Mego Returns

[spockoda]

Although there have been numerous 8 inch Mego-type figures released over the years, many outright copies of original Mego figures, 2018 is going to see the actual revival of the Mego name with a small line starting as Target store exclusives. They are said to be $14.99 each which isn't terrible considering the $20-$25 the Emce figures were. There are planned two packs which will be $29.99. Star Trek and I Dream Of Jeannie were mentioned. I wouldn't mind buying a Star Trek Sulu figure to put in an original Mego Trek uniform. I bought custom Sulu and Chekov heads a few years back and put them on original Mego dolls but the heads are made of resin which is heavier than the smooshy Mego heads so my customs tend to tip over easily. Taking a shot of whiskey every time I said "Mego" in this post would make a good drinking game. Anyhow, this is what passes for the most exciting news I've heard in the hobby since I heard about the POTA Super 7 figures.

[Thor Laserpunch]

I’m trying to wrap my head around how I feel about this. For one, the Mego format, as you say, has been done extensively over the years and never seemed like it was ever consistently successful. I think NECA does an excellent job in this format because of the amount of detail and quality they pack in even though it’s cheaper for them to produce Mego styles than sculpt an all new 7” figure. Biff Bang Pow!! and Figures Toy Company product seem to be cheaply made which kind of brings down my entire view of the format, unfortunately, and I have doubts the Mego brand name alone is gonna improve the situation. They also seem to not have their finger on the pulse with their selection of retro licenses, despite a rather lackluster looking Harley Quinn figure nobody asked for. And being a Target exclusive line... I dunno, seems like they’re just testing the waters right now rather than making a comeback.

[spockoda]

Jul 15, 2018 15:00:01 GMT -6 Thor Laserpunch said:

I’m trying to wrap my head around how I feel about this. For one, the Mego format, as you say, has been done extensively over the years and never seemed like it was ever consistently successful. I think NECA does an excellent job in this format because of the amount of detail and quality they pack in even though it’s cheaper for them to produce Mego styles than sculpt an all new 7” figure. Biff Bang Pow!! and Figures Toy Company product seem to be cheaply made which kind of brings down my entire view of the format, unfortunately, and I have doubts the Mego brand name alone is gonna improve the situation. They also seem to not have their finger on the pulse with their selection of retro licenses, despite a rather lackluster looking Harley Quinn figure nobody asked for. And being a Target exclusive line... I dunno, seems like they’re just testing the waters right now rather than making a comeback.

I don't think I'm familiar with any Bif Bang Pow Megos personally but the FTC Mego clones are of pretty low quality imo. I bought three of their Love Gun era Kiss figures and eventually sold them off. I have seen the Big Bang Theory Mego-like dolls and they too appeared of low quality but I never actually bought one to find out. NECA and Emce product wasn't too bad with NECA doing better of the two. It seems that you're right about the Target/let's just test the waters scenario. In my case the nearest Target store is a two hour round trip drive for me so even if I was interested in this line that would be a hurdle to overcome. I would want to see them in the flesh before making a final judgement. Also, I am curious as to whom the target audience(excuse the pun)of this line is. The older adult collector? The millenial? Hmm.....

[Thor Laserpunch]

I was wondering who the intended buyers for these are myself. Is name recognition alone what they’re banking on?

Biff Bang Pow does Doctor Who, BSG, Six Million Dollar Man, Twilight Zone and I think those Big Bang Theory figures are theirs. The bodies seem on the chintzy side to me and the construction I think is questionable at best, but they’ve done good on the sculpts and accuracy of the outfits at least. I feel like they did their own Kiss figures also.

I haven’t gotten any of the FTC figures but they just look hokey.

I agree the Emge figures were pretty well done, and they are pretty faithful to the original Megos... which to me is another reason I’m not particularly excited for a brand revival. If they do a POTA line or classic horror and sci-fi figures I might be interested, but guess we’ll have to see how these turn out. I have a bad feeling they’ll be on clearance in short time.

