Thrilling, but...

[Mikey]

I collect for nostalgia and for art.

Nostalgia for the figures I had as a kid (or ones I always wanted)

and art for custom figures that are hand made and are truly art.

No disrespect to Doc Mego or people who use his parts but I don't buy customs with DM body suits and accessories.. To me those customs are not art, just puzzle piecing.

[Sowth]

I'm with you Rob (and Tom, et al),

It's all about the hunt and the nostalgia for me, so I won't be picking up any of the retro action figures. They don't really do anything for me one way or the other, so as long as the accessories are not exact repros of the originals I don't care.

I will pick up Brick Mantooth / SC as he is an original creation and linked to a couple of my favourite daily haunts on the web, not to mention my desire to support the work of those that keep me entertained

As Brian said the forum is a little re-mego top-heavy at the moment, that will sort itself out eventually and there will be pleanty of room for both I'm sure.

It must be noted that the 70's posts from PS and others have not slowed during this period of Retro-Action fever, so I guess we really can all get along...

Will

[Meule]

I didn't have Megos as a kid, so there's no nostalgia factor involved with me. I collect these because I like them. These new Mattels have the same charm as the vintage Megos, so I'll be getting each one I like, which are quite a lot so far

[Caelonfox]

My original Megos are for me to enjoy to look at and remember all of the good times my friends and I had with them. Amazingly, through a decade of play, Robin still has his mask, Batman, Aquaman and Robin have their mitts, etc. They are my museum pieces. My kids, however, like watching the SuperFriends DVDs, read Tiny Titans, and need a decade of toys they can play with. These new toys will never replace my Megos, but these new toys mean I don't have to give my kids beat up hand-me-downs from thirty years ago.

Amen!

My 4 year old is a Super Heroes Junkie!! I have all the Superfriends Dvds that have come out and he watches them religiously. He knows all the greats and most of the obscure DC heroes. He has all the Fisher-Price Imaginext Batman toys. He has all the Mattel DC Super Friends toys (even Robin). He even has all of my old Kenner Super Powers toys to actually "play with", but he still covets my Mego WGSH in the curio in my office like it's the "Ark of the Covenant". I actually broke down and let him play with my vintage T2 Aquaman when he was about 2 1/2 only for him to break the leg at the knee. Yes, I "threw up" a little (just kidding). He hasn't layed a hand on one since. Thank god for the locking curio!

But finally my prayers have been answered in the RE Mego movement. I have already started the aquisition for what will most likely be one of his most memorable Christmas's ever! My wish is for him (and all the kids who are fortunate enough to get these) to have playsets and vehicles to really come close to the wonderful play and experience all of us had with these in the
'70s and early '80s.

This is going to be a great year!

[UnderdogDJLSW]

My original Megos are for me to enjoy to look at and remember all of the good times my friends and I had with them. Amazingly, through a decade of play, Robin still has his mask, Batman, Aquaman and Robin have their mitts, etc. They are my museum pieces. My kids, however, like watching the SuperFriends DVDs, read Tiny Titans, and need a decade of toys they can play with. These new toys will never replace my Megos, but these new toys mean I don't have to give my kids beat up hand-me-downs from thirty years ago.

[The Bat]

This is where I disagree with some of you and I may be the only one that feels this way. I'm pretty new here but I lurked for a long time and finally joined when I heard the news of the retro figures.

Anyways, even as a youngster in the 70's, short of them being anatomically correct, I wanted the megos to look more realistic.

I wanted them to look more like they stepped out of the comic books (by artists who draw more realistic that is). After all, they are Superheros. They should look a little intimidating but not scary.

No wonderfan...you're not alone. They are many of us that feel the same way. I wasn't really expecting "ultra realistic"...but more along the lines of 70's style Mego figures, based on the Artists of that time period.
Even as I little Kid, I was never happy with the molded Cowl Batman(I was reading Neal Adams Comics at the time...so I knew what batman was suppose to look like). I do love my RC Batman though, for Nostalgic reasons(I've had him since I was 7).
sadly, there are SO MANY talented People right here on the Mego Museum that could have help them make this happen. But...what's done is done. I will collect some...but I won't "collect them all".

[wonderfan32]

This is where I disagree with some of you and I may be the only one that feels this way. I'm pretty new here but I lurked for a long time and finally joined when I heard the news of the retro figures.

Anyways, even as a youngster in the 70's, short of them being anatomically correct, I wanted the megos to look more realistic. Don't get me wrong, I was just as excited as all of you were about what we had but I think it's kind of the same feeling I had about the first series of the Superfriends cartoon. It was just too goofy looking to me until the following years and even better when they became The Super Powers Team (I wasn't crazy about Batman: the animated series and all those that followed in that animation style either for the very same reason but I warmed up to it). Filmation did a better job to me at making the animation more 3D. I wanted them to look more like they stepped out of the comic books (by artists who draw more realistic that is). After all, they are Superheros. They should look a little intimidating but not scary.

I was one of the ones who was hoping that Charlee Flatt could get a license to do some DC/Marvel stuff as I wasn't really interested in what his company was offering.

Then my hopes were answered with Famous Covers and Hasbro's line. Granted, I know I'm in the minority here too but it was great to see these figures. I always thought the Megos were too small and should be the size of Big Jim so these were perfect for me. I remember opening up my first one back in 97'. I couldn't believe these type of figures were back. I was hooked! The figures that weren't produced, I won off of ebay or commissioned talented customizers such as Brian here. I've even done some myself.

The 70's was a great time for me as a kid. There were so many Superhero shows on tv (animated and live-action series), and toys and that feeling has never left me. It's the main reason I will support this line as I've only been drawn to 8 and 9 inch cloth costumed figures with at least 24 points of articulation.

Like one poster said, I am of the mindset to get everyone of the 8" figures I couldn't afford back then. With the exception of some loose figures here and there, I can't afford to buy original mint megos so these will do fine for me at $20 a pop or less. I also want to be able to take them out and enjoy them. The only way to keep them mint is to keep in the package. Where's the fun in that?

[Tothiro]

I like toys.

Now that I've conclusively settled that debate...

The more the re-megos look like vintage's second cousins, the more I'll buy them. The funky bodies bother me though... I got Khan, Chekov and Sulu to swap over to old bodies and I loves thems that way. I'm waiting to do the same with the "Remies."
The more an 8" format figure looks like a sideshow doll though, the less of my money it will be getting. I do not like spawn figures. I do not like real metal parts. I like goofy-headed, fun toys and their inner toy logic should not be turned to the dark side.

I remember debating this when the Flattworld (Flattline) toys were in R&D. I agree that at a certain point the closer you get to photo-realism the further you get from the thing's spirit.

Personally I think the Uni Monsters are made of awesome win-sauce, and can't wait...

[Edited to add]

I also find it a downer when something is scarce. That goes equally for short-packs and for BASA SMDM. If all of my vintage toys could be sold on ebay for less than a dollar because they were worthless I would be happy as pie. I'd just have more toys (setting aside the socio-economic reality that the toys only make it to ebay because they sell for money, etc, etc).
Sometimes people dislike re-issue/new designs because they seem to be into Mego or what have you for some alternative culture social status reason. I never got that. A toy can be cool if there are only five of them made in Japan I guess... but they're cooler if I can actually get one without being annoyed by the process.

[SeattleEd]

Wow, SC or I may call you Sandy. You hit the nail dead center on the head. I'm with you on all points and it's exactly how I feel.
Very reason why I no longer collect figures. The collectors out here in Seattle are vultures. I heard all sorts of stories from local collectors the worse being from a toy shop in Pyuallup, WA.
Toys are meant to be played with and not sitting in a package. What's the point if you really in the end. Enjoy the moment. Nothing last forever.
I open all my toys and still play with them. I like to hold and touch these things.

Just Kudos!!

