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The Phantom uniform and equipment,
part of the original issue costumes for Captain Action. The set contains
a Face Mask, Hood, Automatic Pistols, Rifle With Scope, Boots, Knife To
Fit In Boot, and Skull Brass Knuckle Press.
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The Phantom uniform and equipment
in ring style box, same layout as the standard box. The later issues
of the Phantom had 45 Caliber Automatic pistols instead of the six shooters
included originally. The Backing Card always listed them as "Automatic
Pistols". This is an example of the first type of ring box, in which
the portion of the box proclaiming "Wear Your official ring" was a sticker
which was pasted onto the standard box. You can see that section
has slightly discolored with age.
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The Phantom Video Matic "flicker"
ring, featuring a picture of Captain Action, and The Phantom on a green
background. For more flicker rings visit the Captain
Action Ring Page
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The Phantom uniform. One piece
uniform with three snaps in the back. Purple with blue shorts and
black vinyl strips across the shorts. Very cool color combination.
The vinyl stripes make it easy to distinguish the Ideal version from the
Playing Mantis version, which has printed on stripes.
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The Phantom mask, pink lipped version.
The pink lip version was issued after the white lip version. Excellent
two piece design which completely covers the head including the ears.
The Playing Mantis version is similar, although it is a one piece mask,
with the two haves being attached at the crown.
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The Phantom mask, white lipped version.
The front face mask portion is put on first and the hood goes on afterwards,
completely covering Captain Actions head.
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The Phantom's black plastic boots.
Interchangeable left and right boots. Not much detail on these, but
at least they have a heel.
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The Phantom's belt with two holsters.
Black rubber with a silver skull embossed on the buckle.
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The Phantom's 45 Caliber Automatic
Pistols. Second issue sets had 45's to replace the six shooters.
Often found melted from being stored in the holsters. The hard plastic
pieces would "melt" after prolonged contact with the rubber pieces.
This is actually due to plasticizers leaching from the rubber into the
plastic (according to my brother the former chemist) In fact the
only unmelted ones I could find were still attached to the backing card.
These 45 Caliber pistols were also included with the Weapons Arsenal (painted
silver), Steve Canyon got one, and Sgt
Fury has a green one. These babies really got around.
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Knife To Fit In Boot, at least thats
what it says on the backing card. Black plastic with silver painted
blade. The name was Ideal's way of telling you that there was no
scabbard on the belt to hold the knife. One thing that Ideal did
very well was to provide places for all of the equipment included in their
costume sets. It was this kind of attention to detail that really
makes Captain Action unequaled in the annuals of toydom. Its
also the reason so many items have tiny hooks which break off, and melts
from being stuck in the belts.
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Phantom Knife's Skull handle.
Another really nice touch which makes this set stand out. The knife
was also available in a repainted version in the weapons arsenal (purple
handle and a red stripe on the blade). The knife has a long thin
tip and it is often broken. However, it is not often melted.
Such are the fortunes of sticking it in your boot. The Playing Mantis
version does not have a skull on the handle.
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Rifle With Scope. Black plastic
with silver accents and skull embossed on the stock. The thin barrel
is often broken.
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Skull Brass Knuckle Press. Black
plastic with silver painted skull. This is the rough equivalent of
the skull ring that the Phantom would wear, leaving his mark upon his adversaries.
This is a rare and often lost part, and it used to fetch a good price before
reissues and repros came along.
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Page design and content and pictures
copyright July 2000 by
Daniel
Webster.
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