Mego | Vintage Action Figures

Mr Fantastic by Mego polaroid head and shoulders shot

Plastic Fantastic! Mister Fantastic by Mego

For fans of the Marvel Universe, there’s been no shortage of movies and TV shows over the past fifteen years – or rather, a mind-boggling onslaught of never-ending films and reboot after reboot! The Marvel Cinematic Universe has released 36 films so far, with at least nine more in the pipeline at the time of writing.

Next up is Fantastic Four: First Steps, centred on the iconic Marvel Comics team. This will be the 37th instalment in the MCU and marks a new chapter for the legendary heroes, following the second cinematic reboot in 2015, which bombed catastrophically at the box office.

P-P-Pick up a MEGO Penguin!

Colin Farrell has been busy collecting awards for his recent turn as Oz Cobb (a modern spin on the original comic-book name Oswald Chesterfield Cobblepot), aka The Penguin, in the television miniseries spin-off from The Batman (2022), starring Robert Pattinson as the man in the cowl. It’s fair to say this gritty crime drama is a far cry from the Penguin of my childhood! While I’m also a fan of the downright creepiness of Danny DeVito’s portrayal in the Tim Burton reimagining of the Batman universe, I’ll always have a soft spot for Burgess Meredith’s Penguin.

‘I am Dracula … I bid you welcome!’ The Dreadful Dracula from Mego’s Mad Monster Series

Could there be a better occasion than Halloween for reviving a blog from the dead? So here we are again folks … weeeee’re back!!! Mwahahaha!! Anybody who has followed this blog in the past will know that I’m a huge fan of Mego 1970s action figures. I’m also a huge fan of the old monster movies that were produced by Universal Studios from the 1920s through to the 1960s, so the Mad Monsters line by Mego comes top on my list of all-time favourite action figures. They may not have been officially licensed products, but they manage to skirt licensing laws and produce four figures that are spookily reminiscent of their silver screen counterparts.

Robin Hood and Mego’s Super Merry Men

Who doesn’t love Robin Hood? He’s everybody’s favourite Medieval subversive, known for his archery skills, noble acts, and his commitment to robbing from the rich and giving to the poor. Despite being a fictional character, Robin Hood has become a cultural icon, inspiring numerous adaptations in literature, films, and television shows. The legend of Robin Hood continues to captivate audiences around the world and Hollywood revisits his tale with regularity, although the last attempt to revamp the classic with Taron Egerton wielding the longbow, was nominated for three Golden Raspberry Awards! Ouch! Stealing from the 1% to feed the 99%? Better quash that concept, don’t want the movie-going peasants to get any strange ideas, do we now…?! But I digress…

It’s Clobberin’ Time with The Thing by Mego!

Nobody could deny that Ben Grimm got a tough deal in life. Sure, he gets to be a superhero called The Thing, who together with Mr. Fantastic, the Invisible Woman and the Human Torch, is one of the founding members of the Fantastic Four in the Marvel Comics Universe, but his monstrous form is far from glamorous… and unlike his fantastic cohorts, he is stuck that way! The Thing, however, remains one of Jack Kirby and Stan Lee’s enduringly popular creations.

Up, up and away! Comic version 12-inch Superman by Mego

On the very last day of 2019, inspired by the release of the last Star Wars reboot movie, and some successful forays into local street markets, I decided to relaunch this blog with a post dedicated to Princess Leia. Within a few short months the world was grappling with the COVID-19 pandemic, Italy (where I live) was in lockdown, and my plans for this blog (not to mention everything else!) got pushed to the back burner. Toyissimi, Rome’s huge action figure collector’s fair, was postponed, and then postponed again, so it’s been a lean time for the collection. All this to emphasize my surprise and joy to unexpectedly happen upon a small Sunday market last weekend – the very first one I’ve seen since the easing of Covid-19 restrictions here – and spot this terrific Mego Superman figure, displayed in the unlikeliest of poses, sitting on a toy horse!

It’s Alive! The Monster Frankenstein from Mego’s Mad Monster Series

With Halloween nearly upon us this seems like an excellent time to take a look at a recent vintage find that combines of two of my favourite action figure collecting passions – Universal Monsters and Mego. This wonderful Frankenstein Monster was released in 1974 as part of the Mad Monsters series, an offshoot of the hugely popular World’s Greatest Super-Heroes 8-inch figure line. The set also included the Dreadful Dracula, the Horrible Mummy, and the Human Wolfman, and while they may have been unlicensed figures, Mego did a fine job in creating figures as reminiscent as possible of the classic movie monsters.

Ming the Merciless – The evil emperor of Mongo by Mego

Every super-hero needs an arch-nemesis, and every toy manufacture knows that too! Action figure giant Mego, the company behind some of the most collectible action figures made during the 1970s, even released an 8-inch “Super Foes” line in 1974 to mirror its Super-Heroes line. And when Mego launched a new 10-inch figure design in 1976 with a stunning Flash Gordon playset, one of the finest characters in the series, aside from Flash himself of course, was the big baddie in all three of the 1930s Flash Gordon sci-fi film serials – Ming the Merciless.