Does anyone know if there were more WGSH figures planned in the 70s?

[PNGwynne]

...The Luthor explanation is totally plausible, the purple suit didn't appear when the villains were picked for WGSH.

I've done a little research into time-frames for Luthor:

*Holcomb's World's Greatest Toys has the boxed Super-Foes release date as February 1974. (I received my first Penguin in early December of '74.) This would mean the wave was probably developed in late '72-early '73, I think.

*Luthor's first costume appeared Superman #282, which is cover-dated "Dec. 1974" and likely created mid-'74.

So, what we think of as classic Super-Friends Luthor was indeed too late for the Super-Foes. Prior to '74, Luthor was wearing business suits, prison grays, or--as in Superman #248 (Feb '72)--a lab coat. I"m pretty sure #248 is the source for the first FTC Luthor figure.

[generic]

As you may guess from my avatar, I would have loved a Dr. Doom Mego. But I would have loved to have owned Joker, Riddler, Aquaman, Green Arrow, Spock, and Bones. Plus the ones that I didn't even know existed back then: the knights, Robin Hood, and definitely the Monsters! There were plenty of Megos that did exist that I never saw in the stores. My friend's older brother had Aquaman and Riddler. I was blown away when I saw them. I think his were the only Aquaman and Riddler I ever saw in person until I was an adult. But I sure saw the Mego ads in the comics!

Strangely I somehow ended up with Dorothy, the Cowardly Lion, the Wizard and the Emerald City playset which I stored in the original box until I sold it at a garage sale as a kid. I would have traded that playset in a second for the Enterprise playset or the Batcave (unless I'd known about the knights or the monsters!)

I have no idea how I ended up with the Lion. I wasn't crazy about The Wizard of Oz movie, but Scarecrow could have been a Batman villain and the Tin Man could have been a knight or something. I just never cared for the Cowardly Lion at all. I did play with the Wizard and Dorothy as civilians with my other Megos, but I would have taken just about anyone over that lion -Haha!

[monitor_ep]

Don't feel bad, my brother & I never found Aquaman. We did use some of the other Megos as fillers for our Heroes:

*Scarecrow of course got used for Batman's Scarecrow
*Lion we used like a Were-Lion (before Hawkman's Lion-Main entered)
*Witch was used with the Monster series
*Mad Monster more bad guys
*Pirate we used for Batman's Captain Stingaree
*Some Western character was used for Batman 66 Shane and the others were his henchmen

It is amazing what a kid will come up with the expand there toys...

[MIB41]

The answer I've always got is DC wanted new figures and asked Mego to do the Titans. Sol Harrison's son Marty was Mego's art director after all.

The Titans were a dud for Mego.

I vividly remember the debut of the Titans because I loved following the Superhero merchandise book. That first illustration of Kid Flash jumped out at me because I had always wanted a Flash figure and here was a chance to get a Kid Flash. I was enthralled to see this ad.
[IMG][/IMG]

But like most things in the 70's, seeing something and getting it were two entirely different worlds. The Titans were poorly distributed. I NEVER saw an actual Kid Flash figure in a store. Not once. I eventually saw the others, but I was so obsessed with finding Kid Flash, I went right past those. The funniest part? I never paid any attention to their scale during my search, so the whole idea of them being smaller just didn't strike me since I wasn't stopping to look at the ones available. It was definitely one of those 'not-seeing-the-trees-for-the-forest' moments. So after fruitless searches at stores, I figured my only approach left was mail order and that was not something I liked requesting, due to the hassle of getting my parents to actually do it and then the eternal wait that sometimes took six to eight weeks. So when the next issue of the Superhero merchandise book came out, I figured that was my gateway to getting him. But alas he was no where to be found on the ad!

[IMG][/IMG]

So for the remainder of my young adolescence, I was left wondering if Kid Flash was a myth or if he was so popular he just sold out quickly. It wasn't until 1991 that I actually stood in the presence of one at a convention. And then (AND ONLY THEN) did I make the hilarious observation, " Gee. He's allot smaller than I envisioned."

For me, the Teen Titans were the last offering Mego had for the smaller scales when it came to superheroes. The 12 inch really took center stage in the late 70's with Superman the movie, Hulk, Spider-man, and Star Trek the Motion picture. Outside of repackaging, the eight inch line had hit a wall in terms of new offerings. I was also getting older and the notion of having superhero dolls as any form of entertainment when I was entering high school by '79 really took me out of the picture from there.

