school of nearly 1000 they had 40 kids show up at the last couple of dances. And that included the Student Council members working at it. The middle school dances aren't doing that well either. She went to one dance two years ago, and to the spring dance after the 8th Grade Farewell, and basically said "I'm not going to another one. The music sucks. A lot of my friends aren't here. I've got better things to do with my day than watch the "popular" kids tell everyone else that they suck."
posted by jlkr at 7:41 PM on November 1, 2005

I second Bionicles. One of my friends sent me a pic of her kid dressed in what I thought was a Power Ranger costume, but she said he was a Bionicle.
posted by andraste at 9:15 PM on November 1, 2005

Bionicles it could be as well. Why won't these damned kids wear their headpieces?

As for teenagers: I had a couple of 7th grade types and then a bunch of "upper-middle school" types: 7-9th who came by in a large, minivan-supported wave of ten. It was an awfully late hour for the last 20% of my traffic.

They were all ninjas except for the kids who I found on my porch making out.

For the second time on the weekend I wanted strategically placed sprinklers.

Biggest hauler was a passed-out 1-something (mini Batman) who'se mother was shilling. Oldest was two fourty-something moms who came by, rather giggling as they did.

Next year I will need to stock Charlie Brown Rocks in preparation, else coal.
posted by Ogre Lawless at 9:36 PM on November 1, 2005