nasa spook in space or space spook halloween costume

[raycastile]

Oh wait. I do own it. Well that changes everything. So about this mask...what observations can I make...

Well, it is obviously an uncirculated mask. There are tiny pin holes where the elastic would have been stapled, but no sign that it ever actually had an elastic band. I don't know if it was a prototype or just a factory sample. I think it was a sample, maybe a test shot. Except for its unfamiliarity, there is nothing about the mask to indicate it was never mass produced. I suspect it was produced, and we will see a boxed one on eBay one of these days. If Shannon is sure he saw a boxed one, then that settles it for me.

[fmofmpls]

I love this mask! Just as Freddie Poe noted earlier, monsters and space is a sure win combo. Love it. Thanks for sharing those pics Raymond!

[marsattacks666]

This mask is the coolest.

[Ghost]

Brecht Bug has one on his flickr page with the red scar from the mouth on the opposite side. Can't tell if it is photoshopped as a mirror image and then the logo reapplied to read correctly. The paint job looks identical to Ray's just reversed.



Mask owned by Corey(swankcat) that Brian showed on his site Plaid Stallions.



Ray's purchased from Hake's (Corey)



Hake's paired it with a Collegeville spooky spooks mummy mask and prototype drawing. But the Astrospook is clearly a Ben Cooper mask as the design is similar to the Frankenstein from the 60s through the 80s.



It reminds me of Toy Ranch's Flick & Trick Lite-Up Monster.



Mixed with these normal astronauts. One says NASA the other says USA Astronaut or NASA Astronaut where it says NASA ASTRO SPOOK on the Frankenstein example.




1973 Ben Cooper

[raycastile]

Thanks Ghost for that rundown. The Ben Cooper astronaut mask was also paired with a Lost in Space costume. I have no doubt that the Astro Spook is made from Ben Cooper elements. If it is an actual production example, then it was surely a Ben Cooper mask. Collegeville had its own designs for astronaut helmets and Frankenstein faces. If the mask is some kind of prototype, it's possible that Collegeville might have created it from two Ben Cooper masks...but again, why do that when they had their own similar designs. Everything about this mask says "Ben Cooper" to me. I know there are examples of Ben Cooper masks in Collegeville boxes, and Collegeville masks in Ben Cooper boxes, but I have always been suspicious of them. It is too easy to mix and match costumes, masks and boxes, especially if the mixup happened when mom was packing away the costumes after Halloween 40 years ago. Looking through vintage Ben Cooper and Collegeville catalogs, I don't see that kind of cross-company pollination.

As for Bug's picture, it is the same mask reversed and Photoshopped. Look at how the rim of the helmet window is printed slightly offset from the sculpture, and look at the excess plastic around the edge of the mask. It's the same mask. Bug assembles those collages from images he finds online.

[raycastile]

That Lite-Up Frankenstein is a thing of beauty. I had the opportunity to buy it years ago, but snoozed. Sometimes I don't know what is wrong with me. I thought I was going to snooze on this Astro Spook, but I didn't.

[jimm]

I love these old kids costumes...

[Hepcat]

I agree. They're fabulous! Tough to display, but fabulous nonetheless.

[Radioactive Rod Whitenack]

This is one of coolest, most interesting threads I've ever followed on the UMA. Thanks everyone for the photos and info!

Rod

[raycastile]

I agree. They're fabulous! Tough to display, but fabulous nonetheless.

Nah, they're easy to display. I just stomp on them to flatten them out, then put them in a frame. Or I string some twine through their eyes, put about 20 of them on a 12' length of twine, and string it up along the gutter above the garage for Halloween.

[raycastile]

This is one of coolest, most interesting threads I've ever followed on the UMA. Thanks everyone for the photos and info!

Rod

Cool. I'm going to start a new thread about the Collegeville Mummy that was part of this Hakes auction. It'll be in the Masks section.

[Ghost]

Nah, they're easy to display. I just stomp on them to flatten them out, then put them in a frame. Or I string some twine through their eyes, put about 20 of them on a 12' length of twine, and string it up along the gutter above the garage for Halloween.

Whaaaaatttt!!!!? No say it ain't so. Pre-stomping send them my way and I'll display them for you. I hang the masks and store the costumes in the boxes visible through the cellophane window. I've only had one rubber band break and it was sort of dry rotted when i got it. I've always wanted to photograph them or flatten the images (no stomping) and print them for cut outs to hang in the window on Halloween but I never have. My House faces south and the sun usually bleaches anything I hang in the windows during the month of October. But if I had the images saved I could just reprint them as they faded out for new ones.

[raycastile]

Whaaaaatttt!!!!? No say it ain't so. Pre-stomping send them my way and I'll display them for you. I hang the masks and store the costumes in the boxes visible through the cellophane window. I've only had one rubber band break and it was sort of dry rotted when i got it. I've always wanted to photograph them or flatten the images (no stomping) and print them for cut outs to hang in the window on Halloween but I never have. My House faces south and the sun usually bleaches anything I hang in the windows during the month of October. But if I had the images saved I could just reprint them as they faded out for new ones.

Relax, I'm just pulling Hepcat's tail.

[raycastile]

Here is the thread on the Mummy:

http://www.universalmonsterarmy.com/forum/index.php?topic=23414.new#new

[horrorhunter]

Did someone mention stomping Hepcat's tail?