Mego

The Mego Corporation was a toy company that dominated the action figure toy market during most of the 1970s. The Mego Corporation was founded in the early 1950s by David Abrams and was mostly known prior to 1971 as a producer of dime store toys. more...

Home
Action Figures
A-Team
Action Man
Alien/ Aliens
Austin Powers
Babylon 5
Batman
Battle Of The Planets
Bruce Lee
Buffy & Angel
Captain America
Collections/ Bulk Lots
Daredevil
Doctor Who
Dragon
Dragonball Z
Evangelion
Fantastic Four
Final Fantasy
Ghostbusters
GI Joe/ Action Force
Godzilla
Green Goblin
Green Lantern
Gundam
Halo
Hawkgirl
Hellboy
Hellraiser
Incredible Hulk
Incredibles
Iron Man
James Bond
Jurassic Park
Justice League of America
Kill Bill
Kubrick
Lord of the Rings
M.A.S.K.
Macross
Marvel Legends
Marx
Masters of the Universe
Matrix
McFarlane
Mego
Micronauts
Other Action Figures
Planet of the Apes
Power Rangers
Predator
Qee
Reservoir Dogs
Resident Evil
Robotech
Shrek
Six Million Dollar Man
Small Soldiers
Smurfs
Spawn
Spider-Man
Star Trek
Star Wars
Stargate
Street Fighter
Superman
Teen Titans
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Terminator
Thunderbirds
Thundercats
Tomb Raider
Toy Story
Transformers
Wonder Woman
Wrestling
X-Files
X-Men
Xena
Zoids
Beanies
Construction Toys & Kits
Diecast & Vehicles
Toys & Games
Wargames & Role-Playing

Golden age

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.

Mego also created the Kresge style card (named for the Kresge (later KMart) store chain, for whom they were originally produced), now commonly referred to as the \"Mego Bubble Card.\" This style of card placed the clear plastic bubble containing the action figure in the middle of the card.

Celebrity, Fashion and Movie Dolls

Mego first attempted a fashion doll line in the early '70's to rival Barbie with Maddie Mod, who had an extensive wardrobe, and her boyfriend Richie. The line was not a success. They also created a poseable eight inch scale of a Barbie-like doll, 1973's Dinah-Mite.

In 1975, Mego launched a highly successful 12 1/2 inch celebrity doll line, to directly compete with Mattel's Barbie doll. The first dolls were Sonny and Cher, with Bob Mackie designing an extensive wardrobe for Cher. Then Mego added the Lynda Carter Wonder Woman doll line in 1976. Farrah Fawcett, Jaclyn Smith, Diana Ross, Suzanne Somers, and The Captain and Tennille dolls followed in 1977.

From 1976-1980 they produced a popular line of lucite 3\" fully articulated figures called Micronauts to compete with Kenner's Star Wars line.

Mego added 12 1/2 figures from the Superman movie in 1978, as well as the members of the rock 'n' roll band Kiss. Gene Simmons had a specially molded head created to allow him to stick out his tongue.

Military figures

A small collection of military-themed action figures were also released in the early 1980s, called \"Johnny Action or Combat Man\" in the US, they were also marketed in other countries (France, Italy, Germany, Australia, United Kingdom) released in 1976 under different names. Using the same 6 inch format, they were produced after the 12-inch G.I. Joe figures had lost their popularity and before the revival of the G.I. Joe line in 3-3/4\" format and also to compete with Spain's Madelman line of soldier figures. The 6-inch combat line was not a success, and knockoff figures were also released for companies like Woolworth's (or Woolco in Canada, where the line was known as \"World War Two Heroes, Brave Soldiers, Jest Force\").

Read more at Wikipedia.org