Mego Museum Mint Off Card has returned TO THE PLANET OF THE APES! This week we look at the Soldier, the latest Mego takes on a classic apes figure. It’s a new take on an old favourite but haven’t we seen that head before? We also talk about variations in the line. Let’s go to the forbidden zone together!
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Vintage Mego this week talks about Bruce, Peter, Clark and Dick. The Mego Secret Identity outfits are one of the hardest if not the most challenging sets to collect in the world’s greatest superheroes pantheon. Why is that and what is the history? we touch on that and talk about myths and reproductions.
Our latest book “Knock-Offs: Totally Unauthorized Action Figures” is available at the PlaidStallions shop, more info here:
www.plaidstallions.com/reboot/shop
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Hey folks, if you didn’t catch my Livestream this Saturday, I’m doing my follow-up to Rack Toys with a book I’ve titled Knock-Offs: Totally Unauthorized Action Figures. This is a piece I’ve been working on since 2012 but stuff got in the way and I had to put it on hold. I’m glad I did because it just made the whole thing better.
Knock-Offs is a celebration of the dimestore bootleg figure, the copyright-infringing silliness meant to fool our grandpeople. The subjects range from toys of the 1960’s to the 2000s and include every popular genre you can think of.
Knock-Offs Book
Knock-Offs Book- Nightmare Feddy
Chapters will include Superheroes, Science Fiction, Horror, TV/Movies and you’d better believe 80s toys. So many discount Darth Vaders and Skid Row Skeletors…
Knock-Offs Book- Robocops
Knock-Offs will also celebrate the amazing bootleg toy art scene and I have to say, the work these folks create is pretty darn infectious.
Toy-Ventures Magazine is our newest creation, an old-school print magazine about vintage toys! Professionally laid out and written, each issue is brimming with obscure and rare toys from companies such as Mego, Kenner, Remco, AHI, and much more. Monsters, Superheroes, Adventurers, Knock Offs, Apes, and so much more, it’s in Toy-Ventures.
Mego Knock Off Headquarters– The leading group discussing 70s Dime store knock-offs of Mego action figures, we talk vintage toys and not others. We know the difference between Astro Apes and Action Apeman! It’s a really fun group where we talk about Lincoln International, AHI, Tomland, Bogi, Demo Man, Mortoy, and other generic greats.
General Ursus joins Caesar in Mego’s wave 13 assortment of characters. Technically Ursus was a figure in the classic Mego Planet of the Apes but this is not exactly a straight reproduction of that figure. Mego took the classic Ursus/Urko (More on that debacle in the classic Mego Planet of the Apes galleries) and added paints and details to make the figure match James Gregory’s Ursus from “Beneath the Planet of the Apes”.
I have a real fondness for this short-lived but unique toy line by Hasbro, most people at the time didn’t even realize it was supposed to be G.I. Joe, this is mainly because he’s eight inches tall.
G.I. Joe was getting killed by smaller competitors like Big Jim and the Mego World’s Greatest Superheroes, so they shrunk him down to Mego size and sent him to space. What resulted was a fun toy line that just sold well for the first year thanks to Star Wars but laid an egg in the second, thanks to Star Wars toys finally landing on shelves.
IF YOU PRE-ORDERED TOY-VENTURES ISSUE 2 IT SHIPS THIS WEEK STARTING TOMORROW.
I will have tracking #s for every shipment. I haven’t quite figured out how to attach them to your pre-order but if you have worry, you can email us at toyventuresmag@gmail.com and we can look it up. Our new service drives the magazines to the US and ships via USPS.
Issue two covers a number of genres and has some exciting new voices from the hobby.
H.R. Puppet Stuff! By Kroffty This colourful piece tracks the careers of the legendary Sid and Marty Krofft through puppet merchandise, it will make you smile.
The Lost Outer Space Men Contributor Steve Fink returns with another tale of tracking down an impossible grail or in this case, six, the legendary second series of Colorforms Outer Space Men.
Godzilla’s Gang Ray Miller does a deep dive into the 1978 Mattel “Godzilla’s Gang” toyline, highlighting their origins. This is a lot of fun.
The Guide to Denys Fisher Doctor Who One of my passions, the Mego produced Doctor Who toy line is explored in great detail with prototype shots, variations and never before seen reveals.
A figure called Sloane Chris G blew us away when he discovered the abandoned Kenner Toy Line to the obscure 1970s TV series “A Man Called Sloane”. Did I mention that I love that show?
