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Post by Roback on Jun 20, 2004 13:21:09 GMT -5
Hey guys and gals, i just thought you would enjoy some of the stories a Mr Marty Abrams shared with me as i will be adding to this as time goes on. The first is a doozy about the Cher license when the Mego Corp was trying to get her likeness approved via her head sculpt. It seems each time they brought the head over to her estate she wouldnt approve it. Both Marty and Neil Kublan ( VP of R+D) would simply take the head back and do a quick repaint. Cher thought they were resulpting the entire head which would be quite time consuming. After going back and forth like this a few times she finally approved the likeness which was the very same sculpt from the get go but only with a different paint application. ;D One time Marty was at her estate meeting with the " suits " as he so elegantly called them only to find Cher making out with Greg Almond. Classic stuff for sure!
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Post by reideen1313 on Jun 20, 2004 19:18:58 GMT -5
That's a great story Robert!! It just goes to show how fickle some of the stars can be. It also is a perfect example of why more celebrity likenesses aren't used. So the next time that your movie Batman action figure doesn't look like Michael Keaton (or Christian Bale) don't complain - it was probably more hassle than it was worth.
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Post by Roback on Jun 21, 2004 20:30:57 GMT -5
Marty Abrams was also telling us how many of the toy companies would steal each others tooling so there was a time that the Mego Corp got caught with their hand in the cookie jar. It seems that Hasbro inverted a thumb nail on one of their GI Joe figures and when Marty and company stole their tooling by copying it they got caught at retail when Hasbro realized that they had stolen their body tooling. There were a few other companies that got sued as well but wasnt that clever of hasbro to do? ;D
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Post by Faithfulbutler on Jun 22, 2004 22:34:10 GMT -5
Thats classic to hear that even the big companies can be guilty of a little "Bootlegging" of sorts. Can't wait to hear some more stories Robert.
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Post by Kid L on Jun 23, 2004 20:24:34 GMT -5
those are great stories roback!
it's nice for someone like me who's new to mego to get some 'behind the scenes' info... up until now i considered mego to be just another retro toy company that was before my time, but i think i'm beginning to understand its charm a bit better now... i owe it all to your pics from megocon and these stories...
keep 'em coming!
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Post by Roback on Jun 23, 2004 21:37:58 GMT -5
Here's a quick one i am sure you'll find interesting. Marty Abrams was telling us that their biggest competition was a company by the name of AHI ( Azrak Hamway International ). He went on to say that they were either stealing his ideas or his help which really got him steamed. Now for the kicker. Have you guys ever heard of Baron Karza from the Mego Micronaut line? Well, as a joke they took the name " Azrak " and spelled it backwards to create " Karza ". Marty said that the look on then President of AHI's face was priceless when he unvieled the figure at the New York ToyFair. The Mego boys laughed it up all right, awesome story! To then protect themselves Marty protected many of his employee's names backwards so they wouldnt be the butt of AHI's joke in the future. We looked up a bunch of Patents through the Freedom of Information Act to verify the latter part. Our guest of honor ( Neil Kublan ) was one of the names trademark protected backwards!
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Post by reideen1313 on Jun 23, 2004 21:50:54 GMT -5
I had no idea that's where the Karza name came from!! I'll never look at the comic or the figure the same way again! Thanks Robert!! ;D
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Post by TheJoker on Jul 1, 2004 22:41:41 GMT -5
Wow a golden head.
Where does he keep it.
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Post by /\/\att on Jul 2, 2004 1:48:20 GMT -5
[shadow=green,left,300]You're an insane resource Robert. We need to put these stories into our LoG Mego section for sure! In fact, you should seriously consider writing a book.[/shadow]
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Post by Faithfulbutler on Jul 3, 2004 17:42:50 GMT -5
Keep these stories coming Robert,i'm loving them. Do you have a pic of the Gold head?I would love to see it.
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Post by Roback on Jul 3, 2004 22:09:48 GMT -5
Marty also mentioned that in 1976 the company spent over $2,000.000.00 in advertising fee's on the Planet of the Apes line. My next post will give the three main reasons why the Mego Corp finally got knocked from the top of the heap which ultimately caused their demise. So what do you guys think did it? Most think that it was their being out of town with Lucas came aknocking with the Starwars license but Marty assured me that couldnt be further from the truth. Any guesses?
