Vintage Mego Episode 4: Ultraman Leo from Japan

[RSS]

This week we talk about the very rare and somewhat mysterious Ultraman Leo figure from Japan. The figure is actually on a Mego type one body but we know precious little about it. Was it made by Mego or did Miura just buy some bodies? Are there other characters in the series? These are…

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[EmergencyIan]

That's something. Maybe with this put out there, maybe we'll acquire some new info on this figure. Love the videos!

- Ian

[newlyknighted]

Any Mego like figure with a removable cowl says~Buy Me Now!
I'm always learning something new about Mego, and "Mego like" toys on this forum, and this is another fun and informative video that always leaves me wishing there were an actual Mego museum I could visit on any day of the week.

[Wee67]

Or maybe we might even find find other figures from this company. It seems odd that they would only make one.

Is it possible this company simply used a factory that had "borrowed" the dies ad tools from Mego's contracted manufacturer?

[Treadwell]

Very interesting, thanks for the video!

I think Wee67 could be on to something. We all know how often tooling gets reused without permission.

Also, the 1974 date is interesting, given that was when they were switching over to the T2 bodies. Could Mego (or, again, the factory without permission) have dumped a bunch of T1 stock?

The press stud doesn't look like what Mego used; nor did Mego use Velcro at the time, did they? So I'd agree that the body was probably the only link to Mego.

Loving these videos.

[palitoy]

I can't completely dismiss the possibility that a factory "borrowed" the dies but it's odd that Mego was still actively using them at the time.

I conjectured that they merely purchased the bodies based on an interview with a Denys Fisher employee who said the Doctor Who figures were not entirely produced in Hong Kong, a lot of the manufacturing and assembly was done in the United Kingdom.

[Confessional]

Leo rocks!… love all things Asian-Mego-related!

Maybe there should be standing threads for Vintage Mego and Toy Ventures, instead of intermixed into others?… the content is cool and special to lots of us/other vintage collectors. Nice to keep the halls of the Museum clean and pretty, in perpetuity.

[palitoy]

I should probably merge the older ones but I do like that the RSS feed for the blog hits buzz.

[Earth 2 Chris]

Great video, and a fascinating figure. The material of the costume reminds me of the earliest Mego WGSH suits, so maybe Mego was more involved than we think? Or they sourced the same material provider?

Chris

[comicmike]

I'm over-the-moom happy to see this video. It is well done.