Mego of the Day: O Mighty Isis

[Meule]

I wish someone would find a way to repro those sandals

[vulcan2074]

I Have one Loose and one MOC. I Really Love the packaging and the Figure. She's so Cool.
Sammy

[PNGwynne]

My favorite SuperGal!

[megomonkey]

In my May, 7, 1977 TV Guide that I keep handily in my office, Batman ran at 10:30 right before the Shazam/Isis Hour at 11.

Ahh...thanks Bill...all those Sugar Smacks erased the order they were in...but man, the rest of those memories are pretty vivid. Do you know when they started this lineup??? I seem to remember them from the house I lived in '76...

[Bionic Joe]

Never had her as a kid, I'm not sure if i ever saw one at the store if i had i would have passed on her back then i wanted nothing to do with a female figure, As an adult collecter i really like her but those sandels kinda glad mine ISIS was missing her sandels so i got her a pair of DOC MEGOS black female superhero boots which IMHO look better on her, Her box really makes her stand out on the shelf from her fello WGSH

[bobws]

I loved the Show and met the actress, she was so sweet! Never had the figure as a kid and only have a (nude) one now. I'm thinkin of turning her into a 8" Wondergirl if i can't find a dress for her though. But yeah she belongs in the WGSH.

[The Toyroom]

Yeah Isis is WGSH all the way!

[AUSSIE-Rebooted-AMM]

Mine isn't all that flash. . .no sandals, a bit dirty. . . .but I have one. . . .and I love her. . . .the collection wouldn't be complete without her!

[mitchedwards]

Never knew Mego made Isis till I joined the museum.

One day my wife was showing me some of her childhood toys. On one of her dolls was a Isis dress.

She told me she had Isis as a kid and that only the dress survived. So we bought a naked Isis on E-bay and got her dressed up. Shes now proudly on display with my Megos.

[Wee67]

Ahh...thanks Bill...all those Sugar Smacks erased the order they were in...but man, the rest of those memories are pretty vivid. Do you know when they started this lineup??? I seem to remember them from the house I lived in '76...

Sorry, that one particular TV guide is the only one I have.

[z3zep]

I think Isis is my favorite of the super-gals, she looks really great when she is in mint shape.

[imp]

I love Isis, and have always felt she should be considered an addition to the WGSH line. There was a time, however, when many collectors felt differently. I believe the evidence regarding Mego's marketing and distribution of the figure is the definitive word on the matter. If that's reasonable, Isis is most definitely a "World's Greatest Super-Hero," despite the lack of any such markings on her packaging.

Anyhoo, here's an outtake from my Isis "splash page" photo shoot for the book. The final (different) image appears on page 211, but I considered this shot as well (note the gray card — for color balancing — and the doll stand, two objects I used repeatedly while photographing loose figures for the book):



-b

[megomonkey]

That's a swell pic. Isis is indeed one of the greatest toys of the 70's, as far as I'm concerned.

I found the CBS schedule, 1976 , and it looks like Batman and Isis were indeed together, in both Mego and CBS-formats, in my living room around 1976.

Did Isis come out in '76?

I remember getting her as soon as she came out- the first time I laid eyes on her anyway- with Shazam on a super-squeeze play on my dear Grandma in K-Mart.


Just reading the names of these shows really brought back a cool flood of long, long forgotten memories, when Saturday was TV morning downstairs, really the only day there was anything a kid would even like on TV:



8:00
Sylvester and Tweety / CBS

8:30
Bugs Bunny / Road Runner Hour

9:30
Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle

10:00
Shazam / Isis / CBS
(debut)

Shazam/Isis was moved to 11:00 mid-season. Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle and The New Adventures of Batman filled this timeslot starting in February.

The New Adventures of Batman

11:00
Ark II / CBS

11:30
Clue Club / CBS

12:00
Fat Albert and the
Cosby Kids / CBS
12:30
Way Out Games / CBS
Way Out Games moved to 1:00 mid-season, then to Sunday mornings but most local stations dropped it in favor of syndicated shows and sports.
1:00
The CBS Children's Film Festival / CBS

[megomonkey]

Did Isis come out in '76?

and The Museum answers all:

"1976 O Mighty Isis arrives as well as the Fantastic Four, Thor and Conan.."

[imp]

and The Museum answers all:

"1976 O Mighty Isis arrives as well as the Fantastic Four, Thor and Conan.."

Isis' premiere in 1976 is not only correct, it's actually kinda cool: The Mego Isis holds the distinction of being the only Mego WGSH figure to debut in a retail catalog.

Montgomery Ward negotiated the rights to be the FIRST retailer to offer Isis to the U.S. market, specifically within their 1976 Christmas catalog. Such exclusive items were called "Special" items (see page 52 of the book for additional information).

At the time Ward printed the 1976 catalog, however, Mego was only able to provide a "looks like" sample, which is not the same as a "prototype" (the difference being that a "looks like" sample is hand-made by Mego staffers, whereas a "prototype" is the first 'production' figure created by the factory). In this case, the proper 'prototype' was surely created by Mego's own Lion Rock facility in Hong Kong, but no one has ever seen such a sample.

Here is how Montgomery Ward presented the preliminary "looks like" sample in their Christmas 1976 catalog:



Note: It's a modified Mego Wonder Woman head. Note: No shoes. Note: the big-pimpin', Flava Flav-style "ISIS" medallion (which Ward erroneously entitled a 'magic medallion.' Too cool!

…if only, right?! I would love to one day find the photography "looks like" sample depicted in this Ward catalog!

The following year (1977) saw the end of Wards' contract with Mego, and Isis became a (short-term) "hot" item for other U.S. retailers as well… especially JC Penney, who offered the figure well beyond 1978.

-b