Halloween all muscles, magic

By Nancy Churnin / The Dallas Morning News <br><br>What will the well-dressed trick-or-treater be wearing? <br><br>Kids just want to have power, judging from the high number of Powerpuff Girls, Power Rangers,

Thursday, October 19th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

By Nancy Churnin / The Dallas Morning News

What will the well-dressed trick-or-treater be wearing?

Kids just want to have power, judging from the high number of Powerpuff Girls, Power Rangers, Batmen, witches and wizards that the people who sell costumes say you'll see on Halloween.

Wolverine (from X-Men) and Digimon, both new this year, are popular, too.

Younger kids seem to like Thomas the Tank Engine, characters from Dragon Tales and Blue's Clues and Buzz Lightyear. Preteen boys like costumes from the Scream movies â€“ the scary, distorted, white skeletal face under a dark hood.

One funny thing about Blue's Clues: Most kids think of Blue as the boy's costume and Blue's friend, Magenta, as the girl's. But Blue is actually a girl dog and Magenta the boy. So it will be interesting to see who will wear which costume.

As they always do, many girls will wear traditional fairy-tale prettiness with mermaid, sugar plum fairy, princess and Cinderella costumes.

And even though Harry Potter books have been popular, there is no official Harry Potter costume you can buy. But there are a lot of different wizard costumes that come close.

The Lillian Vernon catalog sells a wizard costume with a blue cloak, matching hat with moons and stars, and a wand that lights up. But the company has sold more Shadow Ninja and Batman costumes than wizards. Their wizard look is cute, but kids just don't seem to think it suits Harry.

But at www.disguise.com, sales are strong for a Crimson Wizard with striped rugby shirt, black glasses and an insignia of crossed brooms that says "the school of Witchcraft & Wizardry."

CelebrateExpress.com is also doing well with its magician costume. And many kids may decide to craft their own Potter impersonations with cloak and dark glasses. They can use a makeup pencil to craft the green lightning-shaped scar that Harry has on his forehead.

And what will Mom and Dad be wearing Halloween night? They'll be turning back the clock with poodle skirts (from the '50s), Austin Powers (an homage to the '60s) and go-go girl outfits (from the '70s).