MEGO 1971 MYSTERY MAN Figure

[Barbie]

Hello! I just came across this 1971 MEGO figure and some nice ebayer at their boards directed me to this site and was also able to identify my figure as the 1971 MEGO MYSTERY MAN. My questions are: Does anyone at all know what the value of this man is? Have any ever sold anywhere that I can get an idea of his value? Any information would be very helpful. ALSO: Should I be posting this question on a different forum? Thank you!!http://pic80.picturetrail.com/VOL826/449319/535090/257325417.jpg

[luey]

http://www.megomuseum.com/mystery/mystery.shtml

With helmet it should bring $150-225
without helmet $50-100

Rough guestimate :)

[Marvelmania]

Luey is pretty mcu right on th mark. Last one I saw go w/o the helmet was for $75.

[Dave Mc]

Yeah, these go periodically and those prices mentioned above are pretty accurate.

As for the forum, usually questions on a specific figure will go in Megofact, but often value questions end up in Megobuzz.

Congrats on a nice figure!

[Barbie]

Thank you everyone! You have been very helpful. Maybe I can find his helmut and boots somewhere? A great day to you all!

[hobub]

The boots are standard white action Jackson boots, very easy to find. The helmet is nearly impossible.

[TheCollector07]

I can't tell you the value of the Mego Mystery Man, BUT...I do know who-and-what he was! He was a generic astronaut for Mego's early Planet of the Apes play set. His value may be increased because he was part of the Planet of the Apes line-up. You never know.

[hobub]

I can't tell you the value of the Mego Mystery Man, BUT...I do know who-and-what he was! He was a generic astronaut for Mego's early Planet of the Apes play set. His value may be increased because he was part of the Planet of the Apes line-up. You never know.


Welcome and by all means, please elaborate on this.

[jwyblejr]

Yes,please do. We would love to know if you've got any thing to prove it,such as paperwork or what not.

[mego boy CA]

I can't tell you the value of the Mego Mystery Man, BUT...I do know who-and-what he was! He was a generic astronaut for Mego's early Planet of the Apes play set. His value may be increased because he was part of the Planet of the Apes line-up. You never know.

???????:shocked2:

[MegoNinja]

I can't tell you the value of the Mego Mystery Man, BUT...I do know who-and-what he was! He was a generic astronaut for Mego's early Planet of the Apes play set. His value may be increased because he was part of the Planet of the Apes line-up. You never know.
this could be a most vital bit of information, please make a new thread about it so it can be openly discussed

[apes3978]

I can't tell you the value of the Mego Mystery Man, BUT...I do know who-and-what he was! He was a generic astronaut for Mego's early Planet of the Apes play set. His value may be increased because he was part of the Planet of the Apes line-up. You never know.

That's news to me... The Astronaut shown on my "early" POTA playset is an Action Jackson, not this figure... The "Mystery Man" is not an APES figure...

[apes3978]

this could be a most vital bit of information, please make a new thread about it so it can be openly discussed

That "information" is either made up or they are mistaken...

I don't believe any theories that haven't been around for years... Now if say ABMAC had suggested this, I'd maybe believe it... He's been around the block a few times and knows his stuff... But for a newbie to just suddenly drop a bombshell like that, I find it hard to swallow...

Oh yeah... The One Million BC figures were originally intended to be the savage humans from PLANET and BENEATH... Their values may go thru the roof now because of this, you never know... ;)

[apes3978]

I wonder where TheCollector07 went?

That claim of this figure being from the APES line, all the people asking where that "info" came from, and now no sign of that newbie... I figured it was all a lie, probably made up to jack the price on the figure he/she may own....

[toys2cool]

That "information" is either made up or they are mistaken...

I don't believe any theories that haven't been around for years... Now if say ABMAC had suggested this, I'd maybe believe it... He's been around the block a few times and knows his stuff... But for a newbie to just suddenly drop a bombshell like that, I find it hard to swallow...

