Mattel Releases Wearable Utility Belt And Batarang, Crimefighters No Longer Need Fear Embarrassing Pants Mishaps

One of the more unfortunate side effects of living in modern society is that we're expected to wear pants whenever we're in public. Seriously, they want you to do that every time you leave the house, even though that is clearly an unrealistic proposition for a society that has already perfected pajama technology. It's an undeniable hassle, but this month, Mattel released something that helps make it a little more awesome: a recreation of the classic Batman '66 utility belt, complete with a folding Batarang.

It's the latest entry in the tidal wave of merchandise that's been hitting shelves in the truly wonderful Batman TV series revival that we've been seeing over the past few months, and unless you're willing to get creative with your "Surf's Up" Batman action figure, it's the first one you can actually wear. Check out a video of the belt in action below!

A few things about this video. First, I'm not sure "cartoonic" is a word. Second, and probably more importantly, the belt has pouches that open on the bottom, presumably for ease of operation while tied to a machine that will turn you into a postage stamp. According to the video, this is accurate to the show, and it's true -- while the pilot, "Hi Diddle Riddle," used a belt with pouches that opened from the top, later episodes had the pouches as shown.

More worrisome is the lack of space for the Batarang, especially since this is a key selling point listed over at MattyCollector. It's very disappointing, especially since the belt as seen on TV included a crescent-shaped pouch for just such a purpose:

Still, there's no getting around the fact that it's a wearable Batman '66 utility belt, which is pretty cool even if you can't store a can of aerosol Bat-Sleep in there. The belt is on sale now at the link above, retailing for the price of $125.00, which, is pretty steep unless you're millionaire Bruce Wayne -- but if that's the case, you probably already have one of your own.