E

This is without a doubt, one of the most interesting topics/threads I've seen in here. I have a little bit of a different perspective, perhaps because I worked in the toy industry (and in Hollywood) for quite some time and I've seen how the business works and is run;

Firstly, I can say that most of the good people that I have been fortunate enough to work with in the toy industry, are in it for the right reasons. We're all in the same age group (late 30's-early 40's) and pretty much got into making toys because of nostalgic reasons. Simply put, we love action figures, played with, and collected them as kids and wanted to make a living doing it. For me anyway, it really is that simple. However, there is a much darker side to that industry. A side that is based on fear, greed and vanity. A side that ultimately led to me leaving that industry, never to return. I always thought that I could work in the movies and pursue my directing career, and always have time to sculpt a figure or a head for this company or that. Well, it kinda didn't work out that way.

Not to get into too much detail here, I just started seeing people get too consumed by the dark forces of the toy industry and make really bad decisions. I was in the thick of it in the mid 90's, when a lot of this "resurgence" stuff started. I was there, in some of those rooms, when a lot of bad decision making and people burning each other for money, started. Things like deciding to re-release all the Star Wars characters and make them all buff and muscular, like superheroes... "Hell, this is the 90's! The 70's are gone, we have to re-invent these characters and make them larger than life!"-- Why? They're larger than life already... Luke Skywalker doesn't look like that. Have you even SEEN the original film? And the actor likeness thing??? Please don't even get me started on that BS.

I've worked on several different lines for different companies involving what they called at the time; "Actor likenesses" Mind you, this is way before all the scanning stuff they do now. I had to sculpt actor likenesses by hand. I had to deal with all the red tape and BS from not only the companies, but the actors themselves. "My nose isn't that big."-- Uh, yes, it is dude, have you looked in the mirror lately. "You got my hair wrong, it's not that long now." -- Yeah, I know, but back when you did this movie, you had longer hair. , "Get rid of those wrinkles in my forehead!"-- Why?, They're THERE. It's part of what makes that character. It became more about BS and not about the TOYS. It started becoming actual WORK, instead of fun; Work that I did not like.

I've literally worked on some likeness for SO long, that the flesh colored clay I'd use to sculpt in, had almost turned gray from all the reworking and resculpting that had to be done on it... Change after change, after change, from the toy company, from the studio and the actor. Sometimes, they'd all be different, and that was a real mess. I literally sat with an actor in NY after he was insisting I keep changing things on his likeness and the deadline was quickly approaching, and told him "Look dude, by the time this thing gets produced, the head is literally going to be the size of a pencil eraser, all this detail won't even be there and it's not going to matter..." He looked me right in the eye and said "I don't care. Do what I tell you to do." I threw the head in his hot cup of overpriced coffee, got up and left. It was a wax copy and I had the mold, but I did it to make a point. I told him that when he finished his coffee and retrieved the head, that's what it would look like at retail, on the shelf, in the store.

These people or companies just never understood the "feel" or "gist" of a character for a toy. They never understood that sometimes, like the mego's, the likenesses to the people they were capturing didn't have to be perfect. It just had to represent that person or character. This gave the toys SO much more character and appeal. And they wonder why that "Magic" of 70's toy lines is gone... THAT'S why. People were making TOYS, not COLLECTIBLES. Kids used their IMAGINATION when they played with these things.

That's my other pet peeve. Everyone now is so hooked on realism and making the stuff look SO real, SO true to life... Well, that's cool, but in my humble opinion, those aren't TOYS. Action figures and dolls that kids PLAY with... Those are collectibles, and that's fine... I've sculpted those too. I just never understood why the line between the two has somewhat disappeared. All the stuff that companies like Sideshow are doing, is really incredible stuff. They are a collectible company. I just don't get why TOY companies now, have adopted that same philosophy.

