World’s Greatest Toys!

Back in the ’90s, I worked as a Graphic Designer (for the “In-Store Marketing” department) for Mervyn’s California, so this price sticker is especially cool to me. It is affixed to a 3rd Version (4-Panel) Tarzan box:

The sticker reads:

• MERVYN*S
• 878 10 3
• 83
• $1.88

I just wish that, while I worked there, I’d had the sense to investigate whether the company had any archival photos of their stores back in the ’70s. Can you imagine seeing a vintage photograph of a Mego end-cap at Mervyn’s?! Sigh.

Post your comments below. I’d like to hear your thoughts.

Benjamin

Want to learn more about Mego and the World’s Greatest Super-Heroes?
Pick up a copy of Mego 8″ Super-Heroes: World’s Greatest Toys from Amazon.com today! All sales support the author and help finance the blog. How cool is that?!

While Mego was world-renown for shameless self-promotion to the toy industry (have you heard about Mego’s extravagant Toy Fair parties for retail buyers?), Mego was very poor at self-promotion aimed at its end-users… also known as ‘kids’.

How many of us, as kids, knew that a company called “Mego” manufactured our favorite action figures? Sadly, very few.

While 1970s Christmas catalogs are filled with recognizable logos from larger manufacturers such as Kenner (the ‘Stretch Armstong’ and ‘Star Wars” dudes), Hasbro (the ‘Super Joes’ dudes) and Mattel (the ‘Barbie’ dudes), Mego logos and/or attributions rarely appear in 1970s retail Christmas catalogs.

That’s what makes the 1977 Aldens catalog particularly special. Not only does it feature a Mego ‘logo’ attribution, it is not actually a Mego logo. But it is cool, and it properly credits Mego for making some hot toys:

This strange Mego logo appears twice on the same page of Aldens’ 1977 Christmas catalog, which offered a Batman & Robin 2-pack ($6.99 for both!) and the Mobile Bat Lab ($13.99)

Holy Zap!

Did you grow up in the Chicago area? Do you remember shopping at Aldens or perusing an Aldens Christmas catalog? Post your comments below. I’d like to hear your thoughts.

Benjamin

Want to learn more about Mego and the World’s Greatest Super-Heroes?
Pick up a copy of Mego 8″ Super-Heroes: World’s Greatest Toys from Amazon.com today! All sales support the author and help finance the blog. How cool is that?!

Yesterday, we looked at two different Children’s Palace stickers.

At the end of the 1970s, Children’s Palace merged with Child World. During this period, both retailers purchased large amounts of ©1979 carded Mego Super-Heroes, originally intended for French distributor Pin Pin Toys to sell into the European market. Apparently ordered by an “overzealous European buyer,” according to Mego vice president Neal Kublan, the majority of these toys were returned to the United States.

Many of these “2nd Issue” carded heroes bear an item number with “/F” (presumably denoting “France” or “French”), as well as an applied (legally required) English-language ‘Age Labeling’ sticker, which reads “Recommended for ages three and up.”

Here are two examples of such Pin Pin Spider-Man cards, sold through the merged Child World/Children’s Palace stores:

The stickers bear identical information, with the exception of the numbers “52″ and “71,” presumably a reference to the store or region that sold the figures.

Do you have any price stickers you want to share? Any recollections of buying Mego toys from Child World or Children’s Palace? Post your comments below. I’d like to hear your thoughts.

Benjamin

Want to learn more about Mego and the World’s Greatest Super-Heroes?
Pick up a copy of Mego 8″ Super-Heroes: World’s Greatest Toys from Amazon.com today! All sales support the author and help finance the blog. How cool is that?!

With thanks to Mego-head Don Cassetori, here are two intriguing “Children’s Palace” price stickers to compare and contrast (and this is just plain weird!).

Don sent me a price sticker detail of his 1st Version (”Error”) Lizard box (below left, see page 170 of World’s Greatest Toys), which is strikingly different than the price sticker on my 1st Version “4-digit” Supergirl box (below right, see page 63 of World’s Greatest Toys):

What intrigues me is the fact that (based on prices alone) the $2.77 Lizard box seems to have been available BEFORE the $2.97 Supergirl box. However, Supergirl (in this particular box) was first available around December 1973, while Lizard was not offered until approximately June 1975… a year-and-a-half later!

