Mego ending

[Dadioche]

Perhaps this question has already been answered.
Do you know facts which could explain why Mego collapsed in 1982 ?
Thanks in advance.

[ABMAC]

Costs were up, profits were down, and they made some bad investment decisions.

[toys2cool]

they screwed up by not getting the Star Wars line :grin:

[Meule]

they screwed up by not getting the Star Wars line :grin:

There's a lot more to it than that, but yeah it didn't do 'em any good either

[palitoy]

When Marty Abrams was removed the company brought in a bean counter who pretty much sucked the creative energy out of the company.

Mego didn't die because of not having Star Wars, only one company had Star Wars and lots of other toy manufacturers survived.

Like Anthony said, Mego threw a lot of money on electronic games, which imploded in the early eighties also mortally wounding giants like Milton Bradley. The companies rapid growth during a high inflation period meant that soft sales were especially detrimental.

[starsky]

why was marty abrams removed from the company his father founded? please fill me in. i had no idea that happened.

darren

[ABMAC]

Federal Jury Convicts Abrams, Other Mego Executive in Fraud Trial (http://www.megomuseum.com/megolibrary/adarchive/1982/bad.html)

[starsky]

i had no idea!! what was the verdict and did he end up getting any kind of penalty?

[ABMAC]

Marty spent some time in prison, but I've never heard how long he was in.

[palitoy]

It seems no matter who I speak to about this, whether they like Abrams or not, they all think he got a bad deal when it came to this thing. Some have told me that they believe he got sentenced because he wouldn't name people. I can't comment personally and I really don't like discussing this stuff for some reason.

[zorro]

This is news to me as well. what a shocker. Either way, I believe that he got a bum deal.

[ABMAC]

Yeah, I feel the same way. I don't think Marty was doing anything unusual for a person in his position at that time.

[K]

News to me, too!

[z3zep]

Once again -- thanks for the info guys!

[Captain]

Actually, the REAL reason Mego went down for a count all began at a wild toy fair party one night in the early eighties. After this now infamous night of reckless drinking and debauchary the management awoke, hungover of course, to find they had made a horrible mistake. One of them, in a highly intoxicated state, paid every single dime in the company coffers to one of the strippers at the party to create and manufacture a toy line. That toy line was.....CLOWNAROUNDS!
For weeks the management team sat nervously, awaiting the arrival of the "product" they had bet their futures on. When it arrived, their worst fears were confirmed.....this was the worst idea in toys since the exploding Slinky debacle of 67'. Panic ensued. Staff were jumping out of windows, changing their names to "Moon Aura" and "Arse of the Beaver" and joining strange cults....it was absolute bedlam!!!!!

Finally, one brave (but long forgotten) employee took the products around to the toy buyers in a last ditch effort to save the company. He or she meant well, but this proved to be the nail in the coffin.The buyers were shocked and recoiled in disgust at this hapless product. Mego's reputation was ruined. To quote one Geoffrey T. Giraffe of the toys r us organization; "Only a bunch of drunken, hippy, communist drug sniffers would try to push this crap into the hands of American children!"
Yes sir, Mego was done like dinner!

....And now you know...the rest of the story.

[ABMAC]

Heh… Clownarounds rule.

[palitoy]

Yeah, I feel the same way. I don't think Marty was doing anything unusual for a person in his position at that time.

That's the concensus, it was a cost of doing business and everyone had to do it.

[Bill]

The Government contended that Abrams and several former Mego officers "secretly mis­appropriated" more than $100,000 over ten years "to enrich themselves and bribe others."


That seems like nothing for a multi-million dollar business then, and now you probably couldn't find a company slush fund as low as 10K a year.

[Blue Meanie]

The story I heard from a couple of old rack jobbers was that Mego was selling out the "backdoor" of one of their warehouses here on Long Island and claiming that the figures were either damaged, stolen, or destroyed. Is there any truth to that story???