I done talked Mego on the TeeVee

[palitoy]

I was lucky to be a recurring commentator on "Action Figure Adventure" Season 2 and while I really enjoyed many of the segments they chose, this one, where I got to talk about bending to peer pressure. I'm sure some of you can relate:

Season 1 is currently on Tubi and I hear Season 2 will be soon. Worth a look.

[monitor_ep]

Nice.

I had no shame in buying Supergirl, Batgirl & Isis when I found them. Thinking back, I remember finding Isis and my mouth was going 90 miles an hour about adding her to my collection and the tv show, and my parents looked lost, but they let me get her. My Dad did ask why I was buying a doll, and I told him she a superhero not a doll and that ended the conversation.

[palitoy]

Trust me, I regret it.

[Werewolf]

Come to the pink aisle. Don't be afraid. We have dream houses, cool cars and Wonder Woman.

[palitoy]

Come to the pink aisle. Don't be afraid. We have dream houses, cool cars and Wonder Woman.

I assure you, that phobia got shaken off in the early 1980s.

[Werewolf]

I'm just being silly.

[Earth 2 Chris]

That's interesting. I never saw Batgirl in person (just in ads and her image on the cardbacks), but I probably would have bought her in an instant, because of my Bat-obsession, and I legitimately love the character. I guess my first female action figure was Teela from MOTU. I never hesitated to buy her. She was part of the line. Heck, when She-Ra came out, I bought ALL of the first wave, because I was a MOTU completist. Now, I will admit, 10 year old me did instantly feel a bit weird buying them, because they were so overtly "girly". The rooted hair, the brushes, the skirts, the abundance of pink packaging. I think Mattel should have made the toy more like the Filmation animated series, which was a lot less...Barbie-like. I think it could have appealed more to both boys and girls that way. I had a similar feeling years earlier when I got the 12" Wonder Woman for Christmas. I knew she was a...fashion doll. Verbotten!

But I never once hesitated to buy female characters from "boys" toy lines. I got the Super Powers Wonder Woman, all the female G.I. Joe figures I could find, etc.

And now, the irony is my house is half-covered in fashion dolls, American Girl and other 18" dolls, and the like, thanks to my wife!

[monitor_ep]

Don't feel bad E2 Chris, my boyfriends side in the collectables is full of BTS/Male Barbies right now

[palitoy]

That's interesting. I never saw Batgirl in person (just in ads and her image on the cardbacks), but I probably would have bought her in an instant, because of my Bat-obsession, and I legitimately love the character. I guess my first female action figure was Teela from MOTU. I never hesitated to buy her. She was part of the line. Heck, when She-Ra came out, I bought ALL of the first wave, because I was a MOTU completist. Now, I will admit, 10 year old me did instantly feel a bit weird buying them, because they were so overtly "girly". The rooted hair, the brushes, the skirts, the abundance of pink packaging. I think Mattel should have made the toy more like the Filmation animated series, which was a lot less...Barbie-like. I think it could have appealed more to both boys and girls that way. I had a similar feeling years earlier when I got the 12" Wonder Woman for Christmas. I knew she was a...fashion doll. Verbotten!

I never saw Batgirl at retail either, I found Supergirl, I also pined for Catwoman that was at Pinnochio's toys for a long time. I never took the plunge.

The 3 3/4" figures felt less problematic and I certainly had Kate McCrae, Ilia and Scarlet as a kid.

[VintageMike]

I MAY have seen Supergirl once at retail. One of my earliest toy memories is seeing an assortment of 1976 cards at Toys R' Us and I'm pretty sure she was there. At that point however it wasn't about whether it was a girl or not, but rather I was more into Marvel, specifically Spider-Man. By the time I was old enough to get into comics more, and understand the extent of the line, the Super Gals were long gone and efforts were largely trying to get my parents to order me a Green Goblin from Heroes World.

[TRDouble]

The only Super Gal I ever saw was Catwoman and I bought her with my allowance for my niece, who is only four months younger than me. I always wanted Batgirl, but I doubt that my Father would have allowed it since he didn't want me to even have the WGSH dolls at first (as I found out as an adult). I had G.I. Joes, including Scarlet. The first female doll I think I bought was the first Mattel Wonder Woman. Yep, I felt a little sheepish taking her to the cash register and even showing my Wife when I got home. But I got over it, as did my Father back in the 70s and my Wife, and I ended up buying a bunch of Cy Girls, among others that may have fit the collections.

Where do Famous Cover figures fall? I had those too, but most after the fact and all via eBay or other online retailers that still had them in inventory.

[TrekStar]

I honestly don’t remember seeing the Super Gals in the same aisle with the WGSH, but I do remember seeing LT. Uhura carded figures mixed in with Star Trek which does make sense since she was the lone female of that set, so why put her somewhere else separately.

[MIB41]

I can relate Brian. I loved that Batgirl figure, but it was my parents and brothers I was worried about. My best friend understood my love of this line, but more importantly understood my dad's hardline view on this stuff. So he took my grass cutting allowance and picked one up for me at our local Thornbury's toy store. Batgirl pretty much stayed hidden in my room for the remainder of my childhood. Had my dad seen that, he very well might have thrown out all of my figures. Ah the obstacles we faced for the simple things in life.

[PNGwynne]

Batgirl was the only Gal I had, but that was due to circumstance and not peer or parental concerns. My parents had no qualms about getting me most of the Oz figures, for example.

[RonnyG]

I could never buy a female action figure or doll. My mother made it perfectly clear that I could not have one. I remember once in grade school, a friend gave me a pretty mini doll with long blonde hair. I can't remember the name of the doll, but since it was the early seventies, I think it might have been Dawn. I knew my mom wouldn't be happy, so I had to keep it on the "down low." I hid it in my sock drawer in my dresser. Well, one day , she found it and confronted me about it. She didn't scream, but she gently said something , "you know you can't keep this," and she took it away and I never saw it again.

However, my mom didn't have a problem if they were male dolls like GI Joe or the Six Million Dollar man, but she drew the line if they were female. One year for Christmas, I got almost the entire set of Marx's Jungle Adventure including the jeep, the gorilla, the elephant, the tiger, and the two male figures, but not the female figure.

Then, when I was collecting the Star Wars figures, she told me I couldn't get Princess Leia. My best friend was also collecting them, and knew I needed Leia, so she gave me Leia for my birthday. I could see the look of disappointment on my mom's face, but she didn't say anything and she let me keep her.

I was also a fan of the Bionic Woman and Charlie's Angels, and I bought almost all the merchandise--except the dolls!
Eventually, I outgrew toys, but years later as an adult, I was at the flea market and I saw the Bionic Woman doll in a bin for $5, so I bought her. I think I still had this feeling of guilt, or thinking to myself, "what would mom say," but it was sort of liberating in a way. It brought me joy and I felt like a kid again.

It all seems so silly now. I don't play with the female dolls any more than I do with my Big Jims or GI Joes. I like to pose them in different situations, or change their outfits once in a while, but I don't get on the floor like a kid and play make-believe. LOL I just like owning them all (male and female), and being able to walk into my room and admire them anytime I want.