Oscillating Vibrations A love letter to the Saturday morning series “Monster Squad” with a complete merchandise guide featuring never before seen items.
BONUS FOR PREORDER CUSTOMERS Everyone who pre-orders Toy-Ventures Issue 2 will receive 3 Monster Squad trading cards featuring the unproduced Ideal Toys action figures of Bruce W. Wolf, Frank and Drac.
The best way to keep “up to speed” is to like or follow our shiny new Toy-Ventures FB page.
PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD
We’re just starting out and word of mouth is really vital to us right now, so if you like getting this magazine and want to support it further, please tell your fellow collectors about it, post about it on Twitter or Instagram using #toyventures, please tag us (@plaidstallions) and we’ll join in on the conversation.
Share us in a Facebook group, email one friend, anything.
Your voice is really important to us, every little bit of conversation Toy-Ventures can spark is deeply appreciated.
If you’re a retailer interested in our Wholesale program, drop us a line at toyventuresmag@gmail.com
We offer healthy discounts and cross-promotion on mixed bundles of issues 1 and 2.
ISSUE 3 SNEAK PEEK
We’re already hard at it on issues 3 and 4 of Toy-Ventures and this is one of the features we’re working on, a guide to the Lincoln International Monster series of figures.
We’ll also be covering Mego, Palitoy and Popy toys bringing in several new guest columnists from across the globe and a fantastic cover created by a talented and well-known artist. More on this in 2021.
The future, she is bright my friends.
We’ve got some cool Facebook groups:
Mego Knock Off Headquarters focuses on vintage toys that were “Inspired” by Mego corporation, this group was the birthplace of Toy-Ventures magazine and is just straight up vintage toy talk without any pointless melodrama.
Pod Stallions– This is spun out of the PodCast I do with Jason Lenzi and well it’s just a fun group of like-minded collectors and fans of Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Exploitation movies. It’s a really chill vibe, no politics allowed and topics go from Yacht Rock to memorable candy bars of our youth.
Limited Edition Gift Sets Available Now!
Rather than crowdfund the next issue of the magazine, I thought I’d whip up these gift sets full of merch we’ve created in the past. Just that thing for the retro fan in your life. Thanks for indulging me, more content soon!
OUR STORE: http://www.megomuseum.com/odeon/store/products/
10-4 Good Buddy! Vintage Mego discusses the CB McHaul toy line from 1977, a series of action figures not based on Superheroes or Science Fiction but on Burt Reynolds movies and your dad’s hobby. It even taught you a secret language known as trucker talk! We talk about the 70s CB radio craze, the line’s origins and how it’s one of the rarest Mego action figure lines to collect! This video is free of obvious, “low hanging fruit” jokes about self-pollution. MegoMuseum Forums http://megomuseum.com/community/activity.php Join our FB Forum MegoMania https://www.facebook.com/groups/megomania/
and how it’s one of the hardest action figure lines to collect!
Vintage Mego takes a look at the classic Mego Star Trek playset “Mission to Gamma VI” an alien world environment loosely based on a classic epsiode of the television series.
We also talk about why the Mego Star Trek line abruptly ended in 1977 even though it was still quite popular.
This week Vintage Mego takes a look at Terraphant, the terrifying Mammoth from the remote world of Visceros!
Half elephant, half tank we talk about this vehicle’s development including prototype shots and the fun things that were left out of the final product.
Special Thanks to Ray “AcroRay” Miller for the amazing photos and information on this one.
Toy-Ventures this week looks at what we believe to be the greatest villain action figure of the 1970s and perhaps the best action figure of the decade as well.
Kenner’s Maskatron, the robotic face changing robot from Kenner’s Six Million Dollar Man toy line is a wonderful bit of toy magic when some licenses a property but takes artistic license (anticipate a callback joke) and sets out to also make a toy with tremendous play value.
Bionic Jump over to our facebook group PodStallions:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/podstallions
Yeah, I’m doing the Waltons episode, even though I don’t collect the toyline or enjoy the show itself, let’s defend Mego’s decision to make a Waltons toy line in 1975. PS the Sunshine Family legit scared me as a kid.
MegoMuseum Forums:
http://www.megomuseum.com/community/
MegoMania Facebook Group:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/megomania/
Visit the MegoMuseum Waltons Gallery Here http://www.megomuseum.com/galleries/the-waltons/
Plaidstallions Toy-Ventures Magazine is coming: https://plaidstallions.com/reboot/magazine/
