Cipsa General Urko

[megoapesnut]

Both of my Virdon figures have the copyright show at the left. Both of my CIPSA Bill figures look more like the right, although the writing is a bit smaller.

[piecemaker]

That makes sense. I just checked through my CIPSA and Mego figures and here is what I found. My Mego and CIPSA Ursus figures all have the APJAC copyright. The CIPSA Cornelius and Zaius have that as well. Both CIPSA Bill figures I have do not, they start with 1974. Both of my CIPSA Urkos start with 1974 and My Mego Urko starts with APJAC, although he is a boxed figure and would have been produced before 1974 and the second issue card. All of my other Urkos are sealed on cards so I can't check those. I have a loose Burke and Verdon and they do not start with APJAC either, although the copyright looks different than any of the others. So...as I am thinking that all of the CIPSA figures were produced after 1974, assuming we are correct with that info, that is a little puzzling that some of the heads say APJAC and some do not. Unless we go back to the theory that Mego supplied the molds to CIPSA and maybe gave them some old ones? And for some reason CIPSA did not scrub the copyright info off as they did with the body molds. Or, it could be that Mego supplied CIPSA with the produced heads and gave them some old ones with the old copyright info that had not been destroyed?

Your post got me curious and i looked at the Alan Virdons i have.One has orange hair and is a type1 head with Trademark ,1974 MEGO CORP.The other one has light brown hair with,1974 20th CENTURY-FOX INC.I started a thread about the differing hair color awhile ago,but i never noticed the differing TMs.Anybody have any thoughts on this?

[piecemaker]

Here is one question we can put to rest. I realized that I had another source for CIPSA rifles. I got the accessories out of my CIPSA treehouse and all three of them match what we have concluded to be the CIPSA rifle. No checkering on the grip or bolts on the handle.

http://www.megocipsa.com/ftpimages/rifles2.jpg

AWESOME THANKS!

[piecemaker]

That makes sense. I just checked through my CIPSA and Mego figures and here is what I found. My Mego and CIPSA Ursus figures all have the APJAC copyright. The CIPSA Cornelius and Zaius have that as well. Both CIPSA Bill figures I have do not, they start with 1974. Both of my CIPSA Urkos start with 1974 and My Mego Urko starts with APJAC, although he is a boxed figure and would have been produced before 1974 and the second issue card. All of my other Urkos are sealed on cards so I can't check those. I have a loose Burke and Verdon and they do not start with APJAC either, although the copyright looks different than any of the others. So...as I am thinking that all of the CIPSA figures were produced after 1974, assuming we are correct with that info, that is a little puzzling that some of the heads say APJAC and some do not. Unless we go back to the theory that Mego supplied the molds to CIPSA and maybe gave them some old ones? And for some reason CIPSA did not scrub the copyright info off as they did with the body molds. Or, it could be that Mego supplied CIPSA with the produced heads and gave them some old ones with the old copyright info that had not been destroyed?

Yeah,these MEGO/CIPSA,URKO/URSUS apes are more than a little puzzling to me. That is some interesting information though,i'm going to have to check some more heads out i got.I dont have any carded apes to check,but the APJAC TM wraps all the way around the helmet on Urko,cant you see that from the side of the bubble?

[megoapesnut]

Here is one question we can put to rest. I realized that I had another source for CIPSA rifles. I got the accessories out of my CIPSA treehouse and all three of them match what we have concluded to be the CIPSA rifle. No checkering on the grip or bolts on the handle.

[megoapesnut]

That makes sense. I just checked through my CIPSA and Mego figures and here is what I found. My Mego and CIPSA Ursus figures all have the APJAC copyright. The CIPSA Cornelius and Zaius have that as well. Both CIPSA Bill figures I have do not, they start with 1974. Both of my CIPSA Urkos start with 1974 and My Mego Urko starts with APJAC, although he is a boxed figure and would have been produced before 1974 and the second issue card. All of my other Urkos are sealed on cards so I can't check those. I have a loose Burke and Verdon and they do not start with APJAC either, although the copyright looks different than any of the others. So...as I am thinking that all of the CIPSA figures were produced after 1974, assuming we are correct with that info, that is a little puzzling that some of the heads say APJAC and some do not. Unless we go back to the theory that Mego supplied the molds to CIPSA and maybe gave them some old ones? And for some reason CIPSA did not scrub the copyright info off as they did with the body molds. Or, it could be that Mego supplied CIPSA with the produced heads and gave them some old ones with the old copyright info that had not been destroyed?

