The History of Mego
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- Опубліковано 22 січ 2013
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What we have here is a look at one of the linchpins of the 1970's toy industry. Fondly recalled by all who got to play with their simple, big-headed, colorful, jumpsuit-wearing depictions of comic book, movie and TV stars.
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@ 3:13: The Thing and Spiderman did NOT share the same MEGO body.
I own 2 Star Trek figures (Capt. Kirk & Spock) and 2 complete sets of Kiss figures from the Mego line. Mego was a big and very identifiable part of my youth in the 1970's and early 1980's.
Born in '67. I lived and LOVED Mego. Bat Man '66 and Star Trek were running in syndication and Planet of the Apes was a TV show in the 70s!! I massed a collection of these Mego figures!! I never had a removable cowl Bat Man, but I remember pointy elows and knees and was plesed when they were smoothed out. Ah, the memories.
I loved the original Batman TV series with Adam West., and I watched all the POTA movies, I loved them. Back then all my money was spent on my action man collection, me and my brother would play for hours. He was the German I was the British soldier, we had tons of stuff. Unfortunately my my, bless her, gave it all to our nephews after we had grown up.
I remember seeing MEGO dolls at Two-Guys Dept store and soon as Star wars figures and ships came out they got the front of the store while Mego was moved further down the isle.
The Micronauts were very popular and many kids I knew preferred them over Star Wars.
Todd sperling yes, I plan to do a video dedicated to this line in the future
yes way more playable
There was a Bat man figure with a removable cowl when Mego first launched but it became more cost effective to just paint the cowl on the face after the action figures took off. I had one and loved it. I would but the cowl on Superman sometimes, acting out a script from Worlds Finest comics.
I absolutely loooooove action figuresss
Looking back at my childhood the Mego action figures were by far my favorite, I collected Star Wars figures but I played with Mego.
Absolutely, and that was the biggest difference between them.
Mego had so much more playability!
I had a Mego Batman when I was about eight years old!
I heard due to the plastic they used back then, that their limbs were prone to break off because what ever held the limbs together back then melted over time? And the only way to fix them was with rubber bands? Gosh that sounds like a lot of work...I'll stick to Matell LOL Anyways great video!
Well done video. I do have to mention that at 1:38 you showed a Mummy figure by AHI, Mego's competition.
ooops, I think you're the first to spot that and this is 9 yrs old!!
All I can say about Mego, is that 2-XL was possibly my favorite toy as a kid
One of my first memories of getting toys is Mego & i still have the to this day from the 70's.
:) That's great, my mother gave most of mine away to a jumble sale!!
What a great video... well-researched and a staggeringly comprehensive number of collectibles photographed and presented.
Glad you enjoyed it! Sorry for the late reply your comment got buried!
"That Great Black SuperHero!"
I'm dead
What other context would that ever be acceptable? When I get my mail in the morning, I don't point at the mailman and say "Charles: That great black postal worker"
very cool I felt like a kid for about five minutes. It would be cool to see a mego kids wish list of figures they never made!
;) quite agree, Funko does a very good job of recreate many new lines in a retro style like this in their ReAction line and have done many lines never done before such as Pulp Fiction and Happy Days!
Damn! My childhood flashed before me!
I know that feeling well!
loved this line! great video
you are a master of toy finding
Robot Chicken wouldn't exist if it wasn't for Megos.
Excellent comprehensive overview. Thank you. Job well done. I was weaned on Mego for years. Great face sculpts. Full articulation. Cloth costumes. When the unmanageably small & inferior quality Star Wars figures ruled the toy store shelves, I had just become a teenager. Hence, I was completely uninterested on all levels. As were my peers. Another factor in the unfortunate Mego downfall. Now, the recent retro Mego figs have been a beautiful return to the glory days. A great comeback.
Many thanks for your comments, Mego were innovative and ahead of their times in many ways, and sadly there are few even today who can match them
This was a great video! I know a lot about Kenner and the Japanese Micronauts figures (Microman), but I was born a bit too late to get into Mego action figures. Currently I own a couple carded Mego figures... and will be looking for more! The hard part is that I currently live in Tokyo, and even when I find good deals on Ebay, the shipping costs are insane. Anyway, keep up the awesome work!
