Ladies and Gentlemen, The World's Greatest Superheroes

[ScottA]

Okay, here's an update.

It's been asked whether or not we're making any improvements to the capes, be it material or some kind of hemming to prevent the classic "fraying" problem of vintage MEGOs.

We can reveal that the material is still nylon in keeping with MEGO, because we believe that changing the material of something with as much area as a cape is leaning a bit too far out of the "MEGOverse".

However, the Mattel factory is going to apply a process that seals the edges so fraying won't be a problem.

Hopefully that will be seen as an improvement without straying too far away from what we're intending to so with the line.

As always, more info as it comes in.

I'm gonna post this up in "MEGO Buzz", as I just discovered there seems to be a mirror thread up there as well.

Hey Joe,

To me this is good news. I for one did not want the cape material to change, even if it did still fray. I felt that if it became more of a fabric type material then they would seem more like customs. I agree that the nylon capes is one thing that makes Mego, well, Mego. Thanks to you and Doc for thinking about this.

[Marvelmania]

Thanks for keeping us all updated and giving us the news as it comes in! We're all behind you here! The sculpts, outfits and capes all look and sound fantastic!
My only plea is to not do future Con releases, chase or special variant figures. I was loving the Marvel Legends until they started that crap and it took the fun out of it and I stopped buying them. It makes it hard for a collector to collect 'em all unless you're willing to pay Ebay prices or over $100 for a figure and I'm not willing to do that for a new toy. Just my 2 cents.

[Orion]

The nylon cape update is certainly good news - and with a fix to prevent the fraying who could complain. This also seems consistent with the idea you are going for here - releasing figures today as if Mego never stopped. Technology changes how you do certain things, but core concepts remain. Love it.

[Alacran]

Congratulations, this line looks like it will be a lot of fun to collect.

Mego's were fairlly well articulated, but pleas if you can add just one point of articulation at minimum add the swivel-biceps joint, even if its just a simple cut-joint.
Especially since Mattel is designing a new body anyway and not sticking to exact rerpros.

I think this one POA will take NOTHING away from them looking and being posed like Megos, but will add a great range of motion and poseability for those who want it.
Some obvious examples include - Wonder Woman with her bracelets crossed, Superman with his classic hands-on-hips pose, Green Arrow able to hold the bow as well as draw-back the bow at the same time, Green Lantern being able to hold his Power Battery out in front of him and touch his ring to it at the same time, Batman being able to pull the cape up in front of his face for that classic leering over the cape look (at least approximating it), any arms crossed in front or behind for the classic power stance pose....etc, and millions of other variations, all from adding one simple joint.

[megalomaniac001]

Congratulations, this line looks like it will be a lot of fun to collect.

Mego's were fairlly well articulated, but pleas if you can add just one point of articulation at minimum add the swivel-biceps joint, even if its just a simple cut-joint.
Especially since Mattel is designing a new body anyway and not sticking to exact rerpros.

I think this one POA will take NOTHING away from them looking likebeing posed like Megos, but will add a great range of motion and poseability for those who want it.
Some obvious examples include - Wonder Woman with her bracelets crossed, Superman with his classic hands-on-hips pose, Green Arrow able to hold the bow as well as draw-back the bow at the same time, Green Lantern being able to hold his Power Battery out in front of him and touch his ring to it at the same time, Batman being able to pull the cape up in front of his face for that classic leering over the cape look (at least approximating it), any arms crossed in front or behind for the classic power stance pose....etc, and millions of other variations, all from adding one simple joint.

I agree with Alacran, the swivel joint biceps are on the top of my body wish list!

[Brown Bear]

I say forget the modifications and make them as close to the original as possible. If you want to make changes, then don't sell them as Mego. If they're Mego's, then leave them the same as when I was a kid. I love them the way they are, that's why I collect them. Juat sayin'.

[Gorn Captain]

If things are still in the proto stage and that can be accomplished, put my vote in for swivel biceps as well!

Rich

Everything works better when it swivels. Believe me....

[wonderfan32]

I say forget the modifications and make them as close to the original as possible. If you want to make changes, then don't sell them as Mego. If they're Mego's, then leave them the same as when I was a kid. I love them the way they are, that's why I collect them. Juat sayin'.

Herein lies the question. What makes it Mego? Some want them just as is like back in the day but if these are being treated as if Mego never stopped, don't you think there would be some changes from 27 years ago?
As I mentioned earlier, stretch lycra is the fabric of choice these days for cloth-costumed Superheroes. Nobody has said anything about that in this line so I'm guessing the consensus is everyone is okay with that.
For me, even as a kid, I thought there could be some improvements to the figures so for me the oven mitts don't work. I always wanted them to have just a bit more of a realistic feel. I already talked about the capes and I like the idea that they're going to keep them as is but have a special seal to save from fraying. I think this is the time to make adjustments here and there within certain parameters.
Making them more poseable? Hmmm. What do others think about that? Does it take away or add to this line? I'm on the fence with this one. I like to be able to pose them as much as I can without limitations but is that going to take away from the Mego mythos? Anybody else care to weigh in on this?