[piecemaker]

I hope you get a definitive answer because I also have a Mego Urko with the "20th Century Fox" copyright and no mention of APJAC (and I also have a Mego Urko that has the same APJAC/Fox copyright as your Cipsa)...

My guess is that it has to do with the fact that Urko was a character entirely "owned" by Fox... By that I mean the other apes had been used in the films which had been APJAC productions, but Urko was created solely for the TV series which had no input by APJAC, as Arthur had died by that point and Ms. Trundy (Jacobs) sold APES to Fox... APJAC had nothing to do with the series, nor did they create any new characters so "maybe" Mego corrected the copyright to go along with this?

I think you are right,i did a search of APJAC after posting this and read that APJAC had sold the rights to 20th Century,but i couldn't find a definate date when that happened.I am assuming that happened mid 1974.I also just checked out the MM galleries on Urko and it says the 20th Century trademark only, started on the second issue card.

[apes3978]

While looking at those two Urko heads I noticed the trademark info was different.Does anyone know why this first head doesn't have the "APJAC" part of the trademark on it?

I hope you get a definitive answer because I also have a Mego Urko with the "20th Century Fox" copyright and no mention of APJAC (and I also have a Mego Urko that has the same APJAC/Fox copyright as your Cipsa)...

My guess is that it has to do with the fact that Urko was a character entirely "owned" by Fox... By that I mean the other apes had been used in the films which had been APJAC productions, but Urko was created solely for the TV series which had no input by APJAC, as Arthur had died by that point and Ms. Trundy (Jacobs) sold APES to Fox... APJAC had nothing to do with the series, nor did they create any new characters so "maybe" Mego corrected the copyright to go along with this?

[English Paul]

I seem to recall all the Cipsa heads having a different trademark info.

[piecemaker]

While looking at those two Urko heads i noticed the trademark info was different.Does anyone know why this first head doesn't have the "APJAC" part of the trademark on it?

[sauce]

Hey! This is what the museum is all about! Great thread with great info and great people and great sharing and yeah!!!

It's remarkable to see the CIPSA and MEGO bandoliers have even the slightest cracking in them as identical

[piecemaker]

I compared my MEGO Urko with the Cipsa Urko,there does seem to be a different look in the vinyls.The trademarks are different also,i dont know if that means anything or not.

[cjefferys]

It's true, side by side, I can definitely see a difference in the Zaius and Corny heads, especially Corny, "transparent and waxy" is a good description. I don't see much of a difference in the Ursus heads though.

[English Paul]

That I have not seen. All of my CIPSA heads look identical to my Mego heads. I haven't pulled any out of the bodies to check the plugs though

I noticed it most when comparing the Galen/Cornelius heads and Dr Zaius.

Get the Mego and Cipsa equivalents side by side and i'm sure you'll see what I mean. Remember, it's not the moulds you are looking at, but the actual vinyl itself.

[piecemaker]

I pulled my CIPSA Ursus down from the shelf and my boxed Mego Ursus from another shelf and studied the bandoliers. I am certain, as much as anyone can reasonably be certain, that the CIPSA Ursus has a genuine CIPSA bandolier as I opened it from a sealed plastic bag of accessories that I purchased from Arturo. I also find it hard to believe that my boxed Mego Ursus was removed from the box and a CIPSA bandolier put on it as that would be highly unlikely and I purchased it from a very reliable seller who does not collect or deal in the foreign figures. So I personally believe the one to be CIPSA and the other to be Mego without a shadow of a doubt. AND...drum roll please...

They are exactly the same in style, design and color. There are no differences that I can detect whatsoever. The bandolier that is sealed inside my CIPSA Urko and Ursus boxed figures also both look identical to the Mego (from what I can tell inside the plastic). So my conclusion is that they are the same. There might have been slight color variations at one point or another, but I am believing that Mego supplied CIPSA with the heads, knives and bandoliers. Somehow CIPSA got a Mego rifle mold with no checkering on the grip and no "bolts" on the handle and they didn't bother to take the Mego copyright off the mold, like they did with the bodies - or Mego supplied them with the rifles as well from a slightly different mold.

Here is a comparison pic. Sorry it is so crappy. I was to tired to get out my flash head. Hopefully I will get time to do that over the weekend and I will post better pics


http://www.megocipsa.com/ftpimages/belts.jpg

Yeah the bandoliers do look pretty much identical from what i can tell from your pics.I thought i saw a small difference in them but i think thats caused by the pics being taken seperately,instead of one pic with both belts in it.You still have the rifle that was in the sealed bag you took the bandolier out of? It would be nice to have a pic of a pristine example of the CIPSA rifle.