Oh yeah... The One Million BC figures were originally intended to be the savage humans from PLANET and BENEATH... Their values may go thru the roof now because of this, you never know... ;)
:rotfl:

[jwyblejr]

Hope no one minds my digging this up but I've had some thoughts on who he is. First,I don't think he's an astronaut. The blue jumpsuit and colors on his helmet remind me of the Blue Angels. Now,I can't prove anything but maybe this guy was meant to be sold at air shows. This could explain why he was packaged the way he is.

[txteach]

I'm certain he was never in a playset. A few cases of this figure were found in the 80's and that is all that is known. Some theorize that he was put together to make a little money for mego in the end. Thus the name "mystery astronaut".

[EMCE Hammer]

Hope no one minds my digging this up but I've had some thoughts on who he is. First,I don't think he's an astronaut. The blue jumpsuit and colors on his helmet remind me of the Blue Angels. Now,I can't prove anything but maybe this guy was meant to be sold at air shows. This could explain why he was packaged the way he is.

I share your theory, as do some others. But until there's proof, he'll forever be the "mystery astronaut."

[ABMAC]

I share your theory, as do some others. But until there's proof, he'll forever be the "mystery astronaut."

He's the "mystery pilot" to me. There's nothing to suggest he's an astronaut.

[The Sentry]

Hope no one minds my digging this up but I've had some thoughts on who he is. First,I don't think he's an astronaut. The blue jumpsuit and colors on his helmet remind me of the Blue Angels. Now,I can't prove anything but maybe this guy was meant to be sold at air shows. This could explain why he was packaged the way he is.


You know that's the only think I can think of. Really, I'm a newbie and I don't know half of what you guys/gals do here. Hell the only thing I can really claim to be an expert on is Hulk, Rowdy Roddy Piper, Wayne Gretzky, Transformers and M*A*S*H* stuff, and like my grandpa said to me when I was young, "You may be a smartass on somethings in life, but trust in this, there's always someone out there that knows more than you." To the newbie to the forum, welcome, but read, it's the only shurefire way to know what the hell your talking about. If I came on here half-cocked rattling on about info about the most illusive Mego known to collectors as the *clears throat* "The MYSTERY Astronaut" I doubt anyone on here would want me here.


Just my opinion here.


Yes,please do. We would love to know if you've got any thing to prove it,such as paperwork or what not.

Then if/when that happens I'll totally shut up and eat crow!:yeah:

[apes3978]

He's the "mystery pilot" to me. There's nothing to suggest he's an astronaut.

Nothing to suggest that? But what about TheCollector07's great knowledge about that? He/she said right here on the boards that "The Mystery Astronaut" is part of an early POTA set... Now, when a newbie comes along making such claims, not even giving any evidence to substantaite their claims, and then never being heard from again, you know it has to be true! ;)

Really though, I think that TheCollector07 and the one that started this thread are probably the same person, or at least tied to one another in some way... They come on here, make sh*t up and think that knowledgable collectors are gonna fall for it and drive the price(s) up on their wares...

[ABMAC]

Nothing to suggest that? But what about TheCollector07's great knowledge about that? He/she said right here on the boards that "The Mystery Astronaut" is part of an early POTA set... Now, when a newbie comes along making such claims, not even giving any evidence to substantaite their claims, and then never being heard from again, you know it has to be true! ;)

Really though, I think that TheCollector07 and the one that started this thread are probably the same person, or at least tied to one another in some way... They come on here, make sh*t up and think that knowledgable collectors are gonna fall for it and drive the price(s) up on their wares...

Their IP addresses put them in different areas of the country, but that doesn't rule out the possibility that your suspicions are true. I'm more inclined, however, to believe TheCollector07 just wanted some undeserved attention.

[mego70]

I think collector07 just made a simple mistake. He or she was a newbie and saw a generic figure in a blue jumpsuit and just made a guess which was wrong. It happens.

Mind you, I suspect whoever collector07 was, they've been scared off now.

[Wee67]

I think collector07 just made a simple mistake. He or she was a newbie and saw a generic figure in a blue jumpsuit and just made a guess which was wrong. It happens.

Mind you, I suspect whoever collector07 was, they've been scared off now.