[Jerry68]

This is just my opinion on the matter; If Mego never went away I believe they would have made more improvements to the body, costume and capes. We need to remember just how big a role mego played on the action figure itself.

[EMCEtoys]

Herein lies the question. What makes it Mego? Some want them just as is like back in the day but if these are being treated as if Mego never stopped, don't you think there would be some changes from 27 years ago?
As I mentioned earlier, stretch lycra is the fabric of choice these days for cloth-costumed Superheroes. Nobody has said anything about that in this line so I'm guessing the consensus is everyone is okay with that.
For me, even as a kid, I thought there could be some improvements to the figures so for me the oven mitts don't work. I always wanted them to have just a bit more of a realistic feel. I already talked about the capes and I like the idea that they're going to keep them as is but have a special seal to save from fraying. I think this is the time to make adjustments here and there within certain parameters.
Making them more poseable? Hmmm. What do others think about that? Does it take away or add to this line? I'm on the fence with this one. I like to be able to pose them as much as I can without limitations but is that going to take away from the Mego mythos? Anybody else care to weigh in on this?

Well, a little in the way of how we've developed our design philosophy...

Megos as we know them were around for about ten years. During that time they made changes, some improvements, some non-improvements to cut costs. Improvements included heat-sealing a character's emblem. Non-improvements included molding a certain character's cowl onto the head versus keeping it removable. There was definitely an evolution as the company went on.

So, the way we look at it is, if MEGO never ceased as company, what challenges would they face? What changes would they have to make to a) be competitive, b) comply with standards developed by the intellectual property holder c) take advantage of new technologies and techniques?

So, we look at MEGO as more of a style than a snapshot frozen in time. If MEGO had to release Superman today, they'd face exactly the challenges we discussed and we believe, as the new MEGO, we have indeed responded as they would have:

a) competition here is internal: we know why a MEGO fan would buy this, but why would a DC fan who could care less about MEGO buy it? If it doesn't look like the Superman he knows, he's not interested. And, what we're discovering is that our improvements to the older MEGOs, like Superman, suddenly make the originals look like cheap Mexican knockoffs in comparison. There's one we're working on right now that we think will bring this out in stark contrast.

b) this is an obvious one. Without the spit curl Supes ain't Supes. The emblem is trademarked so we need to use that specific rendering. The character has certain specific elements that are part of the registered trademark, so in order to protect that character those elements need to be included.

c) the heat seal of the emblem is the best illustration of the use of new technologies here.

Re: poseability (sp?), as a kid growing up with MEGOs, it was an issue for me. without going overboard with articulation, a little less restriction is welcome. people like McFarlane, NECA, MezCo, and the Four Horsemen are the guys who travel in the hyper-realistic, so-poseable-they're-almost-human world. Us? We just make MEGOs.

Of course, if MEGO was around they'd say that they would absolutely head in that direction to stay competitive as a major toy company, but thankfully we're not looking to compete with the NECAs, Hasbros, etc. We've turned MEGO into a style specialty versus a company unto itself.

[Wee67]

I think this a great approach. Simply making them exactly as they were in the 70's would just be plain silly. There's be no reason to make them.

What's important, IMHO, is to make them in the spirit (if I can use that word) of the Mego style. To take that style and make some speculative improvements only makes sense. Mego would have evolved. I wonder if Mego would even still make cloth-uniformed figures if they existed today.

I can't wait until I can add these to my collection. Good luck guys and congrats on a great dream come true.

[The Bat]

So, the way we look at it is, if MEGO never ceased as company, what challenges would they face? What changes would they have to make to a) be competitive, b) comply with standards developed by the intellectual property holder c) take advantage of new technologies and techniques?

So, we look at MEGO as more of a style than a snapshot frozen in time. If MEGO had to release Superman today, they'd face exactly the challenges we discussed and we believe, as the new MEGO, we have indeed responded as they would have:

I'd say a GREAT example of this is BATMAN. If you made Batman Today, exactly the way Mego did...would he sell to anybody besides us(Mego Collectors).

I think NOT! If you want to sell a new Batman Mego-style Figure to the rest of the World...you'll have to do a BETTER job than Mego did!

[PNGwynne]

And your own Dave Mc Cormick did all the costumes. Amazingly, this was the most complex part of the process, as we had to find materials that matched style guide colors, fabrics that were close to material that didn't exist anymore, patterns, resizing as the bodies came in from China, etc. Dave was a f**king rockstar on this project.

I love the fact that the GL detailing is inset, not screen-printed. And Sinestro's collar is incredible. Kudos, Dave.

[PNGwynne]

Trust me friends - I compare every piece of the Mattel body to vintage Mego
and my drmego body. It is right in line.

In fact, Mattel did not have enough bodies for the line-up so I had to dress
one or two guys in a drmego body. Can you tell them apart?

Please tell me that the suits will be removable and have "footies."

Please.

[PNGwynne]

We'd be the envy of The Others.....

What others?