During those early years, I was perplexed over the omissions of characters like Flash and Green Lantern since they were so prevalent on the Super Friends, yet they found the time to design and release a more detailed hero like Green Arrow (which I love). Listening to Marty reflect on that period today really makes me appreciate what we got, because we definitely had someone from the outside looking in trying to figure out what we liked and he hit the mark allot.

I think context is important when looking back at this period and why something like WGSH was such a breakout hit. Kids like me had already cycled through first run shows like Batman '66, Spiderman '67, Ultraman, Lost in Space, Jonny Quest, and Space Ghost. We had all of these properties that we had watched on television (that were cycling back around in reruns), yet nothing translatable to the back yards or bedrooms for us to play with. I can't tell you how many times I tried to make Big Jim into Captain America, Batman, or even Spider-man.

And while I understand Captain Action made a brief foray into those licensing ideas, that figure didn't really meet the demand. Kids wanted THE heroes, not someone pretending to be a superhero. Mego tapped into allot of pent up demand for actual superheroes that kids could play with and create their OWN adventures. We got spoiled fast and Marty spread that licensing to capture a pretty eclectic gathering of characters and real life performers that went well outside the superhero configuration. At the end of the day, I tend to think that over indulgence into television and movies took away some of his focus on the superhero category. Kids like me were waiting for the next series of heroes after '76 and they just quit coming. Star Wars cratered it from there.

[palitoy]

Neither Parkdale Novelty nor Grand Toys ordered the Titans but Heroes World (the kid internet) made us aware they existed.

One of the kids in the neighbourhood visited Florida often, his sister had a Wondergirl doll. We were never allowed to play with it but under Mom's eye, she would occasionally let us see WG. I can remember staring at it thinking the US was a magical place full of Mego toys I'd never see but I don't think it left any sort of mark on me

[hedrap]

The answer I've always got is DC wanted new figures and asked Mego to do the Titans. Sol Harrison's son Marty was Mego's art director after all.

The Titans were a dud for Mego.

That's how I thought it would go. I think your spot-on about Sol. The guy took over as DC Prez in '76. Marvel, already owning a weak decade thanks to Electric Company and syndication, hit paydirt with X-Men reboot. Sol's counter-move was a mimicry relaunch with Titans. So he calls his son at Mego and asks for a solid.

I think the "Lion Rock + Weak Marvel WGSH '76 Sales" still fits. If Avengers and FF sold like Spidey and Hulk, I can't see Marty switching tracks to something so different. I'm guessing the Star Wars tremors were kicking in by this point too.

[TRDouble]

I drooled over those Heroes World ads as a kid! I ordered once, but I think it was for a Spider-Man webshooter that attached to your wrist and shot a suction cup dart. Or a Batman Utility Belt. Everything, not just Megos, had me drooling in those magazines.

Anyhoo, I really, really wanted the Teen Titans, but only ever saw a loose Kid Flash in a bin at a Twin Fair store. Assuming now that the bin was full of toys opened in the store that sold cheap. Alas, I did not get him.

As for missing characters, despite what I saw in Heroes World, every Christmas I would always ask for a Flash, Hawkman and Green Lantern, figuring Santa’s elves would just make them for me. And every Christmas I got a new Batman and Robin (I was tough on my toys!), a vehicle, and a new character, like Aquaman, Green Arrow, Falcon, etc. I was happy, but always a little disappointed until years later I finally figured out why I never got the Hawkman or Flash I asked for...

[glimpy]

wouldn't that have been awesome

[supes]

I had Kid Flash as a kid, as an adult now I feel a little bad about how I got him. So my best friend Bobby excitedly ran over ro my house to show me his new Kid Flash figure. And I thought he was awesome. The next day he was back over and we were playing with my Megos and he broke the knee of my Hulk Mego. Now as a kid I never had a mego break on me and wouldn't find out til years later that the Hulk knees were a bad design and broke easily. So anyway, after my Hulk broke I was very upset and convinced him to give me his Kid Flash figure to replace my Hulk. And thats how I came to own Kid Flash the only titan I would own as a kid.