MEGOs!!!

I have long been an avid fan and collector of 8 inch Mego dolls. Even before I was bitten by the puppet bug and became a Muppet fan there were always Megos. My first was the Fonzie doll (above) produced in 1976 when I was 3 years old. Though I don't have that doll anymore, I believe that somehow I ended up with a prototype, or at the very least, a very rare version. The face was different from the one pictured here and the jacket was attached in the front as pictured on the earlier boxes. Although there are hundreds of Mego dolls, Fonzie is by far my favourite Mego!

Here are the Official Worlds Greatest Super Heroes (with Fonzie) and as you can see, Mego made both DC and Marvel characters. Left to right are Mr.Mxzlkpk, Green Arrow, Superman, Joker, Batman, Robin, Penguin, Spider-Man, Falcon, Hulk, and Tarzan. There are many others in the series. Its been said that the term "super hero" was created by the Mego company to adverstise this line of dolls!

Above are some mint Mego's in packages: Spider-Man, Joker, and the Hulk. Below are two of my other most prized Megos: the Mighty Thor and Conan the Barbarian, seen with Falcon and Thing. Thor is in okay condition for a loose figure,and he even has his hammer. Conan is in sad shape, he is missing most of his costume and both of his weapons.

Mego made many vehicles as well, such as the Batmobile and the Spidercar.

Another popular 8" Mego line is Star Trek based on the original TV series. Considering how many Star Trek action figures have been made to date, it's interesting to note that the first Star Trek figures ever to be produced were made by Mego. The same can be said for many of the characters in the Mego collection.

Mego produced several characters from TV shows. The Fonzie I mentioned above was from the Happy Days set of dolls which also included Ritchie (below), Postsie and Ralph. Fonzie was first produced with brown hair, and later with black hair (which is why there are two Fonzies in this picture).

The original boxes had a photo of the prototype doll against a red background. The jacket for the prototype doll was attached at the front, however the dolls were sold with jackets that are open at the front. I have a strong suspision that a small number of the original "attached" jackets were made, but are extremely rare. Earlier versions of the "open" jacket have brown lining, while the more common "open" version has black lining. (Got all that? OK, here's more!) The prototype also did not have the correct boots, instead they were the boots used for Mego's Star Trek line. Later versions of the box pictured the updated doll against a yellow background, the same as what was used for the carded version of the doll. There are also language variations, such as English and French, for all three of these packaging designs. (Told ya Fonzie was my favourite Mego!)

Here is the One Million BC set of Megos. They have a spear throwing action which is similar to Fonzie's thumbs up action. In fact, many of the same pieces were used for the cavemen and for Fonzie, such as the upper arm and leaver, and they were both produced by Mego in the same year. The only difference is that the cavemen have a more muscular torso and the action leaver only moves one arm, where as Fonzie has a thinner torso and moves both arms simultaneously.

Mego Museum
For more info about Mego action figure dolls visit the ULTIMATE Mego collectors site on the web by cliking the Mego logo below.

I'll add more pictures later, so check back for updates!

Questions, please e-mail Mike Artelle at: