Legendary toymaker Mego Corp. has returned to the world of injection molded action figures.
Great Neck, N.Y.-based Mego made the comeback official in July at San Diego Comic-Con. Original Mego chairman Marty Abrams was joined at the event by NFL Hall of Famer Joe Namath. Mego made a Namath figure in 1970 and produced a new one exclusively for Comic-Con.
"This has been 30 years in the making," Abrams said in a news release. "I'm excited to give my loyal fans and their kids something new and amazing to play with.
"We wanted to recreate a line that provides that nostalgic feeling of seeing a display of action figures they had as a child, and to share that with their own children."
First, some background, Mego became an iconic toymaker in the 1970s when it licensed superhero characters from DC Comics and Marvel Comics and made a line of 8-inch-tall action figures that now are revered by collectors for their attention to detail and for their ability to be posed.
Other successful 8-inch figure lines made by Mego included figures based on "Star Trek," "Happy Days," "Starsky & Hutch" and the "Wizard of Oz." The firm also made several lines of smaller action figures — including the Micronauts — and even 12-inch-high figures of the rock band Kiss, Sonny & Cher and Captain & Tenille before filing for bankruptcy in 1982.
In more recent years, the Mego superhero figures have found new pop culture homes in Twisted Mego Theater — a feature in ToyFare magazine — and on Cartoon Network's "Robot Chicken" show. Some of these adaptations are entertaining, but they're not exactly kid-friendly.
