What is the Mego Style

[hedrap]

I didn't want to put this out there until I had a chance to re-read some older threads, because I've really been caught in this loop the past few weeks. Maybe it's because a spent a few college years in debate/argumentation courses, but I'm really trying to figure out (eat that pun) what is the criteria for "Mego Style".

BK put it in one thread as "8-Inch Cloth", which does work at the most basic level. But Mego did some really, really specific things that for me are hard to discard.

Take Iron Man for example, he's a later figure and one of their most detailed. Yet the face is about as bizarre an interpretation as one can find. I assumed it was due to the old "Dr. Doom" legend because it was a logical conclusion. But when I found that characterization of Iron Man - visible eyes, nose bridge - existed in comic form, I had to accept it was deliberate. The problem, is it only existed for barely a year in the mid 70's and predominantly in Avengers issues. This was certainly not the license look Marvel was using for IM before, during or after.

Then I look at Cap and his black "A" forehead, Thing and his yawning mouth, Green Arrow's visible eyes, Whoexactlyisthat Shazam, Elven Aquaman, and I realize so much was based on one misinterpreted image and not the more universal traits of that character. For example, Toho has a bible that all licensors must follow for Godzilla that stipulates the spiked spinal column, the feet, hands, tail and any deviation from that baseline can revoke the license. Emmerich's Godzilla did the bare minimum to meet the requirements which is why Toho disowned it almost instantly.

So because Mego either wasn't given one, or no one cared, we have character anomalies from start to finish. Now, to be truly "Megoesque" wouldn't you have to hold to the same pattern?

As screwy as that sounds, wouldn't a Mego Silver Surfer be all white with some black areas, because the Mego artists apparently didn't understand shading, as we can see with Cap's head. Wouldn't Namor be in his Black Manta Ray costume, since that was his garb for during this time? How about Black Goliath, Yellowjacket and Tigra instead of Hawkeye, Giant Man and Wasp?

I guess I find it interesting how everything splits between Megoesque and Flatt, but the Megoesque are more faithful to the iconic look than Mego, while trying to invoke, what, Mego aesthetics? So what are those?

All replies welcome.

[Captain Awesome]

My personal opinion is that Mego had a certain look and feel to their figures. They were certainly designed and manufactured for kids so therefore they have a "cartoony" and basic look to them, especially in the beginning. As the company and production grew, so did the details on the figures, yet still retaining the appeal to the kids. Some of the customizers here like sticking with the "Mego" look and feel to their customs and some like going for a more detailed, real world look and feel. I personally like trying to find a happy medium between the two when doing my customs. I feel that customizers should do what makes them happy and find that "style" of their own and crank those customs out!!!

Greg

[HumanWolfman]

Good question. This may mean different things to different people. I dont agree with BK that Mego-Like is simply an 8" figure with clothes.
To me, Mego-Like is a more basic figure on a basic body with removeable clothing in the 8" format. It should fit in will with original production mego figures and even look as though is was made by mego in the 1970's. This is not as easy to pull of as it may sound. Making a figure that is original(not made by mego) to look as if it were made and packaged in 1974 by mego itself is a difficult task.
The Flatt like figures are more hyper-poseable, detailed and realistic than the mego figures they pay homeage to. As someone who has been building figures for more than 10 years, I love both styles and build both styles. I started calling my customs Type3Toys almost 10 years ago because Type3 was the next step in the evolution of Type2.

[David Lee]

I like both styles as well, but I also like to think of a 3rd intermediate style as well... the MEGO Evolved style. This is the real "what would have Mego done" in terms of tackling different characters as well as further developing older ones had it gone on. Had mego been successfull, what plausable/natural changes would have been made? We tried to really capture this with CAT, swivel bicepts, softer hands to grip accessories, different hands, better boots and gloves... We didn't stray too far mind you, the body was basically the same. I try to capture this in my customs as well, you just can't beat the charm of MEGO WGSH, there is something about it that is just perfect... the key is to keep the charm and upgrade the hardware

Dave

[MIB41]

A good subject and one that I personally felt hurt the retro line when it came out. When people say "Mego" that definition gets played out on so many different levels as it applies to one's own personal experience. I think some of this applies too on how we tend to idealize our memories of these figures as well. People often forget the action figure industry was very much in it's infancy back then. Mego was breaking ground with a newly scaled figure and the comic industry was thrilled to have ANYONE marketing their license. Before that happen, Mego was mostly known for selling cheap rack toys in the checkout lanes. There was no collector market for these things. It was a company making cheap toys for kids. And these action figures were cheap toys. And they were looked at through adult eyes for a child when they were made. The mentality was so different back then.

