New custom mego store?

[hedrap]

Here's a straight shot of truth, no chaser...

...loyalty is huge on this board, which makes it monstrous in the overall community since this is the place of the long-haul buyers.

While Mego repro is not a closed shop, the personal relationships trump prices. Doc comes through for people, under the radar, all the time.

So replicating the same Mego parts is peeing in the wind. The perfect example is CTVT, who sell cheaper repros but only get traction on exclusive stuff.

I would recommend doing your homework on Cast-A-Way before much else. Those guys did it exactly right, and still got blindsided.

Nothing personal, but early on, everyone has this same idea. It's much more laborious than people realize.

[JediJaida]

What he said.

Cast-A-Way had BEAUTIFUL stuff! Boots, gloves, suits, heads, and bodies! The accessories were great, the service excellent, and the staff was always good about stuff.

Unfortunately, they were betrayed in one of the WORST ways possible in the business world, and their lovely business is now history.

Believe me, we here at the museum were ROYALLY cheesed off about it; ask anyone.

The thread about that went on for WEEKS, with just about everyone voicing his/her opinion.

I, for one, sincerely hope that they come back someday. They are cool peeps.

If you really, really want to get this going, you are going to have a mountain of homework to do in regards to it.

I hope you succeed at it, I really do.

[Random Axe]

In all honesty, you will have a difficult time getting Mego repro stuff going for all the above mentioned reasons.

If you are completely serious about going forward in this market and not just speculating I recommend making parts and accessories that are not currently available in this scale. Make something nobody else has. I'm talking about weaponry mostly. There's an endless supply of 1/6 scale firearms and blades that could possibly be reproduced in our scale. How cool would it be to have a Conan sword from Arnie's movie in Mego scale? How about a crossbow? You should specialize in something before trying multiple avenues. I'd go the weapon/holster, quiver route and see where that takes you. Of course it would start small, but I'd easily pay 5-10 dollars for a Mego scale Colt Python or a double barrell shotgun, and I'm sure I'm not alone.

[MegoCapnMike]

Reproducing items that others are already is likely pointless. I would say unique items. Or at least variations that are not available through Doc Mego or Classic TV, Mego Store or Laser Mego. There are tons of lines that I'm sure folks would like to see in the 1/9 scale that are not. Perhaps items that would be suitable for making Star Wars customs, or Next Generation Trek.

If you are talking custom heads, personally, I would love to see a classic movie line of figures in 1/9 scale. I would pay to see a Bogart as Philip Marlowe custom available. A good likeness or Charlton Heston would have some obvious worth to folks here as well. Jimmy Stewart, Don Knotts, Clark Gable, James Cagney, Grace Kelly, Lauren Bacall, I could go on and on...

As far as accessories, there are still tons of things that could be made for customs that aren't. As the other folks said before me, look through the existing sites and see what is and isn't there. Also, check the accessory checklist of the figures on the Museum. It will say if an accessory has been reproduced or not.

Anyway, hope that helps...

[MegoCapnMike]

ooh, Logan's Run custom heads, clothes and weapons/accessories. Preferably movie versions in 1/9 scale.

[Scousebadger]

ooh, Logan's Run custom heads, clothes and weapons/accessories. Preferably movie versions in 1/9 scale.

I agree, and with your previous point about carving your own niche and not retreading what others have already done.

More realistic heads, clothing and accessories? Companies like ZICA are moving away from 1970s Mego-type production values. 1/6 quality in 1/9 scale would be excellent.

[JediJaida]

Really GOOD pirate gear; three corner hats that aren't made from brittle plastic, and leave no stain on the vinyl head. Maybe something in felt?

More realistic weapons like cutlasses, rapiers, broadswords, longswords, bows, crossbows, halberds, battleaxes, shields, scabbards, armor, helms, armguards, spears; the list is almost endless.

I'd like to see armor for both males and females, from a variety of different cultures; Greek, Roman, Egyptian, Norse, Chinese, Japanese, and even fantasy armor for Elves, Dwarves, and Men.

Good Elven figures would be great! You wouldn't need a radically different body; just one that's slimmer and more toned like a long distance runner. When it comes to Elven heads, all they need are pointed ears, slightly higher cheekbones, and clear eyes.

As for female Elves, since there are some good bodies being produced by both Doc and ZICA, all you'd need to do is produce heads that can fit both (cuz they both have different neck posts.) that have the same criteria as for males.

Only with rooted hair! LONG rooted hair! For BOTH genders.

