Coming Soon: Design your own Mego Playset

Museum founder Scott Adams dropped an amazing bomb shell on the Mego community yesterday when he unveiled factory prototypes of his "Displayset" concept. The possibilities are now endless as you can now print and create your own Mego vinyl playset and make it look like it rolled out of the factory in 1976. Stay tuned to the MegoMuseum for more developments.

Speaking of customs, check out this incredible Green Goblin produced by Type 3 Toys, it even has a movable hat!

Today is the final day in our Greatest American Hero contest, where you can win a DVD of the first season or a complete set of Megomuseum trading cards! Enter to win here!

The Mego Museum Vintage Toy Store Directory

A new feature we're adding to the Mego Museum is the Vintage Toy Store Directory, basically a database of shops across the world that might have vintage toys such as Mego, Star Wars, GI Joe etc at any given time. If there is such a shop in your area that is not on the list, please let us know about it with the form at the bottom of the page.

We're hoping to make this the largest such directory on the web.

The 2007 Mego Meet Logo, Dave unveiled the Logo for this years Mego Meet Convention, designed again by the ever talented Benjamin Holcomb. It's only three months until the World's Greatest Mego Event and already the hotel rooms are going quickly. Visit the Mego Meet Website for more information or drop by it's forum.

ZOINKS! Derek has createdt yet another cool custom with the infamous Scooby Doo baddie Charlie the Robot, which we all know was Mr Jenkins all along. He would have gotten away with it if not for the talents of Derek......

The Mego Museum Post Card

The news of this broke while I was on vacation other wise I'd have blogged about this sooner. Thanks to the very talented Scott Adams we now have the first official Megomuseum post card which depicts a 1970's toy aisle stuffed with Mego goodies, including the Museum playset.

You can read more about how Scott came up with this design on the Mego Museum Forums

Hulk No Understand Hindi! What is the Mego Hulk doing in India?

Finally, Anthony has truly outdone himself with this AMAZING Mego Fortress of Solitdue Play Set, It has to be seen to be believed, you'll swear it's a real toy that just went missing.

Awesome news about World's Greatest Toys

The always interesting Benjamin Holcomb has provided an awesome update regarding his upcoming Mego book World's Greatest Toys. The new Two Morrows catalog features the book and gets us one stop closer to this amazing publication.

Discuss this on the Mego Museum Forum.

Check out the fancy new Post Card used to promote the book to retailers.

Vintage Spider-Man Mall Appearance

Spider-man meet Mego Spider-man: It's official, I am jealous of Lou's childhood.

Speaking of Spider-man, check out Austin's Custom Mego Spider Army.

New Mego Memories plus Contest

Added this cool pic of Tom and his Neptunian to the Mego Memories page, if you have a vintage pic of yourself with Mego's, we want to see them.

We're having another Greatest American Hero Contest, it's free and pretty easy. You could win a DVD season one set or many fabulous Mego Museum prizes.

Joe has whipped up this amazing Paul Pope Rendition of Batman, that's really turning heads. Check out more shots of it by clicking on the pic.

Will the Empire Strike back?

Interesting Article today from 1980 that discusses the upcoming sequel to Star Wars and it's impact on the toy industry, the article involves the bigger toy companies of the day including of course, Mego. Here's a sample:

The early box office returns are in, and from most predic­tions, it looks like The Empire Strikes Back is a solid hit, if not a repeat of the tornado of suc­cess that swept the country three years ago.

No one expected an exact re­play, but the pending sequel was for months an oasis of op­timism for retailers in a year of financial uncertainty. Al­though cautious and conserva­tive in picking up new SKUs, retailers still believe there's toy store magic in Star Wars. "The new movie is probably going to be the greatest movie ever," says Ben Franklin's Jerry Dickson, "but is it going to sell toys?"

That's the question on most industry minds right now. Dickson believes the movie can be the "greatest," yet not make it across retail counters. "Black Hole was a good movie, but it didn't sell toys. Star Trek was a tremendous box office hit, but if didn't necessarily sell toys, although some were solid. 'Buck Rogers' has been the best seller 'til now, and has sold a few toys, but not to the magnitude the original Star Wars did." READ THE REST HERE

Great Scott! (literally)

Scott has done an amazing job on this working Clark Kent Phone Booth playset, click here to see more and the movie he made of it in action!

Mego Museum Spotlight on Bend N Flex Superheroes

In 1974, after riding high with the initial launch of World's Greatest Superheroes line, Mego sought to expand the toy license further with new products.

The first such items were the Super Softies (a series of plush heroes) and the Bend N Flex line.

While the Supersofties were a flop, the Bend N Flex Line sold very well, the late Neal Kublan attributed this to two factors "Their price and the smaller size, that was really the key factor I think." he said in a 2004 interview.