[spockoda]

Jul 15, 2018 17:08:29 GMT -6 Thor Laserpunch said:

I was wondering who the intended buyers for these are myself. Is name recognition alone what they’re banking on?

Biff Bang Pow does Doctor Who, BSG, Six Million Dollar Man, Twilight Zone and I think those Big Bang Theory figures are theirs. The bodies seem on the chintzy side to me and the construction I think is questionable at best, but they’ve done good on the sculpts and accuracy of the outfits at least. I feel like they did their own Kiss figures also.

I haven’t gotten any of the FTC figures but they just look hokey.

I agree the Emge figures were pretty well done, and they are pretty faithful to the original Megos... which to me is another reason I’m not particularly excited for a brand revival. If they do a POTA line or classic horror and sci-fi figures I might be interested, but guess we’ll have to see how these turn out. I have a bad feeling they’ll be on clearance in short time.

POTA and the horror and sci-fi characters with new sculpts might be interesting. I think the company is afraid of how they may be received as well.

[thoriron]

I hope for pota figures too and some 70-80 superheroes figures like kirby's eternals or the first guardians of galaxy or so...I'm not love the new series....

[dannyrand]

I’m excited to see what this line brings. Somebody at Target must be a collector and they are banking on nostalgia. Target seems to stock ‘adult’ collector toys. Mego returns brought me out of the woodwork.

[Thor Laserpunch]

They actually have a pretty inspired selection among their licenses. Their SDCC offerings show a good amount of interesting stuff that hasn’t been done before. Not too shabby. 

[spockoda]

I would be down for the Trek, Lugosi, and Hendrix figures. I like I Dream Of Jeannie but I'm kind of lukewarm on how they look.

[Thor Laserpunch]

No joke. I do like the weird pop cultural assortment they brought to the show though.

[rihia2k]

Eh, I don't really speak Mego. But lemme spare my two cents:

I only have one FTC figure, and one NECA 8" figure to compare. REH's Solomon Kane & Evil Dead 2 Ash, respectively. Pretty much only because of the licenced characters rather than the 8" doll aspect.
Although the love generally seems to go to NECA over Figure Toys Co, I probably prefer the Kane FTC fig. Visually anyhow. The outfit details are great, particularly the vest, baldric, gloves and style of the plastic accessories. The attention to Kane's hair-style is excellent too. ED2 Ash just looks a bit plain and holds more "realistic" proportions which isn't so retro approp.
Quality-wise I don't doubt NECA are better but I haven't opened Ash. I did bother to jab a pin into the zip-tie, open up Kane and play round. I noticed he has a twangy shoulder-joint which keeps wanting to return to the same place. Pretty disappointing that, considering I have a beat to crap Mego Durant from 'The Black Hole' which survived my bro, me, dogs, cats, days at the beach, days in the yard, years at the bottom of boxes and his limbs are still as good as my other non-played with Megos.

Zombie-face syndrome not withstanding, Mego knew how to make a toy that could both look good and take a serious bashing.

While I'm not super excited for Mego's return, it's cool & will be interesting to observe. Yeah, they'll harvest some clams alright, but geez, narrow target market. Is "the real thing" still the real thing when so many others have kinda carried, relit, and reinvented the torch? It's not quite as hard as getting a kid to put down Angry Birds and acknowledge the original Crush the Castle, but similar. Mego will never be that old-school equivalent of Pop-vinyl they used to be, so it matters that they're stuff feels/looks EXACTLY as 'strong and special' as it used to. If they're only on par with Bif, NECA, Emge, etc. what's to stop people enjoying what they already have there?

[spockoda]

I do think the actual return of these would have greater appeal you might say or carry a bigger bang if they hadn't already been done, as far as the 8 inch retro cloth doll, by other companies. Some licenses they might get is the part that has my interest the most right now.

