Retro Thing

Adults Try Power Wheels On For Size

 
photo from Power Racing Series website

In the mid 80s, toy company Kransco debuted Power Wheels, a series of ride-on replica cars and trucks for kids. The expensive battery-powered motorized vehicles were a hit with kids almost immediately, with sales reaching a million/year by 1990. I can think of some real car companies that would love those sorts of sales.

Eventually Mattel bought the line, and soon after we had Barbie and Hot Wheels tie-ins that have kept the line going for so long. Newer models have refinements such as FM radios, doors, power lock brakes... can an iPod dock be far behind?

Since Power Wheels have been around for a frankly astonishing thirty years, there are plenty of adults now who grew up with the toys themselves. A healthy hacking community has grown up around the all-plastic vehicles. Simple fixes like upgrading the rechargable battery, swapping out the original motor for a stronger one from a cordness drill, to complete retrofits. Then there's the next logical step... grown-ass men racing these little pink plastic cars.

The video clip here documents an annual event - Extreme Barbie Jeep Racing. This is among the easiest "hacks" - simply pull out the drive train, and freewheel down a muddy hill. This clip is a couple of years old, but is no less hilarious. The sheer number of times drivers lose a blow-molded plastic wheel (and it's not that big of a deal) gets a bellow out of me every time.

Then there are more serious hackers who replace every part of the vehicle, essentially using the outer shell. The guys at Make Labs esentially built a little metal framed car that you simply drop the plastic shell over. Fun, I suppose... but I think it flies in the face of the insanity of an adult driving the little plastic car. Plus theirs is built a little too well to throw a wheel - and what fun is that?

links:

read Make Labs step-by-step hack
user community devoted to hacking Power Wheels

 

Steam Powered King Tiger Tank

I loved building model kits when I was younger, but it never dawned on me how fun it would be to combine a Tamiya 1/16 kit of a WWII German King Tiger tank with a couple of miniature Regner Piccolo steam engines and a 3.5" marine boiler. This brilliant machine uses 100% steam propulsion, relying on batteries only for remote control and lighting.

The tank is controlled using a traditional 6-channel radio control unit, although the R/C receiver is a custom designed circuit board. All in all, this a brilliant machine. My only regret is that there aren't more of them. A nice little British Cromwell might prove to be an excellent adversary. 

Steam Turret Tank [instructables via Hack a Day]

Transformers (Sort Of) Padlock (Sort Of)

I wasn't the right age to be fascinated with Transformers when they were new, though I did like a lot of the early all-metal robot toys. It was almost like a three dimensional puzzle, and when you were done you could admire the cleverness of a racecar that turned into a robot. Quickly the knockoffs came, with often shamefully poor representations of the transforming robot concept, and looked lbad whether vehicle or robot.

In addition to the little vehicles, there were also converting toys that were in real-world scale. In the original toyline, the lead bad guy, Megatron, transformed into a kid-sized chrome handgun (which seems almost unimaginable now...) - way out of scale with the rest of the lineup of cars and jets and so on. They came up with an explanation of sorts in the cartoon, but since the big-budget films, they've neatly avoided those weird size issues by redefining many of the stock players.

The movies don't seem to feel any obligation to stick to the specific robot forms of the old characters. Now pretty much any earthly object can become a transforming robot thanks to the Cybertron mojo that hops into it (I think... those movies are darned confusing at times...). This new approach feels to me a bit like Frosty the Snowman coming to life thanks to that magic hat, but Transformers fans really don't like it when I say stuff like that.

This knockoff transforming toy is named "Lock-Man" (how many memos got passed around to approve THAT name?) by a company called Four Star. By day, he is a mild-mannered ineffective all-metal padlock (Why "ineffective"? That dial on the front does nothing. The lock opens with a button on the side). However when trouble strikes, he transforms into the Johnny Long Torso of robots. But to help you, he'd have to unlock himself to run to your rescue - right? Wouldn't that leave your valuables unprotected? Seems like the Decepticons would have figured that out too.

I have to admit that even with my fondness for odd ideas (you're looking at a whole website full of 'em!), and poorly thought out rip-off products, Lock-Man is pretty lame - even for a knockoff (the original design is Bandai's "Metal Joe"). But at least he's not a Go-Bot, okay?

 

Retro Shanghai: Pac-Man With Freakishly Long Tongue

As I walked the streets of Shanghai, I didn't run into any crazy electronic delights. Unfortunate, but I did find the next best thing. A reminder of my 8 bit gaming heritage - a Pac-Man figure! Back in the 80s, I fell in love with the game. I wasn't any good at it (and I'm still not, despite having the full-size cabinet of Pac-man Plus), but I fell in love with the single-minded design of the game. A simple mouth in the pursuit of eating, and the bad guys are the same as have haunted stories for all time - ghosts! Back then, I remember buying some Pac-Man socks, Pac-Man silly putty, even Pac-Man scratcher games... but never a figure.
I was bemused and thrilled at the very existence of a Pac-Man figure I could put on my shelf. I assumed that like some of the other treasures I found in Shanghai, this was simply another attempt to shanghai (ha!) someone else's intellectual property to create another incomprehensible toy. Especially when I saw Pac's massive mechanical tongue.

I've forgotten a lot of things from the 80s, but I'd remember an aardvark berserker mode in Pac-Man that let you lick up all the ghost monsters. I assumed that this was one of the weird additions you find in bootleg toys, but as it turns out there's a new cartoon on TV that features some member of the proud Pac-Man lineage (Pac-Second-Cousin-Twice-Removed) with a superextended stamplicker. Though my toy doesn't exactly match the one on the box, so it still may be some weird bootleg.

I can't figure out the cartoon's storyline from the Wikipedia entry - possibly due to my advancing decrepitude. There's some basic thread of the yellow guy eating the ghost guys, but after that I'm lost. There are more Pac-Men; a bluish ice-spitting one, even a chrome Pac-Man who upchucks a magnet. You can get these figures in the US, as well as a special edition golden Pac-Man who's tongue has the original game's graphics tattooed (I assume) right on.

Guess what? Since the cartoon has been successful, they've already converted it into a video game. Hey, wait a minute...

Help out Retro Thing when you add a pink-tongued Pac-Man to your collection.

Special limited edition commemorative gold edition

Retro Shanghai: Scofflaw Pop Culture Nano Blocks

We've written about Nano Blocks before. A Lego clone of sorts, but at a fraction of the size. Nano Blocks aren't compatible with Lego, and theyr'e really not meant to be. These sets are intended less for the toy aisle, and more for collector and hobby shops. Their tiny size means you can get greater detail in a smaller space. Also the bricks are very plain - no specialized giant single bricks here... just the simple elements so you can build your blocky dreams.

Ohio Art (that's right... the Etch-A-Sketch people) have been importing Nano Blocks for a few years now, concentrating mostly on architecture sets or miniature models of animals and musical instruments. I knew that Nano Blocks are a big deal in Japan and China, but until I found these sets in Shanghai I had no idea how many more models are out there. I discovered these models in the bin of a street vendor and from several other sellers in an open market. These pop culture icons in brick form are very cool... very, very cool. They are also far from licensed. The Loz Diamond Blocks I found are identical to Nano Blocks, and clearly without fear of reprisal from Hasbro, Nintendo, Apple (yes there was a Steve Jobs model), and many more intellectual property owners. Because the bricks are so tiny, they are a bit tough to handle. Also the creators of the instruction leaflets could do with a few more sessions looking at how Lego does it. When I built Mario, several steps assumed that we weren't living in a physical world. I had to hold parts in mid air until 2 steps later when the connecting pieces finally came into play.

These really aren't for kids as the pieces don't snap together like Lego (I suspect you'd never get them apart again). They're models to put on a shelf rather than toys for play. I had a lot of fun putting these models together, even though it was a bit fiddly dealing with these microscopic pieces. Too bad that the American distributors can't offer these pop culture sets here in the states. Though I'm sure the links below can help you find what you're looking for... (whistling to myself...)

Help Retro Thing when you pick up pop culture Nano Blocks

Retro Shanghai: A Trio Of Bizarre Transformers

Transformers have been back for a number of years thanks to a couple of overblown feature films, and a relaunch of the accompanying toyline. I wasn't the right age to play with Transformers the first time around, but I had a passing interest in the cartoon and the core concept. Some of those toys are amazingly & pleasingly complex, even (or maybe especially) for an adult. I have a couple around my office, mostly amusing models that convert into truly stupid non-robot forms. I've got a pinball machine, a one-armed bandit, even a deadly cash register.

Walking around Shanghai's open market, I got the idea that transforming robot toys never truly went away. Despite the Transformers reboot, there were still plenty of converting robots that were truly dopey. I saw one that converted from a panda to a bad-ass looking battle robot... with the head of panda (I know, I know... I should have bought it).
Then there was this trio of robots. It looked like they'd been hanging in the shop for ages. As robots, they look formidable enough (except for the one that has a surprised face for a crotch). I pulled them out of the package. The toys are made of such a fragile plastic, that an afternoon's place will reduce these robos to deadly shards... (much like the old Dapol Doctor Who figures). After you follow the microscopically printed directions to convert the robots, you're left with... well, I don't know what you're left with.

Okay the green one is some kind of robo frog who can hold accessory tadpoles in his special tadpole compartment. I'm taking on faith that these gray plastic squiggles are tadpoles, and not sperm. Admittedly this guy's transformation is pretty much a cheat since you basically fold the robot a few times, and then plug on the frog body. It's sort of like you have a battle robot that likes to curl up inside a frog-shaped cozy.

Yellow stripey converts into a giant bumble bee while you stare transfixed at his second crotch-face. That might not sound especially scary, but just remember how you acted the last time you had a bumble bee after you. Now enlarge that by a thousand, and imagine that bee as a diesel burnin' robot (or mutant pollen spores... I don't really know). Pretty clear threat, I'd say, especially if you're allergic to bee stings.

Finally, you've got a robot that converts into... I don't know... a battle-ready roll-on deodorant? Ignoring for the second time the crotch-located face, what in the heck non-robot are we looking at here? To clarify this point to Transformers designers... Non-robot mode is a disguise, or some kind of vehicle (or an outscaled gun, but that's a different story).Perhaps these robots are part of a different psychological approach against the enemy. Befuddle the bad guys, then transform into a robot and throw your tadpoles at them.

The back of the package shows that I missed models that transform into a shark (fair enough), and a grumpy public garbage can (I need a lie down). Do any of our Chinese speaking readers have any insight into these robots I brought home with me?  Since these robots are half animal, should they have been quaranteed for six months at the border?

Retro Shanghai: Two Feet Of Cheap Ultraman Figures

Even the Shanghai shopkeepers who didn't specialize in toys seemed to have a few of these on their walls. These carded instant toy collections are truly massive. This Ultraman themed set measures a massive 2 feet long!

We've written about Ultraman before. It's one of japan's earliest entries into the guy-turns-into-a-giant-robot-to-fight-monsters-while-Tokyo-crumbles genre. it was one of my favorites when I was a kid, so much so that I turned into a pile of kiddish thrills when the series came out on DVD just a few years ago.

The series was so successful that it spawned literally decades of sequels, all featuring members of the growing UltraFamily. This toy set is a loose collection of UltraSiblings of some sort, designed mostly for economy. The figures are of the cheap blow-molded variety, with just a spritz of paint and movement limited to some very stiff shoulders.

The proportions are more cutesy than lean and mean. This caricatured look is common in even the most serious Japanese manga and anime, referred to as "super deformed" or "chibi". You'll also notice that this is not a set of six unique Ultras - it's a set of three repeated figures. Cheap move, but at least you won't mind sharing your dupes with your stupid little brother.
The set includes a pair of monsters, five vehicles that may or may not be from the series, and a kid-sized gun (reminds me of a similar kiddie pistol with a rude name) for helping old UncleUltra dispense with the baddies. So cheap is the gun that the stickers are only applied on the side of the gun you can see through the packaging! There's a sheet of stickers you apply yourself. I suppose it's a labor-saving move. Kids like stickers, right? I'm sure in the time it take to put stickers on, they could make another dozen guns...

