Mego's next team

[Tothiro]

Re: The Bat's and Phil's threads...

Mego had a history of creating WGSH teams, by virtue of either the teams being composed of A-list characters (Justice League) or the teams being put out at once (Fantastic Four, Teen Titans). One can also put a fairly good grouping of the Avengers together, but surely Mego could have expanded the roster...

Most of us have customized to extend the line's spirit, so my question is if WGSH had continued, what do you think would have been the next logical choice for a super team focus?

X-Men? Defenders? New Gods? Fill-in characters (IE Namor, Hawkeye, Martian Manhunter, Red Tornado, etc)?

[huedell]

My opinion is that you basically answered your own question by listing X-MEN
first...they were really gearing up in the comics while MEGO was winding down.

[The Toyroom]

X-Men were in reprints back then when Megos first hit and even though the "new" team debuted in '75, they weren't the money-making smash they are today....that was still a few years away.

New Gods? Nah, they really didn't have the appeal back then that they have today. They were pretty much contained to Kirby's Fourth World books and not a lot of cross-over appeal.

Defenders? The team is famous for being a non-team with a fluctuating membership. But if anything I COULD see a Silver Surfer, Sub-Mariner and Dr. Strange being part of the Mego line-up if they had continued one more Marvel wave. Maybe along with Daredevil and Black Panther.

As for DC, I'd think GL, Flash, Plastic Man, Hawkman and maybe another super-chick would've been Mego's next DC wave.

[huedell]

X-Men were in reprints back then when Megos first hit and even though the "new" team debuted in '75, they weren't the money-making smash they are today....that was still a few years away.

I thought I was okay bein' only a few years off.

BTW---were the TEEN TITANS really outselling X-MEN alll that much
around that time?

Either way X-MEN were primed to hit bigger by the late 70s, eh?

[The Toyroom]

No Teen Titans was having a hard go of it back then I think....it was cancelled in '73 and then was revived in Nov. '76 and then cancelled again in Feb. '78. So the revival during the Mego era was a little over a year. It may have been outselling X-Men at one point, I'm not sure of the sales numbers, but that may have been when the "new" X-Men was just finding its legs. By the time DC revived it as The New Teen Titans in Nov. '80, X-Men was already a top seller for Marvel.

[thunderbolt]

Teen Titans were not a bi monthly reprint at the time like the XMen. mego probably produced what they were fed by DC.

[Timothy2251]

Meego would probably have made more Avengers - Vision, Scarlet Witch, Hawkeye, etc. as they already had Thor, Iron Man and Cap made.

[david_b]

Meego would probably have made more Avengers - Vision, Scarlet Witch, Hawkeye, etc. as they already had Thor, Iron Man and Cap made.

Other than the X-Men idea being potentially valid, from what I've gleaned is that Mego wanted VARIETY most of all, diverse colorful characters that would pull in kids. X-Men..? Eh, I'd say Mego would have been inclined to make more Avengers, which had much stronger familiarity back then, second to the FF and Spiderman, so yes, Hawkeye, Vision, Black Panther, perhaps Doctor Doom would have come next in my opinion. I'd agree that X-Men simply were not a strong enough title back then.

My two arguments for why the Titans were chosen was for DC to capitalize on the anticipated re-emergence of the comic as a light-weight, 'batman-family' title, after the success of the one-shot summer 'DC Special' featuring the two Titan reprinted stories. They were most likely put on the planning boards when DC saw potential for renewed interest.

And second, add in the smaller bodies with different packaging that Mego assumed would be more eye-catching, plus blend in better with the existing line by having 'side-kicks', breathing more interest in folks like Aquaman, Wonderwoman, and Green Arrow.

Just my two-cents,

david_b

[The Bat]

Man...just the thought of Mego/Mattel X-MEN...get's me as giddy as a School Girl!!