Thanks Jeremy, with you abt the shipping. I'm in Thailand + the same here
Oh wow, I thought you were in the UK. How is toy hunting in Thailand? One up side to living in Tokyo is that I am just 30 minutes away by train to two of the biggest vintage toy shopping centers of the world, Nakano Broadway and Koenji. However, prices are wildly different at each shop and the shop staff at most placed will not make you any deals, with the exception of a couple. I've written about some of those shops and other related things on my blog, Tokyo Toy Bastard. tokyotoybastard.blogspot.jp/
I remember the Mego Western collection figures. We had General Custer, Geronimo and Jane West. Also a couple of horses from that line. They were fun to play with.
I don't remember seeing many of the Mego figures in the UK, but most of my money went into Action Man toys and accessories, I also had the Six Million Dollar Man.
@@ActionFigureResource I think they're referring to the line made by Mark's which made the had Johnny West. The best of the West collection in the US having general Custer, Geronimo large horses buck boards and lots of accessories completely different line.
imagine if mego had picked up the 'star wars' license, though.
well, at any rate, mego still got a lot of my money as a kid! back then, i didn't pay too much attention to who the toy company was, i bought toys based on how cool i thought they were. as it turns out, i must have thought mego was pretty damn cool, lol.
Fantastic Video! The vintage commercial you slipped in still has me laughing.
Thanks, we have a lot more #Mego material lined up for the coming months, so watchcthis space!
Great video! I have lots of DC and Marvel Mego figures and cars All are in terrible shape with missing parts/gloves/boots. Wish I'd taken better care of them but hell, they were toys and I was 8-10 years old.
Loved it:-)
;) Thanks, glad you liked it. We will be featuring a lot more #Mego figures in the future
According to Marty Abrams himself - MEGO never passed on the Star Wars license. He was out of town when the Fox reps visited, so no deal could be signed that day, and Kenner was in the same building and signed the deal that day.
Paul Clarke That's very interesting Paul and in fact just goes to show how cruel fate can be. Imagine what MIGHT have happened, if only...
Damn. Just think of how the entire Star Wars line would have been amazing. Drives me crazy just thinking about this.
+Jason Klawon yes. would loved to have seen Mego Star Wars figures, but in hindsight Kenner were probably better equipped to cope with the unprecedented demand.
That makes sense, but God I want a Darth Vader, Greedo,Hammerhead, and Threepio mego. Amazing how one week can change everything.
You should modernize some of these history videos and rerelease them!
Your channel deserves so many more views. I've been looking for toy history stuff on youtube after watching the amazing toys that made us series on netflix that was crazy popular.
So I think there would be an audience for these types of histories if you gave them a second shot with the algorithm!
Oh oh and make a playlist with history of videos plz.
Great idea, I'm also planning to add a lot more companies and manufacturers, however unfortunately there are only so many hours in a day!! 😆😆
Great Video dude. I had bags full of MEGO's
"had"? what happened to them? or was it just a case of too much childhood fun?
:) Thanks CJ, as always glad that you appreciate the work
I loved these as a kid
Byron Dellas I am planning an in depth article + vid #POTA these next month next month. I loved the movies + the toys,what do u think of the remakes?
Me too it was my favourite movie when I was a kid well I think it's the original or maybe conquest of the planet of the apes but the remakes are good like rise of the planet of the apes except for Tim Burton's..
And the link you sent me was to a song.
Byron Dellas sorry abt the song, wrong hash tag then. I think they have down a good job on the remakes as well, thankfully :)
Spider-Man and The Thing were two different body sculpts. The Thing and Hulk used an alternate bulkier body.
I only had Fonzie, with the movable thumbs and back lever!
Thanks for reminding me, I must do a Happy Days video to complement the website pages!
Yes, Mego were the first with so much from the type of figures, articulation to POS and marketing etc. Their downfall I think was when they turned down the Star Wars license.
