Who was around in 72?

[DavidCoppola]

I was, and in 2nd grade. Here in Rochester there was a Kresges in a city strip mall that my mom and I would frequent. I remember that fateful day that I saw the Mego display.

[MIB41]

I was also in 2nd grade (the Fall of '72 anyway). Action Jackson was the big deal that year. I remember seeing them and thinking how neat it was to have figures you could handle so much better than GI Joes. The commercials certainly fueled my interest since they showed playtime with the figures and all the adventures you could have. Late 1973 was the big time for me though. That's when I was standing in line with my mom to check out and there sat a spin rack of Mego superheroes. I'll never forget it. What jumped out at me immediately were the cowls on Batman. They were on every way but the right way, and were sticking out of the boxes because kids couldn't see them any other way. My brain was on overload to see a figure that could be BOTH Bruce and Batman. It wasn't long after that I held one in my hands. It was so cool to have a superhero that had his own mask, gloves, and boots. I can still remember the feeling because I knew what life was like without superhero figures. I had Captain Action as Batman but it was just so clunky and hard to keep the mask together, so it was not really the same thing. It was great to finally have a true superhero figure on a manageable scale that WAS that superhero and not someone pretending to be him. And I LOVED the artwork. GI Joe started my love affair with packaging, but Mego took it to another level. I could play with my heroes, then put them back in their boxes. So I was already connecting with that "shelf experience" before I understood what I was doing. It was neat to keep them boxed and display them on my bookcase.

[El Hombre Nuclear]

A bit before my time, but wasn't the only notable Mego stuff available in '72 Action Jackson and Fighting Yank? It seems they were still in their "Joe clone" phase then, before WGSH and Apes really helped to launch them (and the truly "'70s" toy market in general) into the limelight circa '73/'74.

I'm probably going to get pounded on here by my elders (please don't hurt me!), but as someone with an interest in the history and chronology of toys (and action figure lines in particular), I've always tended to see the very early '70s as a bit of a lull period, still more part of the original "first wave" '60s action figure market, but with most of those lines sputtering out as the larger pop cultural scene started shifting into a new era, with only the Adventure Team (which Hasbro had very smartly rebranded, well ahead of the curve) acting as a sort of bridge to the future.

[MIB41]

A bit before my time, but wasn't the only notable Mego stuff available in '72 Action Jackson and Fighting Yank? It seems they were still in their "Joe clone" phase then, before WGSH and Apes really helped to launch them (and the truly "'70s" toy market in general) into the limelight circa '73/'74.

I'm probably going to get pounded on here by my elders (please don't hurt me!), but as someone with an interest in the history and chronology of toys (and action figure lines in particular), I've always tended to see the very early '70s as a bit of a lull period, still more part of the original "first wave" '60s action figure market, but with most of those lines sputtering out as the larger pop cultural scene started shifting into a new era, with only the Adventure Team (which Hasbro had very smartly rebranded, well ahead of the curve) acting as a sort of bridge to the future.

Having lived it, I would say that is a pretty accurate statement. It also fuels the impact of Mego and what they brought to the table. The Adventure Team was pretty much the only big figure line in the early 70's. But 1972 did begin to create new lines. Mattel came out with Big Jim which really sold the Marlboro man image to kids. The big outdoorsman who you could buy outfits for adventure. Mego perpetuated the GI Joe theme and Big Jim simultaneously and actually got sued by Hasbro in the effort. But Action Jackson was absolutely the start of a new toy culture in the industry. If you look back at Mego's Toy Fair promotion, they talk about how they sold 2.5 million Action Jackson figures in 1972. So they had really made a stamp on the industry and everyone was taking notice. If memory serves the two most popular new toy lines in that year were Action Jackson and the Evel Knievel stunt cycle.

But as far as a figure line based on popular licensing, there really wasn't anything out there until Mego came out with the World's Greatest Superheroes. That changed everything. And as much as some love to point to Captain Action as the Godfather to that effort back in the late 60's, I'm more of the opinion it was an honorable mention. CA was really rebranding the GI Joe gimmick, by using superhero costumes instead of war time gear to equip their character. They even got in trouble for using a GI Joe body which you can see being used in the commercials (look at the hands).

But Mego superheroes really opened the flood gates to popular licensing. It wasn't long after that everything was being made on that scale. I know it well because it fed my birthdays, great report card rewards, being sick, and of course Christmas time requests. You had the superheroes, then AHI made the monsters; LJN made Rookie and Swat figures and of course Mego branched out into television and movies. So for about five years the eight inch figure became the preferred action figure line. Mego had really become an industry leader very quickly. But in the same manner they made great decisions to transform the marketplace, they also defined their legacy by passing on licensing that would define generations to come. And that, of course, was Star Wars.

But 1972 was definitely a year when new toy lines began to take germ and they expanded very quickly from there. What was really different though is that no one had really embarked on existing licensing for figures until 1973. Mego blew open the doors and everyone followed.

[El Hombre Nuclear]

Excellent insights. It does seem that, in both the toy market and American culture at large, '72/'73 was indeed the transition period from the '60s to the full-on funky '70s. I've always thought that history basically repeated itself, as the same cycle occurred a decade later around '82/'83. Perhaps not coincidentally, one era dawned along with Mego's rise, followed by another with its fall. A truly epoch-defining company, then.

[Mikey]

In '72 I was in second grade.

Rockaway Sales toy department was my Mego connection

[Gorn Captain]

They didn't have them in my home town, but there was a little toystore at the seaside that had them.
Twice a year, my grandma took us to the seaside, and I always rushed to that store (Bazaar Teddy), where I was allowed to buy one Mego. Man, it took forever to get another one!

But was that 72, or a bit later? Hmmmm...

[Bronxboykev]

I was the Ripe Old age of 5 at the time... Just starting the 72/73 year of school; Kindergarten to be exact... The WGSH Line had to come out late 72 early 73 because I recall bringing my RC Batman to Show and tell. Needless to say I was a BIG Hit that day

[ubermanx]

I was 3 and chewing on my cousin's GI Joes

[cjefferys]

I was around in '72 but didn't get my first Mego until I got a removable cowl Batman in '73 while I was in kindergarten.

[PNGwynne]

I was five in '72. My first Mego was a RC Batman at Nichol's Discount Store, with October birthday money--so I probably got a window-boxed version in autumn '73--I don't recall exactly.

[TrekStar]

I was a whopping 6 years old at the time, I was fortunate to have a Kresges, Child World, and Jordan Marsh
which had a toy department, they did have megos too, but not as many as the others, RC Batman and RM Robin
we're my first two, in '72.

[Hedji]

My birth year.

[SKotK]

I was only 2 at that point, and was a couple of years away from developing my keen interest in Star Trek (although I think I was already interested in astronauts and space). However, I did have a Batman paratrooper figure which I inherited from my mom's toy bin, which led to me watching Batman on TV and getting a cheap plastic Batmobile...which led to me ogling the Mego Batman stuff in the Christmas catalogs!

--SKot

[drquest]

2 years old as well, Batman and Robin were my first Mego's, but that was 1974-75'ish.

We had Woolworth's, Sears, Wards and a couple of local dime store shops.

I got the Enterprise Bridge set and Kirk,McCoy and Spock for Christmas one year from Sears.