It's not surprising since the Bend N' Flex line retailed for under a dollar (at many locations they were $0.79) and featured the same colorful packaging art as their 8" counterparts.

The Assortment was also a big factor, Mego went all out and produced a Bendy counterpart to each 8" Worlds Greatest Superhero they produced at the time, 16 in total, 8 heroes, 5 Bad guys and 3 Super gals.

Packaging

The first wave consisted only of the eight male heroes, they came packaged on a tall card very similiar to the Kresge Card, in fact, there is a Kresge version of this packaging. Early Spiderman packaging has him mingling with the DC heroes, this was quickly corrected.

The second series which introduced the villains and Supergals, came on shorter cards that had improved graphics, the 8 male heroes were reissued on the "Short cards", it is not know which is more valuable.

In terms of rarity, the most commonly found MOC figures are Mr. Mxyzptlk and Tarzan, while the Supergals and Riddler especially would be among the most difficult to find.

While the line was sold internationally, no foreign packaging variants have ever arisen. The 1974 Mego Catalog shows a carry case for the Bend N Flex line but it was never produced. It is largely believe that Mego did create display boxes for the Bend N Flex line as they did for the Planet of the Apes series but non have surfaced.

Over the years, the Batman Bendy has seen a couple of reissues, starting with Australia in the late eighties but recently a black movie version has popped up in Africa. It seems to suggest that figures mold is still out there to this day.....

Custom of the Day

Todd unveiled this cool 70's looking Doctor Strange today, I'm loving the suit.

Mego Museum Spotlight on Pocket Superheroes

Mego's “Comic Action Heroes” were the first licensed 3 3/4" line to be produced, while trendsetters in 1976, the figures squatting bodies needed updating to fit into the Star Wars marketplace of 1979 and the Pocket Superheroes were born.

The line changed it's name in 1978 but the transition Pocket Super Hero pieces (such as Spidercars and Batmobiles) used Comic Action figures, this move was no doubt to get rid of excess inventory.

Series One:

Series One was sold in foreign marketplaces and briefly in the US as the “Pocket Heroes” line, they are aptly called “Blue Jean” cards because the cards resemble the back pocket of a child’s jeans.

Superman, Batman, Robin, Spiderman and Hulk were retooled Comic Action Heroes now with straightened legs.


Only Batman, Superman, Hulk and Spiderman were released in this line. Carded examples have been found in Canada, Italy and the UK and are extremely rare.


Series Two:

The second series is known as the “Red Cards”, the figures all came on generic red cards that do not state which character the figure is. Red cards are the most common.
According to insiders, Mego had fallen behind on an order and had to rush the figures to marketplace, the packaging suffered

Shazam was pictured on the red cards but was never released.

Also released were Lex Luthor, General Zod and Jor El to capitalize on the success of the Superman movie although the figures feature a movie likeness but comic costumes.

These three figures’ sculpts looked hastily done and were poor sellers.

Series Three:

In 1980, Mego followed up with the second series known as the white cards. Captain America, Green Goblin, Aquaman and Wonder Woman now joined Superman, Batman, Robin, Hulk and a redesigned Spider-man.

Gone were the Superman Movie characters but they are pictured on the DC card artwork.

Not only was the card art a noticeable improvement, but the 4 new figures were complete re sculpts and improvements over their previous counterparts.

Characters such as Spider-man and Batman, while common on the red cards, are almost impossible to find on white cards.

Playsets and Vehicles

Mego attempted to reissue the “Fortress of Solitude” and “exploding Bridge” play sets to coincide with the Superman movie but buyers who also squashed a “Marvel Superheroes Alley Playset” met all items with lukewarm interest.

Batcave Playset: This Vacuform playset is very similar to the Star Trek Enterprise bridge Mego released for the Motion Picture line of toys. The cave features computers, a bat pole and a jail cell for villains.

Batmobile and Spidercar Deluxe Sets- The first items to be released under the “PSH” name. Window boxed gift sets featuring the vehicle and two figures. Early “pocket Superheroes” deluxe sets featured two comic action figures instead.

Batmachine and Spidermachine: Programmable tank like vehicles developed by Mego Electronics, these vehicles didn’t factor into comic book continuity.

The Shuttles: Mego recycled Micronaut vehicles for these releases. Batman, Robin and Spiderman had their own spacey looking vehicles while the Hulk enjoyed his “Hulk Explorer”. Mostly the shuttles are found overseas.
There were two US releases of the Shuttles, which came in photoboxes and are identical in colour to their Micronaut counterparts.
Mego attempted to sell more unsuccessful Micronauts vehicles under the “pocket Superheroes” banner in 1982 but we never got to see “Lex Luthor and Ampzilla” or “Green Goblin and Lobstros” because Mego filed for Chapter 11 the same year.