[Thor Laserpunch]

I think plenty of people will be on these for $15 apiece considering I’ve even seen 3.75” in stores at about the same price. I can see them coming down in price also.

[rihia2k]

They (Mego) have gone for some unique licences for sure, I love that. I didn't realise the price point was actually so moderate, I just assumed it would be a greedier ask, so they will prob'ly kick more ass on this venture than I originally suspected.

[Thor Laserpunch]

The FTC ones seem to hover around 20 bones, and the NECA are extremely nice but price creep puts them around $40, so $15 ain’t too bad in the grand scheme of things. Figure people who don’t normally buy toys will grab them for a nostalgia trip or to share with their kids and grandkids too.

[spockoda]

With it being unlikely I will actually be able to see any of these in the flesh at a Target store anytime soon, I went ahead and ordered Chekov and Jimi Hendrix off of Target.com. I missed the boat on getting any of the others as they had 14 different Mego figures or figure sets ready to go on sale as of midnight June 29. I forgot to check that morning and by the time I got to my computer they only had 5 Mego items left on the Target site. At least these are bringing out the greedy toy mongers whom are asking anywhere from 2x to 4x what they paid for them. Update- I checked the Target site again and a few of the items had reappeared so I was able to grab a Sulu. All I really want now is a Dracula and I have seen them on eBay but haven't seen them on Target's site. I'm okay skipping the Trek "Mirror, Mirror" two pack.

[Thor Laserpunch]

Peeps posted some pics of them actually in stores. One showed a full endcap with 3 pegs of Trek and 3 of miscellaneous tv figures, a shelf of the Jeannie set, a shelf of the Mirror Mirror box set, and a shelf of 12” figures (Bats, Wondy, Harley Qinn, & Zod). And then it looked like another store just cut a couple facings of single carded figs on a random shelf. Hopefully they push for better presentation because neither display looked particularly impressive.

[spockoda]

I got the Hendrix and Chekov today at my front door. They look good, haven't opened them yet. I broke down and ordered a Dracula off of ebay for $30 shipped, which is the best deal I could find. I'm now leaning more towards wanting the "Mirror" set but I still maintain I can exist without it. Perhaps a meaningless, pathetic existence but never the less...

[Thor Laserpunch]

Ha! I feel your pain.

[spockoda]

The "Mirror" two pack came back up on the Target site so I went ahead and ordered one so now I have all the ones I want out of this first series. The only one I don't have but I might want would be an Action Jackson but I have to go about paying the bill for the ones I wanted initially first before I think of buying any more Megos right now.

[Thor Laserpunch]

Just saw a review on the Mirror Mirror set. I kinda like the box more than the actual figures! Looks like one of those dodgy old school playsets.

[Thor Laserpunch]

Just saw a Romulan commander. In case you missed it, even the Emge reissue is kinda expensive now.

[spockoda]

Nov 27, 2018 17:30:17 GMT -6 Thor Laserpunch said:

Just saw a Romulan commander. In case you missed it, even the Emge reissue is kinda expensive now.

I got one of those way back then, thank goodness, but I am willing to buy the Mego 2.0 version of course . I haven't been able to find many of the new ones I want online so far as Target's site sells out of certain Megos quickly but hopefully patience will pay off.

[spockoda]

I have been able to purchase some of the Megos I want but have missed out on a few as right now you would have to be watching the Target site like a hawk to get certain ones. You would have to live on the site as you may have a 15 minute window of opportunity before a figure sells out.

[spockoda]

I have gotten all the Megos I wanted up to now except for the extremely elusive green shirted Captain Kirk, which I figured would be only moderately difficult to obtain. One time I got close but the stock of the figure vanished before I could add him to my cart.

[scoth70]

im really a vintage 70s mego type guy

[spockoda]

Mar 3, 2020 0:52:13 GMT -6 scoth70 said:

im really a vintage 70s mego type guy

I understand that completely. There are differences between the old and new figures including memories?