Although they were revealed at SDCC 13th Dimension has gotten some good pics of the new Ben Cooper Costume sets planned for Spirit Halloween Stores this fall. They did Star Wars last year which got limited release but this year they are rolling out DC Comics ones with Batman, Superman and The Flash-- Batman is advertised as "Classic TV Show" although it's clearly not.
Well now it can be told that Mrs Fish's little Boy Andy was the driving force behind the return. I've been doing mask designs for Ira Cooper and his team since the company came back-- Ben Cooper is a child hood favorite of mine, and it was during a conference call 2-3 years ago that I pushed for a return of the classic plastic face/cheap poncho costumes of yesteryear BUT IN ADULT SIZES-- the Cooper folks had a hard time getting on board, thinking people would reject it, but I pushed and pushed and it's finally happening, albeit I wanted to see a more vintage look to them but I like what they did. I was also in favor of the illustrated graphic on the front with the character name because I always found a ton of charm in the idea. STAR WARS was a big seller so they went out and got the DC license.
If these do well there's a chance they give my other big push a try- licensing classic monsters as Pez Dispensers! I'd love to see the return of a scary mummy, or a blood dripping Dracula or Wolfman instead of the cutesy design they offer each year.
Looks like that mask will fit the adult head. This is gonna be fun handing out candy. I used my retro shirt (with Ben Cooper Batman logo) last couple of years. I need that Superman retro shirt in the 13th dimension article.
AndyFish wrote: ↑Sun Aug 07, 2022 9:11 am
If these do well there's a chance they give my other big push a try- licensing classic monsters as Pez Dispensers! I'd love to see the return of a scary mummy, or a blood dripping Dracula or Wolfman instead of the cutesy design they offer each year.
This is a great idea and long overdue. The “cute” Halloween Pez dispensers are so unappealing.
Did anyone notice Pez released a Batman two-pack this year where one of the dispensers featured the ‘66 Bat emblem on the chest?
Awesome! Grew up with the Ben Cooper costumes. Some truly great memories of shamelessly dashing through the neighborhood collecting candy in a pillowcase, paper bag or plastic pumpkin (undeterred by my sweaty face).
Huge miss for me- would have snagged it in a nano second if they had just aped the original. The “suit” is hideous (looks like a garbage bag with holes torn out for head and arms, and design has zero to do w/ the ‘60s style). The mask is meh, more Bader voiced modern cartoon look than the classic we all know and loved. Only part of this monstrosity I want is the box.
Like to add that I put no blame on Andy, it’s the company at fault. The part that irks me the most is them using the show to trigger our nostalgic desires and than completely ignoring what we would truly want. I know it’s “just business”, but I think it stinks.
Way to go Andy! I had an idea for some time now to make a XXL version of the Batman Cooper costume. I wanted the Large mask and to carry an equally large box repo too. Started work on it but hadn't finished it. I was planning on using vinyls to make the suit and vacuum forming a mask. I'm not much of a cosplayer but I pictured wearing it to a con to represent us old timers.
Great to see them back in any form. Keep at them Andy!
No knock taken-- I want to make clear its not my design and I wanted to see a re-release of the original.
But I do like they went with the same type of box.
Kudos & great to see they finally went with your idea Andy. Wished they had used the original logo though and it is a real stretch to use the Classic TV series branding on this one. Maybe they'll do different styling if they sell well. For now, I'll stick with the one I made out of my Rubies suit a couple years back.
A few years ago Karl Heitmuller Jnr did some 'comic'' style illustrations of superheroes as they'd looked if their Ben Cooper outfits were really the outfits they wore. And here they are... https://13thdimension.com/what-if-13-su ... s-instead/
