The Black Hole, Walt Disney’s 1979 sci-fi blockbuster, with its multimillion dollar state-of-art special effects and a star-studded cast featuring such notables as Ernest Borgnine, Anthony Perkins and Maximilian Schell, was clearly intended to be the studio’s answer to Star Wars. That was the plan, anyway. Instead the film has become one of those forgotten movies to which the epithet “cult” is often applied. My own memories of the movie were very dim, so I watched it again on DVD recently, happily prepared to embrace it as a lost gem.
Mego
Friar Tuck: Robin Hood and his Merry Men by Mego
The legendary Medieval outlaw Robin Hood has been a hugely popular figure in English folklore for centuries. Armed with bow and arrow and sword, he would steal from the rich to give to the poor, and then head back to his hideout in Sherwood Forest with his band of fellow “Merry Men”. With love interest in the shape of Maid Marian, and the Sheriff of Nottingham as his arch enemy, the story of Robin Hood has been a perennial favourite with Hollywood filmmakers since the early days of silent movies, right through to Russell Crowe’s recent Robin in Ridley Scott’s 2010 Robin Hood. Curiously, it was another Australian-born actor, Errol Flynn,
Action Jackson is my name, bold adventure is my game!
Whilst it was Hasbro who first coined the phrase “action figures” for military dolls aimed at the boys’ market in the late 1960s with their G.I. Joe line, and in particular Palitoy’s UK version known as “Action Man”, the legendary Mego company also earned a place in action figure history in the early 1970s with their own short-lived adventure hero line – Action Jackson. Selling well only briefly, and ultimately a commercial failure, these 8 inch figures with a wonderful range of costumes, were soon superseded by Mego’s phenomenally successful World’s Greatest Superheroes figures. I personally love Action Jackson, however, and he remains a firm favourite with vintage Mego collectors to this day.
Ivanhoe: The World’s Greatest Super Knights by Mego
Whilst legendary toy makers Mego are probably most famous for their 1970s 8-inch line of comic book characters the World’s Greatest Super Heroes, some of their most highly collectible figures today are a very different range of swashbuckling literary and historic heroes – The World’s Greatest Super Knights!
Ivanhoe here, was released alongside the Black Knight, King Arthur, and his knights Sir Galahad and Sir Launcelot, in what was a spectacularly detailed series of beautifully made action figures.
The Human Torch meets Robin in a mega Mego mashup!
Collecting vintage 8 inch Mego action figures from the World’s Greatest Super Heroes line can sometimes bring some fun surprises as we saw a while back with my Superman figure …
Mego Superman: Putting the Super into the World’s Greatest Super Heroes!
We can rebuild him, we have the technology is a phrase we know and love from old The Six Million Dollar Man episodes, but if you’re a collector of vintage Mego 8-inch action figures the expression could easily apply to any toy you are hoping to restore – it is by no means uncommon to come across loose uncarded vintage figures that have been cobbled together with spare limbs from various different figures or restored with repro parts and accessories. Late in the run of their World’s Greatest Super Heroes series even Mego started producing a few oddities of its own, putting random heads on bodies which might explain this Superman gem I picked up the other day in an online auction.
Thumbs up for Fonzie, the star of Mego’s Happy Days line!
Earlier this year I posted a series of articles taking a close and covetous look at my sister’s childhood collection of vintage Mego 8-inch action figures that we had recently uncovered in our parents’ loft in pristine condition. What a wonderful surprise, therefore, to unwrap my Christmas gift from my sister this year and discover another absolute classic from Mego – a vintage 8-inch Fonzie from their Happy Days line! Aaaaaaaayyyyyyyy!! Is this the coolest action figure ever made? Thanks sis!
Robin: Mego and the World’s Greatest Super Heroes…and Sidekicks!
As promised in an earlier post, here’s another vintage Mego 8-inch action figure that was found in a recent loft exploration at my parents’ home. Like Batman, the Lizard and Cornelius, this was another of my sister’s childhood toys, but of all of them, this Fist Fighting Robin probably made me smile the most when I first set eyes on it. Once again, this is a figure in almost perfect condition with only one immediate defect – the original paper logo glued to the left side of his tunic is missing and instead the letter “R” has been carefully drawn in its place! What made me smile was the thought that very probably, as big sister, I was more than likely the guilty culprit who had wielded the felt tip pen all those years ago, although I honestly can’t remember!