Vintage Mego: 1977 Mego Catalog part 2

[@sherrybell3924]

Yes, Micronauts for Christmas in '77 from my Uncle. Look forward to a whole episode on these.

[@JosephDickersonUX]

You had me at "Micronauts."

[@jasonshepherd5066]

Biotron and his arch nemesis, Phobos. Pleeeease do a video on Phobos! He's somewhat obscure and not widely known of in this incredible range and needs discussion. If Mego and Micronauts we're a sentient being, I'd hug it the rest of my days!!!!! Keep on talking the real stuff of life, Brian. You always ROCK!

[@BrickMantooth]

I wish I owned one.

[@jasonshepherd5066]

@@BrickMantooth I still have both, but the rubber tread on the motion component has long since gone. Love em none the less.

[@ken_tiki5241]

Awesome 👍 Especially love that 77 toy shop footage.

[@simonfarrell6585]

Another very enjoyable video! Micronauts here in the UK were released BY Airfix and were originally from the Takara micro man' line, but I guess you already know that. Pre star wars micronaugts blew my mind. I still have a small collection today, mego spiderman and superman are ingrained upon my childhood, wish I knew what happened to them

[@MarioMartinez-ii9jz]

U provide so much Nostalgia!!! Great music along with such a obvious love for wat u do!!

[@richardwatts4660]

That was an absolutely brilliant and thoroughly enjoyable part 2, thanks very much again; so many wonderful toys! I look forward to you talking about Mego's History and the Micronauts in future videos. Although this is 1977, I wouldn't get my own first Micronauts toy (Hydra) until sometime the next year here in the UK, from WH Smiths (they used to sell toys and games back then). From 1978 to 1980, I was hooked on Micronauts. Seeing those full Micronauts Display Stands and the toy store footage at the end just makes me want to time travel, grab a trolley and pile all those figures / playsets in it! Oh if only! PS - The Mego Fonz rules!

[@shampoovta]

I remember the dolls for girls but I was in to superhero’s and stuff like that. In the early 70’s I played with knock off barbies but Star Trek reruns and the Electric Company’s Spider-Man changed that. Easy Reader inspired me to learn to actually read and not just think it was stupid. I started to dress my dolls in aluminum foil and turned them from fashionable dolls to superheroes pretty quickly and that’s how I was from that point on, a Tomboy. Now I am an old mom and wife collecting what toys I can find from my childhood. I been playing my favorite game Skyrim VR during the lockdown so now I am the action figure. XD lol We even got a treadmill and use it to actually walk and run in the game. XD I was big in to Dungeons & Dragons in the 80’s so Skyrim VR is a dream come true for me. I have two Stalwart Men at Arms from TSR but you don’t use such large figures in the tabletop game. My family and I have hundreds of mini figs we have collected sense the 80’s we use them for our home game plus two bookshelves of buildings and dungeon terrain we made ourselves. So to this day I still play with dolls but in D&D the dolls are way more meaningful. They represent actual characters who can and do die in game. If ya watch Critical Role ya kind of get the idea. We don’t actually act or anything but the stories created together in game can really stick with ya for years after. Sorry that was a lot XD I do go on a bet sometimes.

[@johnpatterson4272]

You ROCK !!!

[@Gappasaurus]

Been looking forward to this one, trade catalogs are always a treasure trove of eye candy! 😋

[@fashiondolldreamer]

That 1977 toy store footage at the end was amazing!!!! Love these videos on the Mego catalogs. Mego were very clever with their approach in trying to get a slice of the fashion doll market (where lots of other companies had tried and failed) by using their experience with licensing and going for the celebrity doll angle, rather than just launching yet another anonymous fashion doll. (Though they did have considerable success with the 'Candi' line a few years later.) I think I read somewhere that their Cher doll was the top selling doll for 1976, which even outsold Barbie for that year.

[@TheJohno95]

The Micronauts were awesome! I was way more into those when I was a kid than Star Wars. I didn't get into Star Wars big until probably 1978. And the Mego Super Heroes were the bomb! I've still got a few floating around the attic. Not mint. I played with those all the time as a kid. My most bizarre combination was putting Green Goblin in Superman's suit. For some reason, I thought that was cool.

