Tag Archives: Toys

Toy Company Mego Eyes Australia for 2019

The toy company that ruled the toy isle in the late 70’s with their lines of 8″ Star Trek and DC superheroes action figures along with their iconic 12″ dolls of Farrah Fawcett and Cher is making their way back into Australian stores this year after almost four decades.

Mego was one of the hottest toy companies way back when to the point that in 1976, their first release Cher doll became the highest selling doll that year beating out Mattel’s powerhouse Barbie, but all the glory came crashing down when the company passed on an offer to nab the licence to (a then unknown) Star Wars and followed that up with a shift towards electronic and robotic toys that saw the company sadly file for chapter 11 Bankruptcy in 1982.

In the years between, prices for vintage Mego items have soared with collectors forking out huge bucks to fill in the gaps of their Mego collection. Vintage boxed dolls of Charlie’s Angels star Jaclyn Smith can rise as high as $400aud while those 8″ DC Heroes, in mint boxed condition, can see prices rise into the high thousands.

Mego’s vintage 12″Jaclyn Smith doll released in 1977

But, jump forward to 2018 and Mego Corporation is alive and well with Marty Abrams back at the helm announcing an exclusive deal with Target US that would see Mego figures back on the shelves for the first time since the late 70’s with licences for classic pop culture favorites including an I Dream of Jeanie double pack, Charlie’s Angels, Charmed, Cheers, a Full House Stephanie and DJ Tanner double pack and various original series Star Trek characters along with releases of classic monsters such as Frankenstein and Dracula. Add to this a brand new 14″ line with DC hero action figures for Wonder Woman, Batman and Superman and Mego Corp are well and truly back in the market leaving fans of classic pop culture wanting more!

Mego’s classic line of 12″ celebrity dolls including Cher, Farrah Fawcett and Jaclyn Smith that were hugely popular in the late 70’s and are a highly sought after collectors item almost 40 years later (and one i’d love to see make a return this year!)

With the Target/Mego deal ending this year, it allows for Mego Corporation to begin looking for worldwide distributors with Mego confirming that they are in fact hammering out a deal with an Australian distributor meaning we will finally see Mego in Australia in 2019.

Mego confirmed they will be coming to Australia via a comment on the Instagram account of Australian vintage/modern toy collector Modern_Retro_Collectables

Their recently announced fourth wave of figures includes an 8″ ‘legends’ series that sees Muhammad Ali, Farrah Fawcett and Marilyn Monroe (among others) immortalized in plastic along with a retooling of their 14″ DC superheroes which will see Wonder Woman and Batman in alternate costumes.

There’s no official word of yet as to whom will be stocking Mego, when we will see them or the price point but watch this space as Mego hinted at a huge announcement coming Wednesday (Thursday our time) that may reveal more. Watch this space!

Get Your Own Zack Morris or Screech With New Saved by the Bell Pop! Vinyl Figures

The whole Bayside High gane in Pop! Vinyl
The whole Bayside High gane in Pop! Vinyl

Continuing on with their very cool Pop! Vinyl Television line which currently includes the likes of Orange is the new Black, The Walking Dead, The X-Files and the soon-to-be-released Friends line, Funko have now released the first images from the brand spanking new Saved by the Bell collection!  Everyone from Zack Morris (Mark-Paul Gosselaar) to AC Slater (Mario Lopez) and even Lisa Turtle (Lark Voohries), the whole gang (minus Mr. Belding) is now available for pre-order with a set December 2015 release – just in time for Christmas!

And in a recent twitter Q&A session, Funko also revealed some exciting new lines coming to the pop! Vinyl Television family..

Whilst I await any announcement of a Melrose Place pop! Vinyl line, we can all check out the newest Saved by the Bell pops below!

Pre-orders are up at Entertainment Earth at the following links:

Zack Morris  |  Schreech  |  AC Slater  |  Lisa Turtle  |  Jessie Spano  |  Kelly Kapowski

Hot Toys Adds Pepper Potts to it’s Iron Man Releases

885539_10152956006062344_5934525300574651851_o

“I have to protect the one thing that I can’t live without. That’s you.” – Tony Stark

At last count, 1/6 scale toy company Hot Toys have released over 100+ variants of Marvel’s Iron Man (Probably exaggerated but enough Iron Man already!) and now, fans can add their very own 12″ Gwyneth Paltrow Pepper Potts to their collection.

From the Hot Toys press release:

“In the Iron Man movie series, Pepper Potts has been a very important person in Tony Stark’s heart. As the love interest of Tony Stark, and assisting Tony in the defeat of Obadiah Stane and Aldrich Killian, Pepper has been there with the genius billionaire at the most crucial moments in the film series. Fans have been longing for a collectible figure of her and today Hot Toys is delighted to officially reveal the 1/6th scale Pepper Potts Collectible Figure from Iron Man 3!

The movie-accurate collectible figure is specially crafted based on the image of Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts in the film featuring a newly developed head sculpt with long straight light reddish-blonde real fabric hair, finely tailored costume, an interchangeable Iron Man Mark IX right arm with LED light-up function, and figure stand!

Pepper Potts will be a great addition to your Iron Man and Tony Stark collection!”

An alternate version on this release includes a Pepper Potts and The Mark IX Iron Man which includes a Pepper Potts in Mark XLII helmet head sculpt which can be fitted to the suited body.  This solo release however includes the excellent addition of the Mark IX arm she sported in the closing moments of Iron Man 3 – totally my favorite part in the film btw!pepper-potts-with-suit-arm-and-new-powers-l

Check out all the promotional images below:

Ever since Pepper’s scene stealing moment in Iron Man 3 where she finds herself wearing part of the Iron Man armor and blasting evil Guy Pierce away, I’ve been hanging for a Pepper Potts/Rescue figure.  Hasbro teased us of a 6″ release back when IM3 was released but then balked on the figure and there’s been a slew of 1/6 scale knock-offs (they’re really really bad) and this release from Hot Toys finally quenches that thirst – even if these promo images have her stealing Homeland’s Carrie Mathison’s look…..

With numerous Iron Man/Captain America/Thor releases, Hot Toys are starting to make their mark with the female characters with 4 total Black Widow releases, Guardians of the Galaxy’s Gamora and more recently Avengers new-comer Scarlet Witch and Marvel’s Agent Maria Hill which was revealed at the 2015 Toy Fair and is currently available for pre-order.

No word yet on Pepper’s release but keep an eye out at http://www.sideshowtoy.com for the pre-orders like I will be doing!  This one’s a keeper for me!