No one at Mego grew up with action figures. So there was no retrospective to be applied here. They were making a cheap host body to pop different heads and cloth outfits on. THAT was the premise. And THAT is what a Mego figure was/is. When I hear collectors and toy makers talk about the sculpts and paint apps, I personally feel they're over reaching. They let their nostalgic love of the figure reach into the manufacturing and start picking apart qualities that I doubt Mego gave any consideration to. Once again, Mego was making a cheap product for kids to buy and essentially tear up in their bed rooms and back yards. NO ONE would have thought for one moment back then that any of this would be collectible one day. And that's why the quality is a mixed bag. Collectors get lost in the minutia of dated manufacturing and start applying "rules" to the presentation that were not as deliberate as they want to believe, simply because they display them in a cabinet.

So when I see companies making new eight inch scale figures on cloth outfits today, the Mego format is apparent. But from there, I'm wanting to see modern applications to the construction. I want the standards of today, not the habits of a company that was making cheap toys 35 years ago. I want detailed sculpts. I want sensible paint apps. And that is beginning to happen largely due to the ever expanding 1/6th marketplace. To survive, these companies have to compete on some level with presentation even though the price points are different. I think the retro action line took a big hit for not noticing the trend. Soft and simplistic head sculpts did not capture the interest of the current generation which had grown accustom to smaller, detailed figures. And the targeted older audience gave it mixed reviews as well since their tastes had grown through the years as well. And lastly, the price tag was it's biggest downfall. Selling cheap simplicity in presentation does not make a good argument for a high price tag. And though the years have past, going from a few dollars to twenty plus hit a nostalgic note too, but in a negative way. So the Mego "tradition" was cherry picked and contradicted in alot of ways that didn't make sense to the consumer.

Alot of companies took notice and adjusted pricing and improved the head sculpts to meet more with today's consumer while still catering to the nostalgia that is the scale and cloth outfits. I also think companies who make this scale have come to realize that the market share is not as big as once imagined and so smaller quantities are made to satisfy the demand.

[EMCE Hammer]

The line is different for most people. Thor is one end of the spectrum; goofy Batman is the other IMO. For me, Mego-style means the clothes must be removable and swappable, and in general the figures shouldn't be hyper-detailed. There's also an absence of gore in my little Mego world. Monsters had charm, not entrails and rotting flesh.

[EMCE Hammer]

Tom, I don't think the Mattels are a fair gauge of anything. Defective bodies, distribution issues, odd assortments.......I don't think the death of that line is an indictment of the viability of Mego style at all. The new Captain Action stuff has a similar look; it's not like anyone would confuse it with Sideshow - yet it's been well-received. The Cast-A-Way stuff sold like hotcakes(I know how you love it), and BBP is doing 'OK' with their sales. I don't know if there's a way to gauge how 8" Sideshow-like stuff would fare. So far, other than the Jango line, have we seen anything that really goes that far? I guess Huckabone's stuff is closer, but it's such a specialized concept I'm not sure what it says.

[hedrap]

Interesting. I find agreement with each of you guys.

Captain is right to say the focus was kids, so playability was paramount in design. That goes into streamlining the figure to as least amount of parts as possible, but then as T3 and David point out, the Mego process was evolving, (before Kenner blindsided them), to IM and GA and the end of T1 to Thor, Conan, FF, which were more parts on the new T2.

This past week, I've been immersed in Famous Covers, and you see the same design evolution as Mego and also the same cost cutting measures. It made me realize that RA was really FC done correctly, but FC was not aping Mego, but trying to do Flatt on the cheap. I remember reading Flatt went to DC about doing a WB Store exclusive line, and they blew it off. But shortly after, they released their Silver Age run that was much better than FC, but died fast. The price, IIRC, was roughly the same, so it had to have been due to Toy Biz recently buying Marvel, thereby laundering the license between the two companies, that made FC profitable and DC Silver Age not, (for Hasbro).

That's what so interesting about customs. Type 3, BK, Zica - all the guys here who work in hyperposable - are doing what FC was going after but really didn't seem to get it. CAT, EMCE and the Megoesque group are working at continuity through aesthetics, but every piece holds some modifier or progression. Even guys like Tothiro who were trying to be as pure as possible by re-purposing original Mego parts, started working on swivel necks.

We seem to be reaching a convergence based on how far would Mego have taken things before we cross into Flatt/Famous Covers. I don't believe Mego would have gone into Flatt World, because the cost measures associated with each figure would be insane. It would be like making Hot Toys for a seven year old. T3 seems to be the outer edge with Zica not far behind. So how do you take that and as David put it, "keep the charm"?

[ScottA]

To me Mego-esque means cloth outfits, plastic boots, belts, gloves and pretty much look like Mego made them back in the 70's. I typically take the "what would Mego do" approach to my customs. But I'm not against what Dave said about the "updated" look as if Mego were still around today and they had updated things. So using CAW and CTVT pieces works too. But that's just me.