[@jonacheson]

Micronauts were cool, but somewhat fragile, and they had a lot of small parts that got lost. They were a toy I wanted, but couldn't get my parents to buy. I remember playing with the Photon Sled, and using it as Yoda's spaceship later on.

[@TheJohno95]

@@jonacheson It's not an endorsement in this day's climate, but the firing rockets on Micronauts toys were powerful! Those guns that fired the red balls were mostly safe. They could make you sore. But the little missiles? Those things had a lot of force? They would go across the room and knock things sideways! Way more powerful than the Shogun Warrior toys. Around the same power level of the Battlestar Galactica toys that got banned. I can see how parents would hate those things! But, as crazy kids, I LOVED playing with those things!

[@bobbyhulll8737]

As a kid born 1971 I agree completely, the articulation of a micronaut compared to Stawars always bothered me

[@Gojitron1]

It was all about Micronauts for me in '77, although I did have most of the Comic Action Heroes. I don't think I ever saw the One Million BC toys in stores because I know I would have begged my mother for those prehistoric animals.

[@korydoe4813]

Fantastic video as always! Love to watch this stuff even though it was a few years before my time, im a 79 model

[@seanworsfold]

Had no idea about the Flintstones line. Great episode. I liked the music. Made me feel like I was shopping at Kmart and going to get a toy.

[@BrickMantooth]

that was the intent!

[@barnbreakroom7187]

please do more of these this is amazing , really takes me back to my childhood

[@BrickMantooth]

count on it.

[@mczilla8628]

I used to have micronauts Biotron man that thing was awesome! I just wanted to tell you i got my toy ventures issue 2 today and from first glance it looks outstanding! Waiting for the weekend to dive into it

[@ericcarr8955]

Did anyone else notice that the conference table in the Fortress of Solitude playset was directly from the Hall of Justice as seen in SuperFriends ?????

[@BrickMantooth]

the whole playset is based on Alex Toth's Superfriends Hall of Justice but Mego had already made a Hall of Justice, so they called it the Fortress to avoid confusion.

[@popcultureoppressionobsess2104]

loved this!!! now i NEED the full flintstones playset!!

[@BrickMantooth]

bring money!

[@sneakyskunk1]

The music choices for these two videos makes me think of shopping malls, back before those structures became decaying representations of late 1970s/early 1980s capitalism at its most garish. That and being placed on hold while waiting for a live operator. To paraphrase Aquaman," I dig it". I am loving these! I sincerely hope there will be more. Thank you Plaid Stallions!

[@BrickMantooth]

thank you for saying that!

[@sneakyskunk1]

@@BrickMantooth Thank you for all the great work!

[@mars0395]

Yes. I was fortunate to be 10 years old in 1977. I had tons of Micronauts as did my next door neighbour. So many hours playing with them

[@Spaceprince72]

This was a great installment. Thanks so much for, well, for doing all the things you do for all of us that still have a deep and abiding love for retro toys.

[@TimHayes]

Excellent video Brick Mantooth! :)

[@BrickMantooth]

Glad you liked it

[@matthewstoneback9]

10:18. Yeah, I can see where the Kong toyline failed. When you're trying to sell a movie to kids where the hero dies in the end, plus no dinosaurs for him to fight, it doesn't make for a lot of play value.

[@TheRealNormanBates]

You never know... it could have been popular in the Middle East.

[@suedenim]

It must have been uniquely vulnerable to knock-offs that weren't really knock-offs (because anyone could make.gorilla toys.)

[@jonacheson]

You can understand why Mego picked up this one. Kong is a popular, classic character, and there weren't any toys of him, plus the movie was expected to be a big budget blockbuster. So you can sell toys to fans of classic Kong, and fans of the new movie too. Unfortunately, the movie turned out to be a huge bomb, and good luck selling toys based off that.

[@matthewstoneback9]

No, not a bomb. It was a box office success, but it was no Star Wars!

[@jonacheson]

@@matthewstoneback9 I just remember word of mouth on the movie being really bad, though it did pull in about twice its budget according to IMDB. I think I watched it once on cable back in the day, but the only thing I remember is Jessica Lange.

