Yes, I am a Mego Marvel Maniac & tired of it not getting attention it deserves!

[The Bat]

I don't think a lot of people are crying...more like wishing, or fantasizing. But hey, let them. We ALL were wishing for 40 years that Mego would return someday in some 8" format or another. Never underestimate the power of a wish...you might just get it. I got mine!

[thunderbolt]

^^^ I don't care for the repro/variants of FTC either, but they wouldn't be doing it if it wasn't working for them sales wise. And I do agree that the crying about the lack of Marvel lines is getting old and beating the dead horse sort of thing. What EMCE is allowed to do is what Hasbro allows them or anyone else to do. Until that changes there or they lose the rights it won't be any different.

[huedell]

FTC is overrated here--- while EMCE/DST is taking the hit here mostly as a result of Hasbro's licensing limits.

If you're happy because FTC is giving you more of what you want, then that's your affair----if FTC is making mad money from their longterm variant heavy gameplan (I still find that a questionable venture unless they have a LOT of capital to offset missteps), then everyone benefits, and if I must say "Yay!" then: "Yay!"---- but this repetitive "yearning" at the underdog's expense is getting old in my personal opinion.

[TRDouble]

My EMCE Star Trek figures are great. My swivel arm buff bodies have been about as bad as the early FTC Batman Series One figures. One had an arm backwards and rubber bands broke when I was putting it back together.

I opened my Super Collector / Brick Mantooth set that just arrived today and the mid-section of the body was in two pieces. I should be able to glue it back together, but it sucks to get something broken or defective.

That is my biggest turnoff of this style of figure; I have had more QC issues with the handful of Mego type figures I bought than with all of the DC Universe Classics and Marvel Legends, and I had plenty of QC issues with those too. Still mad that my '66 Robin's collar is sewed wrong and I had to open my second one to get a good one for my Type S swap.

[hedrap]

I think Marty and Vinny get to the heart of it. FTC and EMCE lines are total inversions of each other, in price, production, design and output.

Of the total amount of super-hero figures released by FTC not including variants, (39), about 40% have been original designs. Remove '66 and of the 29 remaining, about 25% are original.

With EMCE, we have only 9 releases, but roughly 75% of the designs are original.

As long as EMCE has Marvel, they'll never drop below 75% original product. FTC can easily raise their quotient, which looks to be coming, unless they balance it out with more variants, which has been the norm.

When it comes to distribution, FTC is releasing at roughly 4x EMCE. If DST had a better quarterly release, they could get it to about 2x, which because of pricepoint could be absorbed. If they tried to match output, I don't think the market could handle the flood and it would come down to price versus character popularity.

[wise guy]

That's interesting because I have most of my swivel buff bodies, Star trek, Capt. Eli,and a Capt. Canuck fall apart with little or no posing (some right out of package).
I have had pretty good luck with the monsters. I have a bunch of Emce parts in a box in garage so I don't believe Emce bodies are very sturdy ( in my experiance)

[ubermanx]

My two cents into this seemingly repetitive argument which will probably get me into a lot of additional political trouble ...

I totally understand the Hasbro master license limitations with Marvel and 100% expect that there is little chance Hasbro will allow that to change. FTC won't be pumping out Marvel figures so really, stop lamenting this and "demanding" changes. Vote with your dollars. The Spider-man set was a disaster with poor silk screening and packaging. I have the modern Captain America on Doc's buff body and it is fantastic. Love it. Bought the Wolverine set and the brown costume Wolverine is one of my all time favourite "remegos" with great quality, fit and finish on the body that came with the set. Honest squishy head with decent enough paint application. That being said, the cost is high and I doubt I will buy everything but Thor looks good and I understand Deadpool might be next.

I completely get the FTC variant exhaustion for collectors. Who wants 5 Batmen only slightly different? BUT, they are releasing variants after the initial run is complete. Which works for me. If you missed Fist Fighting Aquaman you can get Kresge Aquaman. No one is forcing you to buy them all. Ask ANY toy executive and they will immediately explain why most toy lines have multiples of the main heroes!

The quality issue gets me ... so totally polarized. There are those that think EMCE walks on water and those that think FTC can never do right. My experience indicates that like real life nothing is that black and white. FTC has faults and merits and EMCE has faults and merits ...

Indian made FTC bodies are crap. I have not yet received a Space 1999 figure that wasn't disintegrated in the package. Although I have had EXCELLENT luck with the white bodies specifically on the free Clown figures. Strip the clothes and they make great, inexpensive bodies. The bulk white bodies were different or made up of varying production runs cause some have been crap.

The initial run of FTC China made superheroes had very tight elastics that ripped the arm holes. I have two dead FTC superhero bodies with this problem. But since then they have been better and none, I repeat, none have broken since. I can only hope they stand up and not die like the Space 1999 figures.

