MOTD: Planet of the Apes Astronaut

[mego73]

Raydeen1

I tried PMing you but your box is full

Can you give me whatever info you remember about the Ape boxes that you remember about Zauis and Solider Ape. Also was your Roddy Ape figure marked Galen or Cornilius? What I want to see if you remember is the background color (the color the text is over) on Solider Ape and Zaius.

I have made accurate repros of Galen, Urko Ursus and Astronaut boxes. Galen had a dull yellow/gold background, Ursus had a lighter yellow/gold background, Urko had purple and Astronaut had red.

I made my own Solider Ape and Zaius boxes based on the original known 4. I took pictures of my figures (trying to match the side photos as much as possible and retouching them and put them in appropriate backgrounds) and carried over the background colors from the cards to the boxes.

http://reboxyourmego.com/apebanner.jpg

Do you remember if the background colors on Zaius and Soldier Ape were orange and green like they were on the cards or were they different?

[Raydeen1]

Oh boy.
I wish I could remember that. What struck and stayed with me for years was the artwork (the trees and so on) and the pix on the backs. I am certain my Cornelius was labeled Cornelius and not Galen. I could be wrong but I believe what Mom got me were the first issues and Galen was not one of the original 5 apes. These were movie based where Galen was on the TV series. I know you know all that but just to make a stronger point I guess. lol.

I have to get some of those boxes from you one day. Or generic artwork for one so's I can make my own. Wouldn't be as nice but they'd suit my purposes. Right now, 90% of my Megos are locked up including my Apes.

[mego73]

Well, boxing Apes is my specialty (although they get in a punch or two here and there)

[megozilla13]

MEGO "experts": Have any of these boxes ever been documented? I'd like to see pictures of them if originals still exist...

One would have to turn up for me to believe the first series was available in a US box. For a long time I believed they existed but after 10+ years of looking I would think one would have turned up on ebay or in someone's collection, if they were ever produced.

Some interesting things about the boxed apes:

The copyright information on the box corresponds to the first of the three second series cards but Ursus is the ape with the helmet in the box. On the card, the helmeted ape started out as Urko and didn't become Ursus until the final card. The item numbers on the box also match up to Urko and Ursus as they appeared on the last card. (the item number stuck with the name, not the figure when urko and ursus were switched. This is a little confusing but the point is.......... The copyright info on the box would leave one to believe the box was released early along with the first issue cards and also somewhat explain why they are always t1 figures. Yet............. the item numbers and names correspond to the last card final release.

Because they are so scarce, it has been speculated that perhaps the boxed apes were the special request of a chain that put in a large order, but the price stickers found on the boxes range from Toy'r us to small 5&10 stores.
I have one with a "Wacker's" price sticker, does anyone know what type of store that was?

I think its also interesting that the boxes themselves are a unique size, larger than the pirate and merrymen boxes but smaller than the knights.

mikej