I remember my discovery of Mego's like it was yesterday. I was a little kid, little enough that I had to hold my Mom's hand on the escalator at Denholm's and as a young philosopher I was saying to her that someone should make a Batman action figure.
I had an Aurora Batmobile, and an Aurora Batman but they were model kits, they didn't pose, they didn't bend and you really couldn't play with them.
We got to the toy department and there stacked in a display were boxed action figures of Batman, Robin, Superman and Aquaman. You couldn't see the figure in the box, and even at this young age I thought I was seeing things.
I couldn't decide which one I'd get-- how could I have Batman without Robin? Superman looked really cool, and Aquaman has always been a favorite of mine. Mom bought me all four and I played with them to death.
My buddies jumped on the Mego bandwagon too and we soon pooled our collections in a suitcase we used to take to each other's houses. We'd have to replace the sticker logos on the figures with magic marker drawings, and the costumes would fray. We'd bury these things in the yard, we'd toss them off bridges, we played with these things.
Originals in the box go for about $5K today, but Figures Toy Company has gone back and began recreating them-- and they are available through my good friends at Entertainment Earth too. Check 'em out, but some plastic toys with cloth clothes but don't call 'em dolls. These are the original action figures!
MEGO at ENTERTAINMENT EARTH