Bif Bang Pow figures (which I understand use EMCE's bodies? Or are they just licensed and BBP uses it's own factories?) are physically weak. Not one female Lost figure's ankle survived removing her shoes. And I have bought cases when they went on sale. I've taken to cutting them off rather than breaking the ankle. I have a DRAWERFUL of busted hip pin BBP figures.

I have ZERO issues with the DST Monster and Star Trek figures. All are amazing and great quality. Not a broken body or crappy costume in the bunch. Sure, Pike and Picard have solid, or at least very rigid, painted heads but the paint application is neat and looks great.

The Sea Ghost figure suffers from poor silk screening or the costumes are sew too tight so the black parts of the costume stretch and revel a lot of white underneath. The head is a solid cast vinyl, nicer than cast resin but not as desirable as rotocast, squishy heads. Paint application is sloppy. Paint on the body, on the costume, all over the face, etc. Also, the body is nice and heavy so you would expect quality but they too suffer from the too tight elastics of some of the FTC superheroes. I have several ripped through arm sockets and like BBP, several busted hip pins. But the head cast is awesome from a design point. The figure design is cool and the price point is awesome.

As far as spare bodies go, I have never had one single issue with Doc's swivel muscle bodies. They are amazing and bullet proof. Granted they use an elastic but I love them. David's Type-S figure is brilliant. I own a good whack of them as well. So long as you are careful to warm up the parts before removing you are less likely to break a joint. All my fave figures that are broken are now on either a Doc swivel body or a Type-S.

Even with all these faults, glitches and issues I still love the figures. I still buy every Space 1999 figure I find. I have a whack of Sea Ghosts. I love my Teen Titans figures even though Speedy appears to be a Nazi and perpetually has his left arm straight out and rigid. I bought the expensive Wolverine set even though I personally dislike the removable yellow cowl feature. It really is a great time for new mego style figures. Do I wish that every Marvel and DC figure was immediately available and 100% perfect? Sure. But that will NEVER happen. All the companies have as much financial support from me as I can muster. I just recognize that not all the offerings are for me and with this absolutely crazy amount of product available I have the luxury this hobby hasn't had in a long time to pick and choose my purchases.

And anything missing will get the kitbash custom treatment since I can't paint worth a darn. Thanks to Austin and FTC I have a blue camo Aquaman that looks pretty fricken amazing and professional.

- Marty

[The Bat]

These can be made to look great - I have 2 caps like this right now - awaiting heads and stars
But this suit with the painted flap boots really does pop IMO. I only paid 50 for this set - with free shipping. I sold the boxed cap for 40. So for 10 bucks I get to keep the other 2 figures.
Not a bad deal. Not a huge fan of the modern cap head - so gonna put a custom head on him.

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$10 is about what I paid for my modern Spiderman, after selling off the stuff I didn't want.

Which Cap head did you decide to go with? I'm rather fond of this one, it's a Randy Bowen shrink.

[Vinny0026]

These can be made to look great - I have 2 caps like this right now - awaiting heads and stars
But this suit with the painted flap boots really does pop IMO. I only paid 50 for this set - with free shipping. I sold the boxed cap for 40. So for 10 bucks I get to keep the other 2 figures.
Not a bad deal. Not a huge fan of the modern cap head - so gonna put a custom head on him.

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[Bronxboykev]

LOL - FTC DC - EMCE Marvel - can't we all just get along? LOL

Just my 2 cents as I have voiced before:
I love what FTC is doing figure wise - it puts out good figures at a great price. 25.00 each will not break anyone - even with the amount of figures they are banging out.
For people looking to leave them in the clam shell or just to display them loose for some fun flash back to when you were a kid they are perfect as is. Looking back to just a few years ago if you wanted a batman - you would have to grab one with repro parts for like 75! or more via e bay. So for the hobby the 25.00 price point is just spot on to me. I'm a big fan of what FTC is doing - its cheaper to grab a figure than for you to build one from scrap (Body 10, head 5, belt 5, gloves and boots 5, cape 5, plus still need a suit and sticker! So for the average Joe this line and price point is perfect (IMO)

With the EMCE Marvel Line - I agree with most that we would have liked to see them single carded or boxed at 25 a pop - But people give EMCE a break here - it was not their choice on price point - how many times must this be said? So as far as the price give them a little slack here.

