Posted By Dan Greenfield on Feb 12, 2025 | 1 comment

Halloween in February!

NECA’s DC Comics x Ben Cooper Costume Kids Collection — five 5 1/2-inch action figures dressed in the beloved, cheesy mass-market Halloween costumes of yesteryear — is hitting shops and arriving on porches as we speak.

You’ve probably already seen folks post pix online and you’ll probably recall that we ran a whole in-depth series on the figs late last year.

Give these folks a round of applause!

So what’s there left to say? Plenty!

Here are 13 REASONS NECA’s BEN COOPER DC COMICS FIGURES ARE A SPECIAL TREAT:

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1. They’re like having action figures of yourself. When I was very young, maybe 5 or 6 years old, I wore my Ben Cooper Batman suit everywhere. I was fortunate that it was the sturdier, year-round cloth play suit and not the nylon jumper that Ben Cooper put out for Halloween. Nevertheless, seeing this Batman figure is like looking through a tiny mirror into the past.

Me, at age 6. By this time, only the shirt and cape had survived. The mask is a really groovy Adam West-style knockoff from Mexico. (At least I presume it’s a knock-off.)

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2. Seriously, I would be wearing it at the supermarket and the stock guys would always ask me where Robin was. I would reply, with a serious bearing, “He’s doing his homework.”

Even now, I have a t-shirt based on that logo and it frequently gets a reaction. At a Dunkin’ Donuts recently, I held the door for an older woman, who smiled and said, “I always knew Batman had manners.” If only she knew where the design came from! Seeing it on an action figure — an official one — is magic.

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3. That Randy Falk and the NECA folks chose to make the entire Ben Cooper line like Mego-style figures was an inspired decision. There’s strong generational overlap, so it’s the perfect marriage of form and function.

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4. Plus you can finally team yourself up with Robin and drive the Batmobile!

Or Batgirl!

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5. I’m glad they went with the pleather instead of nylon, which I think wouldn’t have been strong enough. It doesn’t matter that it’s not 100 percent accurate: The paint and tooling do a superb job of replicating the look of the costumes.

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6. I also had the Ben Cooper Superman outfit, but again, it was the play suit as opposed to the costume. This was the two-piecer that had the infamous “Only Superman Can Fly” warning at the hem of the shirt (which was really unsettling to me). The cape was so bright that it attracted ticks in the field across from the Tagliaferris’ house.

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7. I never understood why Ben Cooper included a mask with Superman, and I didn’t use the one they gave me. (Though mine was a red domino mask, I think.) But I love how the mask on the Superman figure (the Halloween costume version) makes the kid’s head look all oversize — because they all did that! Ben Cooper kids all looked like they had big melons and these figures do such a charming job of capturing the wonky scale. (That said, it would have been neat if the masks here were removable, but I understand why they’re not. Too much breakage potential.)

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8. And the eyes! The eyes! Looking at the eyes peering out from the masks and you’re struck by two things — that kid is SO excited it’s Halloween and, more importantly, they have to keep their eyes open so wide because they have no peripheral vision in those things. Again, I don’t know if that was part of Falk’s diabolical plan, but it works.

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9. Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman are natural choices. But how about Batgirl and Joker? I love that particular Batgirl costume and while I think the original 1960s version would have been good for a laugh, I think this was a better selection. (Love the way Ben Cooper integrated the most popular of Batgirl’s Bronze Age logos.)

The Joker is the only one that’s off. Not the figure itself, mind you, the figure’s great! It’s just that this costume came years after the others so it feels anachronistic. But this is more my pickiness than anything else. The Joker is a franchise unto himself and it only makes sense to include him. (Having three Bat-characters in the wave may annoy some, but not me, obviously. And it’s all about the sales.)

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10. Oh, wait! I haven’t written anything yet on the quality of these figures. Well, to put it mildly, they’re first rate. Solidly constructed and the joints move smoothly (but do be careful when loosening them). The display boxes that emulate the old Ben Cooper boxes — of which much has been made already — are downright genius. And the Super Friends pillow cases (and Super Villains for the Joker) are a masterstroke.

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11. I greatly, greatly appreciate that these are not all the same figures and faces under the masks. Having boys and girls of different backgrounds and with different hairstyles makes this feel like a neighborhood of toys, not a sterile production line set. Great job, Randy!

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12. Whither Robin? There was never a classic Ben Cooper Robin costume. There were Batman: The Animated Series and Schumacher versions but the only vintage-style reference I can find is this mask from Argentina, which was probably unlicensed. If NECA were to do a second wave, a How Robin Might Have Looked fig would be great. (This is something they’ve done with other properties.)

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13. Add Supergirl, the Flash, Green Lantern and Aquaman — and you’ve got Wave 2!

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The DC Comics x Ben Cooper Costume Kids Collection is sold out at the NECA store but you can find them at online retailers and specialty shops, either as a wave or individually. The original list price for the whole wave was $99.95. 

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MORE

— NECA’s RANDY FALK Reveals All About the BEN COOPER Action Figure Line. Click here.

— Dig This EXCLUSIVE UP-CLOSE LOOK at NECA’s BEN COOPER BATMAN Action Figure. Click here.