Webbed-Hand Aquaman: Search for Atlantis?

[SlipperyLilSuckers]

I read that Aquaman bit in the book with great interest as he is a favourite of mine. It will be very interesting to hear the answer when it is eventually tracked down. I am tempted to customize an Aquaman's hands since I like them so much.

[Hulk]

Neal Kublan confirmed Webby was defnitely machine made, and that the mimimum run they would have even considered would have been 1000 units. One day he will show up again, but until then, Berto still gets my nod for owning the rarest Mego known.

[imp]

Neal Kublan confirmed Webby was defnitely machine made, and that the mimimum run they would have even considered would have been 1000 units.

Good point, Paul!

1,000 'production samples' would be astronomically high for a small outfit like the company I worked for, but a run of 1,000 such units would be relatively small for a company as large as Mego in 1978 (In 1976, Mego was acknowledged as the 6th largest toy company in the entire world!).

For a company as massive as Mego at the time, 'production' samples, 'buyer' samples and 'catalog' samples alone would require hundreds of units, if not thousands.

The point is, there is little doubt Mego produced more than one set of "Webbed Hands." This adds to the mystery surrounding 'Berto's solitary specimen, but still doesn't address the greater mystery of the reasoning behind the playset's development!

This is the kind of thing that makes me lose sleep.

Benjamin

[MegoScott]

I just don't see how it can be anything but Man From Atlantis. The webbed hand is too specific. How and why it ended up on an Aquaman is baffliing...

I think this trademark discovery is very interesting. It's Search for Atlantis, but not Man from Atlantis...might they have been considering an end-run around the actual show and making their own genric Atlantis concept that ripped off the idea of webbed hands? Are webbed hands are a visual idea that can't be trademarked or made proprietary? I can't imagine the rights to the mildly popular Patrick Duffy show would have been so expensive they'd have gone the generic route to save money...but perhaps they thought they could expand beyond the show's concept and make a line that had even more fantastic elements...

Anyway, to me this is a clue that lends a lot weight to the idea that the hands were created for an abandoned project. Then maybe someone suggests merging the idea with Aquaman...Or perhaps Search for Atlantis was an abandoned Aquaman playset idea that ended up as GWS...

It's just so baffling that they'd show it in the catalog yet make no mention of it--just show the picture. And that no one from Mego can recall these things...

[EMCE Hammer]

I'm thinking Logan's Run here. Perhaps a run of something Atlantis-related was made, and then the plug got pulled when the show died. For whatever reason, it all went in the kiln except for a few stragglers.

OR

How's about an accident with the tooling for one of the hands, which made them decide to just go with regular hands instead of the webs due to cost and/or time issues?

[Brue]

I like the whole hand written possibilities sheet - should really be considered when choosing submissions for "1978 imagined" project!

[imp]

I just don't see how it can be anything but Man From Atlantis. The webbed hand is too specific.

It certainly seems like the most logical explanation.

It's Search for Atlantis, but not Man from Atlantis...might they have been considering an end-run around the actual show and making their own genric Atlantis concept that ripped off the idea of webbed hands?

ABSOLUTELY. Mego avoided paying licensing fees several times. Licensing Farrah, for example, allowed Mego to capitalize on "Charlie's Angels" without paying for the character rights.

Anyway, to me this is a clue that lends a lot weight to the idea that the hands were created for an abandoned project. Then maybe someone suggests merging the idea with Aquaman...Or perhaps Search for Atlantis was an abandoned Aquaman playset idea that ended up as GWS...

I agree! It's not just the unique hands that raise my eyebrows. It's the fact that Mego also created the Shark, which is somewht of a departure from typical WGSH ancillary products.

I'm thinking Logan's Run here. Perhaps a run of something Atlantis-related was made, and then the plug got pulled when the show died. For whatever reason, it all went in the kiln except for a few stragglers.

I don't know about that. Logan's Run was 9" scale, while the "Webbed-Hands" are definitely 8" scale. Were there aquatic characters on the Logan's Run TV show? I don't remember.

Benjamin

[MegoScott]

Well, as always, Ben, good work. You've uncovered some neat stuff via the trademark office. This and the Creature mention (both have webbed hands....hmmmm....) really got me thinking. That's what makes your book more than a massive collection of pretty pictures, if I may say so.

[davidb]

The biggest question I've got about the webbed hands is simple - why would Mego expend the extra cost and effort for a figure that wore gloves? I'd suspect that these bodies may have been a trial run for some sort of Atlantis figures - could Roberto's have been one of only a few that escaped the same incinerator that claimed the Logan's Run figures and were reused?

[EMCE Hammer]

Quote:
Originally Posted by stevemoore
I'm thinking Logan's Run here. Perhaps a run of something Atlantis-related was made, and then the plug got pulled when the show died. For whatever reason, it all went in the kiln except for a few stragglers.

I don't know about that. Logan's Run was 9" scale, while the "Webbed-Hands" are definitely 8" scale. Were there aquatic characters on the Logan's Run TV show? I don't remember.

Benjamin

I mean same scenario; not actually part of the line. Sorry I wasn't real clear on that.

Steve