Damn Microbots, YOU KILLED MEGO

[doctor09210]

i have HUGE amounts of star wars stuff and even the older ones are much better quality than the microbots, those microbots might of been possible but kennar have amazing quality on the non-possible figures

[palitoy]

AAAAAAAGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!

There, there it's alright, I feel your pain. 3 3/4" Thundar figures (hopefully sculpted by Bill Lemon) are the stuff of my dreams.

HAW! THey may have been worried about the age appropriateness.... although that WOULD have been around the time they pitched "Dallas" figures. Maybe the pitch came BEFORE anyone knew how dark the show was?

Somewhere I have a great article where a Mego Marketing exec explains exactly what they were thinking in terms of "Blues".

I think it was the case of sight unseen, grabbing the new "Cop show" license hoping it to be the next "Starsky and Hutch" and then having it be groundbreaking drama rather than an action show.

They grabbed Dukes of Hazzard and CHiPs that way and they were hits, I doubt Mego paid more than 5K for the license.

Dallas I think was done just because they had the license and it was a really big show, the prototypes are REALLY phoned in, I doubt they invested mush time in those.

Maybe, but 'cos of the Micronauts they might have made the same decision that Kenner did: the smaller figures make vehicles more viable. THey'd even dabbled before that with the Comic Action/Pocket Hero stuff.

Yeah, I'm of the mind that Mego Star Wars would have been 10" first (in time for Christmas 1977) and then as they realized what a money maker they had, we'd have gotten all kinds of crazy 3 3/4" and 12" stuff as well.

[doctor09210]

i
somehow
have an 8 inch darth maul action figure, and a couple of other 8''

[AcroRay]

i have HUGE amounts of star wars stuff and even the older ones are much better quality than the microbots, those microbots might of been possible but kennar have amazing quality on the non-possible figures

Do you mean Kenner's Microbots? What figures did Kenner do that weren't possible?

What the h3ck are you talking about?

You need really need to improve the clarity of your messages.

[doctor09210]

some of the first star wars figs were only 2or 3 points of articulation

[AcroRay]

Well, you'd have to consider just how much articulation an Astromech droid needs!

In recent years Hasbro has really hyper-articulated their Star Wars figures to meet collector demands, and I think it was the presence of Micronauts in the toy consumer & designer cultures in the US that really raised the bar for articulation in 1/18 scale action figures. That articulation migrated from Mego to Hasbro's 1980s GI Joe RAH line, and then Hasbro applied it to Star Wars when Hasbro acquired Kenner. (Also, it was applied to numerous lines in the years in between.)

You have to also consider that Kenner was probably really keeping manufacturing and R & D costs down with the simplicity of their Star Wars line when it launched in the 1970s. What if Star Wars had been a flop? They'd have lost a lot of money in a very competitive toy market. When the toys proved wildly popular, I think they decided that increasing the articulation wouldn't have improved the line's already amazing sales, so they didn't invest in it. Kenner kept improving details and likenesses... just not the articulation. It was only decades later - with a lot of competition on the toy department pegs that the decision was to drastically improve the quality of design and articulation in the figures.

Keep in mind also that Mego's Micronauts were *already* designed by someone else. Mego had very little R & D cost invested in the figures. (Takara had already done all that substantial, expensive work in Japan when the line was created as Microman.) Kenner didn't have that benefit when they had to develop the design standards and scales for their Star Wars line.

Mego's Micronauts set the standard on what a 1/18th scale articulated action figure could be. You can see the application of those design standards and elements in the action figure industry in the decades since.

But no matter what the quality of design, what Kenner's toys from Star Wars proved was that if the personality of the toy - the 'world' or 'character' it represents and the imagination it inspires - is what truly establishes the appeal of the toy and the desire of the consumer to own it. Some toys sell and thrive on play design. But true blockbusters are toys that represent a piece of a world that you want for yourself, and sometimes the quality of the toy is less important to consumers than the character the toy represents.

[doctor09210]

interesting

[AcroRay]

interesting

Yep! You'll find most of us here are as interested in the history, craft and industry of toymaking as we are in the toys themselves.

Toys are a huge part of our society's culture, and impact people in ways that follow them for the rest of their lives - inspiring their interests, professions, self-image, expectations, etc.

[samurainoir]

Yeah, I'm of the mind that Mego Star Wars would have been 10" first (in time for Christmas 1977) and then as they realized what a money maker they had, we'd have gotten all kinds of crazy 3 3/4" and 12" stuff as well.

Okay, this notion fascinates me. Why do you speculate 10" for Star Wars? was this around the time when they had that particular body purposed just for the Canadian Robin to go with the 12" Batman?

I know Flash Gordon used this format, as did Doctor Who. And ultimately a huge inventory of these were dug up for Maxx FX in the latter 80's.


It's interesting to look at the Star Trek TMP license... 12" and 3 3/4", but no 8" scale... which was their bread and butter for TOS/Animated Star Trek. Influenced by the Kenner Star Wars and trying to make them compatible?

Yet back to 8" for lines like Greatest American Hero prototypes.

[doctor09210]

the 8 inch lines to me are best cause they are not too big like the 12'' and large enough to have great details that 3 3/4 lack

[biotrontim]

I know I am with the Minority in saying this but, Micronauts are really the only thing I loved about Mego. Sure I have memories, I've collected, bought and sold other Mego lines but it is the Micronauts that are my drug of choice. I have had tons of Star Wars, Gi-Joe and just about every other figure line produced since then. Its the Micronauts that bring back the greatest memories. It has been my way of affording a small part of the Microman toy line. As an adult collector I can now appreciate where the Micronauts came from.
I do however, kind of wished Lucas went with the Adventure people prototypes. http://theswca.com/index.php?action=...&item_id=62138

[palitoy]

Okay, this notion fascinates me. Why do you speculate 10" for Star Wars?

I've been told that 10" was easier to work with and get detail into as opposed to the 8" figures, plus you get better value for them. You still had the versalitity of the 8" brands as well.

It seemed that Mego was really into that scale around that time, in 76 Ali was 10" and then Flash Gordon and Logan's Run were introduced for '77. It seems likely that Star Wars would have followed suit as well.

I still think Mego would have also gone the 3 3/4" route as well for the brand, they pitched it for Star Trek in '77.

[doctor09210]

its funny
i went to a cowboy boots store and all the horse toys came with 8'' riders

[J.B.]

[TrueDave]

I know I am with the Minority in saying this but, Micronauts are really the only thing I loved about Mego. Sure I have memories, I've collected, bought and sold other Mego lines but it is the Micronauts that are my drug of choice. I have had tons of Star Wars, Gi-Joe and just about every other figure line produced since then. Its the Micronauts that bring back the greatest memories. It has been my way of affording a small part of the Microman toy line. As an adult collector I can now appreciate where the Micronauts came from.
I do however, kind of wished Lucas went with the Adventure people prototypes. http://theswca.com/index.php?action=...&item_id=62138

Actually after the figures based on Raplf McQuarries concept designs were made i thought reproductions of the Adventure People prototypes would get made as well.
I think if a line has to go as far as issuing toys of ideas that were scrapped theres just too much product.

Why did the Sentry droid get a Micronaut body and not the Black Hole humans?
Was The Black Hole the first line of "o-ring" articulated 3 3/4 ?