Vintage Mego 11: Mego Myths and Rumours

[RSS]

A bit of a departure this week, instead of talking about a vintage Mego toy, we thought we'd talk about some myths and rumours that plague Mego collecting to this day.

We even believed some of these and spread them ourselves, so it's time to put these to bed.

So for this installment, we'll tackle two old chestnuts, "Great Warehouse Fire of 1977" and "The case of the missing Doctor Who".

Tell us some of the weirdest rumours you've heard about Mego in the comments below:

Mego Warehouse photos by Bill McFarland and Daniel Edwards.

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[EmergencyIan]

This is a very interesting video! Look forward to more.

- Ian

[Wee67]

This is great! I'm sure I still carry some misconceptions I picked up in the early days of Mego collecting. I hope you can finally clear up the "Iron Man was originally Dr Doom" or the "Jordache guy was sculpted as Dr Strange" speculation. How about Mego bulldozing thousands of produced Logan's Run figures into a dump?

I'm looking forward to more, too.

[palitoy]

This is great! I'm sure I still carry some misconceptions I picked up in the early days of Mego collecting. I hope you can finally clear up the "Iron Man was originally Dr Doom" or the "Jordache guy was sculpted as Dr Strange" speculation. How about Mego bulldozing thousands of produced Logan's Run figures into a dump?

I'm looking forward to more, too.

Yeah, the Iron Man nose one is coming up, the other two I want to work on but the Logan Thing is really hard to prove although my late friend said he saw it on tv.

[Werewolf]

That's was great. Please kill more rumors! I'd like to see the Rhino and Green Lantern rumors bite the dust.

[jwyblejr]

I'll be glad when the Star Wars rumor is dead and gone.

[Wee67]

Yeah, the Iron Man nose one is coming up, the other two I want to work on but the Logan Thing is really hard to prove although my late friend said he saw it on tv.

I suppose the challenge in all of these is like trying to prove that something did not exist. If it didn't exist, then there's no evidence that it did not exist. It'd be much easier to have had Neil Kublan tell you that Mego had produced and then destroyed hundreds of Logans. I think the best you can do is show that certain rumors exist with no evidence beyond speculation. And that will still be very helpful.

[sprytel]

These were great stuff! I'm looking forward to the second part.

I will offer one bit of constructive criticism... you usually have great music cues for your videos, but the "Tilt-a-Whirl polka" background track didn't work for me.

[Earth 2 Chris]

Great video, and I love the idea of more of these. I would suggest any of the many misnomers printed in Greenberg's Guide to Super Hero Toys. That book had me searching for a Green Lantern Pocket Super Hero for several years!

Chris

[palitoy]

Great video, and I love the idea of more of these. I would suggest any of the many misnomers printed in Greenberg's Guide to Super Hero Toys. That book had me searching for a Green Lantern Pocket Super Hero for several years!

Chris

Yeah, the Shazam one is even worse, he's on the freaking card!

[Earth 2 Chris]

^Yes! Please bring that book up. I know the author had good intentions, but he created a lot of misinformation out there, especially in the days when there were no other books on the subject, and no internet to refute his "facts".

Chris

[palitoy]

^Yes! Please bring that book up. I know the author had good intentions, but he created a lot of misinformation out there, especially in the days when there were no other books on the subject, and no internet to refute his "facts".

That book always makes me chuckle, I remember being so excited about it because my friend was involved and he owned stuff like the Mego Ralphy Hinkley prototype (he found it at a long island flea market!) and being so very crestfallen when it arrived.

It's not the information per sey but the fact that the author was clearly trying to make the book his DC comics tryout, still annoys me how much he left out in the Mego and Captain Action department so he could draw superhero suits, it's such a weird tangent. The audience who would buy this book doesn't need masks and cowls explained to them, just more pictures of toys please.

it could have easily been a book we still talk about.

[Earth 2 Chris]

^Yeah, his focus was definitely divided from the book's objective by this strange desire to "categorize" super hero costume elements. Type 1 mask, Type 2 cape, etc.

His artwork was in no way approaching professional level either. Had it been presented as such fine, but it did take up too much real estate in the book.

Chris

[palitoy]

yeah I've never completely slammed it because it could just be some OCD but those pages and illustrations add nothing to a book that needed much more eye candy. The back drops are also a poor choice design wise.

The other issue i had at the time was a heavy focus on Super Powers and Secret Wars, which he obviously collected but I could still buy those on shelves when the book came out. I wanted to see more Mego and Captain Action.

[Earth 2 Chris]

^Yeah, and there's a big chapter on TMNT, which he got an advanced look at as I recall. They hadn't quite hit yet. A page or 2 would have been fine, but yeah, we needed more CA and WGSH.

Not to keep bashing the guy, but the lack of research really showed when he kept referring to the 60s TV series as being titled "BATMAN!" with an exclamation point. Even at age 13, I knew that was totally bogus.

Chris