Vintage Mego: The Mystery Man

[RSS]

This week, we talk about one of our most persistent (and in my case, annoying) Mego mysteries. This figure surfaced in the late 1970s in clearance bins in New York City, he had no packaging but he’s clearly made by Mego. Who the heck is he? We’ve been trying to figure that out for 20 years.

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[Wee67]

I was about to present which of these theories made the most sense to me (and possibly add one about the Mego factory boss' cousin copying the tools to create his own figure at his factory down the street) when I realized that this would just be more speculation. It would add no evidence to finding an answer.

Short of an employee coming forward with an explanation, I feel like this will never be solved. Did an employee ever confirm the Mego clothes found on fashion dolls were an effort to get rid of overstock? Yes, it makes sense and here we have in front of us fashion dolls wearing Spider-man's costume or a Star Trek uniform. I believe it but has it ever been confirmed. At what level of the company are decisions made to get rid of overstock, whether its extra clothes or old T1 bodies. It doesn't seem like a decision made at Marty or Neal's level. Or anyone else we've had contact with for Museum interviews (and by "we" I mean you guys who do all the great investigative work).

[Terron]

Great video. Really enjoyed this and the recent ones on the Fortress of Solitude and the Aqua-man/Great White playset. Nice job on all of of them.

[Brue]

It is Major Nelson

I say this for 2 reasons:

1. I want to believe it even though it's not true.
2. I like to poke the bear (since I know Brian has already ruled this out and stated this type of speculation annoys him)

[Mr.Marion]

If my life depended on an explanation I would say it was a rack toy knockoff using mego parts. I think that was a common occurrence back then.

[Megotastrophe]

My completely uninformed opinion is that he was just another one of the pilot figures produced to fill the cockpits of scale model RC aircraft. Small and light and just enough detail to look okay. Nobody had a head used more than the Bruce head. AJ parts and a minimalist outfit. I think one of the catalog companies that serviced the hobby made an order and then somehow the order fell through after the product was delivered. The stock was remaindered out to avoid a total loss.

[jwyblejr]

So did you get to ask Marty about this? Or were things too hectic?