Collector Interest has grown in the pocket Heroes line as many collectors begin to expand past Mego’s 8” offerings.

The Mego Museum has a pocket hero forum called the Microverse, there you can discuss, buy, sell and trade Mego 3 3/4" figures.

Custom of the Day

A pair of Legion of Doom Members from Austin.

Mego Museum Spotlight on CB McHaul

The Citizens Band Radio fad that swept across America in the Early seventies was a direct result of the gas shortages and the new 55mph speed limit.

America soon became smitten with the Trucker sub-culture and lingo.

Hollywood was quick to cash in with productions such as “Smokey and the Bandit” and “Handle with Care”. In 1975, AMT models released a novelty kit called “CB Freak, things seemed prime for a toy company to truly cash in on this line.

Mego in 1977 was a company on top of the world and known for dealing in popular culture, it was a natural fit. Mego introduced CB McHaul in 1977, the name was patterned after country musician C.W McCall, whose number one hit “Convoy” had become an anthem for the CB Craze.

The line had nine figures, split into three basic groups, the good guys, the bad guys and the Smokey’s. Each set of figures had their own unique vehicle and one playset, the filling station.

For the figures, Mego reused the three-inch body style of the comic action heroes. While eight-inch figures were still flourishing, mego knew three-inch was the best size for a line that was selling 18-wheelers. The packaging also harked back to the CAH line, blue cards with the figure standing on a base in the middle.

For the Good Guys there was CB McHaul, Kid Watts and Jim Oakes. The CB McHaul Rig contained an actual loudspeaker so you could loudly simulate CB jargon to your parent’s delight.

The Bad guys were Prof. Brain, Bad Leroy and Joe Marconi. The first two would later appear as villains in the Chips 3” line. (Jimmy Squeaks and Wheels Willie) Their black rig, the Bear Masher had a secret battering ram and a trap door compartment that could be used to kidnap unsuspecting victims.

The Police were the rotund Sgt. Brown, Scowling Jack Jones and Speed Johnson. These Smokey’s got a vintage Chevy police car (which came with Scowling jack Jones and Sgt. Brown), which was later reused, for the Dukes of Hazard and Chips lineups.

The line up was rounded out by the filling station playset which was thought to be a Sears exclusive, it has been found with Child World stickers recently.

There is rumour of a Wrecker vehicle but to this date, no sales have been reported.

Even with all the hype of the CB craze, the line was a disappointment. Buyers ordered lightly, the late Neal Kublan former VP of R&D explains: "Everybody thought that craze would really last but it really didn't, it was a passing fad. I think it lasted a year, those days you could get three out of a decent line."

It’s surprising that two years later Mego didn’t try to revamp the line for the emergence of the hit show “BJ and the Bear’ but it never came to be.

With the dawn of the Internet, more and more collectors are beginning to appreciate this once forgetten line, one of the biggest reasons is what a challenge it is to collect.

The Truck stop itself is one of the toughest pieces in the line. Loose CB McHaul figures are not very durable and are often found missing limbs. Packaged examples of the figures rarely surface and are considered very rare.

Mego Museum CB Mchaul Section

The Mego Museum has a forum called the Microverse, there you can discuss, buy, sell and trade Mego 3 3/4" figures.

Cool Custom of the Day

Bob has created a great looking Cyclops from the X-Men

Mego Museum Spotlight on Jet Jungle

When your world is in trouble
and you need a fighting friend
who will come on the double and keep fighting to the end

Get Jet! Get Jet! Jet Jungle is the man to get! Jet Jungle. Jet Jungle Jet Jungle is the man to get!

Get Jet!

That's the theme song to South African Radio Action hero Jet Jungle, a character that was relatively unknown to Mego collectors up until a year ago.

Jet was the creation of actor Brian O'Shaughnessy and appeared on South Africa's Springbok radio for a twenty year run starting in the mid nineteen sixties. The adventures of a globe trotting adventurer ("The fittest man in the World" ) and his companions, Professor "Spaghetti" Villetti and the lovely Samantha, the series had a quality not unlike Johnny Quest or Doc Savage.

In October of 2005, a discovery occurred that put the name Jet Jungle into the forefront of Mego collecting, Jet had been part of the Mego World's Greatest Superheroes lineup!

Enter Jane, a UK collector who was looking for Action Man for her son at a flea market in London sixteen years ago. "On one particular table I found a boxed figure and although it was not an Action Man" Jane bought Jet along with a Mego Action Jackson and some regular WGSH, all characters bore price tags from a South African store.

"It was just a case of 'Love at First Sight'. Although I knew nothing about them I felt really excited and knew I just had to have them all" Jane adds that her favorite was the mystery man "Jet Jungle really stood out as it was not a character I knew I was really intrigued by him. I thought I really must find out more about him but never got around to it until now."