[@Dinosaurprince]

Those Flintstones characters are excellent looking. Sounds like this company gets the same death treatment that Atari gets with E.T.

[@BrickMantooth]

Yeah, Star Wars isn't the reason in any way, it actually bugs me that people keep saying that. Mego's misfortune isn't about what they didn't have.

[@michaelbest1215]

Articulate & insightful introduction: Awaiting your more indepth, balanced analysis of the late 70s Mego story. Good for you, Brian✨ BTW, I may have enjoyed similar tunes in a Sears or a K-Mart in my Canadian travels. It would be a good tune tested for playing alongside online Mego shopping.

[@thrashpondopons2776]

Obsession! Well Timed! LOVED the Micronauts! (Used to incorporate them with my Capsella!) Great Stuff BM! Am now gonna watch Part I!

[@bradleyconrad678]

Me too! Micronauts and Capsella were a match made in Heaven.

[@genesanford9412]

Wow ,i forgot how far off the path they got with Micronauts...tractors?.Now ,Mightor kicks ass to this day!

[@schristy3637]

I don't know if I was lucky to be a kid back then,because now I'm an old man.HA! No really. I like Micronauts a lot as a kid also had a few com-x. The video show a Total Control Racing Slotless Track had one of those too. I loved that thing. As far as Mego pasting on Star Wars. How would anyone know that it would be a huge hit.

[@TimHayes]

Have you seen any of the Modern Mego figures? They've made ones of characters from The Facts Of Life, Charlie's Angels, I Dream Of Jeanne, Star Trek, KISS, Cheers, The Brady Bunch and then some of the Bela Lugosi Dracula along with Frankenstein's monster. Then there's a Lon Chaney Wolfman modern Mego figure, but it's patterned after Lon Chaney Jr as the Wolfman from Face Of the Screaming Werewolf.

[@BrickMantooth]

Oh yeah, I have a series on this channel where I review the modern mego figures. They've got some even better stuff this year, they keep adding better licenses.

[@kieronball8962]

Excellent Mego toys and video. And I liked the music too.

[@BrickMantooth]

thank you!

[@Ken-vk8pb]

@@BrickMantooth Do you know if the Mego Farrah Fawcett doll released in 1977 sold well at the time? Because there are many Mego Farrah doll's that are still New in box or NRFB on EBay every year. I have seen them listed on EBay for more than 20 years now and there is still a fairly large number of them listed there. Some of them even still have a Clearance sale price sticker on them so that tells me that due to that fact and that there are still many of them new in box available today that maybe Mego Farrah only sold well the first few months of her release but they did not sale well after that. Or else we would not have very many new in box versions these days if she sold well originally. Thanks.

[@josephgioielli]

Oh Microtron and his rudely placed drill. My mom was not too pleased about that. I had to pretend that I had no idea what she was talking about. I was but an innocent young lad with no knowledge such naughty things. She made me promise to take the drill off if Grandma came over.

[@TheNightBadger]

There are occasional clunky edits in your videos, which actually make the shows feel more authentically vintage! Loving this series...

[@BrickMantooth]

My editing software has gone buggy, thanks for finding the positive in that!

[@avant1963]

I loved this "mini-series." Highlighting the toys that didn't come to light (and the history of those that did) is always appreciated. Can't wait for more of these.

[@Hoonozit]

Thanks for the video. Thumbed up.

[@collector60]

Yaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyyy!!!!!!!!!!!! Thanks for this part 2!!!!!! LOVE THIS!!!!!! What a great year (and catalog) for Mego! Do you have the Pin Pin Toys catalog with Mightor??

[@philashby2823]

I'm from the UK and have issue 2 of the magazine. Interesting to see the comic with the Dr Who set competition as my neighbour won that whole set prize. I guess I would have been 5 y.o. and seeing it all was amazing. I cant imagine how much it would be worth now.

[@BrickMantooth]

What a cool story, thanks for sharing.

[@BlakeGildaphish76]

i love being able to see the pages of these catalogs, but i especially appreciate your taste in music. Good show!

[@BrickMantooth]

Glad you enjoy it!

