Vintage Mego 1: Introduction and Gateway Mego Discussion

[sprytel]

This is great! I am sucker for both Mego history and the personal history behind people's collecting.

Here is my "gateway Mego" story: I was in junior high and went with my aunt to the flea market, when I saw a loose, beater Captain Kirk. It was $5... and I sheepishly asked my aunt if she could get it for me. I expected some "aren't you too old for dolls?" kind of response (...that was what the little voice inside my head was saying). But she was really cool about it and bought it for me without hesitation. Thank you, Aunt Phyllis.

[palitoy]

Aunt Phyllis rocks!

[tllgn]

this will be a great series of videos ,no question
my gateway mego was planet of the apes .even though i had an action jacksons earlier ,what happened was that they played the first three movie on tv ,and i loved it ,soon after my brothers and i went to local
mall lloyd center .and we found those first planet of the apes ahi parachute figures with the arms up to hold the ropes ,there were 3 dr zauis ,cornelius and galen although the chimps looked the same ,then
in oct of 74 we went into woolworths at that mall and found the first 5 planet of the apes figures .WOW!! these are cool .then less then a week later we saw the super heros (or the first time we paid attention to them)
and saw they were made like the apes .WOW! again Mego was all the rage then got trek oz monsters etc .collected ever since .still have all my orignal figures .

[mars396]

Thank you for this. I love reading about others' collecting.
My gateway Mego to my life-long obsession with all of Action Figure Collecting was the Star Trek Megos.

I’ve been a Mego Collector since the type 1 Star Trek figures hit the pegs.

My next door neighbor had the Planet of the Apes Megos, I had Star Trek. Every Saturday (after their respective animated series) we would play Star Trek Had A Transporter Accident and Ended Up on the Planet of the Apes. Good Times. We beat the hell out of those figures. I got a second set to keep in good condition (type 2 by this time) along with some Aliens. We ended up beating these to Hell as well. All that remains from my youth is the cardboard Enterprise playset with the Captain’s Chair, and my original naked beat-to-hell Gorn (oh, and a very beat up Spider-Man and Hulk with a scotch-taped together leg.)


Now to 1986. Inside the Star Trek IV the Voyage Home Souvenir magazine was an add for the classic six (type 2) Star Trek figures from Mego. $125 later, I had my Megos again ! ! ! ! (This is from the now (in)famous Canadian Warehouse “find”)

When we entered the new century, we entered the Renaissance Period (i.e. eBay and Reproductions). It was a great time to be a MegoHead™
In 2002, I was desperately trying to get the 1966 version of the Bat-logo printed onto sticker paper for the Reproduction RC Batman I was making, so I found this Forum, registered, posted a request for help, and in under three hours had several jpegs in my inbox to choose from.

Time passed, and I guess I got deregistered.

The EMCE Star Trek and Planet of the Apes announcements brought me back; I re-registered and now I come here everyday.

Between CTVT, EMCE/Doc Mego, and eBay, I will be spending tons of money in 2008.
I suppose I am going to need some DIDAs to put them all in…..

[Treadwell]

Neat video, thanks for making it!

My first Megos (and still my focus) were Star Trek, although during the same period a friend of mine had both Star Trek and POTA Megos, so those might have been my first hands-on exposure. Several of his figs were Type 1, and I was relieved all the ones I got (all gifts from parents) didn't have those ugly wrist hinges. To this day, Type 1's are a pass for me.

The biggest laugh we ever had: he'd stood one of his Apes figs on the carpet during play, and when he went to pick it up by the torso, the torso lifted but the legs and pelvis didn't! The elastic had picked the couple of minutes it had been sitting there to gently give way. The legs remained standing by themselves for a second, until an arm fell off the now-disconnected torso and knocked them over. One of the longest and hardest laughing fits of my life!