Maybe it's because toy companies today aren't making TOYS. I remember when all that re-issue Star wars stuff came out, and SO do the toy companies. They saw grown men all over the country, waiting outside ToysRus, to rush inside and grab the new "chase figure" or "short case" figure or whatever... These bearded menaces were DEALERS and COLLECTORS, who hoarded the stuff, thinking it was going to equal the original stuff in value. Gimmie a break... All that did was fuel the fire for all these companies to make what they called in the industry at that time; "collector friendly toys".

The point I'm trying to make, is that I dig all the re-mego stuff. It's kind of nostalgic and most of it is very well done. It has that 70's vibe and flavor, more than any other contemporary figures do, or have for sure. I dig my original megos. They're a bit beat up, but that's because I PLAYED with them. To me, they are priceless and will NEVER leave my possession. I'll probably pick up some of this re-mego stuff, simply because they're cool and they REPRESENT a time period in my life that I truly cherish. I just sincerely hope, from the bottom of my heart, that WE are not the only ones buying them. I'd love to see kids playing with these in the local park... But at 20 bucks a pop... I dunno. I guess time will tell.

I just think it's important for kids today to be kids and play with toys... They seem far too concerned with their ipods, cell phones and blackberries, texting and tweeting their lives away, not looking up for even a minute to enjoy or appreciate the world around them.

My 2 cents.

SC

[LovethoseMegos]

I think it's two fold. The new movement strikes interest in the old Megos. To me it jeeps the Mego nostalgia from dying. Then again it does blur the line between new and old.

[kryptosmaster]

I began buying some of the new figures, the Kahn, Chekov and Sulu. I have them in my huge display case with all of my vintage figures, about 100 of them (with no repro parts). Every time I look in there, they bother me, like they just don't belong.

Well the only ones I have are a few emce apes that are my son's but he placed them in with my original apes and they don't stick out to me at all but I do know that they aren't "real" when I look at them. I haven't purchased any of the Trek ones yet but I have wanted the ones you mentioned.
I have no intention of buying all of the mattel, ence, bifbangpow, etc figures but there are quite a few that have caught my eye that i think would look nice in my collection. I have the CTVT mad monsters series 2 and I really love them.
I can see your point though.
Rich

[BendyZaius]

I began buying some of the new figures, the Kahn, Chekov and Sulu. I have them in my huge display case with all of my vintage figures, about 100 of them (with no repro parts). Every time I look in there, they bother me, like they just don't belong. I collect these toys because they are what I played with as a child. What other reason would there be to display little Superman dolls in my living room? Even my FX Greatest American Hero bothers me. He stands out and doesn't deserve to be in there with all those beautiful 35 year old figures. I think I'm going home to pull all of these out of the case and pack them away. I'm keeping it vintage too. Save all of this cash for a mint original Catwoman some day! Right on!

[kryptosmaster]

Personally I don't care for new toys (as far as collecting, etc) but the main difference with these new Mego-like figures is the 8" scale. Nobody else had done that for decades. That's the main reason I want a few of these new lines. If they have the right look and can blend in on the shelf with my Megos and LJNs and Tomlands and AHIs then I don't mind having some of them. I don't want something that sticks out like a sore thumb like it just doesn't belong there.
Rich

[Remco Monster]

I totally get where you are coming from. Though this new stuff is neat, it pales immensely to the original. I will be buying a few here and there, but every time I make some modern toy purchase, I think about the vintage toys the money could go to. I used to collect a lot of modern toys, but have cut down big time.

[hobub]

That's my other pet peeve. Everyone now is so hooked on realism and making the stuff look SO real, SO true to life... Well, that's cool, but in my humble opinion, those aren't TOYS. Action figures and dolls that kids PLAY with... Those are collectibles, and that's fine... I've sculpted those too. I just never understood why the line between the two has somewhat disappeared. All the stuff that companies like Sideshow are doing, is really incredible stuff. They are a collectible company. I just don't get why TOY companies now, have adopted that same philosophy.

I agree. Mego's Star Trek series is a perfect example of how NOT to do that. But as it's been discussed, I think they based the likenesses from the Chartoon images and not the actors, almost a sculpt of a dulled down likeness. And that really worked well IMO.