Inserts for Mego Boxes...

[Blue Meanie]

Is the Catwoman Box insert color the same as a Green Arrow Box insert? I know that the color of The Joker, Tarzan, and Lizard are the same color. Batman and Superman are the same also. Any help is appreciated. Thanks.

[imp]

Is the Catwoman Box insert color the same as a Green Arrow Box insert? I know that the color of The Joker, Tarzan, and Lizard are the same color. Batman and Superman are the same also. Any help is appreciated. Thanks.

That's a great question!
I think, because the Heroes' and Gals' box inserts are fundamentally different constructions, I had not previously considered that material cross-over. But certainly it would be in keeping with Mego's re-use/recycle methodology. Inserts are nothing more than sheets of plain brown cardboard that are flood-coated, trimmed and folded, so the question is whether or not Green Arrow and Catwoman inserts were cut from the same large sheets of light-green-printed cardboard.

Perhaps someone who has both MIB figures handy would be willing to open them up and compare the inserts side-by-side. I will go out on a limb and say that I believe they are the same green ink color — albeit very different structures. Here are a couple of photos I took for the book (but never used), which show the inherent construction differences between Heroes' and Gals' box inserts.

To depict the Gals' box insert, I just happened to use a Catwoman box insert, and in comparing it to a crisp Green Arrow box, I would say they are very, very close, if not identical. See for yourself:



Hopefully someone else, in possession of physical samples, can confirm or deny, but I say "Probably".

- Benjamin

[Blue Meanie]

Thanks Ben. Greatly appreciated. I thought that they looked close in color.

[imp]

Thanks Ben. Greatly appreciated. I thought that they looked close in color.

You're very welcome! I appreciate you bringing it up…I had never considered that possibility before. When I first read your post, I thought, "Nah, no way," mistakenly believing the green color of Green Arrow's insert was a darker green, closer to the box itself. But as soon as I started rifling through my Book Image Archive, I realized you're probably right. They do look extremely close in color. Further, given the fact that there was production overlap between the two characters packaged in window boxes (during 1975 at the very least), there is no reason to think Mego would NOT have taken advantage of the cost reductions inherent to producing larger quantities of that light green cardboard.

I hope someone can chime in with photographic evidence one way or the other.

- Benjamin