Friday, December 31, 2010

MegoMuseum looks at Heroes World!




Any child of the 1970s likely spent some time drooling over a Heroes World ad, if you are a Mego collector, you probably still do. In those pre internet days, those beautifully drawn pages were the only evidence that certain toy lines existed. Nothing spread the word about Super Hero merchandise like a Heroes World Catalog. We here at the Mego Museum wanted to pay a little tribute to this wonderful operation.
We've put together a rare look with behind the scenes photographs and interviews, it's all here at the MegoMuseum takes a look at Heroes World!

Happy New Year from the Mego Museum!

Friday, December 17, 2010

The 2010 Mego Museum "Kubby" Awards!



Mego fans, 2010 was truly "our year". Why, if you think back a few years and any idea of having an awards presentation would have resulted in most of them going to a dead company. it's astounding that we now have a variety of products and licenses in which to choose the very best.

We are pleased to present the 2010 Kubby awards, named after the late Neal Kublan  former Mego VP who was always ready to share his wealth of knowledge with us fans. These awards were chosen by members of the Mego Museum forums and give credit where it's due despite it being a tough year to pick favourites.

Read More After the Jump

Monday, December 13, 2010

Flash Gordon: Up Close

We take a look at the great new Flash Gordon line from Bif Bang Pow! at the Museum today. These really floored us with their quality and detail, Mego fans rejoice after 30 years we're getting the Flash Gordon figures we always wanted.


Flash Gordon and Ming 8-Inch Action Figures


A tale of three Ralphs

Mego Ralph 
Thanks to good our friends at Heroes West Coast, we have what is generally referred to as an embarrassment of riches. Not one but three different stage Ralph Hinkley action figures, two early prototypes and a finished, carded production figure.

I don't know about you but I'd have gone nuts if I saw this in a store as a kid....
Check it out at the Mego Museum Greatest American Hero Gallery and stay tuned next week for more Greatest American Prototypes.

Friday, December 10, 2010

Greatest American Discovery

Mego Bill Maxwell 
Another terrific discovery this year provided by our friends at Heroes West Coast, this is a carded Bill Maxwell sales sample recently purchased from a former department store toy buyer. The sample gives great indication as to what the finished product would have looked like.
Mego Bill Maxwell
A close up of the figure, note it's differences to the earlier Maxwell sample found that's below:

Check it out at the Mego Museum Greatest American Hero Gallery and stay tuned next week for more Greatest American Prototypes.

Thursday, December 09, 2010

Will the Real Martian Please Stand up?


Our friends at BifBangPow! noticed a couple of missing figures in our Remego Galleries and generously offered some up photos for updates. Our Twilight Zone Gallery now has a page for the Venusian from "Will the Real Martian Please Stand up?"

Which BBP wants everybody to know is also available for preorder right now at Entertainment Earth.


Also noticeably absent from the ReMego Galleries was Hank Venture, How could we forget half of the titular characters? Sounds like something Hank would do, anyway problem fixed.

Hank is also available for Pre Order in a two pack with Dr Girlfriend from Entertainment Earth.


Watch for more updates and ReMego Announcements very soon!


Creepy Classics Return!


Cast Away Toys has unveiled a new wave of Creepy Classics, just in time for the holiday Season click on the photo for more info. Speaking of holidays, their Zombie Claus is also available, however supplies are running out.


Thursday, December 02, 2010

All Mego at Big Discounts

click to enlarge

Aggh! Elastic Plasticman for $9? Movie Star Trek figures for under $3?

Oh 1980 ToysRUs ad you can be very cruel....

Wednesday, December 01, 2010

The Great Star Trek Clearance of 1980

For years, many Mego Museum members have talked of the "Clearance Star Trek" set which included usually  Kirk and Spock figures shrunk wrapped into a Bridge Playset, the playset was normally missing the transporter unit meaning it was a factory leftover of some sort.

Well, finally we have some print evidence of this item, taken from this December 1980 newspaper ad. At $5.00 this was a steal of a deal.

Hopefully one of these sets surfaces someday.

