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This is possibly nothing worth discussing, but I feel the need to share this observation...
Without question, the sturdiest part of the Mego T2 body is the THIGH. Every other part of the part of these 35+ year-old plastic toys is prone to damage, whereas the thigh generally survives the heaviest of play/torture.
(NOTE: for the sake of this discussion, I am ignoring mint-in-package/mint-on-card/only-ever-displayed -- aka "unloved" -- figures that have never been played with)
Torsos, pelvises (pelvii?), arms (upper and lower), calves, hands, feet... even heads and random connector pieces. If a T2 figure has survived all these years and has ANY damage, it would appear that it is some other part of the body than the thigh. Clearly, it is a function of the way the figure components are connected, with the thigh connection-points having the lowest intrisic weaknesses.
The torso and pelvis are prone to splitting at the seams; the torso "armpits" can be chewed up by a poorly-seated metal shoulder connector, and the neck-hole can become brittle and shred in attempts to remove/replace the head. The forearms and lower legs often snap at the elbows/knees, and the wrists/ankles are inherent weak points. The feet seem to be the worst: so many have hairline cracks that are virtually invisible, but turn out to be hidden faultlines that simply split apart the first time any extra stress is placed on them.
Don't even start me on the hands! Of course, the right hand is always worse, as almost every figure has had an ill-fitting gun, knife or other weapon pressed into it -- and so many index fingers (i.e. "trigger fingers") end up missing. Truly a sign of a right-handed society?
Even the heads are subject to paint wear and "zombification." On some figures, the neck plug has been hacked, shaved or split by a previous well-meaning but amaturish attempt to stick it back into a neck hole.
The various connector pieces (two-piece shoulder armature, and the platic-and-metal hip connectors) are almost always lost when the figure becomes disassembled into loose parts; the metal parts will show evidence of aquatic/bathtub play or humidity during storage by a heavy coat of rust. The internal rubber bands can oxidize and split with age, and so many loose figures are recovered missing the right-arm-and-left-leg (or vice versa). Wrist, ankle and elbow pins often survive the loss of that appendage/joint, but are also often missing from a loose piece. The hand connector itself is another weak point, and many loose Megos have a hand snapped off at the wrist -- again, almost always the RIGHT hand.
This is about the physical bodies... I have ignored the clothing, but we all know the story there. If you are lucky to even find a loose, played-with figure, the odds are higher that it is missing its clothing/costume, is wearing the WRONG clothing, or its costume has been heavily altered by a previous owner. If not those, the clothing is stained or soiled, often beyond the point that all but Herculean cleaning efforts will resolve. And forget about any weapons or other original accessories ("If my head weren't attached...").
And I need to mention the chewing... Existing phyical evidence of Mego T2s in my collection indicate beyond the shadow of a doubt that dogs have been at many of these toys. A loose (naked) Batman I recently acquired is completely intact, with no missing parts or cracked/split anything -- but was obviously used in multiple games of "fetch" with the family mutt, as every single body part has been perforated/indented by sharp teeth (including the thighs but, if re-used, the damage to these would be easily masked by clothing). I have acquired many other T2 figures that have been chewed, but not by hounds -- the masticated damage to these (mostly the hands -- why does it always have to be the hands?!?) was obviously done by a younger brother or sister who had recently cut their teeth. Or perhaps it was by the toy owner who still had to work out their oral fixation, and had already eaten through all the household pens and pencils.
But... The thighs survive. Even in the evidently common knee-break, it is the lower leg that loses the wishbone choice, irreparably leaving behind a chunk of the knee joint along with the secured knee pin. Even when you remove these, you usually end up with a perfectly re-useable thigh. The thigh is to the T2 body as the passenger seated in the very last row is to the not-entirely-fatal airplane crash.
What's the point? There is none... at least none of which I am immediately aware. However, as I separate my loose T2 arms, legs, torsos, heads (etc., etc.) into different baggies for the purpose of replacement/reattachment/repair, I realize that I have a disproportionate number of thighs. In fact, I think it is possible that I have more thighs than Kentucky Fried Chicken!
I have started to look at my ever-increasing bag of T2 thighs to imagine out-of-the-box craft/conversion projects, and I admit they have a decent shape upon which to model a large number of "Alien" egg pods -- but that's about the only thing I have come up with.
