Old Mego Only: WORST Mego Likeness

[palitoy]

Their 12 inch celebrity fashion dolls aren't great overall. Some of them are kind of scary and the Suzanne Somers doll is pretty generic looking.

Some of that can be blamed on the celebrities themselves, it still goes on. The Penny from Big Bang Theory looked nothing like Kelly Cuckoo but the original prototype was spot on, she didn't think she looked like that.

In the 1990s, my friend had his Tomb Raider merchandise line derailed by Angelina Jolie. It was never acceptable and then he believes, she stole the final prototype.

[Megotastrophe]

Female likenesses tend to be tricky anyway. And I have a possibly sexist suspicion that some celebrity females don’t want to actually see a product that reminds them of their self perceived flaws. Like Jennifer Grey and her nose. Always a very attractive actress I felt like but she hated her nose. Got an extreme nose job and became unrecognizable. Not ugly, just bland.

[TrekStar]

How about the Gorn? a brown color lizard head and an outfit stolen from the Klingon and soldier ape. I know it’s not a likeness from a human actor or comic book, but if the question includes likenesses from a series/tv show, the Gorn is up there for the absolute worst.

[Earth 2 Chris]

Some of that can be blamed on the celebrities themselves, it still goes on. The Penny from Big Bang Theory looked nothing like Kelly Cuckoo but the original prototype was spot on, she didn't think she looked like that.

In the 1990s, my friend had his Tomb Raider merchandise line derailed by Angelina Jolie. It was never acceptable and then he believes, she stole the final prototype.

Wow, but not surprising given Jolie's reputation for being difficult. It doesn't just happen with figures. I recall Alex Ross saying Lucy Lawless disliked his spot-on portrait of her for a Xena cover, and they digtially shaved her jawbown down. This despite the very lovely Lucy Lawless DOES have a big jawbone.

[Count_Popula]

The Mugato, although I love the figure! His funky clothing is a riot. That poor character even had an incorrect name - it was Gumato in the script till De Kelley flubbed it. Lol

[Megotastrophe]

Muggy and Tallyo (Talosian) are both oddly attired but the sculpts are dead on. The clothing is a new topic.

[scott metzger]

Daisy Duke, hands down. That head sculpt is outright terrifying both in size and dead-eyed appearance. THere's no way I would associate it with Catherine Bach if I didn't know who it was supposed to be.

[Mejo]

For Star Trek, the figures I had with the worst resemblances were Uhura, the Gorn, and the Cheron.

For WGSH, Superman didn't look much like Curt Swan's iconic depiction, and I always thought Aquaman looked like Jim Perry, the host of the game show Definition! But all the heroes looked better than the heroines, who all had child-like faces. It was weird.

I too liked Captain Marvel/Shazam!, which was a favorite of mine, along with Green Arrow.

[basilfan]

I always thought Uhura was very poorly done. She looks nice, but nothing like the character.

Even in modern figures, the female sculpts are nearly always inferior, IMO. When it's a comic book character and not modeled on a real person, why can't they give Poison Ivy and Mary Marvel better faces?

[puckace]

I'd have to go with most of the World's Greatest Superheroes females. None of them looked much like the characters they were supposed to portray.

[TrekStar]

Well as far as the females, the Invisible Girl is decent since it’s played off the comics and not an actual actress, like Wonder Woman or Uhura. I also thought the 12 inch Cher was a decent likeness for the time.

[Dan2Dan]

The issue raised above about how licensing (and related approvals) impacted some of this is really interesting, and has spurred to reflect that, had this question been posed to me as a kid in the 1970s, my answer would've been immediate and certain, and now, on hindsight I realize that both figures I would've named were apparently driven by licensing considerations.

My answer as a child would've been: (1) the 12" Hulk and, (2) the PotA generic Astronaut.

The 12" Hulk was one of my favorite toys from my entire childhood. Nonetheless, I was totally perplexed as a kid about why the toy didn't look like Lou Ferigno, and why Lou Ferigno didn't look the comic book character or cartoon version of the Hulk.

Similarly, as a kid, I could not understand why Mego made such awesome figures of the two astronauts from the PotA TV show, but didn't make any version of Taylor at all. Instead Mego made this oddly generic Astronaut that was the only figure in the PotA line that wasn't of a specific character. (Although I also thought the Ursus head looked more like a bear than an ape, but I think I only saw that figure once as a kid.) As an adult, I learned long ago that apparently the license Mego acquired to PotA didn't include likeness rights to Charlton Heston. But I still don't really understand why that caused Mego not to make a Taylor that just didn't look like Heston's face, or, even more conservatively, make a generic astronaut at least dressed in a white ANSA suit or brown Tarzan-like rags. Why make a generic Astronuat that I now know (from a Brick Mantooth You Tube video, I assume) was assembled using a head from another, more obscure line of figures, and a helmet and boots that I recognize from Action Jackson, and this weird blue (or purple) jump suit that resembles nothing whatsoever in PotA (maybe that was Action Jackson too)? Maybe Mego thought the generic astronaut wouldn't sell well because he was generic, but they thought they had to make a 'hero' character nonetheless, so they made one in the least expensive way possible?

[ODBJBG]

Mego was cheap lol.

I suspect if they tried to make a Heston or even a Taylor with a generic likeness, they would have gotten some kinda letter from Heston's people, who would have wanted some money. Easier to just slap some stuff you already have on hand together and make a super generic astronaut.

Mego probably left some money on the table not getting a Lou Hulk, but again, in the 70s a lot of people were content with the generic versions of the characters and the TV shows/movies just helped with Mego's sales. Why add expense?!

[palitoy]

Mego probably left some money on the table not getting a Lou Hulk, but again, in the 70s a lot of people were content with the generic versions of the characters and the TV shows/movies just helped with Mego's sales. Why add expense?!

I had an interesting back-and-forth recently with the eldest son of Mego's Canadian distributor. He told me that his dad put Linda Carter on the 12" Wonder Woman box and she lost her mind and demanded 50k for using her likeness. This likely altered Mego's entire strategy regarding TV and film properties based on the comics.

[Dan2Dan]

Mego was cheap lol.

I suspect if they tried to make a Heston or even a Taylor with a generic likeness, they would have gotten some kinda letter from Heston's people, who would have wanted some money. Easier to just slap some stuff you already have on hand together and make a super generic astronaut.

This explanation makes good sense! On hindsight, I wonder if it might be extended to the licensor as well? (20th Century Fox, I think?) Maybe when these Mego figures were being made and sold, 20th Century Fox was still making movies with Charlton Heston, or wanted to leave open that possibility, and so may not've wanted to get sideways with him over an action figure. So maybe they suggested to Mego to make a totally unrecognizable generic astronaut if they were going to make a PotA Astronaut?

(Just a few years later, didn't Leonard Nimoy threaten not to be in Star Trek: The Motion Picture unless Paramount reimbursed him for royalties on Spock merch to which he felt entitled, and deeply aggrieved that he had never been paid?)