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

The 2010 Mego Museum Awards Survey




As fans of the 8" format, we've never had a more encouraging time than 2010 (well if you omit the 1970s) and what better way to "give back" than to give accolade to the figures you felt were the best of the year?

Announcing the 2010 Mego Museum Awards celebrating the best in ReMego and it's all chosen by you!

Simply click here to take our short survey and tell us things like:

What's your Favourite line of 2010?
Who has the best accessories, the best packaging?
Who is your favourite company?
What lines are you most looking forward to in 2011?


It's all for fun but please do contribute, we'll present the winners at the end of December.

Click Here for to tell us who is the best

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Mego Joins the Military


From September of 1972, Mego show cases the military outfits from their "Action Jackson" line of toys. The rest is 8" history....


MegoMuseum Action Jackson Galleries

Universal Monsters Retro Series 1 Action Figure Set

The Universal Monster figures from EMCE are now shipping, get yer claws on them!

Saturday, November 06, 2010

EMCE Monsters are on the loose!


 Entertainment Earth has just listed the EMCE Universal Frankenstein and Wolfman as in stock! That means that Mego and Monster fans should start to expect to see them in comic and toy stores soon!

EMCE Universal Monsters Gallery at the Mego Museum

Universal Monsters Retro Series 1 Action Figure Set

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Mego Exhibit at the Denver Museum of Minatures, Dolls and Toys


Of great interest to Mego heads this fall would be "The World of Mego" exhibit at the Denver Museum of Minatures, Dolls and Toys. The exhibit
includes a loaned collection from Karen Abrams Habour and covers the many lines and licenses undertaken by the world's greatest toy company.
The exhibit runs from now until December.
 
Hours:


Wednesday - Saturday: 10 am - 4 pm


Sunday: 1 pm - 4 pm


Denver Museum of Miniatures, Dolls and Toys
1880 Gaylord Street
Denver, CO 80206


Ticket Prices:



Seniors (62+): $5


Adults : $6

Children (5-16): $4


Under 5: free


http://www.dmmdt.org/

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Zica at New York City Comic Con


For those who couldn't make New York Comic Con this past weekend, Mego Museum member Chuck AKA "Megocrazy" was gracious enough to take some great pictures of the Buck Rogers display giving a detailed look at this highly aniticipated series of figures. Also from Comic Con comes the news that Zica's next projects include Adam West (yes, that Adam West) and Logan's Run based on the Blue Water comic series. More photos after the jump.

Monday, October 11, 2010

Vote for the Next Mego Museum Trading Card


We're doing it a little differently this time. Scott has provided some roughs for some new trading cards. We can't do them all this year but we have space to do a few.


So, we're asking your opinion on which cards should be finished and sent to print, read all about it here:

http://www.megomuseum.com/community/showthread.php?t=48789

Wednesday, October 06, 2010

Captain Action goes Retro at NYCC


Welcome back to yesteryear with the New/Old retro photboxed Captain Action and  Dr. Eville from Cast-a-Way Toys. These updated boxes pay homage to the original  Captain Action Photoboxes of the sixties with faithful representation in new 8  inch retro form.


These will debut this weekend at the NYCC and will be available at the CA
Enterprises booth #2380! ($25) A limited release will follow via

Monday, October 04, 2010

How about a little me, Scarecrow?

The umpteenth showing of "The Wizard of Oz," but this time the Scarecrow, the Tin Man and the Wicked Witch were in  the audience as well as on the screen.



"Ding-dong the witch is dead," sang 71-year-old Ray Bolger in harmony to the music as he sat watching himself cavorting as the Scarecrow through the 1938 classic. The Wicked Witch,' Margaret Hamilton, and the Tin Man, Jack Haley, along with Bolger and "Wizard of Oz" producer Mcrvyn Le Roy turned out "Monday in the Grand Ballroom of the Waldorf Astoria to wnlch clips of the movie that has been fascinating youngsters for 40 years.



"You never get tired of this picture," Bolger said, singing along and bursting into laughter repeatedly as he watched the movie in preparation for the evening show. "There will never be four personalities like that at one time," declared LcRoy, looking at the Tin Man, the Scarecrow, the late Judy Garland as Dorothy and Bert Lahr as the Lion romping together. "Who the hell else can play a lion?" asked Haley out loud. "Only Bert Lahr," he answered himself.
 

