MEGO Dallas

## MEGO Dallas action figures

Bobby, Pam, J.R., Miss Ellie, Lucy, and Sue Allen Ewing

Throughout their history, MEGO has made a lot of questionable choices like turning down the *Star Wars* license before Kenner swooped it and making action figures of *The Love Boat* instead of *Thundarr the Barbarian*. But by far, one of their more questionable decisions before going bankrupt was making a toyline based off the TV series *Dallas*.

## **Summary:**

*Dallas* was an American primetime television soap opera that ran from April 2nd 1978 to May 3rd 1991 on CBS for 14 seasons and 357 episodes. The premise of the show involves a wealthy and feuding Texas family known as the Ewings who own the independent oil company named after them along with the cattle-ranching land of Southfork. The series originally focused between the marriage of Bobby Ewing and Pamela Barnes, whose families were sworn enemies with each other. But as it progressed, oil tycoon John Ross Ewing (Larry Hagman) became the show’s breakout character due to his dirty business and schemes. The show is mostly well known for its cliffhangers such as the “Who shot J.R.” mystery which was parodied by *The Simpsons* in “Who Shot Mr. Burns”  and received some flak when it turned out Season 9 was revealed to have all been a dream by Pam Ewing while the “thought to be dead” Bobby comes out of the shower (Not only did *Family Guy* spoof this scene in the ending of “Da Boom,” they even got the original actors for Pam and Bobby to reprise their roles).  Several spin-off shows and made-for-TV movies have been made for the *Dallas* franchise.

## **Action Figures:**

Despite their many cliffhangers, the one truly shocking thing about *Dallas* was that it managed to receive a toyline as MEGO decided to jump on the bandwagon during its popularity peak in 1981. However, they only managed to sell two products including bubblegum trading cards and a target dartboard with J.R.’s face on it as he was the most despised character in television at the time.

   MEGO had plans on incorporating a line of 3” 3/4 action figures based off the show’s main characters like Bobby, Pam, J.R., Miss Ellie, Lucy, and Sue Allen Ewing. Prototype mock-ups were built for toy catalog photos and a mock-up of the card packaging was also made. But while buyers purchased the card game and JR Target, they passed on the action figures and *Dallas* was a financial bomb for MEGO; according to the company’s VP of marketing, Allan Chernoff.

A 12” action figure of JR Ewing was released by Figures Toy Company in 2014  and a limited edition ceramic figurine of him can be found in the museum at Southfork Ranch where the original series was filmed.  Only one set of the JR dartboard has been found for sale on eBay  while several of the *Dallas* bubblegum trading cards are up for auction on the same site.  While there is a photo of the action figure’s packaging owned by the Megomuseum website, its whereabouts are unknown and the chances of seeing the *Dallas* prototypes will remain a dream; just like the 1986 season.

## **References:**

1. ↑ https://www.vulture.com/2019/10/the-simpsons-who-shot-mr-burns-episode-marketing.html
2. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYf8uFrtkKw
3. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dallas\_(1978\_TV\_series)
4. ↑ http://www.megomuseum.com/galleries/dallas-action-figures-and-games/
5. ↑ https://www.figurestoycompany.com/dallas12inchactionfiguresseriesoneoiltycoonjrewing.aspx
6. ↑ https://youtu.be/6jnJmOeIdPU?t=484
7. ↑ https://picclick.com/Dallas-JR-Ewing-Vintage-Foam-Dart-Board-Game-203321250354.html
8. ↑ https://www.ebay.ca/sch/i.html?\_from=R40&\_trksid=p2047675.m570.l1313&\_nkw=mego+dallas&\_sacat=0