Without question, the sturdiest part of the Mego T2 body is the THIGH. Every other part of the part of these 35+ year-old plastic toys is prone to damage, whereas the thigh generally survives the heaviest of play/torture.
(NOTE: for the sake of this discussion, I am ignoring mint-in-package/mint-on-card/only-ever-displayed -- aka "unloved" -- figures that have never been played with)
Torsos, pelvises (pelvii?), arms (upper and lower), calves, hands, feet... even heads and random connector pieces. If a T2 figure has survived all these years and has ANY damage, it would appear that it is some other part of the body than the thigh. Clearly, it is a function of the way the figure components are connected, with the thigh connection-points having the lowest intrisic weaknesses.
The torso and pelvis are prone to splitting at the seams; the torso "armpits" can be chewed up by a poorly-seated metal shoulder connector, and the neck-hole can become brittle and shred in attempts to remove/replace the head. The forearms and lower legs often snap at the elbows/knees, and the wrists/ankles are inherent weak points. The feet seem to be the worst: so many have hairline cracks that are virtually invisible, but turn out to be hidden faultlines that simply split apart the first time any extra stress is placed on them.
Don't even start me on the hands! Of course, the right hand is always worse, as almost every figure has had an ill-fitting gun, knife or other weapon pressed into it -- and so many index fingers (i.e. "trigger fingers") end up missing. Truly a sign of a right-handed society?
Even the heads are subject to paint wear and "zombification." On some figures, the neck plug has been hacked, shaved or split by a previous well-meaning but amaturish attempt to stick it back into a neck hole.
The various connector pieces (two-piece shoulder armature, and the platic-and-metal hip connectors) are almost always lost when the figure becomes disassembled into loose parts; the metal parts will show evidence of aquatic/bathtub play or humidity during storage by a heavy coat of rust. The internal rubber bands can oxidize and split with age, and so many loose figures are recovered missing the right-arm-and-left-leg (or vice versa). Wrist, ankle and elbow pins often survive the loss of that appendage/joint, but are also often missing from a loose piece. The hand connector itself is another weak point, and many loose Megos have a hand snapped off at the wrist -- again, almost always the RIGHT hand.
This is about the physical bodies... I have ignored the clothing, but we all know the story there. If you are lucky to even find a loose, played-with figure, the odds are higher that it is missing its clothing/costume, is wearing the WRONG clothing, or its costume has been heavily altered by a previous owner. If not those, the clothing is stained or soiled, often beyond the point that all but Herculean cleaning efforts will resolve. And forget about any weapons or other original accessories ("If my head weren't attached...").
And I need to mention the chewing... Existing phyical evidence of Mego T2s in my collection indicate beyond the shadow of a doubt that dogs have been at many of these toys. A loose (naked) Batman I recently acquired is completely intact, with no missing parts or cracked/split anything -- but was obviously used in multiple games of "fetch" with the family mutt, as every single body part has been perforated/indented by sharp teeth (including the thighs but, if re-used, the damage to these would be easily masked by clothing). I have acquired many other T2 figures that have been chewed, but not by hounds -- the masticated damage to these (mostly the hands -- why does it always have to be the hands?!?) was obviously done by a younger brother or sister who had recently cut their teeth. Or perhaps it was by the toy owner who still had to work out their oral fixation, and had already eaten through all the household pens and pencils.
But... The thighs survive. Even in the evidently common knee-break, it is the lower leg that loses the wishbone choice, irreparably leaving behind a chunk of the knee joint along with the secured knee pin. Even when you remove these, you usually end up with a perfectly re-useable thigh. The thigh is to the T2 body as the passenger seated in the very last row is to the not-entirely-fatal airplane crash.
What's the point? There is none... at least none of which I am immediately aware. However, as I separate my loose T2 arms, legs, torsos, heads (etc., etc.) into different baggies for the purpose of replacement/reattachment/repair, I realize that I have a disproportionate number of thighs. In fact, I think it is possible that I have more thighs than Kentucky Fried Chicken!
I have started to look at my ever-increasing bag of T2 thighs to imagine out-of-the-box craft/conversion projects, and I admit they have a decent shape upon which to model a large number of "Alien" egg pods -- but that's about the only thing I have come up with.
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