That was my initial reaction. I think this person most likely simply mistook the Mystery Astronaut/Pilot for the Astronaut that was part of the POTA line.

[cjefferys]

There's nothing to suggest he's an astronaut.

I guessing it was just his helmet and jumpsuit's similarity to that of the POTA Astronaut that may have helped give him his name by collectors who first encountered him and didn't know what to call him.

[ScottA]

I like the Blue Angels idea. If Mego made the AJ Indy car in green just for PB they certainly could have released a generic pilot at a Blue Angels show. Gotta love a company that still raises questions 25 years after they folded.

[ABMAC]

I guessing it was just his helmet and jumpsuit's similarity to that of the POTA Astronaut that may have helped give him his name by collectors who first encountered him and didn't know what to call him.

The name spread because John Bonavita called him the Mystery Astronaut in his book. He was never afraid to make up an answer when the facts weren't known.

It's possible that Mego made him as a pilot for AJ's helicopter and the Blue Angels objected because of the similarity of his outfit to their uniforms.

[jwyblejr]

I guess the only way we may know for sure is if someone is willing to travel to Pensacola and see if they could maybe talk to someone there.

[EMCE Hammer]

The name spread because John Bonavita called him the Mystery Astronaut in his book. He was never afraid to make up an answer when the facts weren't known.

It's possible that Mego made him as a pilot for AJ's helicopter and the Blue Angels objected because of the similarity of his outfit to their uniforms.

I guess then Bonavita should have referred to him as the "Mystery Man Figure" to play it safe. But in all honesty, I can't blame him for lumping him in as an astronaut Same helmet and similar outfit to the POTA figure afterall. He *could be* an astronaut, could be a pilot.....could be a race car driver for an undiscovered Cub Scouts sponsored AJ car in blue and yellow for all we know.

You've given me the impression over the years that you think JB is full of it. I never bothered to read his book, so I don't feel qualified to disagree. But I can't beat him up too much over this particular issue. Mystery astronaut, pilot, driver, man........I just would like to see the mystery solved:)

[batmanmc]

i tend to think he is a pilot of some sort but cant say for sure . it could have just been mego had a lot of material left from another planned line which never got started and used up the material and the bruce wayne heads. who really knows but its fun to speculate. mike

[Captain]

I've always suspected the Mystery dude was originally meant as an add on for a specific retailer. You know--"buy this playset at Consumers Distributing and get a free astronaut figure".
If this was the case, the most likely scenario would be he was to be included in one of the POTA sets.
The deal fell apart, and Mego was stuck with a bunch of these guys, who the quickly added a header card to the poly bag, and sold them through as one of their rack toys.

Again, this is just my own personal theory.:ape:

[ABMAC]

I've always suspected the Mystery dude was originally meant as an add on for a specific retailer. You know--"buy this playset at Consumers Distributing and get a free astronaut figure".
If this was the case, the most likely scenario would be he was to be included in one of the POTA sets.
The deal fell apart, and Mego was stuck with a bunch of these guys, who the quickly added a header card to the poly bag, and sold them through as one of their rack toys.

Again, this is just my own personal theory.:ape:

There's nothing to tie him to the Apes line except for the blue fabric which wasn't always used for the Astronaut figure. If a retailer had wanted an exclusive Apes Astronaut, wouldn't it have made more sense to put him in a more screen-accurate WHITE uniform? And why a yellow helmet? Only the Blue Angels wear yellow pilots' helmets.

Oh, and these figures were never bagged with header cards.

[JDeRouen]

Maybe you're thinking of Captain Eagle, who was packages similarly and did have a header card.

[AAAAA]

Or he was issued in the AJ helicopter,bike and parachute Adventure set.

[Captain]

There's nothing to tie him to the Apes line except for the blue fabric which wasn't always used for the Astronaut figure. If a retailer had wanted an exclusive Apes Astronaut, wouldn't it have made more sense to put him in a more screen-accurate WHITE uniform? And why a yellow helmet? Only the Blue Angels wear yellow pilots' helmets.

Oh, and these figures were never bagged with header cards.

