Whos gonna fill their shoes...?

[Captain]

With apologies to George Jones and , 60'schild whose Where else" thread I'm kinda side swiping off of here.

-----If Mego hadnt existed, who do you think would have filled their place in action figure history? Who would have done what lines....Would the Waltons have seen the light of day?

Personally, I think Marx Toys might have picked up some of the slack, and produced some of the earlier stuff like Planet of the Apes, albeit in their plastic bodies format, or maybe just as a playset and role play toys? Hard to say as Marx Toys really lost their way and will to succeed once Louis Marx retired and sold it.

For later lines like Star Trek:TMP, Buck Rogers, and the Dukes of Hazzard...I think Kenner might have picked these up. Flying high with Star Wars, I would like to think they probably tried to corner the sci-fi market if for no other reason than to protect their crown jewel (Star Wars). I imagine they tried this in reality, but Mego kept outbidding them. As for Dukes...I dunno? I just have a gut feeling they would have done it.

In regards to the big lines like WGSH, and Star Trek....I have no idea? I'm sure somebody would have done something with the super heroes after Captain Action. whether Ideal toys would have tried again with a line of figures, or if somebody like Mattel or Hasbro might have decided to enter into the licensing foray and pick them up? Big Jim based superheroes might have been cool.

Star Trek based on the tv series itself, I hate to say it, but I doubt anybody would touch it besides Mego..at least until the movie came along. Same with Waltons, WOZ, Our Gang, Starsky and Hutch figures (the Corgi toys would still be done), 1 million B.C., GAH....None of these would have seen the light of day.

CHiPs...I could see die cast cars ala Corgi (surprised this didnt happen?),and some role playing gear, but not action figures.

Micronauts? Mattel maybe, to go with their Shogun stuff (which I believe was done because of Micronauts)? Hasbro already had ties to Takara, so they might have eventually brought Microman to North America?


What do you folks think?

[Mikey]

I would have loved to see WGSH's done by Mattel using Big Jim bodies

I get a shiver just thinking about it

[60'schild]

Or you can always speculate on whether He-Man would have been a hit if he'd been Mego-ized here...

http://megomuseum.com/community/showthread.php?t=28404

This alternate timeline stuff is addictive!

[jasonmego1277]

I think it's possible as well that kenner or Remco would have picked up WGSH. After all Remco did have a run with Super heroes , and Kenner did eventually end up with the Super Powers line. As for Star Trek , I'm thinking that Mattel may have picked this up , but probably nothing more than the Motion Picture lineup or maybe they would not have. That's the one I am really not sure who would have attempted.

[60'schild]

Alternatively Marx might have been an interesting fit... They had a lot of experience with molded (albeit 12") figures, held together with coiled wire rather than bands). They might have taken their own approach and their own spin on the lines.

Ideal, as the Captain suggested, could have been a safer bet, making at least the Superheroes as smaller Captain Action figures (so all of our 8" figures would have had super long arms???). The clothing would have been top notch and no paper emblems (the CA emblems were metal foil).

Of course, in the case of Hasbro, we'd have seen the explosion of the 8" Super Joe line... with an emphasis on the SUPER...had they produced an 8" superhero line...

With the extra budgets for Hasbro and Ideal, maybe we might have gotten more vehicles/playsets???

[jwyblejr]

I think AHI would have done quite a few lines myself.

[UnderdogDJLSW]

I think we wouldn't have seen superheroes until the explosion of the 3 3/4 figure like around '77 and we would have seen the DC and Marvel spit between two companies. I think Trek would have just been die-cast vehicles and role play (Dinky and Remco, as was) and no figures.

[palitoy]

This would likely be the Azrak-Hamway Museum.

AHI actually had negoiated the apes figure rights before Mego, Mego just walked in and outbid them.

I could also see Kenner buying every sci fi license in the late seventies.

[Captain]

Alternatively Marx might have been an interesting fit... They had a lot of experience with molded (albeit 12") figures, held together with coiled wire rather than bands). They might have taken their own approach and their own spin on the lines.

Ideal, as the Captain suggested, could have been a safer bet, making at least the Superheroes as smaller Captain Action figures (so all of our 8" figures would have had super long arms???). The clothing would have been top notch and no paper emblems (the CA emblems were metal foil).

Of course, in the case of Hasbro, we'd have seen the explosion of the 8" Super Joe line... with an emphasis on the SUPER...had they produced an 8" superhero line...

With the extra budgets for Hasbro and Ideal, maybe we might have gotten more vehicles/playsets???

Since Super Joe was partly a response to Megos 8" supremacy in the toy aisles..I wonder if the Super Joe line would have happened at all? Hasbro may have let the 12" line dangle for a couple more years, before responding with 3 3/4" inch figures....and again, because Mego wasnt around to show them how to articulate the figures, they would be done more in line with the Kenner figures of the era.
Maybe??

[jds1911a1]

Since Super Joe was partly a response to Megos 8" supremacy in the toy aisles..I wonder if the Super Joe line would have happened at all? Hasbro may have let the 12" line dangle for a couple more years, before responding with 3 3/4" inch figures....and again, because Mego wasnt around to show them how to articulate the figures, they would be done more in line with the Kenner figures of the era.
Maybe??

I agree therer would not have been a superjoe without mego. There might have been a resurgence in 12" joe after the kenner large action figures (probably defenders bodies though to save money)

I think the relationship that hasbro had with takara would have led to them copying micronauts the way mego did to design the 10 point articulation possibly sooner. Hasbro and mattel would have been the one buying up frnachises to counter kenner the same way mego did (in the period Mattel was doing that already BSG and Flash gordon come to mind)

[palitoy]

I'm hesitant to think the 12" figure would have had a big revival.

Hasbro didn't do licensed properties, they had the jump on the Six Million Dollar man and passed (this is in the John Michelig Joe book).

Big Jim was crippling Joe, (again the Michelig book) in product testing, the cheaper to produce Big Jim was being seen by kids as being "bigger than Joe". Jim would have happened anyway, so the shrinking of Joe may have happened although it stands to reason that Joe would have remained 12" or completely dropped out of sight.

We may have gotten more neat 12" things similiar to Falcon but the 70s still would have ended up a 3 3/4" market by the end. Fisher Price started the trend and Kenner drove it home. IMO of course...