Mego 50th Brainiac (Wave 18)

[TRDouble]

I haven't opened many Mego villians. The new carded Joker, Penguin and Riddler were fine, but not enough so to replace the FTC versions in my Batman display. The 50th versions are nostalgic, but not right for my main display either. Until now, I have only opened Reverse Flash because he adds a different compared to the FTC Flash in my main The Flash display, and somehow I ended up with three of them, so why not. Now I can add Brainiac to the open list.

I posted a while ago that I think FTC squandered the opportunity to expand their Superman line with villains. Super Friends Lex Luthor and Brainiac don't count for me because of their specialized nature. But Mego didn't do so hot back in the day either (Mister Mxyzptlk!). But in one wave, they have started rectifying that.

Here is Brainiac.

Mego Brainiac 1.jpg Mego Brainiac 2.jpg

The suit is a little snug and I recommend pulling it up so the fit in the crotch is better. Watch those knee bends on the fabric; it can turn a little white there. The collar could be a bit more symmetrical (from pictures I have seen online, that will be a hit or miss thing). Otherwise, it's a nice representation of Brainiac. The head sculpt is good. Is he a little too dark green? Yeah, and it's hard to see in my pictures, but he is darker in person. But it's not that bad and not something I am complaining about. And the best part? We have a new villain to pose with Superman.

Mego Brainiac & Superman.jpg

Sorry, no FTC comparisons this time. I see the FTC Brainiac as a comic-influenced Super Friends figure, not comic book... and there is no way am I knocking over everything to pull him off the shelf! (that's the real reason!)

Check out Krypt0nite's post and the excellent costume swap he made, incase you have an extra FTC SF Brainiac costume lying around, which is a very good costume and very hard to get now.

[puckace]

Definitely looking forward to Brainiac. Superman has some cool villains that Mego never capitalized on in the 70's.

[palitoy]

Thanks for sharing, I haven't seen the new figures yet and don't have any coming, so it's nice to see.

[scott metzger]

Definitely looking forward to Brainiac. Superman has some cool villains that Mego never capitalized on in the 70's.

While I hope they prioritize the rest of the Legion of Doom, there are some Supes baddies that would be great in Mego form. Classic Bronze Age Parasite is tailor made for Mego format: head, purple bodysuit with green trunks and a white strip down the front. Atomic Skull would look awesome, as well (probably a screen printed costume to accommodate the thigh boots).

[Krypt0nite]

Metallo from the Seventies would be a terrific choice for Mego.

[TRDouble]

With Brainiac done, Classic Parasite and original power suit Lex Luthor are high in my list of wants.

[Krypt0nite]

I would love to see power suit Luthor, as well as prison grays Luthor.

[scott metzger]

Got Brainiac, and he's really good with only a couple quibbles. I'm a traditionalist with these figures, and I like the fact that Mego kept the old tradition of making him a kelly green rather than a more comic accurate yellow green, as that's what we would have seen in the original 8" line. The costume is pretty much what we would expect from the 70's, though I think the collar would have been something more in line with what we saw with Catwoman, made from the cape material. Still, the choice here is definitely going to hold up better, so it evens out in the long run. In hamd, I'm even more convinced that going with the more magenta hue of his shirt from the Suprfriends was the right choice; the light pink from the comics would have looked terribly bland here. With this color pallete, he stands out nicely in a display. THe material sewn onto the ends of the arms for the armbands/gloves in this wave did throw me a little to begin with, as I'm always defaulting to the velourish material they used for Green Arrow's gloves as 70's Mego style, but it is close enough to the way they did Captain Marvel that I can see it here, stern especially, as they are similar armbands. The only real issue with him is hard to see from the front. The face sculpt and the paraphernalia on his head all look great, right down to the expression. The only problem is that the rest of the skull is a bit undersized, giving him a thin headed look. It's not bad, but it is noticeable when he's next to someone else like Supes, or especially like Deadman, whose similarly bald head is very well proportioned. Other than that, the simplified design is very 70's Mego, and he looks like something from that era.