Retro Cool

When I was a kid, some of the coolest toys you could have (and almost everyone who was a kid in the seventy's did have at least one), were Mego's Action Heroes. They were just the best and for the most part they were pretty durable and had a super high degree of "playability". That and because of the nature of product licencing back in the 70's they had the licence for just about every and any thing cool. From super-heroes to sci-fi, Mego made it. All in that same awesome 8" scale. A couple of years ago Diamond Select began releasing Retro Star Trek figures based on the original molds from Mego, and they were a huge hit.





So big in fact, that after they had released all the original figures that Mego had produced, they started releasing figures that Mego had never got around to in the same style as the original ones. Of course, being the huge geek that I am, I picked up as many of these as possible, and they were fantastic. A great trip down memory lane, without having to pay an arm and a leg on ebay!


The latest to jump on this bandwagon is Mattel, with their Mego-inspired "Retro Action DC Super Heroes". I have picked up a couple of these, and have for the most part, been pleasantly surprised. Even the packaging is reminiscent of the old Mego style of packaging. They are quite faithful to the original Mego figures, while fixing some of their short-comings. The Boots are much better than the thin molded plastic ones the originals had, the hero's "symbol" is of a higher quality (the old Mego figures were just a sticker, that would come off if you were not careful) and there has been some re-designing in the body. Mattel also seems to be releasing them in "pairs". One hero, and a matching villain, which is kind of cool. The only complaint that I have, and it is a minor one at that, is that it seamed to me that Mattel underestimated the popularity of these figures, as the first wave of them (including Superman) was almost impossible to find in the stores. Hopefully they will re-release these ones at a later date. Still there are lots of online shops that you can find the first line where the prices haven't been marked up yet.



So all I have to say about this trend is...cheers! It is so cool to see these toys, or copy's of them at least, back on the toy shelves. Cool enough for collectors to want and still a awesome toy for a kid that is into super-heroes to play with and make some of their own memories. And isn't that what toys are for.