Did you or your parents "customize" your Megos?

[Earth 2 Chris]

This has probably been discussed before, but if so, it's been a while.

We all know Megos were fragile things. Stickers came off, capes got frayed, belts got lost, knees broke...you name it, it happened. Now of course, the best solution was to coerce your parents into buying you a new one. But sometimes, you just couldn't find one, or that particular figure was just too near and dear to let go.

When this happened, both of my parents pitched in. I remember a Mego Batman I had that was about 50% Franklin Family custom. He had a cape made by my mother from a stiff, denim patch. His emblem was a hand drawn piece of paper glued on (again by my mother). His utility belt was made from a metal watch band, donated and rigged together by my dad. The buckle actually looked a bit like Adam West's utility belt, so it was a bit more authentic too me!

Other figures had knee surgery and become partial cyborgs due to my dad's use of bolts and nuts. He also restrung countless Megos. He kept a sandwich bag of Mego body parts in the basement for years.

So did any of your childhood Megos have custom replacement parts?

Chris

[mahseer]

I learned how to sew when I was about 8 so I could make sleeping bags and pillows for Big Jim and Grizzly Adams

[David Lee]

Oh yea! the Lee's were legendary... mom sewed and my Pops carved accessories out of wood! Yea he was a whiittler from way back so guns and swords came natch... We were always making cardboard playsets etc... My folks got it... My brother and I were also big customizers, we swapped heads added outfits, you name it we tried it. I can remember trying to cast a head in 1982, it was a plaster face mold of Han Solo, and the medium was melted nylon string.

Dave

[Wasimhosen]

My biggest custom was drawing and cutting up chest emblems for Captain America and Batman and securing them with scotch tape.

[HardyGirl]

No, not as a child. I only had 3 Megos (2 AJs and Lainie), No parts ever get lost or broken. Lainie did stop working some time around 4th grade, (I got her in 2nd grade), and my dad tried to fix her, but to no avail. So, she was just another one of my 18" fashion dolls like Crissy or Tiffany Taylor.

However, as an adult, I did cannibalize a Captain Eagle body to fix an ape. (I didn't he was a valuable knockoff!)

[ctc]

Hmmmm....

I did my own customs and repairs as a kid, but my grandma taught me how to sew when I was WAY young.... so I can't take all the credit.

Don C.

[MIB41]

Oh I was customizing almost from the first days I had enough characters to interchange outfits. That was the beauty of it. What is interesting (and ironic) is that I ALWAYS used Shazam as my Peter Parker, NEVER knowing Mego had released alter egos through Wards. Never heard about it. Never saw anyone with them. Of course Shazam was my go-to-guy for many customs. He just had that look. I made him Robin the Teen Wonder for a while. But he finally ended his run as Rich Rider (aka Nova). I made him a helmet and took a Tarzan outfit and dyed it all yellow, then took a permanent blue marker and made the rest. He was actually a fav of mine for a while. One interesting thing I use to do is pretend to be a makeup artist and make the Frankenstein monster out of my Superman or Bruce Wayne heads. Sometimes I even used a Swat guy laying around. I would do this by using tissue. I would overlay the heads with tissue and wet them until they were form fitting and almost translucent. This protected the head. Then I would add additional layers to build up the forehead and make the eye lids. I would paint it with acrylics and let it dry. You got cool effects when the paints would blend and run on the wet tissue. It made for some cool play time as a kid. And the best part was, when I was done with it, I just ripped it off and the figure underneath was good as new. The unintended accident to that was the tissue dried hard enough I could reuse it almost like a mask if I took it off carefully. I would also do this to my regular AHI Franky if I wanted to add some "battle damage" to him. I had quite the imagination as a kid.

[Earth 2 Chris]

^Wow Tom, that is cool! You were a regular Jack Pierce, using some of the same methods!

Chris

[HardyGirl]

Wow! That reminds me of that Arrow Book of Monsters by Alan Ormsby. That was pretty impressive for a kid, Tom. Where did you get the idea to do that?

