Mego 50th Dr. Fate (Wave 18)

[TRDouble]

Next up, Dr. Fate. I don't even know what to say about this figure. So let's start with pictures.

Mego Dr. Fate 1.jpg Mego Dr. Fate 2.jpg

Let's get the nitpicks out of the way. The belt is a little loose, but tightening up the Velcro closure in the back helped with that. There is a little excess glue under the medallion. The sleeves are a little short and can ride up showing skin on the forearms. But the biggest issue? Careful when moving those joints for the first time, as they are not where you would think they would be, and when you do find them, they are stiff and you are still scared that you might break something. And that's nothing new with the figures on the new Mego bodies.

The costume looks great. I like how they handled the belt. And the medallion. And the shoulder thingies. The helmet is awesome. There are no credits on the box, but the costume sure screams bleit1701 to me. Maybe it's because of the belt and the fabric 'gloves'.

I do always feel like Mego cheaps out on the capes, but I think the collar on this one is well done. This is one of those figures that really makes me say, "If Mego made a Dr. Fate back in the day...".

Another shelf replacement figure. And I like the FTC Dr. Fate.

Here are the FTC and Mego figures together. My FTC Dr. Fate was transferred to a Type-S body with no further modifications.

Mego Dr. Fate & FTC.jpg

[PNGwynne]

Yes, Leitner is doing suit prototypes lately. Pretty snazzy here.

[LonnieFisher]

Leitner does such awesome stuff!

[puckace]

Fate looks great!

[Krypt0nite]

Great photos! I wasn’t sure until now but I really like the mixture of gold and yellow.

[nubee]

Looks great. I ordered 4 'em. Gonna try and customize one with that nice gold helmet. The only problem is where are the other 7: The Atom, Sandman, Spectre, Flash, Hawkman, Green Lantern and Hourman. C'mon Mego help me complete that round table

[TrekStar]

Looks great, I like it.

[Jmass]

Mego Fate looks amazing! Looking forward to mine arriving. Thanks so much for taking the time to post pictures of wave 18!

[hizzy]

Fate might be one of the best Megos I've seen. A home run!

[monitor_ep]

Thanks for doing this. For some reason I just was not inspired to buy any of these characters. Comparing the two, I like the costume design on the FTC and the Fate Helemt matching the yellow but I like the blue of the Mego.

[palitoy]

For me, this is the best figure in the wave. I like the choices made.

[TRDouble]

This is my favorite of the wave.

[Figure8]

Glad you like this figure so much (if only they would solve those body issues ...) and so do I! It's interesting how the two versions differ so much, but both of them work just fine. I've always wanted another FTC Fate and was never able to find one. That's why I ordered two Mego Fates right away.

[Xavion2004]

I have mixed feelings on this one. The sculpt and the costume design are fantastic. It’s the colors that are keeping me from thinking that this is what a Mego Dr. Fate released circa 1974 would look like. In terms of design and execution, it’s not even a fair fight between the Mego version and the FTC version, but FTC got the classic colors right.

To be honest, I preferred the prototype. The blue was lighter, the amulet was yellow, and if you’re going to go with the gold helmet, I thought the gold on the prototype’s helmet was crisper and cleaner.

i’d say this is a very good Mego Dr. Fate, but I’m not sure that I’m sold on it being a very good Mego 50th Anniversary Dr. Fate.

[scott metzger]

Got the Mego Dr. Fate in hand. The head and costume do a very good job of capturing what would have been a 70's Mego Fate. While I feel 70's Mego would have gone with yellow for the helmet and amulet, I don't see a real problem with the gold, as that is what the shiny yellow was usually intended to portray in the comics of the day. THe helmet shape is about perfect for the Bronze Age, from the basic lines to the curvature toward the bottom. I like the way the plastic amulet is attached to the costume; while I can't think of a specific example of that from the 70's 8" line, it feels right looking back at things like the disks on Thor's costume. My belt buckle is a little crooked, but the idea there is sound. Only two minor nits to pick here. One is the gloves. In this case, considering that Fate had flared gauntlets rather than tight gloves, something along the lines of Green Arrows gloves probably would have worked a little better here, and helped enhance the 70's vibe. The other nit is the cape. I’m kind of torn here, as the cape does look very good, and is nice and solid and durable looking. It just isn’t quite 70’s Mego, where I would have expected Fate to get the Captain Marvel cape with the collar folded down. The new cape is going to likely hold up better over time, and looks better, but it does take a bit away from the “made in the 70’s” feel the anniversary line has tried to evoke. Overall, though, the figure is very well done, and definitely worth adding to the DC roster here.