But mego still has a strong stamp on pop culture history even with out Star wars...personally ,i'll take a mego figure over a star wars figure any day .
ActionFigureResource i think mego was use to make stop motion of robot chicken series
That Green Goblin looks like a drag
Now that you mention it...may be he was a Bowie fan :)
I loved MEGO, But hated the type 1 bodies.
e er buy the metal wrist pin ones! The band's inside broke very easy! The plastic flesh pins had rubber bands much stronger then the first one built
Mego rules! Period.
xoxo
The Clarences (Robert, Erin & Leslie)
Informative.... :0)
Good video. But it's funny that you cited The Thing to illustrate the point of Mego's use of universal body molds. You said that Mego fans are all aware that a Mego Thing is just a Spider-Man with different clothing and head. Not so. You would have been right in choosig almost any other character, nearly all of which used the universal body type. The Thing was one of only a handful of exceptions to this. That figure, like the Hulk, used a bigger, more muscular body, and he also had lower arms and fists that featured a rock like textured mold. The Thing was the most blatant exception to the rule of interchangeable bodies.
Great Video ....any chance of you ever doing an IDEAL ...Captain Action History Video?
simon templer yes Simon, I do intend tackling Capt Action at some stage, particularly the vintage line rather than the new 'Retro' line.
Yes!!...The same type of video on the Ideal line would be great ...some background on the company as well why the line did not last as long as it should have..etc..
Thanks..
MEGO is back 👍👍👍✌👽
I still remember holding a carded Mego Conan and carded Iron Man in my hands in the late 70's...but then the packaging met the garbage can. Too bad, right?
if we knew then what we know now hey? but then it wouldn't be collectable would it? I think this is one off the reasons the hobbies dieing because people are to prreoccupied with collecting rather than playing with them!
@@ActionFigureResource I agree. They throw around the word collectible now and a lot of these younglings just don't realize that to BE a collectible one day....or at least one that will increase in value...during the time frame it was created it really CAN'T BE a collectible. A few exceptions exist, but for the most part a certain part of the 80's is pretty much where value stops for the hobby at large. Anything before is fair game based on demand and rarity. Collecting after is only good if one wants to line their shelves with characters they like. But they may as well just take them out of the packages because their values will probably remain stagnant since they made SO many of them and SO many people are collecting them and not opening them.
@@HappyFam991 yes precisely, it's because they were played with, damaged, broken and tossed away that they became valuable which is one reason why I believe it's the toys that are popular and being played with that will be truly collectible in the future. That said a big part of the hobby is nostalgia and collecting what we had or wanted as kids. I think kids are missing out on the fun we had playing with these because of the over emphasis on the collecting aspect.
@@ActionFigureResource Exactly if many of Mego's figures and dolls in the '70's and early '80's were only collected and never removed from their boxes or packaging then their would be an abundance of them mint in sealed boxes then their would be far too many of them mint in sealed boxes that they would not be worth much money in the future. Some EBay sellers advertise the Mego Farrah Fawcett dolls mint in box as a rare doll or even loose from box in played with condition a rare item but they are not as you can see from the hundreds of them still available mint in box and sometimes mint in factory sealed unopened boxes and loose used dolls up for auction on Ebay. The only thing rare on these Farrah dolls is if they are mint in original factory sealed boxes with no signs of Mego melt stains on their outfits or costumes and no green marks from chemical reactions on their arms with clean outfits and clean still shiny hair and excellent condition boxes with the cellophane window still fully or mostly intact. Then they may be kinda rare in that pristine condition especially if the doll looks pristine and box as well but those are hard to come by and very costly going for much higher prices. But that's any Mego doll or figure for that matter but Mego mass produced SO many of these dolls and action figures and many of them have been in the garbage and fully deteriorated many years ago. Alot of these Mego dolls and figures were played with by children so much in the '70's that they were thrown in the garbage from breaking and wearing out only after 2 or 3 years probably if that long. They were only made and meant to last for a few short years not for lasting 50 years for future adult collectors. When Mego made these toys they were made to be opened and played with and enjoyed for fun by children not necessarily made for adult collectors so it's no wonder they sometimes have age related flaws and defects. They were created and made as children's toys not future valuable collectibles.
