Cut out the window of the box using an X-Acto knife, and tape in a window made of some Transparency paper (fig. A.6). Fold the box into shape and glue it closed using Elmer's glue at the place where the "linker" section of the box, and box "side B" overlap, the "linker" goes on the inside (fig. A.7). Your box is now done!
But what's that I hear you say? "Matt.... what we really wanted in the way of packaging was a CARD." No problem...
This is actually a lot easier to make than a box. Simply design a flat in much the same way you would a box, but in the dimensions of the desired card packaging. make color copy and mount it onto posterboard as before. But now.... you need a bubble large enough for the figure to fit in. Well unless you have a real Mego card to cannibalize, you're outta luck. But wait! Don't despair yet! Can you think of any product you see I the drug store everyday that has a bubble similar in size and shape to a Mego figure bubble...
Give up? Q-TIPS! I know... it seems unlikely, but I stumbled onto this idea one day at a flea market when, from a distance, a bunch of Q-tip boxes stacked on top of each other seemed like a bunch of action figures. I bought one, took it home, and sure enough, it was large enough to accommodate a Mego. However, you must make sure that the bubble is large enough-- many brands aren't. The kind I get are not actual Q-Tip brand (by Johnson and Johnson) rather a generic one I get at the everything's a buck store. Embarrassing as it may be, you might have to sneak a Mego into the store and hold it up against the bubble to see if it will fit (fig. A.8)
So anyway, get your cotton swab box bubble, remove it from it's backing, store the swabs in a Zip-Lock baggy in the medicine drawer, and use some goof off to get the paper residue off the edges of the bubble. Now glue that sucker in place onto the card with the figure inside (fig. A.9).
Tips and Tricks:
1) One really cool box that almost anyone can do is to cut some images out of your favorite character's comic. Glue these down as the box/card montage. Then color copy this flat in only one color shade. (i.e. Blue, Red, Green, Yellow). The all of the images will be one hue. Now paste your lettering of a different color onto this copy, along with your logo, and copy it again, but this time in full color. You'll have one kicking-A box then! For instance, on my Red Skull's box, I cut out some images from a Cap comic, glued them down, copied the thing only in RED, then pasted blue lettering onto it along with a blue logo which I designed on Microsoft Word. Then I color copied the whole thing again and it turned out really nice.
2) If you want to get that authenticity factor and really fool your friends, try intentionally weathering your custom packaging. In other words, crease the card a bit, tear the card board slightly, stain it with a few drops of coffee or dirty water, put a slight tear in the window. Place price tags on them. Most clerks at K.B. will be good about giving you some stickers for your very own. See my custom Flash and Spectre boxes to see what I'm talking about. I tell you, the day a study partner was over and he saw my custom Robin and said, "Wow, when was Kay-Bee selling these? These are really nice?"
I was beaming with pride the whole next day.