[@NickBartolo]

The Bigfoot and Nessie games really represent my interests at the time.

[@wen76nyc1]

Your videos are INCREDIBLE ! OMG, the store video footage at the end is amazing, please post more!

[@dannycruz5446]

I'm surprised that there wasnt a Gilligans Island line since they seemed to have hit a lot of the WPIX syndication staples.

[@BrickMantooth]

Playskool had that license. A buddy of mine just did a great video on it. kzbin.info/www/bejne/bmOXdo2NZtGBd80

[@fritzk3627]

Thanks for sharing!!!!

[@guerrerosdeljugueteantoniotoys]

Sweet!!! Thank you !!

[@BrickMantooth]

thanks for watching!

[@GarysActionManChannel1970]

Interesting information great video👍

[@BrickMantooth]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@RogueTwo]

Very cool magazine! That was fun! There's so much there that I didn't even remember or didn't know about at all. I've mentioned that as much as I'd loved the Little Rascals growing up, I didn't realize that they had a Mego line until I saw them in Wizard's Toyfare magazine in their Twisted Mego Theater strips. The same with the Flintstones. How did my sister and I not know about them?! But I was a real science fiction nerd, even in my single digits, so I was all about Star Trek and the Micronauts. And you're quite right, the scale compatibility between the Micronauts and Kenner's Star Wars really added to the appeal of both lines. The same with my Fisher Price Adventure People and later lines like Star Trek: TMP, Buck Rogers and The Black Hole. My sister in the meantime was really into the celebrity fashion dolls, who she played with alongside her Barbies. Our family was way ahead of our time with the concept of a shared universe! Lol. Thanks!

[@jasonesler2716]

Love your videos.....keep it up!

[@robertonline6543]

Chris Reeve Superman 12inch,. Also love the pocket super heroes

[@robertonline6543]

I remember them still around during empire but it gets fuzzy after 83... Starwars was dying down and others were taking there spot such as Gi Joe , transformers, he-man etc.

[@christopherwilliams4409]

Hi Brick Great review of the 1977 catalogue. You mentioned you may do other catalogue reviews in future, only shorter. Please don't shorten them. I'll be happy if you make your reviews twice as long, as long as they contain your excellent commentary. You are a veritable goldmine of information and my favourite part is when you are talking about the photos to provide the context and history of the items. Keep up the good work.

[@Rigg15]

Wow that Nessie board game sure looks like a lot of fun.

[@bradleyconrad678]

I was 7 in 1977 and a Micronauts freak. Still, I of course LOVED Star Wars when it arrived, but even when the Star Wars action figures appeared it wasn’t enough to assuage my love of Micronauts. My cardboard Canadian Death Star was as much of a playset for my Micronauts as it was for my Star Wars figures. If anything my Star Wars figures were guests in my Micronauts playtime world.

[@BrickMantooth]

Yeah my Micronauts mixed well with my SW people.

[@bradleyconrad678]

And Capsella! On a semi related note, did you ever see the infamous Yonge St Micronauts display in person?

[@BrickMantooth]

@@bradleyconrad678 NO, I've only heard the legend. I wish I could find photos of it.

[@bradleyconrad678]

@@BrickMantooth I wish I could find photos of it as well. I was lucky enough to see it in person. My dad had taken us along on a week long business trip to Toronto and we were staying at the Chelsea Inn on Yonge St so I walked up and stared mouth agape at that display every day we were there. The display was truly incredible. I also find it amusing that my parents, in true 70s parents fashion, let me wander about Yonge St all by myself well into the evening.

[@johnpatterson4272]

I noticed 'the Flintstones' still figured into the Mego toy cadre in the late 70s. As a child I stationed myself in front of the TV set at school lunch hour and then after school (4:30pm) for the heavily syndicated Flintstones episodes in the late 60s and early 70s. By the late 70s when these toys were produced the Flintstones had become passé with my generation. I guess Mego back-in-the-day was attempting to cash-in on old glory.

[@victorcastle5757]

Hmm, well I *liked* the music choice last time, and loved the video!

[@BrickMantooth]

thank you!

[@danischeel4846]

My faves were the celebrity dolls and the Micronauts!!