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Post by /\/\att on Jul 3, 2004 23:58:07 GMT -5
[shadow=green,left,300]If I remember correctly, they put WAY too much money into a hand held electronic game division that didn't do so well.....[/shadow]
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Post by reideen1313 on Jul 4, 2004 0:05:38 GMT -5
You're looking for 3 things that led to Mego's fall from grace?
1. 3 3/4 inch figures. Mego made a run at making them, Pocket Heroes, Comic Action Heroes, etc - all had poor articulation and less than average sculpting in my opinion. They had a hit on their hands with the Micronauts, but it was too little, too late unfortunately.
2. TV/Celebrity lines. Dallas, Dukes of Hazzard, CHIPS, Greatest American Hero, Buck Rogers, etc etc that did not do as well as hoped.
3. Last, but certainly not least, the electronic games division - electronic football, golf, etc did not gain the foothold it needed to be profitable for the company.
I know you were only asking for 3, but I suspect that rising oil costs played a factor in there somewhere as well.
Those are my guesses!!
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Post by Roback on Jul 4, 2004 6:51:55 GMT -5
Although all of the guesses above are correct the main reason wasnt well known untill the guests of Megocon heard it right from both Marty and Neal Kublan. ( Mego President and VP of R+D ) It seems that Martys dad was tired of outsourcing all of their production to Chinese factories so in 1977 he decided to build his own. One short year later a brand spanking new state of the art manufacturing facilty was built in Hong Kong which nothing like it had been seen before. Trouble was later that year the economy started to deteriorate which caused alot of their creditors and loan holders to come knocking to demand payment. Neal Kublan believes that without this added financial burden the Mego Corp would have been able to handle flops such as the Black Hole and their electronic game debacle. Reid hit the nail on the head regarding the rising oil prices which plastics are derived from. Marty told me that a single figure rose in cost from $.60 to over $1.10.00 per unit. Factor in all of the above reasons and you have the downfall of one of the greatest toy companies that ever was especially when you are talking character licensing along with vision. You dont think i eat tuna every night from buying all of their figs if they werent? ;D Next up, Martys mom and her Montegomery Wards ties.
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Post by Kid L on Jul 4, 2004 17:07:56 GMT -5
roback, you are undoubtedly a veritable encyclopedia of mego facts and trivia... i'm already impressed w/all the insider info on this thread... can't wait to read what you post next... thanks again for all the great stories!
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Post by Roback on Jul 4, 2004 17:26:38 GMT -5
Thanks Kid, i really appreciate the kudos. Mego toys have been a part of my life ever since i can remember and to me they go hand in hand with Batman and action figures on the hold. I mean where else are you going to get a fully posable 8 inch clothed Riddler? Penguin? Catwoman? Joker? No where but Mego and if you keep in mind what year these badboys debuted you'll realize how far ahead of themselves the Mego Corp actually was.
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Post by Frosty Fries on Jul 5, 2004 13:47:36 GMT -5
Hey Roback, A very entertaining thread this is for me. Keep 'em fascinating tidbits coming! I'd love to see a hefty Mego book authored by you. There's an awesome place in my town (Rochester, NY) called Strong Museum. Its library collection of books on collectibles is mind-bogglingly huge. Ever heard of it? You could find more about this resourceful place at www.strongmuseum.org/Cheers, Frosty
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Post by Roback on Jul 5, 2004 19:01:46 GMT -5
Frosty, thanks for the link as i just went their and payed a bit of a visit. Looks way cool!
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Post by Roback on Jul 5, 2004 19:12:57 GMT -5
As many already know the Mego Corp released many different card and figure variations at the end of their days. Originally we thought they were trying to get rid of as much inventory as possible which was why they put an Aquaman on a blanked up yellow Superman card. Whats funny is that in some cases Aquaman was actually on a red Spiderman torso with blue Batman gloves. Many Mego collectors dubbed this the " Aqua-goof" as it is really a sight to see. I have this and many other strange variations in my collection such as the generic card releases which used a Riddler figure on a red card with no name logo ( Riddler originally came on a yellow card ) along with other characters ( four in all ) that also came on generic cards allbeit in different card color variations. We were fascinated to learn through Marty Abrams that this was not a quality control issue but more of a theft issue. We need to keep in mind that their production facility was far away ( Hong Kong ) with only a Mego Corp employee by the name of Sid Nobile overlooking the entire operation. Lots of stuff went out the " backdoor " so to speak which eventually made its way to retail. More on the various costume variations along with head sculpting in future posts.
