Mego Action Figure Collection

Written by Ralph on 12th June, 2008

Browsing though auctions today, I noticed a lot of excellent condition MOC Mego figures. After checking one out, I’ve found one of the more interesting set of auctions I’ve seen in awhile.

Mego was really one of the first companies to successfully licence the rights to various characters. It was founded in the early 1950s and prior to the 70′s was mostly known for producing dime store toys.

Starting in 1971, Mego began purchasing license rights to a variety of successful motion pictures, television programs, and comic books, and started producing lines for Planet of the Apes, Star Trek, and the Wizard of Oz. Mego used various licensed Marvel and D.C. superhero characters to create their World’s Greatest Superhero line, which became their most successful toy line. They also produced an original character, Action Jackson, an unsuccessful competitor of Hasbro’s G.I. Joe.

The secret of Mego’s success was that their action figures were constructed with interchangeable heads. Generic bodies could be mass produced and different figures created by interposing different heads and costumes on them. Mego also constructed their figures primarily in an 8 inch scale – setting an industry standard in the 1970s.

Unfortunately, Mego made one huge mistake which lead to their downfall.

In 1976, they rejected a deal to license toys for the upcoming motion picture Star Wars. This decision set Mego up for its eventual collapse, as the movie was a huge success and competitor Kenner Products sold huge amounts of Star Wars action figures.

Following Star Wars’ great success, Mego attempted a comeback by grabbing the licenses for the manufacturing rights to any and all potentially successful motion picture and television shows, in hopes of finding a similar hot property. They produced 12 1/2 inch figures for Moonraker, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, The Black Hole, Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Unfortunately, none of these were as successful as Kenner’s Star Wars products. In 1982 Mego filed for bankruptcy, and by 1983, the Mego Corporation ceased to exist.

Anyway, enough of the history lesson and on to the auctions.

Here’s why they caught my attention:

In 1977, when I was 11 years old, I started purchasing two of every Mego World’s Greatest Heros Action Figure — one to play with and one to save. 31 years later I’ve decided to part with my childhood collection.

You have to give someone credit who managed to do that since they were eleven. Sadly, I’ve actually started to do this with figures and toys I buy for my son. One for him to play with (and for me to steal for display if he ever grows out of it), and one for me to keep.

The seller has around 30 Mego auctions up right now.

Highlights include a Riddler that’s already broke $1,000.00, a Lizard (Spider-Man) that’s over $1,500.00 and a Shazam that’s a whopping $3,000.00.

Normally my collecting focuses on 80′s / 90′s figures, but these are enough to change my mind.

View all the auctions here.

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