Each star has a different  theory for the "Wizard of Oz" popularity. "It has the simplest philosophy of all," says Bolger. "There is no place like home. When Dorothy landed In the Land of Oz, with flowers 10 feettall, she wasn't happy, she realized she had to go home to Auntie."



For Margaret Hamilton, now 72 years old, "There's a tremendous opportunity for identification. "All of us have been through woods, all of us have had lions and tigers in our life.We've had dangers, difficulties."



"It's the fantasy, the wonderment," says Haley. "The children like to be scared and it all turns out happily."



The roles are not easily forgotten. Margaret Hamilton did the witch routine on demand recently at Emerson College and Bolger reports he keeps running into people who remember the film as a child. Extending a limp . arm,Bolger says, "I shake hands with them —like a scarecrow".

MegoMuseum Wizard of Oz Gallery

Thursday, September 30, 2010

Tiger Man by ZICA


An early treat prior to New York Comic Con as ZICA (www.zicatoys.com) has unveiled one of their highly anticipated figures from the "Buck Rogers in the 25th Century" line.  Draconian Bad Guy "Tiger Man" is one of the more memorable characters from the series and as you can see he's been done justice here.

                   See this and more at NYCC Booths #2880 and 2882

Venture has Adventure Toys

It's 1975 and even Batman is smiling and he should be, the entire Justice League is on sale!
Click on the ad to gain an even bigger view.

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Dinah-Mite Deals!


A sampling of ads from Mego's little wonder, Dinah-Mite!



The Ski Chalet was a bargain at $6.99.


The Campmobile rose sharply in value from $8.99


Dinah's Beach House was a steal at 50% off, after all Barbie's pool was sold separately...

Thursday, September 23, 2010

Protectors of freedom and justice


NEW YORK — Five gold-uniformed private soldiers led by a Captain Eagle dropped onto a pier by the East River from a helicopter hovering overhead one day last month. They planted a flag, checked their weapons and began moving inland.
Monday, Mar. 1, 1982


The man who financed the invading troops, Martin D. Abrams, announced: "Military themes are back in America. The need for the military has regained the respectability it lost during the late '60s and 70s."


That is the kind of thing they do to get publicity at the annual Toy Show. Abrams is the chairman of Mego Corp., which was introducing an army-sized line of military toys called "Eagle Force."


"Makers Bent on Military" was the lead headline of Toy Trade News for Feb. 27. "Makers Back Military, Buyers Are Divided," reported the February issue of Toys, Hobbies & Crafts.


"The indications are good," said Craig Collier of Consolidated Toy of St. Louis. "During the Vietnam War people were turned off, but now they are getting over it. There's another generation of kids out there."

"Military is in resurgence because of a change in the political attitude of the country," said Mark Nuccio of H-G Toys Inc. of Long Beach, N.Y. "The government is putting more money into defense. It has a higher profile with certain tactical groups being promoted, such as ah* the maneuvers that occurred in the Middle East last year."



The military boom at this year Toy Show — aimed at that new generation of kids out there — is a facinating case study of the synergistic relationship between commerce and government in theUnited States. The toymakers are not responding to a greatly increased public demand for war toys — that's what the line "Buyers Are Divided" meant in the Toys, Hobby and Craft headline.


The manufacturers are betting that the Reagan administration'smilitaristic bent will create the market. The toymakers also see themselves as performing a national service. "We set out to develop a toy line which would capitalize upon and reinforce the renewed sense of national pride, strengnth, courage and determination sweeping America," said Abrams of Mego.


"Our military toy, then, is, we hope, going to reinforce an accepted American concept: Terrorism is wrong and should be stamped out."


Eagle Force wil be sold, like some Reagan military programs, as an anti-terrorist force. "Captain Eagle," "Goldie Hawk," "Zapper" and other die-cast metal Force members are trying to stamp out villains like "Shock Trooper" and "General Mamba."".