After 16 years, Jane decided to ask the collectors at the Mego Museum forum if they had any information; she ended up educating them with this previously unknown figure.

The Jet Jungle figure utilizes the Mego Bruce Wayne sculpt (also used for Italy's Tex Willer) detailed with white hair and thick eyebrows, just like the character. His costume is a black turtleneck with unique bell-bottom pants: A close, but not perfect match would be the Action Jackson Secret Agent outfit.

Jet's box is truly incredible, not only does it feature WGSH characters such as Batman and Superman but also features a box of Jungle Oats which was Jet's sponsor for his entire career. The box is also bi-lingual and features English and the Afrikanse dialect.

Since Jane's sharing of a boxed Jet, a few more collectors have discovered they too, own Jet Jungle Figures.

 

Possibly the biggest revelation has come from Martin, a South African collector, who not only remembers Jet Jungle in stores but Mego's New Avengers line , until now, thought not to be produced.

Visit the Mego Museum Jet Jungle Gallery

 

Got an opinion or a theory on this piece? Visit the MegoMuseum Forums and have your say.

Mego Museum Spotlight on Comic Action Heroes

In 1976 Mego owned the boys aisle with their 8" figure lines such as Planet of the Apes, Star Trek and the popular Worlds Greatest Superheroes series.

While an enormous success, the 8” action figures had some drawbacks, their $2.99 price point eliminated the “impulse buy’ factor and their size made making affordable play sets and vehicles difficult.

" Making accessories for an 8" figure was challenging due to the size. This was the main reason I pushed for the Comic Action Heroes." Claims former Mego Product Designer Vincent Baiera "There is quite a bit of difference cost-wise between a 5" batmobile and an 18" batmobile."

The figures often retailed for under a dollar and were posed in a crouching formation (no doubt to fit into their vehicles easier) with their own display stands.

Their hands were molded to hold weapons because unlike the Mego 8” line, these figures came with their trademark accessories. Now, Batman and Robin had their Bat ropes, Wonder Woman her Golden Lasso and Penguin his trademark Umbrella.

The carded packaging was similar to the Mego SS Kregse cards, tall and slim with the figure’s bubble in the middle. There are two US variants of these cards, one-character pictures on either side of the figure and the other doesn’t, it is assumed the latter was an earlier card.

Grand Toys of Canada produced two different card variations, Denys Fisher UK sold the figures on generic cards or in three packs which are very rare. In Germany the line is known as "Comic Super Helden" (Comic Super Heroes) and were sold in very rare baggies with header cards.

The Playsets

The memorable thing about the Comic Action Heroes is their playsets, which enabled a child to work out the scenes of a comic book adventure.

In an effort to keep things fun, Mego centered many of the playsets around “The Comic Activator” a large detonation device that would have looked at home in a Tom and Jerry Cartoon.

The Exploding Bridge with Batmobile: Will the Joker blow up the bridge while Batman and Robin are crossing? This set came with the bridge, Comic Activator, the Batmobile and Batman himself. Later sets included Joker, Penguin and Robin, this deluxe set is tough to find MIB.

Fortress of Solitude: Looking obviously the Hall of Justice from the “Superfriends” series, mego renamed this playset to not confuse it with the Hall of Justice from the 8” line. Perhaps the most popular playset, this beautiful piece has a chair for all the comic action heroes, a comic activator and Superman himself.

Exploding Tower with Invisible Jet: This set features not only Wonderwoman but Mego’s only attempt at her vehicle, the Invisible Jet. The jet features a removable canopy and a retractable rope ladder. This set has proven to be sought after by many Wonder Woman collectors.

The Mangler: The rarest piece and perhaps the most strange, the Mangler was a Marvel Heroes vehicle that looks similar to a Zamboni. When you place the Green Goblin in the Manglers “Mouth” a flattened cardboard Goblin appears at the other end.

Prototypes for a second Spiderman Playset (“The Exploding Skyscraper with Spider Car”) were shown but the piece was never released.

The Batcopter: This piece actually flew with the help of a pull cord, each Batcopter included a Batman figure. This was originally a piece from the Takara Microman series which Mego had used to create the Micronauts.

Batmobile/ SpiderCar Gift sets: These very rare window boxed sets were offered throughout the lines run, the vehicle would come with three figures and often these figures would change.

Board game: UK distributor Denys Fisher created a board game to promote the line, the beautiful box art features the rarely seen Mr. Freeze and a rather loose interpretation of Shazam!

The Comic Action Heroes ran from 1976 until 1979 when Mego retooled them into the “Pocket Super Heroes” line.

A well respected and fun line to collect, Comic Action Heroes have a loyal following today and due to certain items being released in low numbers, can be a challenge to "collect 'em all"

Custom of the Day

"The Witch Doctor is really Mr Sims!" I can't think of anything more fun than these terrific Scooby Doo Customs.