The Thing and Spider-Man are completely different bodies. The Spider-Man shown in your video is on the standard "type two" hero body while the Thing is on the lesser-used Hulk muscle body.
Thanks for that. For those interested there were two standard bodies used for most of the figures, the type 1 and 2. The main difference being that the type 1 figures had metal rivets in the joints whereas the type 2 had plastic plugs.
Did I miss something but did you barely mention the Micronauts? I was a kid at the time and the Micronauts were pretty popular with me and my friends for a good 2 years or so.
There is far to much to cover in one video and I plan to do a dedicated Micronauts video in the future.
cool can't wait. loved the Micornauts!
Flash in the pan? I think not!
1 year ago, pony up with the Micronauts video pls
robot chicken
Spidey and Thing didn't share the same body....thing and hulk shared a body.
John dignerds That's right! But different colors and they were only about six inches tall. Why? They were supposed to be taller and larger than the others? That made no sense at all.
+Ronnie “Love Is A Dark Place” Dill Jr I thought hulk and thing were 12,?
isn't daimond select starting to re-release the Marvel MEGOs and make ones in that style?
I think you're thinking of the Figures Toy Company who specialize in reproducing MEGO figures and MEGO style figures although other companies have similar lines of retro figures, e.g. NECA have their ReAction line and Funko's Super7 line
Can you do history of trendmasters
Did that Tony Stark figure in the comic look like Robert Downey Jr?
yes.
I I wanted to just read the wikipedia article I would have.
Kenner was still a separate you company to Hasbro from 1991-1999. Until they closed in 2000 as we all know.
Yes, that was a great loss. Also Toybiz when Hasbro swallowed them up to.
ActionFigureResource that definitely was a great loss mate.
the THING body was not the same as Spiderman, it was the same as the 8"Hulk...
ooops...what did I say?
@@ActionFigureResource your point in general is correct on the body sculpts, just not in the case of the THING or The HULK both are bulked up , Spiderman is not a red version of the THING, great vids though
spider-man/ the thing... NOT the same figure type... NOT interchangeable... hulk/ the thing? yes
Mego's toys and figures and dolls of the '70's and early '80's had alot of great play value and they were great as toys to play with during their time. But Mego's dolls and figures did not hold up very well as future collectibles mint in box except for a few of them. Especially their female celebrity dolls like Mego Farrah Fawcett dolls or their Diana Ross dolls since most of them just fell and broke apart while being New in box due to age and lack of usage with their melting joints issues and arms or legs falling off them. Melting leaching onto their costumes and sticking to them and ruining their outfits. Kenner and Mattel toys and dolls held up and lasted better as collectibles. The only thing on the Mego figures and dolls that held up well and lasted was their doll heads except for the greying head problem on their later releases from 1979-80.
never
I was hoping you'd mention the smaller Mego Superhero figures. The ones with bent knees and the fists that made it look like they were you know...
manthony225 hahaa!!! I thought I was the only one who thought that!!!!
Lots of incorrect information here. Not to mention oodles of images used without permission. If you want true information, do some research and ask questions. Don't believe everything on UA-cam.
John Jones Hi John, thanks for your comments. I used a multitude of sources for this information including megomusuem.com, toyfare magazine, Wikipedia and of Mego Action figures by John Bonavira, but I will recheck the information and redo the video as required. Also with regards to the images, where possible I will usually give credit to sites, magazines and books etc used so I will check the image sources also.
Micronauts killed MEGO? Are you insane, man?
Star Wars, (which Mego missed on getting the license to), is WHY Mego died. Their head honcho Marty Abrams even said so. They made TERRIBLE licensing decisions, too. You can't have CHiPs, Love Boat and Black Hole figures while Star Wars figures were around. HMM, what should i get? Captain Steubing or Han Solo? Really? Micronauts was the ONLY thing that has stayed alive throughout the years, and have recently been revived (eh... somewhat... ugh) by Hasbro. The "dolls" of Mego were DYING in popularity at the time. It was ALL about the 3 3/4ths figures. Micronauts was the only "cool" one Mego was making, but still couldn't stand up to Star Wars.