Clearly the gun is meant to be a battery powered noisy/flashy sidearm (the grip's sticker says "electro indicater (sic) system" which sounds deadly enough...), but from the looks of it, they forgot the electronic guts. The design ethos of these sets is bold packaging, a bewildering number of parts, all at a bargain price. Plus you can hang this attention-getter on the wall of any store, even one without a dedicated toy section.

The economy of this toy reminds me a lot of green army men, who's main attraction was their cheapness. This whole UltraArmada set me back some five bucks, and I must admit to being drawn to how low end the toy is. It'll likely stay in its package, not out of a misplaced sense of preserving its "collectibility", but because the art of it is in the whole package... the whole cheap package.

Buy the entire 60s series on DVD for under $10, and help Retro Thing

Retro Shanghai: Knockoff Space Lego On The Moon

I just got back from a week of working in Shanghai. It's an understatment to say that China is a completely different world that what a typical westerner is used to. While I was mostly there to work, I did get a chance to do some shopping and I discovered some retro fun that I'll be sharing with you over the next 5 days.

At Retro Thing, we're no strangers to knock-off Lego. We've written about Loc Blocs, Nano Blocks, and many other attempts to dodge the Lego legal department by creating cheap incompatible bricks. That changed in the 90s when several companies challenged Lego's exclusive rights to the original  "studs and tubes" construction system. Lego has tried suing these companies over the years, but since the patents on Lego have expired, pretty much anyone can make Lego compatible bricks.

Shopping in the part of Shanghai I saw was sort of like roaming a street market. You could step into mini "stores", but most of the selection was right there in front of you on the street. The one toy shop  I saw had genuine Lego up on a wall, but dozens of knockoff sets all around. The packaging vaguely emulates the look and feel of the genuine article. The real Lego sets were priced very high, making the Chinese "Enlightenment" knockoffs seem an even more attractive option.
This set celebrates the early days of the US space program, which I like. Lego has mostly gone the route of space fantasy with their current offerings, so it's up to the Lego bootleggers of the world to celebrate the actual heroes of real life space travel. The designs of the finished models don't have quite the sense of refinement that a typical Lego set might have, but then again... the real vessels we sent into space were a little on the chunky side . I appreciate the attention to detail that inspired their model of the lunar lander to include separable stages.

The models are realized without a lot of one-function-only pieces (a major complaint of new Lego sets), so I've got to hand it to these designers for doing a pretty nice job. Especially in a set that set me back less than ten bucks. Though I don't remember spears and a magic wand sticking out anything we sent to the moon. A lot of specialized pieces (like the antennas, wheels, the mini astronaut figure) are clearly direct copies of Lego. This isn't a case of creating a selection of compatible pieces and a few special add-ons. This is a direct ripoff meant to cajole a customer into thinking they're buying something as good as Lego. I haven't opened the box yet, so I don't know how well the pieces actually work (many knockoffs don't hold together particularly well). If they do actually stick together, then it looks like this fairly reasonable facsimile will bring smiles to the faces of the kids of China. Though it certainly won't make the manufacturers of Lego very happy to know just how much of this stuff is on the streets of Shanghai.

Ray Gun Of The Future With A Slightly Rude Name

In the gritty shadow of interplanetary conflict, there are several ways to wage war. There's physical warfare; tanks, superior firepower, etc. Then there's the theater of the psychological. Your enemies will cower with shame knowing that they've been gunned down by a weapon with the word "pissed" in it.

Okay, not exactly... But that sort of psychological warfare must be what the Lion factory had in mind when their armorers started to issue the "Sparkling Pist" to their young soldiers. Either that or it's just a careless typo from a factory in China pressing out very cheap tinplate sparking guns in the 60s.