You'll notice thanks to Matts quick response a generic carded Aquaman that i purchased around 6 years ago. Although this isnt considered an " Aqua-goof " due to its having the correct costume and accessories. The card however is a completely different story as you'll see where it once read " Superman " but has been covered over. When i suggested to Marty that his people must have done that he replied very quickly saying " never, we would have never have done something like that " which he then explained the backdoor theft problem. Reliving Megocon thanks to this thread and others like it is as fun for me as it is for you guys. I appreciate you guys hanging with me and sharing my adventures in Mego collecting.
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Post by /\/\att on Jul 5, 2004 19:32:38 GMT -5
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Post by ThatBlockoGuy on Jul 6, 2004 20:40:42 GMT -5
Marty Abrams was also telling us how many of the toy companies would steal each others tooling so there was a time that the Mego Corp got caught with their hand in the cookie jar. It seems that Hasbro inverted a thumb nail on one of their GI Joe figures and when Marty and company stole their tooling by copying it they got caught at retail when Hasbro realized that they had stolen their body tooling. There were a few other companies that got sued as well but wasnt that clever of hasbro to do? ;D The original 12" Joes all had the inverted thumbnail, as do the new ones on the pegs now. I have a couple myself. Hasbro has been doing this since day one for copyright reasons, I believe. When I first saw it I thought it was a defect lol. Great stories Robert. Keep 'em coming.
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Post by J-Man on Jul 7, 2004 14:41:43 GMT -5
[shadow=purple,left,300]You're a real fountain of knowledge, Roback. These stories always interest me. Keep them coming, man [/shadow]
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Post by Roback on Jul 7, 2004 18:47:55 GMT -5
Mr Abrams also said that running changes like their switching from a removable mask Robin to a painted masked Robin was purely done for financial reasons. They were learning as they went along so it was simply a natural progression. Same goes for the removable cowl Batman verses the painted on cowl. We also need to keep in mind that the price point was very low per unit so if in fact they ran out of a certain color fabric they couldnt just stop the manufacturing process so they simply used whatever was on hand regardless of fabric type or color. Ha ha, talk about your running changes! ;D
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Post by Roback on Jul 11, 2004 9:11:44 GMT -5
Did you know that the very rare solid boxes were discontinued after only being available at retail for less then a year? Numerous complaints came in from the Mego Corps retailers about customers that were opening/damaging the boxes as they couldnt see the figure inside. After the powers that be took a look at this situation the window box was born! Needless to say a solid box Aquaman, Batman, Robin and Superman will all run you over $2000.00 a piece with Robin peaking at a cool 5K. Yowzaa!!! ;D
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BatBat
Gotham Tourist
Posts: 10
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Post by BatBat on Jul 12, 2004 14:48:40 GMT -5
Amazing information Robert!!!
Do you have any solid boxes in your collection? I'd love to see a picture of even one.
BatBat
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Post by Roback on Jul 13, 2004 6:17:18 GMT -5
If you would like to email me i can hook you up with a couple of picks. A quick little tidbit of info has to do with the Mego Planet of the apes line. Right out of the pages of a Mego Corp promotions guide states the amount they spent on advertising for the line in 1976 alone! Anyone care to guess? How does $2,000,000.00 sound and keep in mind that this was 1976 money! This Promotions manual is really cool as it not only states how much was spent on each line but also what television stations and in what market they wanted their commercials to run on. It's very informative.
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Post by Roback on Jul 14, 2004 12:12:56 GMT -5
I was just talking with Mark Huckabone ( for those of you that arent familar with him he makes my collection look sick and is concerned the grand daddy of mego collectiors ) about the much coveted Mego carded Wonderwoman. The figure was an Austrialan release and was never relesed here in the states. Once the TV show started the Mego Corp didnt want to step on anyones toes ( regarding Lynda Carter ) so they pulled Wonderwoman out of the case assortment and added Isis. I found this intriguing and very informative. Just so you know, only one carded Wonderwoman was found to this day and resides in Marks collection. The price? How does 10 grand grab you? ;D
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BatBat
Gotham Tourist
Posts: 10
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Post by BatBat on Jul 15, 2004 7:26:59 GMT -5
Carded Wonder Woman? Is there a pick anywhere of this?
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Post by Roback on Jul 15, 2004 9:49:38 GMT -5
Yes, click on www.megoheadtoys.com under WGSH's. You can also see some pics of various collectors collections.
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Post by Roback on Jul 16, 2004 6:12:55 GMT -5
In keeping with my "one fact a day" thread i thought it would be fun to see if anyone knows which head Mego head sculpt was used the most on different characters. Any guesses? ;D
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