More Help Needed: POTA boxed figures

[Raydeen1]

Mine were very early on. They'd just been released when I got them. Mom didn't get me Zira because I had no interest. I remembered the boxes my entire life. You can imagine my joy at seeing some boxed apes for the first time years later in a magazine. The last Apes I saw at retail were at Kresge and they were all carded. I didn't care for the cards. They weren't nearly as cool as the boxes. That was when I was 10 or 11. I got my Apes when I was 4 or 5. I never forgot the boxes.

Also consider, my Mom clearly remembers the boxes and which figures she bought.

For what it's worth, I'm in Canada, and never saw any Apes in boxes when I was a kid. When I finally found out about that packaging years later, I was floored.

[cjefferys]

Keep bugging Mom to find that pic, lots of people would love to see it.

[mego73]

Haha
I know people think I'm remebering it wrong but I have a VERY good memory about many things. I KNOW they were boxed. It isn't a matter of me THINKING they were or remembering it wrong. It was a huge thing for me to get them and I never forgot the boxes. People thought I was nuts 15-20 years ago when I said my apes were in boxes with bamboo or trees on them. Well, the boxes definitely exist so it's only a matter of seeing some of the first series surface. Mike, I wouldn't hold you to eating your words. I'd just be happy to see them surface.

With Mego, anything is possible and the boxes are very rare in the first place, if they had short packed Zaius, Zira and Soldier Ape I can understand why none have turned up so far. It also might be a case of test marketing where these boxes for more characters came out on a limited basis but only continued for the 4 known characters because they found that they sold better in boxes.

Anything is possible.

I have a question. Those inserts seem to be consistently monochromatically yellowish. The basis for all of my Ape boxes was Scott Arendsen's (I'm sorry if I am misspelling your last name Scott) Astronaut box which he let me borrow to scan.

I forget where the raw scans are but I thought they had both yellow and orange highlights which I enhanced for my boxes (like here on the custom Taylor)



Are those inserts on the real boxes just all a bit faded or did I end up "Making up" those orange flourishes? I think the orange/yellow insert better fits the general color scheme of the boxes but I have seen a few real boxes with inserts just just seem overly yellowish.

[BENDY]

i also have a burke in a astronaut box. i have had it for 10 years, i bought it at a doll show and she also had a verdon in astronaut box.

[apes3978]

If Mego wanted generic Astronaut boxes, why did they bother doing separate cards?

Because the blister cards were much easier and cheaper to produce than the boxes would have been...

Because no series one figures have ever been found boxed, it would make sense that the blue astronaut was never boxed and that the ones that you see turn up are the result of collectors trying to "correct" what they think is a mismatched figure and box. I still doubt the first series was ever released boxed. Even as a Canada exclusive, I would think at least one would have turned up on ebay in the last ten years. Raydeen, if you could find a picture, I'd love to eat my words.

I have to go along with you on this one... I just don't see it being that any of "Wave 1" were boxed... Surely being that they would have been the first batch released, there would have been plenty of them around up there to purchase/be purchased by everybody... I mean when "Wave 1" was released, they were the only APES figures about, so surely there must have been quite a few examples of them, even if they were "store exclusives"... Look at how many Sears exclusive STAR WARS playsets show up, so why wouldn't APES stuff be the same (even though they may have sold in numbers lower than any SW item)... I'll probably seem like an a** here, but maybe it's all a case of false memories... I mean two of the apes you mentioned could easily be misidentified in people's memory... I mean outfitwise, URKO (as the boxed figure was called) easily translates to a Soldier Ape, and Galen/Cornelius, they're basically the same figure, so mixing those two over the years is also very possible... Zaius, I can't say but maybe he was just thrown in at the end of a run and they needed a figure to fill a box (pure speculation here!)... But yeah, what MEGOZILLA13 said, I'd love to see authentic boxed examples...

