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| Copyright DC COMICS |
Did you know that the Mego Superman articulated figure can do impressions? In the right-hand photo below, it's doing an impression of Christopher Reeve - take a look. Now, let me tell you something you probably already knew about Mego action figures if you had one as a kid - they weren't really all that poseable, and tended not to stay in the positions they were placed in. They were held together by rubber-bands and hooks, just like Palitoy's Action Man and Pedigree's Tommy Gunn, though the Mego shoulder and thigh joints were more basic, resulting in the arms and legs sticking out at angles and limiting their 'poseability'.
Modern reissues of Mego figures are made for collectors aged 17 and up, not for kids, which is probably why their play value isn't considered a priority; they're not for play, but for display, so if the arms and legs don't hold their pose beyond a limited point, it's no big deal it seems. The figures issued by modern Mego themselves are a little better than the ones from Figures Toy Company, even though the latter manufacturer reissues the superhero characters originally produced by Mego. I don't know if there's a connection between the two companies, so if anyone knows, please enlighten me.
However, Figures Toy Co. produces Mego-style bodies which can be bought separately, with improved points of articulation that don't rely on rubber-bands. There are two versions, a 'type S retro style' (pic on left, below) and a 'deluxe type S retro style' (pic on right), which are huge improvements on the originals, with far more versatility when posing. (The latter's elbow and knee joints afford a more comprehensive bend.) So why don't they reissue the Mego figures with the improved joints? I'd imagine it's all down to cost, as they'd probably have to charge more, which might deter potential buyers who only want the items to look at, not play with. (I've just noticed they do sell some of the superheroes with type S bodies, and they do cost a bit more.)
Anyway, when I recently purchased my 2016 reissue of the '70s Mego Superman, I was a little disappointed to find that the arms were a bit slack and were extremely restricted in what positions they could be placed in. As the original 8 inch toy I bought in 1974 was the very first (and only for a good many decades) Mego figure I ever owned, I wanted its replacement to be a cut above the standard 'run-of-the-mill' ones available nowadays, so I bought the 'deluxe type S retro style' via eBay. However, a short while after paying I realised it was more articulated than I really needed it to be and that I'd have been better buying the 'type S retro-style' body. (Which is still more articulated than the original one.)
Luckily, they sent the wrong one, which was the very figure I should've bought to begin with. Okay, it was a couple of pounds cheaper than the one I paid for, but I can live with that, as it saves me returning the other one for a replacement. I've put the Mego Superman head onto his new body and now I have a choice as to exactly which position I can display him. For example, look at the photo of him with his original body, compared to his new one. I can even pose him with one foot resting on his other knee if I wanted - not something you could do with a '70s figure. I'll put the spare Don Blake head which came with my Thor reissue onto Supes' old figure, thereby adding yet another character to my collection.
The new figure (above left) allows me to place Superman's arms by his side as well, whereas the old one (above right) doesn't, as the bands on the arms are attached to the legs, pulling them out from the body. Like I said, the new body doesn't use rubber-bands, so is far more poseable - and even though I didn't buy it to play with, I still prefer it to be as good as it ought to be, hence the 'upgrade'. Now I realise this won't be of much interest to most of you, but perhaps there might be the odd Crivvie (and when I say 'odd', I don't mean 'weird') who used to collect Mego figures as a boy, and who'll appreciate this post as a prompt for their own reminiscing of their long-gone childhood. Hopefully, there'll be more than just one of them.
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| Some positions the type S allows that the basic figure doesn't |
I had a bunch of the Megos when I was a kid......DC, Marvel, and later Planet of the Apes. Like you say, not very durable. My main problem was keeping up with accessories....those goofy gloves that some of them had. Some were better than others, but that was all we had back then, so they were good enough.
ReplyDeleteYeah, some were good, G, some were awful, but quite a number being made nowadays are great looking characters. Their Frankenstein one actually looks like Boris Karloff (though they also do a 'glow-in-the-dark' one that doesn't) and comes in two versions: Frankenstein, and Son Of Frankenstein. Karloff's face looked pretty much the same in those two movies, though he was a bit fuller-faced in the latter. In Bride Of Frankenstein his fringe was burned off and his face was scorched, so Mego would need to do a re-sculpt if they wanted to be accurate.
ReplyDeleteKid, did your missing copy of Conan The Barbarian #25/300 turn up? I didn't buy King Conan #1 after all - I went to my local comics shop on Christmas Eve to see if they had it in stock but the previous week's comics were still on the shelves which the moronic staff didn't even realise until I pointed it out!! The manager then claimed that they didn't stock comics until two weeks after they were released and he looked totally confused when I told him that normally the new comics were on the shelves the day after release. Finally I was told to look through a box of comics which supposedly contained that week's new releases but it didn't. So I just gave up and left.
ReplyDeleteSounds like a crap shop where no one knows what they're doing, CJ. You'll understand why if it closes down, eh? As for CTB #25/300, after a fortnight, the seller gave me a refund so I bought it elsewhere. Then three days after being refunded, the comic turned up, so I repaid the refund, though the seller hasn't acknowledged it yet. I just received Volume 3 of CTB Epic Collection, having bought Volume 4 around a week or so ago. I don't know whether both books were published chronologically or not - sometimes some of the Epic books are, other times they're not. Just deposited a post about them in my draft file, and now I'm about to scan the covers, so you'll be able to see them shortly.
ReplyDeleteKid, I'm glad to hear your copy of Conan #25/300 turned up in the end - so now you've got two copies with the official Conan & Belit cover. My local comics shop is actually quite a good shop but the current staff seem like a bunch of idiots - I was amazed they didn't realise that the previous week's comics were still on the shelves. When I started visiting the shop in 2019 I always dealt with the owner, called Paul I think, who was a massive comics fan (he claimed his shop was the best comics shop in Wales) but since then the staff he has hired are obviously not very dedicated or knowledgeable. When I popped in on Christmas Eve the staff were sitting around drinking cups of tea completely oblivious to the fact that the week's new releases hadn't even been put out on the shelves!
ReplyDeleteThe manager isn't the owner then, CJ? To say that they don't stock comics until a fortnight after release is no way to run a business. Idiots indeed.
ReplyDeleteI've actually got more than two copies of that Conan issue. I've got the original one I bought, and three (I think) of the Conan and Belit cover, as I wanted to make sure I got one in good condition. (Still waiting for one of them to arrive.) I also bought one which has a sort of 'collage' cover, comprised of older Conan illustrations from when Marvel first published the series. And I've now got 11 facsimile editions of CTB #1.
I just can't help myself!