What's missing from modern day "Mego-like" toy lines

[PNGwynne]

I'm sorry & ashamed that happened, Brian.


Regarding Fighting Furies--one of my favorite small lines, exquisite really. One can dream.

[HumanWolfman]

What's missing? The kids are what is missing. These things are meant to be played with.

[palitoy]

Regarding Fighting Furies--one of my favorite small lines, exquisite really. One can dream.

I'm going to convert it one of these days, I want to see it!

[HardyGirl]

Exactly, and that's why there should be commercials. It makes me kinda sad that adults are buying these things, and kids aren't enjoying them. Remember how you felt when you were watching the after-school cartoons and a Mego commercial would come on? You couldn't wait to get your hands on those figures and have your own adventures. Parents sometimes say things like, "Oh I wish my kids could enjoy the classic toys, like I did." Advertising these products, even online would help to show kids how much fun they are, and remind parents about the fun they had back in the day.

What's missing? The kids are what is missing. These things are meant to be played with.

[Figuremod73]

The toy commercials were just as fun as anything eles on saturday morning and afternoons. I would love to see retro-like commercials of new product being released even if its just online.

I've seen a few "recreations" done by fans of some of the DC classics toys and enjoyed them. I would like to see more.


I watch old commercials on youtube all the time. I hope they get converted someday.

[SeattleEd]

I'm, talking about taking the current series of commercials available and restoring them. Or at least cleaning them up so there is better clarity in them. Yes, there are a handful of much later commercials ('77-'78) that have some clarity, but the early to mid-70's commercials are pretty ragged out. It would be fun to see those restored as the classic A-Team commercials were.

In order for better quality you need access to the original master reel, which a lot of deteriorated or gone missing. Many of those floating around from old stations that had dubbed copies for airing. Read on some forums that even those copies get tossed out into the trash and some dumpster divers end up picking them up but the problem is playback and capture. Not to mention if any are still in playable condition.
As for cleaning up what is out there, we have a saying at our work, "You can't shine a turd" and that the condition of a lot of these videos are in. Even if one were to go in frame by frame and clean each still, it would only do so much due to generational loss. Only so much can be done.

I know at Screenplay, we have some old commercials that were lucky enough to get but many are in poor condition to due generational loss and we've done what could to clean them up but they will never be in clear HD quality. Yet, clients still request them from time and time.

Best bet would be to find the advertising agency that made the commercials and see if they have the masters around or any back up copies that might have been digitized.

[hedrap]

Yeah, Ed's right.

The odds of the mid-70's reels being converted to Beta in the early 80's is Haley's Comet odds. Managers would think it's a waste of time, so the reels would have been kept in storage until tape storage became so deep they needed more room.

IMO, if they existed, they would have turned up about a decade ago, when digital storage was devouring tape transfers.

I guess JimBo or Ed might have the credentials to contact local stations or the ad agencies and ask if they have any kind of reels left for a documentary.

It is surprising Abrams doesn't have them. That's one of the real proofs of his companies existence. He should at least know who the agency was.

[jimsmegos]

Exactly, and that's why there should be commercials. It makes me kinda sad that adults are buying these things, and kids aren't enjoying them. Remember how you felt when you were watching the after-school cartoons and a Mego commercial would come on? You couldn't wait to get your hands on those figures and have your own adventures. Parents sometimes say things like, "Oh I wish my kids could enjoy the classic toys, like I did." Advertising these products, even online would help to show kids how much fun they are, and remind parents about the fun they had back in the day.

Problem is the properties have no interests for kids and the properties that are popular these days (Dora, Diego, Bubble Guppies, Spongebob, etc...) really don't translate well if at all into the humanoid form that is a Mego / Re-Mego.

Believe me when I say no one wants to see kids playing with these types of toys again more than me but it's not going to happen unless properties become available that fit. I was holding out hope for the Aquabats but I'm not seeing much traction there.

