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It's especially impressive when you consider the last movie came out in '73 and Mego intro'ed the Apes line in '74. (yes, there was the short-lived TV show in '74 and the cartoon in '75, but neither was wildly popular). With Star Trek, that's two very successful Mego lines that thrived after their media products were gone. I guess Trek's syndicated success and POTA movies being shown on TV helped keep the interest in the lines.
^^ 20th Century Fox also did the theatrical re-release festival events in '74. The timeline of the five movies allowed for new audiences/interest when that happened. There were also a multitude of releases/re-releases across other parts of the world that keep Apemania hot across the 1970's.
^^ Marty tells a story about one of these re-releases being the reason he got the rights to POTA. He claims his kid dragged him to a theater running a marathon of ape movies. He looked around and saw a theater filled with kids and thought- this would make a good line of figures!
of course, I assume this happened before '74 since the figures were released in '74. I don't know how it takes to go from license to prototype to production back then, but I assume it all couldn't happen quickly.
Speaking of dates, I was born in 1974 and I recall POTA still being popular in the later 1970s. This isn’t coming from a big Apesa fans, though I like the property. I can recall them being all over TV in one form or another and merchandise. I don’t have any siblings or older cousins, so it wasn’t second hand/old stuff that I was seeing.
Apes merchandise was available here in Toronto until the late 1980s. It's what got me started in collecting, the board game and tree house were especially easily found in local variety stores. I remember grabbing a pop at "the Wiz" a candy store on Eglinton and walking out with a bag of Ziras. That was probably 1987.
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I think I read in Holcomb's book that it took about a year.
I think that's on average, Mego was especially quick with that sort of thing. Marty has famously mentioned several times that Mego's Star Wars figures would have made it to market for Christmas 1977.
The '74 Apes line is loaded with shortcuts, the tooling leans heavily on Action Jackson and the American West line. Even early Dr. Zaius figures are wearing the fisherman boots. That's how Mego got it out so fast.
However, Mego likely secured those toy rights in fall of 1973 when Battle was released and Fox started running the marathons. The TV series was likely announced then as well. This also coincides with the launch of the Addar model kits that Vinny Baiera observed selling out at his local hobby shop.
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That's interesting about the Addar kits, I hadn't heard of that until now.
Yeah, while I have no doubt Marty's story about taking his son Ken to the marathon is true, Vinny mentioned to me that he had been championing apes in the R&D meetings after he saw how well the Addar kits were selling. He was also a big fan of the movies himself.
It also jives considering the first Mego Apes prototypes were made with Addar heads and an old pair of Jeans.
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Yeah, while I have no doubt Marty's story about taking his son Ken to the marathon is true, Vinny mentioned to me that he had been championing apes in the R&D meetings after he saw how well the Addar kits were selling. He was also a big fan of the movies himself.
It also jives considering the first Mego Apes prototypes were made with Addar heads and an old pair of Jeans.
This actually makes more sense. I have to admit, I used the word "claims" regarding Marty's story intentionally. While I have no reason to think he didn't take Ken to a marathon, it did seem a bit of an oversimplification as to the decision to get the Apes license. It makes more sense that it was the final argument to do so.
This actually makes more sense. I have to admit, I used the word "claims" regarding Marty's story intentionally. While I have no reason to think he didn't take Ken to a marathon, it did seem a bit of an oversimplification as to the decision to get the Apes license. It makes more sense that it was the final argument to do so.
Yeah, I don't think they're conflicting stories in any way. Marty may have not been in attendance during those R&D meetings or as you say, the marathon was just the deciding factor for him.
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