So, what’s the deal here?

Did Children’s Palace have differing (perhaps regional) pricing?

Was Supergirl such a ‘peg-warmer’ that Children’s Palace was still digging out unsold specimens in 1975?

Did Mego distribute early-edition Gals boxes for several years (remember, Mego subsequently issued the “5-digit” box)?

Did the Children’s Palace toy wholesaler (assuming they didn’t buy directly from Mego) simply dole out Mego toys randomly, rendering my Supergirl box a late-distribution anomaly?

Post your comments below. I’d like to hear your thoughts.

Benjamin

Want to learn more about Mego and the World’s Greatest Super-Heroes?
Pick up a copy of Mego 8″ Super-Heroes: World’s Greatest Toys from Amazon.com today! All sales support the author and help finance the blog. How cool is that?!

In World’s Greatest Toys (page 59), I discuss retailer S.S. Kresge, and their transition into Kmart:

Founded in 1899, S.S. Kresge was a five-and-dime retailer. In 1977, the company officially changed its name to Kmart Corporation, but Kresge stores operated in America until 1987.

During the 1970s, Kresge and Kmart orders were fulfilled through several different consolidation facilities, such as See-Pak in New Jersey. Orders came from “the individual stores,” recalled Mego warehouse manager Ray Demato. Mego’s warehouse employees would stage the entire order, separated by region. To fulfill orders for East Coast and Midwest stores, for example, Demato explained that Mego would “put them on a See-Pak truck that went to a Kmart breakdown point. See-Pak handled a specific region of the country,” adding, “There was a ‘See-Pak,’ a ‘See-USA,’ and others. [Kmart] had like five distribution points” covering the entire country.

Since the retailer’s transition occurred during Mego’s heyday, it’s fun to track the varying prices and toys offered by the two (very different) stores. In all my years of collecting, I have encountered relatively few “Kmart” price stickers, while I have seen countless examples of “Kresge” stickers, thank to the Kresge-branded “1st Issue” cards.

Kresge ordered ‘owned-brand’ packaging (i.e. pre-printed price stickers) for only a few years (1973-1975), but they continued to sell Mego products for years afterward. Here’s a cool comparison of a “Kresge” and a “Kmart” price sticker, both of which appeared after Kresge stopped buying ‘owned-brand’ packaging:

The $3.33 “Kresge” sticker (above left) is affixed to a “1st Issue” (6th Version) Robin card (see page 189 ofWorld’s Greatest Toys), while the $3.97 “Kmart” sticker (above right) is affixed to a 2nd Issue “©1977b” Batman card (see page 225 of World’s Greatest Toys).

The packages were issued about a year-and-a-half apart, which explains the $0.64 price increase.

It’s kinda the same as Wal-Mart, except Wal-Mart isn’t cool.

Target is cool.

Target is so hip and cool that some call it “Tar-zhay,” affecting an irritating French accent.

Based in Minneapolis, MN, Target is a retail giant. Originally a relatively small, regional chain, Target has grown to become one of the largest chains in the world; it is so large, in fact, the parent company (which also owns “Mervyn’s California”) recently changed its corporate name to “Target, Inc.”

And back in the day, Target sold Mego toys. Suh-weet.

Can you imagine walking into a Target — today — and finding a freakin’ Mego figure?!

Back in 1976, some kid did just that, scoring a sweet MIB Human Torch. Sadly, it took a while to sell the figure, as evidenced by the “Clearance” price sticker affixed to this specimen:

The original sticker reads:

TARGET
861 652
013
$2.99

The second (Clearance) sticker reads:

TARGET
861
013
CLEARANCE
.75

Pretty cool. At $2.99, I probably wouldn’t buy that MIB Mego Human Torch figure, either.

But for $0.75? I’ll take ‘em all.

Holy crap, this is just too cool!

