World’s Greatest Toys!

Thanks to Mego-head Scott Adams, we have seen some unusual examples of Mego price stickers. Today we offer a gem from Scott Adams’ MIB collection. The very first “Mego Price Stickers” blog, back on April 15th 2007, was a look at price stickers affixed to the original Mego packaging — the “Solid” boxes. We have come full circle.

Given how scarce any “Solid” box is today, it’s really special to locate specimens that retain their original price stickers. We have already been fortunate to show two such stickers.

Today, Scott adds yet another retailer into the fray of early Mego adopters: Roses also purchased Solid Boxed WGSH!

The sticker reads:

• Roses Special
• $1.97

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?

Recently, I have focused attention on any retailer that sold Mego WGSH, with little regard to which toys those particular retailers offered. I am especially interested in comparing retailers that sold related Mego toys simultaneously.

We know that Mego offered better pricing for larger orders, so it’s fun to examine differing price-points each retailer required. The printed ’sale price’ is a strong indication of how large a retailer was… in other words, the cheaper the ’sale price,’ the larger that retailer’s purchase order with Mego.

Today, we examine Mego price stickers from two different retailers from the same time period (1976); both stickers are affixed to MIB 4th Wave “Marvel” Super-Heroes. Both Thornbury’s and Toys By Rizzi offered Mego’s final wave of WGSH-branded figures in 1976, at a time most retailers were cooling on Mego products.

First up, Thornbury’s (AKA “The Fun Place”) and this sticker, affixed to a MIB Thor:

The sticker reads:

• The Fun Place
• GJB664b
• THORNBURY’S
• $3.99
• Toys-Bicycles

Next is Toys By Rizzi and this sticker, affixed to a MIB Conan:

The sticker reads:

• TOYS BY
• RIZZI
• 1313
• 256 MGO
• $4.29

It’s interesting that Toys By Rizzi used part of the Mego Item Number (1313) on their sticker, not to mention the fact that Toys By Rizzi’s toy cost $0.30 more than Thornbury’s toy. The price discrepancy reveals the relative scale of each retailer’s buying power. Clearly, Thornbury’s placed a larger Mego order (at least in 1976) than Toys by Rizzi.

Three cheers to both retailers for supporting Mego in the face of diminishing consumer interest and slowing sales. I hope your Mego inventory eventually sold out. Heck, I wish I’d been there to buy them all up!

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 an early Toys “R” Us price sticker. Today, we look at the more common, later orange price sticker (most commonly associated with Mego “2nd Issue” cards) that Toys “R” Us affixed to Mego toys, such as this “6th Version” (New Logo) Superman box:

What’s cool about this particular sticker is that it demonstrates approximately when Toys “R” Us introduced the orange sticker (i.e. while Mego was producing the final box variation). I always associated the orange Toys “R” Us stickers with the “2nd Issue” cards, which started appearing after 1977, but now we know the retailer actually introduced the new sticker design in 1976.

Cool!

The sticker reads:

• 51300 F
• TOYS R’ US
• 118893 $2.82

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?

On this Memorial Day, I wish to acknowledge all of the brave men and women in the Armed Forces, and give thanks and remembrance to those who have given their lives serving their country.

Here’s a nice example of an early Toys “R” Us price sticker, affixed to a 5th Version (5-digit/Old logo) Shazam box:

Many Mego toys (especially the “2nd Issue” card variants) feature the later orange Toys “R” Us sticker, but this sticker pre-dates all of those more common tags.

The sticker reads:

• TOYS R’ US!
• 429791 $2.48

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?

I don’t know much about King’s history in the world of retail and/or Mego, but they did sell this 4th Version (4-digit/Old logo) Batman box:

The sticker reads:

• KING’S
• 7 75 19
• 310 M 24
• 861
• $3.27

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?

I know very little about Fedco, inc., except to say that they sold Mego WGSH. And that’s enough for me! Here’s a diminutive Fedco sticker, affixed to a 4th Version (4-digit/Old logo) Tarzan box:

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?

Last week, I enjoyed an amazing trip to NYC, to visit two of my oldest and dearest friends… helping one celebrate his 40th birthday.

We went into the city twice, taking time to visit geek strongholds Toy Tokyo, Love Saves the Day and Forbidden Planet.

Knowing Toy Tokyo ordered multiple copies of World’s Greatest Toys from my publisher, I hoped to find copies of the book, but learned they had already sold out their inventory (woo-hoo!).

I didn’t expect to find copies of the book at Love Saves the Day, but I did learn the store’s founder is a fan of the book. I even picked up a sweet, unpunched MOC ©1977c Mego Robin, which the owner originally purchased some 30 years ago.

Forbidden Planet provided perhaps the ’sweetest drop’ of my entire trip. My friends and I approached the building and found that the store had a copy of World’s Greatest Toys… in the freakin’ window!

It was absolutely magical to see the book prominently displayed in one of New York’s coolest stores.

Forbidden Planet, which has reportedly sold numerous copies of the book, still had five remaining copies inside the store:

Above: Holding my ‘Love Saves the Day’ Robin score in front of Forbidden Planet’s window (left); Proudly presenting the five remaining copies of the book, inside the store (right).

I quickly befriended the guys at Forbidden Planet (Jeff, you rule!), and even got a discount on a bad-ass Aquaman hoodie (with artwork I’d never seen before). I’ll post pictures of the Aquaman hoodie later.

I gleefully signed each of the store’s five remaining copies. Without a doubt, It was the best vacation I’ve ever had.

Post your comments about Toy Tokyo, Love Saves the Day, Forbidden Planet or New York City itself, 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?

Simpsons was a Canadian retailer. After merging with U.S.-based Sears, Simpsons became Simpsons-Sears LTD. In 1978, the retailer was further modified, becoming Sears Canada. Here’s a cool shot of a Simpsons price sticker (from the pre-merger days), affixed to a 3rd Version (4-Panel) Spider-Man box:

The sticker reads:

• SIMPSONS
• 158-6
• A9
• $2.49

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?!

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?!