The main spine of the gun is plastic, but both sides are metal. What look like misaligned stickers on the sides are actually graphics printed right onto the gun itself. There's a lion (more like a yawning kitten) on the butt of the gun. If the gun's ferocity diminishes, you can always give the gun new spark using the "flint inlet". Looking at the gun itself, it does say "pistol" right on there, so it looks more and more like the "pist" on the front of the box is merely a sad typographical error. Too bad. I really like the idea of holstering a Sparkling Pist on my next interplanetary adventure.

Care to join me? Unlike a lot of tin toys, this one is quite common and rather cheap. Some intergalactic suppliers on Ebay are trying to get a quick 50 dollars, but it's easy to find a boxed gun for around 15 space bucks. Just follow the link below, and join the Retro Thing Golden Pist Rangers. Wait a sec... that doesn't sound right...

thanks Sean!

link:

Help out Retro Thing when you arm yourself with a Sparkling Pist

"The Blues Brothers" Done Proud - Lego Style

The team at Bricktease.com have just posted a painstaking all-Lego recreation of one of the most infamous scenes from 1980's "The Blues Brothers". As both a Chicagoan and a Lego fan, this story is a joyous collision of so many things I still cherish.

As a love letter to Chicago, The Blues Brothers has it all. James Brown, Aretha Franklin, and John Lee Hooker all in the same movie? At the time the film was one of the most expensive comedies ever made. Not coincidentally. the project held the record for the most cars wrecked during filming; 103. I like to think of it as almost a musical since the screen erupts with fantastic performances every few minutes (though there's no sign of typical movie-music saccharine). Seeing Cab Calloway's performance of Minnie the Moocher makes me want to leap out of my chair every single time.

There's an amazing car chase scene though a shopping mall where the boys wreak havoc on stores and shoppers while the cops are in pursuit. It's a great dynamic scene that's shot remarkably well. A Lego movie making group called Bricktease was clearly just as taken by this iconic scene as I was, and they set out to recreate it shot by shot with stop-motion animated Lego.

This is a painstaking task. When you've watched the all-Lego clip, check out this side-by-side comparison, and you'll see just how amazingly close the Lego version is to the original film. There's even a behind-the-scenes video so you can check out just how time intensive this project was. Congratulations to Duncan and the rest of the team! Did ya get mah Cheez Whiz, boy?

link:

Watch this video to see how Bricktease created this amazing project

"Lost" 1970s Alien Action Figures - Now You Can Horrify Your Holidays

This holiday you can fulfill a nightmare that started way back in the late 70s, but never saw the light of day. Which is both fortunate and apropos. The late 70s proved that movie sci-fi was very much alive, tie-in merchandising even moreso. Star Wars was no fluke - "serious" science fiction films were on their way, and there was great potential to make serious buck at the box office, as well as at the toy counter.

The brooding (and breeding) horror of Ridley Scott's 1979 horror masterpiece "Alien" was as dramatic a move forward in cinema science fiction as Star Wars was two years before. Whereas Lucas' opus captured the spirit of family friendly swashbucklers of years past, Alien had far more in common with gory b movie fare and the stylish gothic Hammer horrors.

Despite the well-deserved R rating, toy maker Kenner had plans to put the brutal xenomorph Alien into the hands of children. Fun! Ignoring the fact that the toy buying populace had no business seeing this R rated movie (Robocop toys fall into the same weird category), Kenner reckoned that H.R. Giger's erotically charged monster designs were perfect for a new line of toys.

Some of the toys were ordinary enough - a board game, jigsaw puzzles, and the like. Kenner created a cartridge movie viewer (like the Star Wars one we've shared before) that condensed the terror of the entire feature into a 3 minute silent loop of film. I haven't seen it, but what kid-safe scenes might they have included? Ripley walking down a corridor?