Two weeks ago, according to Diamond Galleries’ Scoop, an anonymous donor gave the Library Library of Congress some very significant art:

Original Spider-Man artwork by Steve Ditko. The set of drawings for 24 pages of artwork came from Marvel Comics’ Amazing Fantasy #15, the comic book that marked the introduction of Spider-Man, in August 1962!

I don’t know about you, but I used to stare at reprints of these pages for hours on end. I love the shot of Peter Parker jumping onto the wall to avoid Flash Thompson’s car.

Just looking at this art instantly takes me back to childhood. And to think the owner could be so altruistic. It’s… well… AMAZING.

Read the full article

Links: Subscribe to Scoop

Where did you and your family buy Mego toys?

I’m working on a new project, and I need your help.

I want to document every retailer, large or small, that sold Mego action figures during the 1970s and early 1980s. I already started a Blog series documenting cool Mego price stickers, and now I’m asking from contributions from all y’all Mego collectors.

Mego-head Don Cassetori recently contributed a wonderful JC Penney price sticker, and now he’s provided several more, including Children’s Palace (which I like to call “Chil Pal”) and Mason’s:

Don also sent in these great Mego price stickers from retailers Rich’s and Toy Village:

Have you ever heard of any of these stores? Did your family shop at one of them when you were a kid? If so, please add a comment below and tell me what you remember.

Do you remember any other retailers (however obscure) from your childhood? Please post a comment and share your memories. As I said, I’m working to document all of these store, and I can really use your insight.

Thanks for playing along!

Mego’s Shazam is often overlooked, but the figure should be given a second look for the following reasons:

Shazam was among the final five “1st Issue” cards released in 1976, shortly before Mego completely converted all packaging to the “2nd Issue” card design (discontinuing both the “1st Issue” and “window box” packaging styles).

Also, the aforementioned “1st Issue” Shazam packaging variant is among the rarest of all Mego collectibles.

Furthermore, Shazam was not renowned for big sales back in the day (according to Mego insiders), yet Mego produced the figure nearly until the very end of the line. Sadly, the character didn’t quite make Mego’s final WGSH curtain call.

In 1979, Mego cut its WGSH character offering in half, from 27 figures in 1978 (i.e. all of ‘em) to just 13 figures. Mego continued to offer its most popular 8″ WGSH characters, which surprisingly included Isis and… Shazam!

In 1980, the line further dwindled to from 13 to just 9 figures:
Superman, Batman, Robin, Captain America, Spider-Man, Penguin, Joker, Hulk and… Shazam!

In 1981 (the year Mego opted to liquidate WGSH merchandise through an ‘offer they can’t refuse’ retailer promotion), Mego whittled the line from 9 figures to a paltry 7 figures, including:
Superman, Batman, Robin, Captain America, Spider-Man, Hulk and… Shazam!

In 1982, the last year Mego produced WGSH figures, the line was reduced by just 1 figure. The remaining 6 characters included:
Superman, Batman, Robin, Captain America, Spider-Man and Hulk… Shazam was finally axed.

1982 was the last year Mego formally offered WGSH figures. Shazam was, in fact, the very last character Mego intentionally discontinued from the WGSH.

And that’s gotta be worth something.

I shout out my love to you, Mego Shazam! I personally believe you are one of the coolest toys Mego ever produced.

You are handsome with your bright, clean, duotone costume… particularly compelling when contrasted against your exquisite, cobalt blue packaging.

You are likely the cause of countless “Mego-made-Flash-’cause-I-saw-it-at-Target-as-a-kid” rumors.

You share a head sculpt with the über-rare, Montgomery Ward Peter Parker “Secret Identity” outfit.

And you just plain kick ass.

Well done, Mego Shazam. Take a bow.

Want to learn more about Mego and the World’s Greatest Super-Heroes?
Pick up a copy of Mego 8″ Super-Heroes: World’s Greatest Toys from Amazon.com today!
All sales support the author and help finance the blog. How cool is that?!

I don’t know who “Cobra Creations” is, but I found this great photo of his on flickr.com:

This person has taken some very cool and artistic photos of toys, including Mego Super-Heroes, Kenner Super Powers and a Jumbo Machinder Gundam (with box!). You can see his collection here.

If anyone knows the photographer, please let me know.

Links: Flickr