The Mego Corporation is making a big comeback. The famed toymaker, which hit its peak in the mid 1970s with popular figures and toys from Star Trek and other TV and film franchises, is returning after going out of business in 1983.
Mego returning exclusively to Target
Today the company announced an exclusive line of new and recreated classic Mego action figures will be launched at Target stores, starting later this month. The line will feature articulated cloth 8-inch figures, 14-inch figures, and 8-inch figure 2-pack dioramas. The toys will be sold under the brand “Marty Abrams presents Mego™” and be launched in three waves in 2018.
Star Trek will be one of the brands featured in the new line, along with DC and and I Dream of Jeannie. Each figure will have a unique serial number and be produced in a limited run of 10,000.
Promotional image for some of the Mego figures coming to Target
“This has been 30 years in the making and I’m excited to give my loyal fans and their kids something new and amazing to play with,” said Martin Abrams, Co-Founder and CEO of Mego Corporation in a statement. “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.”
Details announced at SDCC
More details on the line will be announced at a panel at San Diego Comic-Con next week, but Target revealed a list of some of the figures that will be available this month, which includes an 8-inch Sulu figure from Star Trek: The Original Series. A spokesperson for Mego tells TrekMovie the new Mego figure line at Target will have more Star Trek characters, with further details made available next week at SDCC. They also provided us with a couple of higher resolution images for the Sulu figure.
Closer look at Mego Sulu figure coming to Target
The packaging for the Sulu figure also shows the Romulan Commander and a Gorn, which indicates those are also figures that will be available at Target. The original series of Mego figures from the ’70s actually didn’t have a Sulu figure or a Romulan Commander, although there was a Romulan. The original Mego Star Trek series did include a Gorn figure and in 2008 Diamond Select released a Mego-style retro-cloth Sulu figure.
Packaging for new Mego Sulu figure coming to Target
Target’s exclusive line of Mego collectibles will be available in stores and online July 29 at prices ranging from $14.99 to $29.99. Attendees of SDCC will also be able to purchase a limited number of the new action figures at booth 830, before they launch at Target. All items will be signed by Marty Abrams and a special celebrity guest.
TrekMovie will have more details on the return of Mego from San Diego Comic-Con next week, so stay tuned to this developing story.
Until then, check out this groovy ’70s style announcement the company posted on Instagram today.
You can also follow the new Mego Corporation on Facebook.
Always thought the Mego figures were super cool. But 70s culture is nothing compared to the 60s. Trust me, I didn’t experience either of them.
“But 70s culture is nothing compared to the 60s. Trust me, I didn’t experience either of them.” Huh? Nobody compared 70s culture to 60s culture, so what are you talking about? And why trust you if you didn’t experience either? ???
Good point.
I don’t know how many celebrities will be signing figures, but Joe Namath is listed in the convention programming listings as signing and being at the Mego panel.
To quote Sulu from “The Way To Eden”,….”You make it tempting”.
That Gorn better have hairy ape hands, or there’ll be hell to pay.
I am sure I don’t remember Barbra Eden’s harem pantaloons being so gossamer-like back in the ’60s. If she was not even allowed to show her navel, the censors would surely have noticed them! Appealing to the more adult market me thinks!
Horta,
That’s because people forget the original b/w pilot that actually aired where her character not only had leg revealing gossamer harem pantaloons but she opted not to wear the harem outfit half the time cladding herself only in Tony’s dress shirt with her belly-button securely covered and her legs even more exposed than you recalled. She was also far more forward towards Tony than she was in any other episode.
How are these different from the Diamond Select ones from 2007/8m
This looks identical, just in new packaging. I’d bet its a re-release of the same exact figure. Honestly wouldn’t even be surprised if these are being produced by DST.
I am friends with one of the guys who is working with Marty on these. While we didn’t talk about Star Trek specifically, it was my understanding from the conversation I had that the entire line of new mego figures will be newly sculpted and designed from scratch. I also really doubt Marty would want to source new figures from a Mego knockoff. He’s far too prideful for that!
Reading the description of DS ones from ’08 said they were “painstaking recreations” of the original Mego ones… So, I ge the impression that they should basically be identical.
Passing Through,
I think it all boils down to whether they took pains to faithfully express the original design artist’s sketches or whether they chose to be faithful to the original production lines’ molds as realized by the limitations of the era?
Awesome!!! Simply….. Awesome!
I still have the whole set of original Mego from when I was a kid. They aren’t in packaging but in excellent condition. I also had a Fonzie action figure that I put in the uniform and he became my Chekov. Unfortunately I lost some of the belts, communicators, phasers and tricorders.
A few years back when the re-released them (not sure if it was the real Mego or a knockoff) I bought the set again and left them in the packaging.
Marty did a good job modelling Sulu’s features, but the delta insignia looks cheesy!
I’ll be curious to see how the Romulan Commander figure looks; that might be a nice one to have. I was really into Mego toys back in the 70s; even had a good collection of the 12″ figures from Star Trek: TMP. Sadly, I sold them all years ago.
It would be nice if other Mego products made a comeback; I’d especially love to see a few Micronauts toys make a return as those were always my favorites.
Collars are the bane of doll-makers.
That packaging looks atrocious.
New Mego figures actually from Mego is kind of a mind bender for a collector, after all these years. Would love to see a more faithful bridge playset someday. If they do any TMP, how about Kirk and Spock in spacesuits or a security guard in armor? Yeah, I know Mego didn’t due to well with TMP in 1979, but with collector focus it might be different.
It will be interesting to see if they try anything new. But this venture is interesting in that there seemed to be insufficient demand for Diamond to pursue making the Christine Chapel figure.
I would love a Janice Rand one!
agreed. I would love to see Rand and all the classic Trek babes and aliens.