You also can't have a "History of Mego" without mentioning "Lion Rock" toys or "Hour Toys", which detail just how twisted Marty Abrams is in conscience and money-grabiness.
Also, google search "Mego fire insurance scam", and you'll realize it wasn't JUST toy decisions that killed Mego. They were, you know... criminals. That got caught. lol.
Jinzo Clash in an interview Abraham's stated that they approached MEGO but he was out of the office at the time so he didn't actually turn them down but because the failed to connect Kenner got the license
Yup. But, being Marty Abrams, I'd take anything he says with a grain of salt. He's anything BUT an honest man. He'd never admit to a blunder like turning down Star Wars. True or not, to me, he's the guy who "didn't give back" Ken Kelly's Antron package art painting, the guy involved in a fire scam that killed Mego, the guy who kept selling stuff after Takara's graces were no longer present, the guy who sold Micronauts figures WITHOUT HANDS to children, and if I'm not mistaken, the guy who thought "Apollo Smile" and "Vanpires" were GREAT ideas.
Jinzo Clash I had never heard of the fire scam, but despite this MEGO brought a lot of innovation to the industry and they have become an icon of the 70s for their figures. There were a lot of reasons behind their down fall, not least of which was losing, or more correctly not getting, the Star Wars license. Then they tried to remedy that by buying up a multitude of crap licences
Most of mego's figures we're dogshit
and why do you think that?
@@ActionFigureResource I love Mego figures and dolls and had several of the Star Trek and Planet Of The Apes figures from 1974 by Mego. But he is probably referring to some of the problems with Mego figures and dolls like the old First release of their Star Trek and Planet Of The Apes figures with the cheap rubber band construction of the figures limbs that snapped and broke easily in 1974. And also the 12 1/4 Mego female Fashion Dolls like their Farrah Fawcett doll and a few others in that line that have problems with the Mego melting at the arm and hip and leg joints then sometimes their arms and legs come off or break off or the Mego melt sticks to the dolls clothing or outfit and ruins it with nasty melt stains or their arm and leg joints stiffen and freeze from the melt and their arms and legs no longer move and if you force them to move then they're arms or legs will snap and break off. Also the green marks on the dolls arms and ankles especially on the Farrah dolls with the brass wire inside the vinyl arms and legs to bend her arms and legs more easily reacts with the vinyl causing the hideous green spots on the arms and ankles sometimes. This problem seems most common on the Mego Farrah and Toni Tennille dolls but sometimes Cher and their Diana Ross doll and Wonder Woman also to a lesser extent. This can totally ruin an otherwise New Mint In Box factory sealed never opened Mego Farrah doll and it's a shame but these dolls and toys were created and made to be used and played with and they were never meant to stay untouched inside their boxes for almost 50 years. In the '70's and '80's there was not too many people that collected dolls and action figures and they were created to be bought and played with by children not bought by adult collectors speculating that they would become valuable some day. Adult toy and figure collecting is a relatively more recent years thing and that's why toy manufacturers create toys with limited numbers sometimes nand special retro designs of figures these days. The Mego Farrah dolls were made in such high production numbers and there are so many mint in box ones and some unopened factory sealed ones at that and also many loose from box ones that they will never be considered as rare unless they don't suffer with the Mego melt and other age and storage defects. They are only kinda rare if they don't have any of the usual Mego doll flaws and defects that they commonly have. Mego must have used cheap plastics and vinyls in the making of their female dolls to offer them at a cheaper more affordable price point and now these dolls suffer and some of them look like partly brand new and partly used junk at the same time while mint in the box even factory sealed. The heads and hair on them is quite often the only thing that has stayed perfectly mint and clean on most of them sadly but their bodies look like they should be trashed. I still collect Mego figures and dolls regardless though and I accept them for their flaws and defects even though some may be manufacturing defects from the time they were made. Sorry for the long post but this needed to be said.