To really banish sleep from your kids' lives forever, you could have tucked an 18" reproduction of the "Big Chap" alien under the tree. Imagine the marketing that could go into the packaging of just such a blood-curdling toy. How about some bright yellow labels on the packaging declaring "Exciting!" "Horrific!"  "Phallic!"

Not too many of these toys actually made it to market. To be fair, these products were in development before the film earned its R rating - but had anyone on the creative team even seen the movie? One of the casualties was a set of action figures. Inspired by their own smash hit Star Wars figures, Alien was a natural follow up. Kenner got them to the prototype stage before pulling the toy line. 

Until now. The geniuses at Super 7 - the same crew that produced the amazing Shogun Warrior inspired Stormtrooper - are introducing this long lost toy line to collectors for the first time. Using the original prototypes, the Alien figures are a real look at how these toys would have appeared had they made it to store shelves. Super 7 has created full packaging too, an astonishingly accurate picture of a 70s nostalgia that never was. Pre-orders for the set are long gone, but Super 7 has teamed up with Funko to produce another run of the figures. They've even created a set of drinking glasses for Alien like those that might have been given out at a fast food restaurant back in the 70s. These Super 7 folks really know what they're doing. When the second run of figures comes out, I may just have to take the plunge. Then the race is on to see who's the first to recreate scenes from Alien on YouTube.

link:

Super7 online store

KORG and LittleBits Unveil Snap-Together Analog Synth Kit

Korg and NYC electronics kit startup LittleBits have teamed up to create a $159 snap-together analog synthesizer kit. It includes 12 modules including a pair of oscillators, classic 1970s-style filter, envelope generator, mini switch keyboard and essentials such as a power regulator and speaker.

LittleBits modules feature magnetic snap-together connectors that make it easy to quickly rearrange electronic modules in countless different ways. The system is expandable, so you can borrow a couple of modules from a friend and easily create a multi-oscillator monster synthesizer. 

LittleBits founder Ayah Bdeir has worked tirelessly in recent years to pull together a framework for licensing open source hardware that anyone is free to modify, make and use. While we don't yet know the details, I strongly hope that she continues that trend with this product by making schematics and design files available for everyone to study and use. 

Modules include: 

• 9V DC power regulator
• Two tunable square/sawtooth oscillators
• Voltage controlled filter with cutoff and resonance
• Attack/Decay envelope generator
• Digital delay
• Tact switch keyboard
• Micro sequencer
• mixer
• splitter
• randomizer
• amplified speaker

The instruction manual includes 10 example projects including Percussion Party, Keytar, Spooky Sounds and Synthesizer With The Works (the first one I'll build!). For users who aren't afraid to modify their modules, LittleBits and Korg include instructions for creating sound-altering circuit designs such as pitch sweeps, white noise, key player, sequencer control, frequency modulation, random voltage, filtering noise and echo and delay.

This kit looks like a great frustration-free way to introduce youngsters to the wonders of analog synthesis and I'm pretty sure these modules will be hacked and mangled by the grown-up DIY crowd in a matter of days. 

The LittleBits Korg Synth Kit will be available the first week of December for $159.

For more information, visit the LittleBits site and check out the Synth Kit product page.

RoboCop Reboot - Can The Bubble Bath Be Far Behind?

I haven't been paying much attention to the many needless remakes of classic films over the last few years. I did give a couple reboots a chance (Star Trek 2009; fun. Star Trek 2013; out of ideas already?), but for the most part the originals are just that... original. You can make the argument that the reboots create a new audience for movies that could use more attention. Ehhhh, maybe. I don't think that film producers enter any of these projects with the desire to honor the past. They want to make a buck now, and it's way easier when you're trading on an idea that was already a proven success.

A movie who's central theme has stubbornly eluded the makers of sequels and upgrades is 1987's RoboCop. I love that movie, and I'm not alone. Fans recently raised over $60,000 on Kickstarter to erect a 10 foot statue of the cyborg in RoboCop's fictional home town of Detroit. I'm still proud of having sneaked myself and a date into the film when we weren't yet quite old enough to see it. The sequel from a few years later was okay, but by RoboCop 3 the concept had been watered down to what felt like Saturday kiddie matinee filler. Robo's third outing was saddled with a PG-13 rating, likely in deference to the youthful audience who had watched the RoboCop cartoons that had run on TV for a number of years. Yes, a cartoon based on an R rated film that no kid should have seen.