[JediJaida]

That's why I won't touch the EMCE Zombie line. I think that Zombies are just plain gross.

Paramilitary figures, superheroes and heroines, fantasy warriors, mythological monsters, etc. are more my bag.

What killed the Retro line for me was the knock-kneed stance, the Stepford wife look on Wonder Woman and Cheetah, the fact that they didn't do Batgirl or Supergirl (both of which I was really looking forward to.), the price tag, and the sheer lack of availability.

It was kind of like a TV network constantly screwing with the time slot; first, the figures were to be sold by a certain date; then the date would be pushed back by a couple of months.

Or, only a few stores would be interested in selling the figures, and only certain types of figures.

I only bought TWO of the line; Lex Luthor and Green Arrow. That was pretty much it for me.

[ctc]

>When I hear collectors and toy makers talk about the sculpts and paint apps, I personally feel they're over reaching
>So the Mego "tradition" was cherry picked

Both true. I think I'd also add that the changes in manufacturing over the last 40 years also have an effect. Mego themselves made subtle improvements to their 8" figures over the years.... maybe not the individual characters, but Conan and Thor are big.... er.... improvements? We'll go with improvements.... over the earlier superheroes. More detail, better accessories.... mostly 'cos it was cheaper to do so, and to keep ahead of the standard of the day. (Big Jim had a better looking product over similar Mego stuff, for example.) So TRULY capturing the "Mego style" nowadays is impossible 'cos nobody uses paper paint masks, and you'll NEVER find a cheapie fabric like whateverthehell that stuff Mego used was.

>smaller quantities are made to satisfy the demand

That's a big part of it too; you've got to scale production for your audience. The Mattel retro stuff existed in the weird collector/player borderlands.... too expensive a concept to produce really cheap stuff a parent wouldn't mind a kid destroying during play, not produced in numbers large enough to bring the price down where you'd SELL larger runs, and not detailed enough for the collectors to feel cool paying higher prices for. Collectors don't care about articulation; it's just gonna sit on their computer monitor, or hang -in package- on the wall. Mattel isn't a good fit for this sort of thing either: they're looking for Barbie scaled sales. Anything less makes 'em antsy. Still; I don't think you could call the line a failure, given how many figures were actually made.

Don C.

[MIB41]

Oh no. I would never consider the Retro line a failure. That's too strong a term for the number of figures they got out. Plus I got my Flash figure, so I'm eternally grateful in so many ways. But, in terms of longevity, I think it's life span was cut well short because those factors were not considered beforehand. And to be completely fair, Mattel gave the line a black eye early with quality issues in the bodies and a lack of management in distribution. So it was facing an uphill battle from day one.

[madmarva]

The best features of mego figures to me were:
8" a better size for a child's hands than 12" or 3 1/4"
Removable cloth clothing
Swappable heads
Articulation
Selection of characters

Those characteristics made mego figures my favorite toys as a child. However, even at the age of 5 or 6, I thought the oven mitts and head sculpts were lacking. But I loved those figures.

To me a figure doesn't have to have all those qualities to be mego style or mego-like, but At a minimum it would have to be 8" and have cloth clothing.

[Relic]

I do not know a lot about Megos, but know I loved them a a kid. If the retro line had been distributed at Wal Mart for 15 dollars or less I feel a lot of adult collectors would have bought 2 of each figure. One for their kids and 1 to display. Hopefully in the future this line of heros comes back. I know I would buy them. They just needed to be marketed better so that people like myself can find them at a reasonable price. If Wal Mart bought a few million of them the price would be lower and they would be falling off the shelves. To me thats a win win situation.

[Earth 2 Chris]

I would say what makes a "Mego" is the 8" format, the cloth costume, and the toy-like charm. The Django figures, all controversy aside, didn't look like Megos at all to me. More like smaller Hot Toys. The ZICA stuff is great, but I feel that gets into a different realm than Mego. I like it, but it doesn't feel MEGO to me, it is again approaching a more realistic feel in the 8" format, with the detailed sculpt and more defined body, etc.

I think the EMCE Monsters and Cast-A-Way's stuff comes closest to advancing the format for modern tastes but still retaining the Mego feel. The Creature from the Black Lagoon is a fantastic figure, and a great likeness of the character, but the printed suit retains the toyetic look, and keeps it Megoesque.

I think the Retro-Action line tried too hard at hitting the Mego feel with the packaging at least. The distressed, out of register card art just made the whole endeavor look cheap. Mego had some rough artwork on their packages early on, but the later releases were really eye-popping and well done. I really feel this did the line a disservice, especially to casual shoppers and parents.

Chris