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Batman outfit in the standard Ideal
costume box. Batman was first issued in 1966 as part of the
original line of Captain Action accessories, and was later reissued in
a ring box starting in 1967. The accessories include a suit, boots,
cape, facemask, hood, belt, batarang, flashlight, laser torch, and grappling
hook and Batrope reel. Scans of this box are available here: Batman
Boxart.
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Batman Outfit in ring box. Same
stuff, different box. As you can see in the lower right hand portion
of the box the arrow proclaims "Its New! For you" an interesting promotional
item that was introduced with the second series of costumes.
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Batman Flicker Ring. The ring
features a picture of Captain Action, and then when viewed from a slightly
different angle, a picture of Batman. The ring inserts were made
by Vari View, and had a sliver plastic base. The inserts were later
available in larger blue bases and were sold in gum ball machines.
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Captain Action Batman bodysuit.
Gray with blue vinyl, what should I call them? how about "shorts".
It has a gold foil emblem with the traditional Batman logo. One thing
you'll notice about the vinyl area is that it has black stripes (the cape
does too). There is no basis for the stripes in the Batman comic
books or TV series, it just seems to be a characteristic of the vinyl material
they used to make the cape and shorts. For some reason I think it
works really well. It gives the cape a flowing appearance.
One interesting point is that the vinyl does tend to shrink a bit over
time and you might have trouble getting the suit past the Captains over
developed upper legs.
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A close up of the logo on Batman's
suit. Black printing on gold foil. As with most of the Ideal
Logo's it was printed on a thin metal foil, which gives it a brilliant
appearance. The drawback is that once it is wrinkled it stays wrinkled
forever. You can flatten them back out but they are never the same.
Loose suits tend to have bends and dings in the logo.
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Batman's two piece mask. As
you can see, the hood is a separate piece from the facemask. This
allows the mask to completely cover Captain Actions face and is just a
very cool approach. This is the earlier version with white lips,
the second issue (usually found in the ring boxes) have pink lips.
While this is the "rule" there are non ring box versions with the pink
lipped mask as well. There are two problems with the two piece mask
approach. It causes paint wear on the face portion where it contacts
the hood, and secondly, it tends to sit a little awkwardly on the Cap'n.
It takes some work to get it on just right but when you do its well worth
it, it can look great.
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Batman's mask, the version with the
pink lips on a costume dummy. I am including this to show just how
good the mask looks when you finally manage to get it on just right, and
how much better the pink lips look. Note that in both versions Batman's
eyes are unpainted. Ideal tended to leave the eyes unpainted in most
of the masks. This picture allows you to see the subtle eyebrows.
You can also detect paint rubs on the nose, although I am sure it wasn't
that way when it left the factory.
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Batman's cape is made of blue vinyl
with black stripes. Unlike the cape in the Superman costume set,
Batman's cape is separate from the body suit. It has a spherical
plastic button sewn onto one end of the clasp area, and a hole in the other.
The button was available in both black and white. Both seem to be
equally common, but the black looks better. The button was fairly
large and there is a tendency for the hole on the opposite end to be become
torn open because of that.
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Batman's boots, blue/gray plastic.
The left and right boot are identical and interchangeable, which saves
you the trouble of having to worry if your Batman has two left feet.
Unlike GIJoe's boots they were very easy to take on and off, and adding
to that the fact that Captain Actions feet were not removable, there was
no need for any instructions on how to remove the boots. Those of
you old enough will remember what I am talking about.
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Batman's utility belt with two way
radio. It is blue rubber with silver paint. The buckle is designed
to look like a radio and it has three buttons on top. The belt has
three loops; one for hanging the Drill, one for the Flashlight, and
one for good luck. There are ten "utilities" listed on the belt,
and they are as follows (starting at the buckle): Gas, Prints, Bomb,
Smoke, Camera, Keys, Acid, Bomb (again), Lenses, Smoke (again). Hey,
if Ideal went through all of this trouble to detail the belt, the least
I can do is spell it all out for you.
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Batman's Baterang. Ideal really
nailed this one. Like all of Batman's accessories it is blue plastic
with silver paint. Well designed, it actually fits in Captain Action's
hand! No Batman is complete without it, its a great display piece.
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Batman's Grappling Hook and Bat Rope
Reel. The hook is a pliable gray plastic, and the reel is blue plastic
with silver accents. On the backing card they are listed as two separate
accessories, although they are one item. The handle on the reel functions
and allows you to wind the rope inside it. Like the baterrang it
does not have a hook to allow it to hang from the loops on the utility
belt, but hey, it has a grappling hook so you can improvise.
FYI: The rope in the reel is 19 inches long. Now theres a bit
of info you won;t see anywhere else!
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Batman's Flashlight, blue plastic
with silver paint. Not Batlight, but just plain old flashlight.
What was it with Ideal and flashlights? OK, in this case I can understand
it, although why they decided to forego a more standard looking item and
equip Batman with this phallic looking one I can't fathom. It has
a very fragile hook at the end which allows it to hang from one of the
three loops on Batmans utility belt. The hook is usually broken,
although as you can see mine still has one <g>
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Batman's Laser Torch, once again,
blue plastic with silver paint. It looks more like a drill, and it
has a hook at the end for hanging it on the utility belt. I
used this picture of one on the card so you can see that I am not making
up the name. Besides, my loose one is missing the hook. Such
are the fortunes of war.
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BACK
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Page design and content copyright
Jan 2000 by Daniel Webster.
These pictures are from my personal collection, and some of the items are
for sale (inquire within).
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