Oh I was customizing almost from the first days I had enough characters to interchange outfits. That was the beauty of it. What is interesting (and ironic) is that I ALWAYS used Shazam as my Peter Parker, NEVER knowing Mego had released alter egos through Wards. Never heard about it. Never saw anyone with them. Of course Shazam was my go-to-guy for many customs. He just had that look. I made him Robin the Teen Wonder for a while. But he finally ended his run as Rich Rider (aka Nova). I made him a helmet and took a Tarzan outfit and dyed it all yellow, then took a permanent blue marker and made the rest. He was actually a fav of mine for a while. One interesting thing I use to do is pretend to be a makeup artist and make the Frankenstein monster out of my Superman or Bruce Wayne heads. Sometimes I even used a Swat guy laying around. I would do this by using tissue. I would overlay the heads with tissue and wet them until they were form fitting and almost translucent. This protected the head. Then I would add additional layers to build up the forehead and make the eye lids. I would paint it with acrylics and let it dry. You got cool effects when the paints would blend and run on the wet tissue. It made for some cool play time as a kid. And the best part was, when I was done with it, I just ripped it off and the figure underneath was good as new. The unintended accident to that was the tissue dried hard enough I could reuse it almost like a mask if I took it off carefully. I would also do this to my regular AHI Franky if I wanted to add some "battle damage" to him. I had quite the imagination as a kid.

[Relic]

As a kid and 10 years old in 1977 I remember getting an extra Superman from the grandparents. I ended up cutting a burlap bag into a Scarecrow outfit. It was horrible and held together with staples and scotch tape but it was truly a custom way back in the day. I am inspired to make a better custom Scarecrow now. I think I just talked myself into my next custom.

[VintageMike]

Yep. Aside from savaging less favored figures to save Spider-Man, one fo Hulk's legs was held on by a screw and nut.

[Jase25]

I drew a bat symbol on one of my Fisher Price Adventure people and made a cape out of toilet paper or napkins....Of course it didn't help my adventure person I used was wearing a yellow jumpsuit and a blue baseball cap....but I had a helicopter Batman in my mind...and I was like 5. That year though I got a my first Mego Batman and Robin in the box and a Buddy L truck with horse trailer...I kicked the horse out and the truck and trailer became my Batmobile. Batman apparently was able to drive the truck from the trailer...cause he was cool like that. I also use to get in my mom's sewing kit and tie string/thread from one end of the room to the next. Tied to floor lamps, window shades, light fixtures, stair railings, dimmer switches, coffee tables, and anything I could tie a knot to! My dad would come home and walk through these tangled webs of thread snapping them and cussing and getting irate cause it caused his stand up ash tray (remember those) by his LayZboy to fall over. It just added to the excitement as Batman, Robin, and I escaped the angry cussing giant in our truck and horse trailer. We may have got sent to our room, but it was cool that's where the Batcave was...a Hush Puppy Shoe box under my bed....da na na na na na na na - Batman!

[MIB41]

Wow! That reminds me of that Arrow Book of Monsters by Alan Ormsby. That was pretty impressive for a kid, Tom. Where did you get the idea to do that?

Thanks! I remember looking at Monsters of Film Land and seeing Boris Karloff getting made up. I thought how cool it would be if I could do that with my Megos without messing them up. I seem to remember seeing tissue and thinking that would give me the barrier I needed. So I took out a clean paint brush and dabbed it in water. Then I laid a piece of tissue over the head and swabbed it with the brush and it adhered itself to the head almost in a translucent layer. It was from there that I experimented and found out I could use the tissue to create layers and build it up from there. I used acrylics to paint it and it became a fun time make believing I was making a Universal monster movie and my Megos were the actors. I even did a Wolfman like that. It was a fun exercise in creating something from materials I had around me. To me it was a way to tell a story and pretend from a different approach. That's why I always loved the RC Batman and Robin so much. Because you had versatility in what you could do with them. They could be different characters and that was fascinating to me as a kid.

[HardyGirl]

Wow, that's really impressive. Not many kids have that kind of creativity or foresight.

Thanks! I remember looking at Monsters of Film Land and seeing Boris Karloff getting made up. I thought how cool it would be if I could do that with my Megos without messing them up. I seem to remember seeing tissue and thinking that would give me the barrier I needed. So I took out a clean paint brush and dabbed it in water. Then I laid a piece of tissue over the head and swabbed it with the brush and it adhered itself to the head almost in a translucent layer. It was from there that I experimented and found out I could use the tissue to create layers and build it up from there. I used acrylics to paint it and it became a fun time make believing I was making a Universal monster movie and my Megos were the actors. I even did a Wolfman like that. It was a fun exercise in creating something from materials I had around me. To me it was a way to tell a story and pretend from a different approach. That's why I always loved the RC Batman and Robin so much. Because you had versatility in what you could do with them. They could be different characters and that was fascinating to me as a kid.