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Finally! Evidence! When I started working on my book, I pored over old family photo albums, desperately seeking childhood pictures of me with Mego toys. I never found a single image.
Fast-forward nearly ten years, to my brother Andy Emailing a JPEG, stating, "Just got a box of photos from the 'Rents. This should have been in your batch. Look behind you, bottom left."
After all these years, my brother found a photo. And not just any photo, he found the photo… capturing the exact moment that galvanized my passion for Mego "World's Greatest Super-Heroes" toys. This moment was the experience I sought to recreate for those who read my book.
While doing press for the Mego book, my memory of this holiday moment came up often. I was fairly certain of my recollection, but the photo reveals that my then-31-year-old memory of the event wasn't quite accurate. From Diamond Scoop! (Sizing Up Mego Figures, June 23, 2007):
While it was accurate to say I 'vividly recall the excitement,' I was off on some of the details: The three WGSH toys my mother wrapped together were Batman, Robin and Superman (not Shazam). Until this photo unleashed a flood of happy memories, I had also forgotten that I received one OTHER Mego Super-Hero that year, wrapped by itself. My initial reaction was that the red box just beyond the first three was a Mad Monster Dracula. But upon comparing the artwork of Mego box sides, I confirmed –– and I had really completely forgotten this -- the fourth Mego figure was THE INVISIBLE GIRL. This revelation also confirms that the ACTUAL date was not 1975, but December 24th, 1976, which was the first year Mego issued The Fantastic Four characters.
I wrote back to my brother, thanking him and explaining the circumstances (Christmas Eve, figures wrapped together, etc.), and he replied, "I originally thought you were doing a Frankenstein imitation, but on second glance I think you are busting over to HUG [our mom and dad]."
Andy is correct: This is a photo of 6 year-old Me, losing my $#!%. Of that, I am certain.
-b
Fast-forward nearly ten years, to my brother Andy Emailing a JPEG, stating, "Just got a box of photos from the 'Rents. This should have been in your batch. Look behind you, bottom left."
After all these years, my brother found a photo. And not just any photo, he found the photo… capturing the exact moment that galvanized my passion for Mego "World's Greatest Super-Heroes" toys. This moment was the experience I sought to recreate for those who read my book.
While doing press for the Mego book, my memory of this holiday moment came up often. I was fairly certain of my recollection, but the photo reveals that my then-31-year-old memory of the event wasn't quite accurate. From Diamond Scoop! (Sizing Up Mego Figures, June 23, 2007):
"As a kid, Batman, Robin and Shazam were my first Mego Super-Heroes. I vividly recall the excitement of Christmas 1975. My family had a tradition of allowing each kid to open one gift on Christmas Eve. My mother gift-wrapped all three boxed Super-Heroes, stacked together as one gift... an obvious attempt to throw me off the scent. I rooted them out effortlessly, and it was the best Christmas Eve ever!"
While it was accurate to say I 'vividly recall the excitement,' I was off on some of the details: The three WGSH toys my mother wrapped together were Batman, Robin and Superman (not Shazam). Until this photo unleashed a flood of happy memories, I had also forgotten that I received one OTHER Mego Super-Hero that year, wrapped by itself. My initial reaction was that the red box just beyond the first three was a Mad Monster Dracula. But upon comparing the artwork of Mego box sides, I confirmed –– and I had really completely forgotten this -- the fourth Mego figure was THE INVISIBLE GIRL. This revelation also confirms that the ACTUAL date was not 1975, but December 24th, 1976, which was the first year Mego issued The Fantastic Four characters.
I wrote back to my brother, thanking him and explaining the circumstances (Christmas Eve, figures wrapped together, etc.), and he replied, "I originally thought you were doing a Frankenstein imitation, but on second glance I think you are busting over to HUG [our mom and dad]."
Andy is correct: This is a photo of 6 year-old Me, losing my $#!%. Of that, I am certain.
-b
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