Also I don't care what the average web site sells these for. But I grabbed the cap set and wolverine set via ebay for 50.00 each with free shipping! I admit I paid more for spidy as I was nervous to miss out - But I still only paid 70 total for the spidy set. So if you look around you can get great deals on the sets. And if your just an original mego guy - the average price of the boxed figure is like 35-40 bucks via e bay. Yes yes more than FTC but still not a deal breaker. So I agree with most on the quality issues - but seriously a pin hole in the shirt on parker won't kill you, replacing the star on cap wont kill you. I agree you should not have to - but still easy and cheap enough to do. I do wish the suits of the original figures in this line were made better- they tend to be loose and have loose and poorly sewn seems. The flip side I do happen to love the modern suits they are selling with these sets. I really don't care about the remake figures in this line - But the modern sets look pretty cool to me.

and for the bean counters - if you were to make a modern cap how much would it cost you? 20-25 for the suit from Leitner, 5 bucks for boots, 10 bucks for a body, at least 10 for a good shield and lets not forget his head. So really stop *****ing about the price points. If you had to make 3 guys from scratch it will cost you double what emce is charging. Again I'm not defending poor quality issues. Yes I wish they were done on single cards etc.. But for the hobby its much better that they are being made than not being made. While we all wish CTV was making them - they are not. STop dreaming that EMCE will just drop the rights and CTV will get them tomorrow. If you want these figures to be made this is the only way it will happen (for now at least) There have been a number of Marvel Mego Remakes that have NOT survived Famous covers, signature series etc... So for me I buy these sets for the pieces I like and sell the rest. But again I respect the challanges these guys face - and for me I customize the figures so I can libe with the price tag. How much would thor cost to make from scratch? 10 body, head, helmet, hammer, suit and boots? I say about 50 - and would it look as good? again the modern suits in this line have looked real good to me -

In the end its all about if you like DC or Marvel or CTV or EMCE that drives this fight.
I give CTV all the credit in the world for getting the rights and so happy to see the line a live and doing well. I give credit to EMCE as well - but for the mego hobby I still think both have far more positive than neg. again IMO

last rant: stob *****ing about the variants - you DON"T have to buy them! Understand FTC is paying for the rights and molds - let them make their money buy re-using the molds!! No one is putting a gun to your head saying you must buy every figure. Some people love them, at least some of them - So there is a demand for them even if you don't like them. Batman was the number 1 seller for Mego - and look at the people who make customs! I have at least 10-15 different versions of batman if not more and everyone who makes customs has at least 5 versions of him. So for the people who can't make customs the var. figures are perfect at 25 a pop. Also its not like they stop making the other waves to make these - they make these inbetween waves - so in short buy or don't buy its fine - but stop the nagging about it. If you were laying out the money you would use that batman head to death or any others. again pick and choose what you want to buy. But I see no issue with them re-using the heads with alt suits.

Its a hobby - Enjoy it while you can!

Thank you Vinny... This was the only way we were getting MARVEL Megos guys... I know Not every one wants a Peter Parker or a Donald Blake but That was the nature of the beast... and Picking and choosing what flaws you choose to accept?!?

[wise guy]

I think the new JLA upgrades look far superior to anthing in those Marvel sets,and that big lightning bolt on Shazam blows out that pathetic star on Capt A.
Some of you guys love those Marvel sets but even Toycade here said they only sold 8 out of 36 Wolverine sets . I like the Marvel remego but don't need
the extra stuff. One member here said he is stuck with 4 Peter Parkers, and some Logans that nobody want's to buy.

[The Bat]

I agree with a lot of what you said Vinny...and I do a lot of what you said. I keep the pieces I want and sell the pieces I don't, which helps me recoup some of my money. I also don't mind fixing flaws that are fixable(nothing can be done about modern Spidey's "pin head" though)but I still like the figure. I love my modern Cap now that I've fixed him as well.

like I said...I do hope they keep going because I still want a MINT Repro Mego Green Goblin, Ironman, etc....

[Vinny0026]

LOL - FTC DC - EMCE Marvel - can't we all just get along? LOL

Just my 2 cents as I have voiced before:
I love what FTC is doing figure wise - it puts out good figures at a great price. 25.00 each will not break anyone - even with the amount of figures they are banging out.
For people looking to leave them in the clam shell or just to display them loose for some fun flash back to when you were a kid they are perfect as is. Looking back to just a few years ago if you wanted a batman - you would have to grab one with repro parts for like 75! or more via e bay. So for the hobby the 25.00 price point is just spot on to me. I'm a big fan of what FTC is doing - its cheaper to grab a figure than for you to build one from scrap (Body 10, head 5, belt 5, gloves and boots 5, cape 5, plus still need a suit and sticker! So for the average Joe this line and price point is perfect (IMO)

With the EMCE Marvel Line - I agree with most that we would have liked to see them single carded or boxed at 25 a pop - But people give EMCE a break here - it was not their choice on price point - how many times must this be said? So as far as the price give them a little slack here.