With Mego, anything is possible and the boxes are very rare in the first place, if they had short packed Zaius, Zira and Soldier Ape I can understand why none have turned up so far.

I cann not see them short packing a Soldier Ape at all... I'm sure even at the earliest releases of the APES figures MEGO had enough sense to know that the Soldier Ape would be one figure "everyone" wanted... He isn't like Zira, whose popularity would be a little less being most boys only wanted the male figures... But a short packed Soldier, I don't see it...

[Raydeen1]

No false memory here. The apes I had are definitely the ones I mentioned. I never even saw Burke, Virdon, Urko or Ursus until several years later. I have a very good, very clear memory. And why would you seem like an a** if there is no record of these? Obviously it seems unlikely I had them but I know I did. I just can't give you much to go on. lol

Because the blister cards were much easier and cheaper to produce than the boxes would have been...



I have to go along with you on this one... I just don't see it being that any of "Wave 1" were boxed... Surely being that they would have been the first batch released, there would have been plenty of them around up there to purchase/be purchased by everybody... I mean when "Wave 1" was released, they were the only APES figures about, so surely there must have been quite a few examples of them, even if they were "store exclusives"... Look at how many Sears exclusive STAR WARS playsets show up, so why wouldn't APES stuff be the same (even though they may have sold in numbers lower than any SW item)... I'll probably seem like an a** here, but maybe it's all a case of false memories... I mean two of the apes you mentioned could easily be misidentified in people's memory... I mean outfitwise, URKO (as the boxed figure was called) easily translates to a Soldier Ape, and Galen/Cornelius, they're basically the same figure, so mixing those two over the years is also very possible... Zaius, I can't say but maybe he was just thrown in at the end of a run and they needed a figure to fill a box (pure speculation here!)... But yeah, what MEGOZILLA13 said, I'd love to see authentic boxed examples...



I cann not see them short packing a Soldier Ape at all... I'm sure even at the earliest releases of the APES figures MEGO had enough sense to know that the Soldier Ape would be one figure "everyone" wanted... He isn't like Zira, whose popularity would be a little less being most boys only wanted the male figures... But a short packed Soldier, I don't see it...

[megozilla13]

Raydeen, can you narrow down the month and year you bought your figures?

I imagine boxed apes coexisted with the carded figures for the same reason boxed and carded wgsh existed together. Not all stores have a peg style display to hang merchandise. What would be extremely cool is if Mego produced a counter display box for the boxed apes. There is a good possibility that it could exist...........or atleast I can dream. They made a counter display for the ape bendys.

mikej

[NewForce]

hello all...
some GREAT info here... one thing, I might add, is producing a box is not a "cheap" venture...even in 1972, packaging costs were part of the equation...even a small production run of a certain type of packaging (say a kresge style card, or POTA ser 1 box, etc) would still have resulted in some MOQ (minimum order quantity) to make the production both logistically and economically feasible... my understanding is that NO examples have ever been documented of ser 1 POTA's in the ser 2 style boxes, correct?... while anything is possible, for there to be only 1 reported example (here, in this thread) would lead me to speculate that possibly the boxes were hand made prototypes (maybe for future Toy Fair display, etc, etc), and somehow made their way into the market (retail, I presume, back then)...
would indeed be interested to know...I wonder if Imp can contact his Mego sources, as some documents would surely exist (order sheets, production specs, etc) to support this ?
just curious and fascinated, at the same time!
rick

[Raydeen1]

Mike,
I can't narrow it down too much but it was either Easter '73 or '74.

Raydeen, can you narrow down the month and year you bought your figures?

I imagine boxed apes coexisted with the carded figures for the same reason boxed and carded wgsh existed together. Not all stores have a peg style display to hang merchandise. What would be extremely cool is if Mego produced a counter display box for the boxed apes. There is a good possibility that it could exist...........or atleast I can dream. They made a counter display for the ape bendys.

mikej

[Action Martin]

I have a question. Those inserts seem to be consistently monochromatically yellowish. The basis for all of my Ape boxes was Scott Arendsen's (I'm sorry if I am misspelling your last name Scott) Astronaut box which he let me borrow to scan.