An old favorite, "G.I. Joe" — the soldier doll — is being reintroduced after years of retirement. Joe is also after terrorists now, villainous dolls hi the paramilitary uniforms of something called COBRA.


The television commercials will soon begin. The rhetoric will bemodeled after the talk coming out of Washington these days. "Research has shown there is a potential consumer resistance for military toys due to the connotations of war that they hold," said a Mego official, Alan Chernoff. (Editor's note: Alan Chernoff would appear on Donahue to defend the Eagle Force line)  "The Eagle Force figures we are introducing are positioned not as a war toy, but as protectors of freedom and justice."


There were also a number of booklets at the show. One called "Toys Are Teaching Tools," published by the Toy Manufacturers of America, Inc., said: "Today's toys are tomorrow's adult tools, scaled-down versions of real-life objects. With them children can create imaginary lifelike situations. Toys help children to assume adult roles and to experiment with the objects, machines and technology of adult society . . .Children gain a sense of values from their toys."


So, that's what our children will be taught this year.



Mego Museum Eagle Force Gallery

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

This isn't the toy business.It's show business



Wed., June 23,1976

"This isn't the toy business.It's show business." That approach brought Martin Abrams, 33, the flashy young entrepreneur of Mego International, a real-life fortune in make-believe. Abrarns' dolls are made in the image and likeness of television and motion picture deities such as Sonny and Cher, Muhammed Ali, the Waltons, the characters from Star Trek and the Wizard of Oz, as well as old established comic strip heroes like Superman.


Their appeal has catapaulted Mego from about 300th to sixth in return on sales in the highly competitive toy business nationwide since Abrams took over in 1971. Mego's newest offering is a 10-inch image of the current hip sensation, Henry (The Fonz) Winkler of television's "Happy Days." Abrams was still in his twenties when be took over the family business and bet on his instincts, sensing that there was a vast pre-developed market among children and youth for the stars and "cult" figures of the moment

He piled one on top of the other, signing dozens of personalities for up to 5 per cent of safes, and getting the doll rights to whole shows. "We grab the top stars and pay big." said the jaunty young New Yorker.


No matter if a few should become obsolete in a hurry, like his "Planet of the Apes" line did when the TV show folded. He just took the bodies and put new heads on them.

His promotions include huge parties for buyers featuringthe personalities themselves. One was a 150,000 bash in the Grand Ballroom of the Waldorf-Astoria where 1,000 guests met all the surviving stars of the 'Wizard of Oz." including Scarecrow Ray Bolger  and Tin Man Jack Haley.


Mego's dolls have flexible arms and can sit, stand or be placed in attitudes of leaping  tall buildings in a single bound. They're all American and all made in Hong Kong and Taiwan, but distributed jnternationally from a center on Long Island. Abrams' father, Marty, (Editor's note: the author meant to write David) founder of the business in 1952, runs the production end of it in Hong Kong. His father,mother and brother are all in the business, but Martin is calling the shots.


That's because he's tripled sales in the past three years  alone, to an estimated 180 million for the fiscal year just ending, and has multiplied  earnings five times, to about $4 million. For all the flash and razzledazzle, Abrams says Mego hasn't overexpanded and is into stay. He says he's found a way to beat one of the main drawbacks of the business-copycatting— by signing up thestars long in advance and locking everyone else out"We're already negotiating for our 1977 line," he says.

More Heroes on Sale

Click on the pic for a larger look, good deal on G.I. Joes too!

Monday, September 20, 2010

Special on Superheroes



Another excerpt from the Mason's ad from last week, showing everybody 1974 wasn't completely Ape-centric.

Friday, September 17, 2010

EMCE Monsters are on the loose!


 Entertainment Earth has just listed the EMCE Universal Frankenstein and Wolfman as in stock! That means that Mego and Monster fans should start to expect to see them in comic and toy stores soon!

EMCE Universal Monsters Gallery at the Mego Museum

Universal Monsters Retro Series 1 Action Figure Set

Ape Mania at Masons


This ad could only be from 1974.

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Sears has Action Jackson at Great Prices

A little gem from 1974, for more of the original Mego Action Figure, check out the Mego Action Jackson Gallery.