In 1994, a live action RoboCop hit first-run syndicated TV. The series actually did come close in later episodes to understanding what made the original film so great. When you strip away the violence and the tech, at its heart RoboCop is a black comedy, a satire on the excesses of the 80s, and a world where high-priced executives are no better than the street thugs they're determined to wipe out.

RoboCop3, the various cartoons, and the TV series meant more tie-in merch on shelves than ever. I can understand an action figure line, model kits, video games, comics. Those all make a kind of sense. But bubbles and bubble bath? An allegorical fantasy about the triumph of human spirit against encroaching technology in a world that had lost its soul... immortalized by bubbles.

The bubble bath is just that. Pry off Robo's head and wash behind your ears. "RoboCop The Series Bubble Buddies" includes scented bubbles (long since evaporated), a bubble wand built into the cap of the bottle, and a "removable pocket pal". That's right. You can pull Robo off (complete with his flamethrower arm) the top of the bottle and stuff it in your pocket. Fun. He's your pal.

There's certain to be another flurry of merchandise around the new RoboCop film set for release in 2014 (A February release too - never a good sign). The trailer doesn't exactly inspire confidence (several shots owe a great debt to Iron Man). I'm certain that we'll have a lot more to say as the release comes closer, and we'll see more and more crazy merchandise hit store shelves. Will the new film inspire gear as low as the original film's bubble bath? Bubble bath?!?!?!

8 Inch Mego Action Figures Still Stand Tall

Throughout most of the 1970s, Mego was THE name in action figures. Mego had mostly been known for toys that cost under a dollar, but they saw an opportunity in 1971. 12" GI Joe's flag was flying at half mast due to negative sentiment over the Vietnam war, while Barbie wasn't exactly scoring points for Women's Lib. Mego created a slightly smaller 8" figure with good articulation and poseability, and the line was a massive hit for nearly 10 years.

Key to being able to offer such a varied lineup of figures is they all shared the same body, only the vinyl heads and costumes were different. They also reused a lot of outfits and accessories between lines to save on costs. The reduced size of the figure brought overall material costs down, and by aligning themselves with established pop-culture properties a lot of their marketing was already done for them. Mego's 8" figure became the standard size action figure for most of the 70s.

Mego's first score was with an original character; Action Jackson. He was a generic hero type with cheaply made accessories and vehicles. Unusually, he was available in three different styles: caucasian (fuzzy bearded and clean-shaven) and African-American. This one line offered kids an adventurer, dangerous occupation aspirational playsets, and a sort of low-rent Evil Kenevil.

Greater success came later with Mego's many TV and movie licenses. Mego was right there at the birth of extensive media tie-in merchandising (that title may have to go to the massive Six Million Dollar Man toy line), though they sure made some strange choices. They are probably best remembered for their line of comic book superhero figures, but they also licensed properties like "Our Gang" and "The Waltons" (imagine the excitement of finding a John Boy figure under the tree on Christmas morning...)
The comic book offerings were unusual in that Mego was able to license both DC and Marvel characters together. The also marketed the toy in other countries. South Africa got a figure to accompany the adventures of radio hero Jet Jungle (a figure so rare, the few known examples trade hands for thousands of dollars). The UK got most of the hero line though Palitoy, and Denys Fischer brought us the unconventional TV heroics of Tom Baker's Doctor Who.

