Getting a feel for the term "Original" when used to describe Mego figures

[luclin999]

I've been looking at a ~lot~ of sales listings for vintage figures on both Ebay and individual sales sites and I have seen a lot of people advertising the toys as "all original" when the items shown in the photo clearly do not match what was original to the toy in question.

For example, a T2 Batman with mismatch color shade gloves or with "waffle" gloves. Or perhaps a T2 wearing skinny boots or worse, a mismatched pair made up of one skinny and one regular boot. In these cases all of the items in question may be "original" Mego parts but clearly were not the original accessories to that specific figure in question.

~ So exactly how would you define "original" when it comes to figures which can have pieces swapped out so interchangeably?

~ Another question, does it effect the overall value of the toy if the head, hands, arms, etc. has been swapped onto a better condition body? Again, a case where all "original" Mego parts may have been used but in this case not all are "original" to the specific body in question.

[ubermanx]

To me original means matched serial numbers to use a car reference. Right gloves, correct body, etc. Now if the gloves came from a different T2 Batman and was placed on another T2 Batman I could live with that and still call it original. But skinny boots on the wrong body is "miss-matched vintage" at best, never original.

"Hey look I have the steering wheel to a 1972 Chevy Nova screwed onto a 1972 Chevy Impala. Totally original Chevy parts!!!" - No Sir, I respectfully disagree.

- Martin

[PNGwynne]

It's a minefield out there, & you can easily get your wallet blown off.

Knowing your item helps, but some sellers are ignorant, some careless, some actively deceitful.

[HapSlash]

I would say that it really depends on the situation. You can't possibly expect every single person, who decides to sell a Mego they dug out of an attic, to be an expert on them. Most of these were played with by kids. You find Superman boots on Batman... Robin's shorts on Captain America... I'm pretty sure that most people are just happy if they can find a Batman, with all Batman parts.

As with anything, buyer beware. As someone who cares about these issues, and knows what to look out for, you should be the one to ask such sellers the questions that need to be asked.

To me, at a time when you can find reproduction parts of just about anything, original means produced by Mego. I personally don't really care if my T2 Batman has waffle gloves or not(and YES... he does have them). But then I'm not an obsessive collector, nor can I afford to be. I can understand the wish to have everything exactly as produced. But, I take what I can get. And, it's generally good enough, as far as I'm concerned.

[hobub]

I wouldn't worry so much about getting type 1 accessories with a type 2 figure. The type 1 stuff is usually harder to get and more desirable. Lots of megos are pieced together. Best if you can weed out the flood of remego repros that have flooded the market. I'm very glad I collected before this all happened. Good luck.

[spacecaps]

I think right accessories with the correct figures is hard enough when it comes to Megos. These figures are 40+ years old now and lucky to have survived not only playtime but years of storage as well. Something like a stirrup suit Batman suit on a T2 body or an RM Robin head on a T2 body with a plastic snaps tunic might bake my cookies but if both gloves are vintage I'm not going to examine waffle pattern fibers under a microscope to see if the crosshatching matches symmetrically. That's a bit too OCD for me.

The auctions that get me are the ones that are 100% vintage except for the *________ * Once you put an "except" in you description the item is no longer 100% vintage.

[osker55]

Or when they use the word exception of.... i dont know why people put that when its NOT 100% original

I think right accessories with the correct figures is hard enough when it comes to Megos. These figures are 40+ years old now and lucky to have survived not only playtime but years of storage as well. Something like a stirrup suit Batman suit on a T2 body or an RM Robin head on a T2 body with a plastic snaps tunic might bake my cookies but if both gloves are vintage I'm not going to examine waffle pattern fibers under a microscope to see if the crosshatching matches symmetrically. That's a bit too OCD for me.

The auctions that get me are the ones that are 100% vintage except for the *________ * Once you put an "except" in you description the item is no longer 100% vintage.

[luclin999]

So most of the opinions so far seem in line with my own.

Basically if the parts are the correct ones for the figure in question then it doesn't matter (much) if they originally came from two or more different figures.

For example, I recently picked up an RC Batman in good shape with correct "original" head, body, suit and cowl, but with (nice quality) reproduction belt, boots, gloves, cape and emblem. I have since managed to upgrade (un-repro) the belt and boots by obtaining the correct T1 Batman Mego parts from a second RC Batman which aside from the belt and boots was overall in ~much~ worse condition.

Thus leaving me to still have to find the correct T1 cape, waffle gloves and sticker (I know... Good luck on that one) before I would personally consider the figure to be all "original Mego" once again.

[Gorn Captain]

When they say "all original", I don't want any repro parts. People need to look up the word "all" in the dictionary, it's a very definitive word.
You should look up vintage Star Wars on Ebay. You'll get 80% new stuff, and that bloody "Star wars Vintage" line.

And don't get me started on "vintage repro".
"Vintage carded Han Solo", and then five lines down they mention "this is a high quality reproduction card of..."

But getting back to topic: if all the parts are original (as in "produced in the 70s"), I would consider it "all original", even though I would appreciate the seller mentioning if parts have been swapped.