Dwarves need slightly shorter, stockier bodies, with slightly larger heads.

Heck, you could even go into producing the monsters in 1:9 scale!

A Hydra, Medusa, Scylla, or any other monster from mythology.

A Pegasus with jointed legs and articulated wings would be fantastic!

A bit unreasonable, but fantastic.

[ODBJBG]

There's a TON of stuff that could be made. While there's a lot of great options already out there, the market is wide open for all sorts of different stuff.

My suggestion would be to make some stuff, sell it here, get some word of mouth going.

[Scousebadger]

Really GOOD pirate gear; three corner hats that aren't made from brittle plastic, and leave no stain on the vinyl head. Maybe something in felt?

More realistic weapons like cutlasses, rapiers, broadswords, longswords, bows, crossbows, halberds, battleaxes, shields, scabbards, armor, helms, armguards, spears; the list is almost endless.

I'd like to see armor for both males and females, from a variety of different cultures; Greek, Roman, Egyptian, Norse, Chinese, Japanese, and even fantasy armor for Elves, Dwarves, and Men.

Good Elven figures would be great! You wouldn't need a radically different body; just one that's slimmer and more toned like a long distance runner. When it comes to Elven heads, all they need are pointed ears, slightly higher cheekbones, and clear eyes.

As for female Elves, since there are some good bodies being produced by both Doc and ZICA, all you'd need to do is produce heads that can fit both (cuz they both have different neck posts.) that have the same criteria as for males.

Only with rooted hair! LONG rooted hair! For BOTH genders.

Dwarves need slightly shorter, stockier bodies, with slightly larger heads.

Heck, you could even go into producing the monsters in 1:9 scale!

A Hydra, Medusa, Scylla, or any other monster from mythology.

A Pegasus with jointed legs and articulated wings would be fantastic!

A bit unreasonable, but fantastic.

Yes to the different armour and weaponry.

Be also good to see different size body types apart from "buff superhero".

Rooted hair heads would be amazing: more realistic than CTVT's offerings too, please.

[HumanWolfman]

If you are considering opening a store, no matter what items you settle on selling, please dont confuse low cost items with low quality items. I, for one, would rather pay a little more cash for something with a higher quality level than less cash for something that falls apart. There are plenty of places for people to get heads, suits, boxes and bodies already. The biggest hole in what can be purchased for this scale are accessories, guns, boots, radios,ect and staging and back ground items, barrels, boxes, tables, stuff like that. Also, I would, not try to reinvent the wheel here. What ever you sell, make sure it is usable with the original mego stuff as well as the mego-like reproduction stuff. Example, a cool head, suit or gun is worthless if it cant be used on a mego original or mego-like repro body.

[RottingDead]

My questions is,do You have examples of what your thinking about selling?

[JediJaida]

Mock up sketches, sculpts or even primitive castings would give us all a good idea on what you want to sell.

[megoscott]

Thanks. I have.
I still feel it needs to be cheaper than that.
The economy sucks now.

It really easy to sell things cheaper than Dr. Mego. 4 simple steps.

1. Simply locate a reliable Chinese manufacturer who won't rip you off blind.
2. Invest thousands of dollars in molds, order thousands of copies of the parts.
3. Import them to the United States.
4. Sell them at a huge financial loss.

You'll be bankrupt, but the community will be so happy to have some new boots.

[JediJaida]

Or, invest thousands of dollars in a rotocasting machine here at home, and cut out the Chinese middle man.

Of course, beyond the machine, you will have to get a business license, a tax license, materials to make the items, molds to make the items from, a talented sculptor to MAKE said molds, a place to ship from, and a bank account that is strictly for business.

Oh, and don't give up your day job, because it is going to take a rather long time before you make enough profit to chuck it all and spend your days creating stuff, shipping out orders, and dealing with stuff like that.

Aside from all of that; please don't think that we are trying to discourage you. We aren't!

We just want you to know all of the ins, outs, pros, cons, liabilities, pitfalls, pratfalls, and windfalls that come with this sort of thing.

As Doc about his experiences, the guys at Cast-A-Way, and Craig over at ZICA.

They are good peeps, and always willing to give advice.

[THE MEGO]

Thank you guys for all that info. I little much to take it, but I got the picture.
I'll post some examples of the stuff I'll be selling. For now, you ALL MAY LOOK AT MY CUSTOM PICS ON MY WEBSITE:

https://www.themegodude.webs.com

MORE PICTURES TO COME...KEEP POSTED.