All good points sir. Again, it was just a theory. I do still tend to think it was meant as an "add on" for some retailer exclusive that went sour. As for the colors, well...Mego never was a stickler for detail, let alone dead on accuracy. Still....who knows, maybe they had a bunch of Action Jackson Blue Angels outfits that never saw the light of day, along with a pot full of Bruce Wayne heads sitting around? It was a slow day at the factory.....

I thought these had a header card on them(albeit a generic white card) so they could be hung from a peg? My mistake.

I do find it kind of interesting that this mystery figure, and the infamous 12" Mystery figures were both pilot based.

[megozilla13]

Maybe the suit and helmet were originally white and faded to blue and yellow respectively through the years. Isn't an astronaut who pilots a space craft a pilot and a pilot who flies a space craft an astronaut? Lets say you had a friend who was an astronaut, would he get insulted if you introduced him to another group of friends as your friend the pilot? Maybe this happened to Bonavita and he hates pilots now, so he called him an astronaut. Forget it, don't even read this.


mikej

[Dave Mc]

I think he was meant for a line extention. "Tex Willer in Space" could have been planned but nixed at the last minute. :biggrin:

[ABMAC]

I think he was meant for a line extention. "Tex Willer in Space" could have been planned but nixed at the last minute. :biggrin:

Italy did have the blue-eyed Tex Willers, and AJ ads with (non-blue-eyed) Bruce Wayne filling in for AJ, and Bogi figures with yellow Mego helmets. It would be funny if the mystery figure turned out to be an Action Jackson variant.

[txteach]

Could be Ant. I guess we'll never know for sure.

[ABMAC]

Could be Ant. I guess we'll never know for sure.

I was being facetious about the possibility of his being an Italian exclusive, but it's true that we may never know his true origin.

It doesn't hurt to keep the theories coming as long as everyone knows they're just theories.

[txteach]

I'm curious, where was the warehouse these were found in and how many were there?

[zorro]

Sorry to dig this back up, but does anyone want to sell one of these mystery men?

[Brue]

He is definitively Larry Hagman from I dream of Geni (sp?).

-actually I only say that because I speculated it before and was shot down

Hey! i can believe it if I want to.

Did we ever give the BP car recognition in the museum?

And the figure posted in the top of this thread smells like a repro to me.

I'd cut both newbie posters in the beginning of this thread some slack though because I DON'T KNOW that it is repro, if the two posters are connected, if they are friendlies or speculators. So- WELCOME my new mego friends!

PS all opinions of who it is in this thread are great

Blue Angels Pilot
Action Jackson pilot (maybe canceled b/c Blue Angels)
Astronaut
Ape prototype pilot
Driver
Mego using up scraps
others all plausible

of course we all know it is...















JR Ewing!

[SlipperyLilSuckers]

[QUOTE=ABMAC;23239]The name spread because John Bonavita called him the Mystery Astronaut in his book. He was never afraid to make up an answer when the facts weren't known.

QUOTE]
I still think that John's work was monumental and it made a major difference to my collecting life.

[MegoNinja]

can't the old employee's of Mego just take a look at the damn thing and go "oh that's a failed toy we had" or some thing to that effect. Doesn't any Mego ex-employee recognize it?

[palitoy]

Doesn't any Mego ex-employee recognize it?

Nope! I've waggled it under every nose and never gotten anything concrete. Here are some the responses:

"That may have been for Planet of the Apes for catalog"
"I am not sure, do you know Mark Huckabone? He might know"

The rest never even responded. My feeling is it's some sort of factory seconds figure that was released without mego knowing, I'll never know as to why.

I am not really bothered by John's naming him "Mystery Astronaut" seeing as he looks like the POTA astronaut and Allan Carter. He had to call him something and that wasn't a stretch. I'd prefer "Mystery Man" personally but to each his own.

[megozilla13]

I think the museum should adopt him and give him a real name, like "chuck"


mikej

[EMCE Hammer]

I think the museum should adopt him and give him a real name, like "chuck"


mikej

I have one that I swapped over to a Titans body who I refer to as "Robert."