[@Biofeedback1975]

Im Loving the vintage footage from the toy stores .👍👍👍🙌🙌

[@loganjorgensen]

It's the same for what happened to Atari & Sega, it's a long story heh. 1977 was a cool year for Mego. :D Can't fault the board games, they still look fresh to my eyes. Always thought the air launch toys were pretty neat. Micronauts are still on my vintage toy wishlist, a great toy of that era.

[@achtungjamie]

My stuffed King Kong would battle my Shogun Godzilla.

[@BrickMantooth]

great idea.

[@jpmcelroy5729]

I cannot believe how many toys I had were mego the Kong Model Kits,The Pocket Heroes,The 8 inch Trek all I had was Spock,and the Klingon,and the Hulk all these toys are gone now I think at the bottom of some land fill.I love my newer megos and want to start customizing the only vintage figure I want to buy is an Original Hulk I really remember that guy helping Spock out and beating the crap outta the Klingon (GOOD TIMES)

[@Chapwiththewings5roundsrapid]

It’s not hard to see why Micronaughts were popular. How about a toy line where a robot turned into a vehicle? I reckon that could have sold well 🤔

[@BrickMantooth]

Nah, that'll never catch on.

[@salvagemonster3612]

A tape recorder with a Batman logo slapped on it. Brilliant

[@leebalmforth2269]

When I was young I had a mego Zorro action figure. A planet of the Cornelius. Always wanted the soldier ape. & I had Few micronauts figures. Good times 😎

[@tavraney3289]

Who would you rather ? Wilma or Betty? Betty for me to add to my toy collection

[@jonhufford6980]

How is that stuffed King Kong standing on his own? Mine surely doesn’t...

[@richardkennedy8481]

I loved catalogs.

[@alexnejako777]

acroyear with the skates is the one i got. before star wars figures. so it was all adventure people and Micronauts until 78. there were plenty of megos around with an aisle and endcaps in Toys r us as well as additional ones to impulse buy at the register

[@eltenda]

Interesting!

[@BrickMantooth]

glad you thought so!

[@rdvrdv8920]

The kid choking on the Mattel Battlestar Galactica missile killed Mego. There, I said it.

[@Spaceprince72]

If you ever come across the legal document related to this case the lawyer makes this strange statement. "...the toy is shaped in such a fashion as to be very similar to a penis which almost beckons small children to put the toy in their mouth..." Seriously? That's a perverse assumption there, pal.

[@LannieLord]

2:11 Captain Dobey SHOULD have gotten the "husky" body type.

[@TheRealNormanBates]

5:35 “Mightor was completely dead in North America” He’ll be the judge of that.

[@BrickMantooth]

Well I guess if you call the occasional 6am showing "alive" that's completely up to you.

[@TheRealNormanBates]

@@BrickMantooth _psst_ The “judge” was a *Harvey Birdman* joke (wink wink) He was the judge in *Harvey Birdman*

[@ApothecaryGrant]

I loved my Megos. I played with them until girls turned my head lol

[@jimkuna8687]

It kicked ass!! As all ways I like c.b.

[@powertripprulz6639]

What year were the 12 inch kiss dolls released? I would’ve guessed 77 but obviously not after watching this...

[@johngreany9577]

At 4 23. What's the name of the robot who has circle wings??? I had him as a toy. But never knew his real name. I always called him wheels. I was like 6 when I had him

[@BrickMantooth]

Acroyear.

[@johngreany9577]

What a freaky name for him. He probably like me calling him wheels instead

[@jimkuna8687]

Oh and king Kong

[@nathanstewart2625]

I'd like to know who bought Captain and Tennile dolls

[@timx8872]

Baron Karza. Was. Awesome.

[@silentstryker1590]

I was born winter of '77 in Ohio. Bad winter from what I hear.

[@BrickMantooth]

Thanks to the commercials in the Star Wars Holiday Special bootlegs, I know about that winter.

[@LannieLord]

2:46 Stuffed Lovables ? I don't think ANYBODY loves Woody Woodpecker.

[@GraphicManComics]

It was good to see the Micronauts. You asked for feedback so here goes. The video was great, but just like your first video for this subject, your musical selections are terrible.