Also I don't care what the average web site sells these for. But I grabbed the cap set and wolverine set via ebay for 50.00 each with free shipping! I admit I paid more for spidy as I was nervous to miss out - But I still only paid 70 total for the spidy set. So if you look around you can get great deals on the sets. And if your just an original mego guy - the average price of the boxed figure is like 35-40 bucks via e bay. Yes yes more than FTC but still not a deal breaker. So I agree with most on the quality issues - but seriously a pin hole in the shirt on parker won't kill you, replacing the star on cap wont kill you. I agree you should not have to - but still easy and cheap enough to do. I do wish the suits of the original figures in this line were made better- they tend to be loose and have loose and poorly sewn seems. The flip side I do happen to love the modern suits they are selling with these sets. I really don't care about the remake figures in this line - But the modern sets look pretty cool to me.

and for the bean counters - if you were to make a modern cap how much would it cost you? 20-25 for the suit from Leitner, 5 bucks for boots, 10 bucks for a body, at least 10 for a good shield and lets not forget his head. So really stop *****ing about the price points. If you had to make 3 guys from scratch it will cost you double what emce is charging. Again I'm not defending poor quality issues. Yes I wish they were done on single cards etc.. But for the hobby its much better that they are being made than not being made. While we all wish CTV was making them - they are not. STop dreaming that EMCE will just drop the rights and CTV will get them tomorrow. If you want these figures to be made this is the only way it will happen (for now at least) There have been a number of Marvel Mego Remakes that have NOT survived Famous covers, signature series etc... So for me I buy these sets for the pieces I like and sell the rest. But again I respect the challanges these guys face - and for me I customize the figures so I can libe with the price tag. How much would thor cost to make from scratch? 10 body, head, helmet, hammer, suit and boots? I say about 50 - and would it look as good? again the modern suits in this line have looked real good to me -

In the end its all about if you like DC or Marvel or CTV or EMCE that drives this fight.
I give CTV all the credit in the world for getting the rights and so happy to see the line a live and doing well. I give credit to EMCE as well - but for the mego hobby I still think both have far more positive than neg. again IMO

last rant: stob *****ing about the variants - you DON"T have to buy them! Understand FTC is paying for the rights and molds - let them make their money buy re-using the molds!! No one is putting a gun to your head saying you must buy every figure. Some people love them, at least some of them - So there is a demand for them even if you don't like them. Batman was the number 1 seller for Mego - and look at the people who make customs! I have at least 10-15 different versions of batman if not more and everyone who makes customs has at least 5 versions of him. So for the people who can't make customs the var. figures are perfect at 25 a pop. Also its not like they stop making the other waves to make these - they make these inbetween waves - so in short buy or don't buy its fine - but stop the nagging about it. If you were laying out the money you would use that batman head to death or any others. again pick and choose what you want to buy. But I see no issue with them re-using the heads with alt suits.

Its a hobby - Enjoy it while you can!

[The Bat]

but it seems like everyone is willing to pass on FTC's flaws and crucify DST, which is the thing I don't get the most here... Why do they get a pass??? No one has seemed to be able to answer that yet.

Well, you're not talking about me...I don't give anyone a pass. We all know how BAD FTC bodies were in the past, but they've gotten better. HATE the RC 66 Batman! Do FTC have over sized heads sometimes...YUP! And when they do I don't buy them(passed on Alfred). Are their sculpts perfect...NOPE! I won't buy a 66 Riddler because it doesn't look like Frank Gorshin to me. And I'm sure there are other things I've missed...so no, they don't get a pass from me. When they screw up...they don't get my money!

But it's easy to see that FTC is KICKING Diamond's Butt! I wish they could get the Marvel license, because I just feel that they could do a better job.

[enyawd72]

I didn't Say you Specifically were picking and choosing, that was a generalization to the people who are... And Because FTC has done a marvelous job with their Removable Cowl?!?! Cmon... And the Wolverines set came with 2 sets of claws and a set of hands that could be used for the boxed one... Your gonna complain about a curled star but give a pass on the useless Bat Emblem on the Justice league Batman??? There still silk screening boots on Wonder Woman!!! That huge Bolt on Shazam?

Sorry bud...FTC's figures look great to me. Why is the bat emblem useless on the JLA Batman? I'm looking at the figure right now...don't see a problem. And this is coming from a MARVEL fan. I do think Bizarro's head is too large, but so are a lot of vintage Megos. RC Batman looks 1000 times better than RC Wolverine.

EDIT: Let me further elaborate on my disdain for DST...I bought only the Spider-Man set so far when it first came out and paid full price for it. The circle suit had so many snags in it I had to replace it courtesy of Lonnie Fisher for an additional $30. That bumps up the price tag to $110. On top of that, the sets are supposed to come with TWO additional outfits right? Well, I got only ONE, because the Peter Parker outfit had more holes in it than a piece of friggin' Swiss cheese by the time I got it out of that asinine packaging and was essentially ruined.

So, $110 for TWO figures, one of which I didn't even really want in the first place. Yeah, that's SO awesome.