[HardyGirl]

Well, a lot of "Re-Megos" have TV shows or something on DVD. (pick any superhero, SMDM, Venture Bros. etc.) For the commercial to work, you would probably need to show a scene from the show first, and then have the announcer say something like, "Now you can create your own adventures w/ the fill in the __ action figure", and show kids creating an adventure ala classic Mego ads. And yes, parents would have to hype it up a little, especially parents who look at Facebook pages of action heroes, and classic TV shows. If these commericals were advertised or even linked to FB pages, forums like this, etc., it could work. As a person who has worked w/ school-aged children, I will tell you that they like classic stuff. When I used to bring in old shows like SMDM, SuperFriends, Land Of The Lost, Land Of The Giants, Filmation Tarzan, you couldn't make these kids go home w/o threat of punishment, 'cos they were really into these. If the commercials included clips of shows, kids would get intrigued, and thus might even want the figure that goes w/ it.

Problem is the properties have no interests for kids and the properties that are popular these days (Dora, Diego, Bubble Guppies, Spongebob, etc...) really don't translate well if at all into the humanoid form that is a Mego / Re-Mego.

Believe me when I say no one wants to see kids playing with these types of toys again more than me but it's not going to happen unless properties become available that fit. I was holding out hope for the Aquabats but I'm not seeing much traction there.

[HardyGirl]

BTW...you don't know how many times I've heard from CHILDREN when I've brought a classic toy to school, "Why can't they make toys like this now?" Trust me, if the advertising were right, they'd want those figures.

[jimsmegos]

BTW...you don't know how many times I've heard from CHILDREN when I've brought a classic toy to school, "Why can't they make toys like this now?" Trust me, if the advertising were right, they'd want those figures.

Don't get me wrong, I agree with you. My daughter LOVES her Mego's and Re-Mego's. The kicker with the advertising is that viewer habits are so completely different now than they were then. Even when it comes to adults it's hard to find 'em where they're watching outside of specific niche, genre based things (i.e. Venture Bros on Adult Swim which I think is a shame Entertainment Earth isn't taking advantage of that audience). And even then that audience in itself is very limited.

Another thing I think that comes into play with the kids today is that while say your classroom gets it, the kids next door in another classroom may have no clue so in turn the peer interaction / commonality of the property itself may not be enough to spark a 'craze'.

When we were young it was so much easier for every kid to know about the same stuff even if they didn't watch it themselves. For example all the little boys knew about Strawberry Shortcake even though it wasn't must see Saturday morning TV.

Outside of a complete technological breakdown I just don't see a way for the broad audience reach and appeal of a property to ever catch on as things used to. Thinking about it, the same theory can be applied to pop music. Considering the internet and all that has sprung from it, there is no longer real relevance for a Top 40 countdown.

[thunderbolt]

Commercials in the 70's and 80's were one of the few ways to inform consumers of new products. With all the other internet options we know about this stuff and kids can find out too if they are interested.

[HumanWolfman]

BTW...you don't know how many times I've heard from CHILDREN when I've brought a classic toy to school, "Why can't they make toys like this now?" Trust me, if the advertising were right, they'd want those figures.

See, that is what I was talking about when I said "the kids" were what was missing. These things are toys first, collectable second. The playability need to be there, not have a toy break in you hand. There may be new toys available today, but I would love to see what happens to a you purchased today, played with for a year or two, then locked in a 150 degree attic for 30 years. Would it survive like a mego?

[Chris]

a certain ex-member called my kids names on Youtube and that was the end of that.

That's sickening.

[MIB41]

Best bet would be to find the advertising agency that made the commercials and see if they have the masters around or any back up copies that might have been digitized.

Great idea! And many thanks for the explanation on restoration. I imagine the reason why the Adventure Team series was able to get restored so well is because Hasbro likely kept their old reels properly stored and someone in the "Club" likely got access to them for the restoration. GI Joe has always stayed a valued commodity in one form or another so Hasbro had every incentive to keep track and care of the old commercials. Mego as both a brand and a figure scale died off for decades and these are the side effects of that removal.