MEGO Corporation

### Status

After endless pursuits by the AGE company, the MEGO name was able to resurrect itself in 2018

## Misc. Information

### Ended

The original company went bankrupt in 1983

The MEGO Corporation is an American toy company known for their licensed dolls, celebrity figures, and the Micronauts toyline. For a time in the 1970s, their line of 8-inch-scale dolls with interchangeable bodies became the industry standard.

## **History:**

MEGO was founded in 1954 by D. David Abrams and Madeline Abrams. The company thrived in the 1950's and early 1960's as an importer of dime store toys until the rising cost of newspaper advertising forced MEGO to change its business model. In 1971, Martin, son of the Abrams and a recent business school graduate, became the company's newer president and shifted its production to dolls with interchangeable bodies. Generic bodies could be mass-produced and different dolls created by interposing different heads and costumes on them.

In 1972, Mego secured the licenses to create toys for both National Periodical Publications (DC Comics) and Marvel Comics. The popularity of this line of 8" dolls—dubbed "The World's Greatest Super Heroes"—created the standard action doll scale for the 1970s. Soon, MEGO began purchase licensing rights for all the hottest motion pictures, television programs and comic books, eventually producing doll lines for *Planet of the Apes, Star Trek*, and *the Wizard of Oz*. Mego also obtained licenses from Edgar Rice Burroughs for his creations, such as Tarzan. During this period, Mego was known for the lavish parties the company threw at the annual New York American International Toy Fair. In 1975, Mego launched its *Wizard of Oz* film dolls with a gala whose special guests were every surviving member of the film's main cast. Mego's party at the Waldorf-Astoria with Sonny and Cher introducing their dolls drew a thousand people. Both dolls were formally unveiled on *The Mike Douglas Show*. The Cher doll was the number-1-selling doll in 1976, helping to make Mego the sixth-ranked American toy manufacturer, based on retail sales.

In 1976, Martin Abrams hashed out a deal with the Japanese toy manufacturer Takara to bring their popular lucite 3" fully articulated Microman figures to the United States under the name "Micronauts." While Marty was in Japan, Fox's lawyer Mark Peders dropped by the office to show stills from the upcoming motion picture *Star Wars*, but no one in the office could sign the deal, so Peders visited Kenner in the same building and Kenner president Bernie Loomis was in the office and signed the deal. This decision seemed of little consequence to Mego at first, because the Micronauts figures initially sold well, earning the company more than $30 million at their peak. On the other hand, the *Star Wars* film was extremely popular and competitor Kenner Products sold substantial numbers of *Star Wars* action figures Following *Star Wars*' huge cultural impact, and Kenner's great success with its action figure line, Mego negotiated licenses for the manufacturing rights to a host of science fiction motion pictures and television shows (*Moonraker, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century*). Although these lines of Mego dolls were of much higher quality than Kenner's 12" *Star Wars* figures, none were as successful. The widespread success of Kenner's *Star Wars* 3-3/4" toy line soon made the newer, smaller size the industry standard, shifting sales away from the 8" standard popularized by Mego.

In the late 1970s, Mego was earning about $100 million in sales. Around this time, Mego began shifting their focus toward electronic toys like the 2-XL toy robot and the Fabulous Fred hand-held game player, but sales were not commensurate with the company's investment, and Mego went deeply into debt. Other problems included a rat infestation in Mego's warehouse and a lawsuit from Kenner over illegal appropriation of trade secrets related to the manufacture of their stretch figures. In the fiscal years 1980 and 1981, Mego reported combined losses of $40 million. In fiscal year 1982, the company reported losses of between $18 and $20 million. In February 1982, the remaining staff was let go and the Mego offices were closed. On June 14th 1982, Mego filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy; the company officially went under in 1983. In 1986, Martin Abrams founded Abrams Gentile Entertainment (AGE) in an attempt to retain Mego's licensing contracts, rights and deals which they pursued for years on end until early 2009 when Martin announced that AGE reclaimed the rights to MEGO.

In July 2018, Mego Corporation announced an exclusive line with Target stores of their classic 8 inch clothed action figures as well as several 14 inch DC Superheroes figures at San Diego Comic Con with Joe Namath on hand to autograph his own 14 inch action figure. The Target exclusive featured three waves of figures hitting Target stores in August, October, and November. These figures were limited to 10,000 of each character. Starting in 2019, Mego has continued to work with Target and other major retailers like Wal-Mart to bring the classic *Star Trek*, monsters, celebrities, and superheroes back to store shelves and on-line. Mego created action figures from the iconic *Star Trek II:The Wrath of Khan* movie, giving fans of that 1982 classic, the Mego figures they expected to see back then. Mego has also expanded distribution internationally, working with distributors in other countries to bring the magic of Mego to the rest of the world as well. Their newer headquarters are in Great Neck, New York with manufacturing facilities in China and Mexico.

## **Action Figures:**

It should be apparent by now that MEGO left a lasting impression on both pop culture and the toy industry as many of their toylines like *Planet of the Apes* and *Star Trek* were popular back in their heyday and inspired the rise of action doll series based on popular culture franchises. They have also been featured in works of art like *Twisted ToyFare Theater* and *Robot Chicken* where the exact figures (or at least ones similar to the MEGO format) are used for bizarre and adult oriented situations. Some online communities like MEGOmuseum are dedicated to preserving the history of the company’s products over the years. However, many of these dolls have become very fragile overtime and suffer from a condition dubbed by some collectors as "Mego Melt"; when the plastic used for the doll's torso reacts with the rubberized plastic used for the arms and legs, causing it to melt at the torso and often results in the costumes getting stuck to the dolls. Excessive heat from store in hot attics or garages exacerbates this problem. The dolls' hair and eyelashes are prone to similar deterioration when exposed to high temperatures.

Far more lamentful are the sets of MEGO action figures that never made it onto store shelves. Whether they were cancelled expansions of their previous line or cancelled deals of a potential new license:

* Logan’s Run
* Dallas (TV series)
* KISS

## **Source:**

1. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mego\_Corporation