Is that a custom white jumpsuit that you created or one that you lifted from another figure and if so which one? I currently have my Taylor in an AJ white snowsuit with the hood tucked in.

[apes3978]

Here you state:

I can't narrow it down too much but it was either Easter '73 or '74.

Which might indicate your memory isn't clear on this, but in a previous post, you stated:

I have a very good, very clear memory.

You're not getting ready for the old age home now are you?

BTW: I don't think any Mego APES were in stores during the Easter of '73

[megozilla13]

Mike,
I can't narrow it down too much but it was either Easter '73 or '74.

It had to be 74 but are you sure it was Easter time? The Apes were first introduced to retailers at Toyfair which I believe is always in Feb. and there Mego would take the orders for the Christmas season. I always imagined the earliest the apes would have been available at stores would have been fall of 74. I remember running around from store to store with my dad a week before Christmas and the only apes left were cornelius and zira. I don't remember seeing them earlier than that.

mikej

[mego73]

Is that a custom white jumpsuit that you created or one that you lifted from another figure and if so which one? I currently have my Taylor in an AJ white snowsuit with the hood tucked in.

In those photos Taylor is wearing a common Astronaut suit fabric painted white. Now, he wears a custom AJ style suit made by one of our members here (I forget exactly which).

[Raydeen1]

Oh my memory of the boxes on the mantle is VERY vivid and VERY clear.

I was 4 or 5. I was born in 1969 and I got them for Easter, hence them being on the mantle where Mom always hid Easter gifts.

Here you state:



Which might indicate your memory isn't clear on this, but in a previous post, you stated:



You're not getting ready for the old age home now are you?

BTW: I don't think any Mego APES were in stores during the Easter of '73

[Raydeen1]

All I can tell you is what I know.

I got the Astronaut, Zaius, Cornelius and the Soldier Ape.

They were all in boxes. The same bamboo/tree look as the rest shown here. I didn't see a box one day online or in a magazine, and think: "That's how mine came". I remembered them my whole life. I remembered them when I was 10 or 11 and bought a carded Galen at Kresge and thought how lame the card was compared to the boxes.

They were all T1.

The Astronaut had no helmet. I found this strange since he was pictured with one on the box. Again, I remembered this my whole life.

I switched the Astronaut's boots with Zaius because they were cooler.

My cousin buried them under water in the sand at a lake in July and I never saw them again.

I found my Soldier Ape's glove under my back stairs the day my uncles tore down my deck.

My older friend gave me a Burke figure, which I'd never seen in person when I was 8 or 9 only to have to take it back because his Mom said so. lol. I was devastated.

When I was 14, I was at my friend and bandmate's house and saw an orange/brown colored thing poking out of his messy closet which turned out to be Urko. He had a Soldier Ape as well and gave them to me. They were naked but I was overjoyed.

When I was 22, I made boxes for my Apes based on how I remembered them. I had not yet seen a picture of the boxes since I was very young.

I first saw the boxes again, I think it was when someone sent me scans of them about 9 years ago.

Stranger discoveries have happened in Megodom. To me, it's just what it is and I had NO idea there was no documented boxes for these figures until someone mentioned it in a thread here in the last month or so. I figured everyone knew the first 5 figures came in boxes originally so you can imagine my surprise when the questions came.

It had to be 74 but are you sure it was Easter time? The Apes were first introduced to retailers at Toyfair which I believe is always in Feb. and there Mego would take the orders for the Christmas season. I always imagined the earliest the apes would have been available at stores would have been fall of 74. I remember running around from store to store with my dad a week before Christmas and the only apes left were cornelius and zira. I don't remember seeing them earlier than that.

mikej