I'm meeting Pin Pin Toys / Lutece Trading former CEO (Mego France)

[PinPinToys]

Hi Mego Lovers,

Been a while, I've been pretty busy with the book & all.

A few hours ago I hanged up from a 5 minutes conversation with the former CEO of Pin Pin Toys (Maja / Lutece Trading).

I recently came accross a very interesting (vintage) article about Lutece Trading, and the CEO was named (at last !).

A quick research via Google and societe.com and I found the information I needed.

He was quite surprised "Lutece Trading" was still remembered, and is quite enthusiastic talking about the "good old days".

First scoop : In the beginning of the year 1981, Mego became the prime "stock holder" of Lutece Trading. Mego owned above 50% of LTI (Lutece Trading International). This may explain why so many Pin Pin cards ended up in the US.

In a few days, I'll meet him in person, and I will be able to discuss tons of things, such as the French exclusive 12" Mightor, and even maybe the cancelled "Captain Future" 8" line project.

If you guys have any questions in mind, feel free to let me know !

[palitoy]

Sebastien, that's awesome news and very interesting. Tell me more about Captain Future.

[PinPinToys]

Well, a now dead French toy-magazine (Dixième Planete) published an article (intended to be a pretty big scoop) about a cancelled toy line based on Captain Future.

That was back in october 2007. I'm pretty surprised the information hasn't surfaced in the US. In France, it seems I was the only one enthusiastic about that discovery .

Anyway, in the middle of the year 1980, TF1 (France's 1st TV channel) took contact with Delacoste (French toy maker) to work on a "Captain Future" toy line : they were buying the rights for the cartoon, and were willing to have a toy line developped.

At that time, it seems they didn't know there already was a Bandai / Popy line (pure speculation from my part).

Anyway, Delacoste took contact with Mego (seems it was one of their factory in Asia), and prototypes were produced.

In september 1980, for an unexplained reason, the deal was cancelled. I think Bandai France, recently created (at that time) and distributor of the "Captain Future" toys, played a part in the cancellation of the deal (pure speculation from my part, I hope to learn a bit more soon).

Capitaineflam.free.fr published scans from the "Dixième Planete" article :

http://www.capitaineflam.free.fr/prod_figurines.htm

I assume it's then OK if I provide you with better versions (and Dixième Planete is now dead anyway) :

[megojim]

Wow! that is some cool stuff! Great job!
-jim

[censy]

Was Captain Future a Japanese production? The Bandai involvement makes sense, the artwork is very anime-looking.

It looks like the female characters head is the same as the Invisible Girl.

Chris

[palitoy]

Wow, brilliant stuff, thank you for sharing this. That's epic, I love how they used the Hulk body.

[BlackKnight]

WOW !!!! Hot Damn !
I so Badly Want some Captain Future Figures now !

[PinPinToys]

Wow! that is some cool stuff! Great job!
-jim

Well, I'm not behind the Captain Future scoop, and was a bit reluctant in having the pictures posted at first : Dixième Planete was known to be "over aggressiv" when it came to scanning and posting stuff they were publishing (which I can understand, to some extent).

Anyway, since Capitaineflam.free.fr didn't have any problem, I don't see why we should have one. Plus : the information was released in october of last year ... It is no longer a "scoop", and the Dixième Planete title was cancelled.

Was Captain Future a Japanese production? The Bandai involvement makes sense, the artwork is very anime-looking.

It looks like the female characters head is the same as the Invisible Girl.

Chris

Yes, Captain Future was a hit in Germany and France. It's a japanese update of the US novels. The Bandai toys are damn cool, very "Micronauts" like.

Yep, they used an IG head for Johann Landor (CF's special friend).

WOW !!!! Hot Damn !
I so Badly Want some Captain Future Figures now !

Well, I doubt anyone actually owns the Mego prototypes. The persons who laid hands on the pictures and documents aren't very "popular" among French collectors. They tend to be very snotty and condescending. They won't allow any copy of those documents. Too bad.

Who nows, maybe Lutece Trading's former CEO took part in the negociation between Delacoste and Mego, and owns the prototypes. But I doubt it : Lutece Trading didn't have any exclusive contract with Mego. We actually got a Mego doll for the plastic representation of a very famous French singer (female) : Sylvie Vartan. The doll is from Raynal (French company), but was prodced by Mego.

Wow, brilliant stuff, thank you for sharing this. That's epic, I love how they used the Hulk body.

Me too ... the Hulk body would have been a great re-use.

[megoscott]

Wow, what a neat find. I love seeing that Sue Richards head on that figure, and the suits are so detailed!

Thanks for sharing this with Mego collectors.

[toys2cool]

man those look awesome!!

[PinPinToys]

Wow, what a neat find. I love seeing that Sue Richards head on that figure, and the suits are so detailed!

Thanks for sharing this with Mego collectors.

You're very welcome ... I wish I had shared this with you months ago, but I was conflicted about it, since I wasn't the source, and the source being an official magazine.

Well, now it's done ...

man those look awesome!!

Indeed ...

[ScottA]

Wow, what a find. I love this kind of stuff. Looking forward to hearing about your interview.

I wonder if those shoes are removable on that hulk body?

[PinPinToys]

Wow, what a find. I love this kind of stuff. Looking forward to hearing about your interview.

I wonder if those shoes are removable on that hulk body?

You'll hear all about it in the hours following it .

As for the shoes, gotta admit I didn't even think about it. I assume they are.

I'm wondering if those prototypes still exist somewhere.

[Earth 2 Chris]

Whoa, that is awesome. Great find! The figure in the bottom right looks like his head may be a modified Buffalo Bill head.

Chris

[saildog]

This is exciting!

Seems like the last few weeks around here have seen several exciting discoveries or realizations. A lot of puzzle pieces falling into place.