Another sci-fi saga was a huge hit for Mego; "Star Trek". When the figures came out in 1974, the show had already been off the air for a number of years. Mego got the license to the dead series for a song. You can see why a line like Trek would be interesting to a thrifty company like Mego. The uniforms are all the same, the accessories are the same. Mego's timing was perfect. Trek's unexpected success in reruns and the roll out of a new animated series made Mego's Trek offerings popular. Back then, that early breed of Trekkers were ready to snap up anything with the "Star Trek" name on it. "Planet of the Apes" was another hit line, especially after the movies were re-run on television and the Apes returned a weekly TV series.
In 1974 and 75, Mego's 8" figures were on the list of top 10 best selling toys in the US. Some estimates put their production at 12 million figures per year. With so many hot TV & movie licenses, and such a simple development cycle to creating new characters, what went wrong?

In 1976 Mego was invested in bringing Takara's Micromen line (called Micronauts in the US) to these shores. They were offered the license to a sci-fi movie that was slated to come out the next year called "Star Wars". Mego's David Abrams was reluctant to license every "flash in the pan" B-movie. Instead Kenner got the license, and enjoyed unprecedented sales on movie tie-in toys. Mego tried to play catch up afterwards, licensing "Moonraker", "Star Trek: The Motion Picture", "The Black Hole", "Buck Rogers", but none of these properties could keep up with the unending demand for Star Wars and Mego shut their doors in 1982.

Since then there have been modern-day reissues, and there is continued interest in collecting the old 8" guard. An unexpected market is in low-budget and hobbyist stop motion animators (prominently the guys making "Robot Chicken") use the cheap articulated bodies to create cartoons. There's also a collecting magazine called ToyFare that uses the posed figures for oddball photo comics about collecting action figures. It's a bit too meta for me... Fortunately with so many years of Mego production, the 40 year old 8" figures can be a relatively cheap pop-culture collectible.

link:

online Mego Museum

Revealing The Mysteries Of The Magic 8 Ball

It's an object filled with mystery, murky black ink, and an opinionated icosahedron. Am I talking about the Magic 8 Ball? Signs point to yes.

The Magic 8 Ball is a popular novelty fortune teller, that seems to have inspired more than its share of cautious dread. Bring up the Magic 8 Ball, and there will always be a couple of adults who will tell you it spooked them in their childhood. Coincidentally, the Magic 8 Ball's origins are fittingly otherworldly. Inventor Albert C. Carter was inspired in the mid 40s to create the novelty based on a "spirit writing" device used by his mother, a self-avowed clairvoyant. That's some provenance. Carter's 1944 patent for the device called it the Syco-Seer, first stuffing the die mechanism in a decorated cardboard tube, later styling it after a crystal ball. This was unsuccessful in stores, but it did catch the eye of Brunswick Billiards here in Chicago. They commissioned a new version that looked like an 8 ball, and somehow this captured the imagination of toy-aisle occultists.

Each side of the twenty sided die within the Magic 8 Ball has a simple answer to your yes-no questions. After querying the ball, you simply turn it over. For some reason some people insist on shaking the ball first, which creates bubbles that rather spoils the spooky effect of the die rising through the gloomy goo. The d20 (hello D&D fans!) offers one of 10 positive answers, 5 negative, and 5 milquetoast. Ever wonder what all of the possible answers are?

-SPOILER ALERT!-

    ● It is certain
    ● It is decidedly so
    ● Without a doubt
    ● Yes definitely
    ● You may rely on it
    ● As I see it yes
    ● Most likely
    ● Outlook good
    ● Yes
    ● Signs point to yes

    ● Reply hazy try again
    ● Ask again later
    ● Better not tell you now
    ● Cannot predict now
    ● Concentrate and ask again

    ● Don't count on it
    ● My reply is no
    ● My sources say no
    ● Outlook not so good
    ● Very doubtful

Before this turns into a story problem for you mathematicians, it takes an average of 72 "throws" for all 20 answers to each come up at least once. The Magic 8 Ball has become a classic toy, available today in bewildering variations. There's a USB powered one (no surprise), one full of memes for the A.D.D. txt'ing generation, and my favorite - one that curses you out. Will the Magic 8 Ball prognosticate over our problems for generations to come? You may rely on it.

I read recently that the iPhone's Siri gets one out of ever three searches wrong. With those kinds of odds, I'll just stick with carrying around a Magic 8 Ball instead.

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