Tigra’s milkshake brings all the nature boys to the yard.
Tigra is the latest purchase for the Mego collection, a very impressively detailed doll based on a very impressively sexy superlady I may have to start reading up on. Rowf.
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My quest to create a Punisher lineup for Mego has nearly reached its conclusion! I’ve ended up with six dolls — three good guys and three bad guys — plus two vehicles. Punisher, Micro, and the Battle Van were covered in previous articles. Here’s the rest of the lineup!
Lynn Michaels, aka Lady Punisher! A lovely cop turned vigilante with an unhealthy infatuation with the Punisher, Lynn looks great no matter what she wears or how I pose her. She has a sick black leather jacket (the brown FTC one was disintegrating before my eyes–typical) and a police revolver holstered on her hips. She looks best on the Punisher Cycle, so I’ve pretty much given it to her. Lyn Stahl of Metalhead Minis provided the black lipstick.
Jigsaw! Known as Billy “The Beaut” Russo before Punisher threw him face-first through a window and ruined his pretty mug, Jigsaw’s had it in for Punisher ever since The Amazing Spider-Man #162. I had to revise his shirt color from red to yellow, but otherwise he’s a great likeness. Thanks again, Metalhead Minis!
Saracen! A badass arab mercenary and terrorist who keeps crossing paths with Punisher, first as an ally, then as one of his most hated enemies. O. T. Puente provided the sick-ass suit that’s identical to his costume in the comics.
Sijo! While not as well-known as the other villains in the lineup, Sijo has the distinction of being responsible for the death of Micro’s son in Punisher #9. A behemoth from Japan who loves causing pain, he was a worthy adversary even though he only lasted two issues.
Rosalie Carbone! The mob princess with a grudge was a tough one to pull off. Finding the right outfit for her was enough of a chore — the real doozie was that nose ring. The end result is rather chic and looks like the sort of girl you wouldn’t take home to mother.
Cane! AKA Lorne Quickfall, one of seven contract killers hired by Rosalie to kill the Punisher. Cane was my favorite, and was the most fun to make into an action figure due to his gimmick of using weapons disguised as walking sticks. The cane sword was the toughest accessory I’ve ever had to produce, but it was worth it.
This is something of a work in progress, but it’s presentable enough to share here: my custom Mego Battle Van!
Made from an LJN SWAT van and some Coleco Rambo parts, it doesn’t resemble the Battle Van as much as I would like — I would need a nice A-Team van with articulated doors for that — but it still looks pretty great.
I had the choice between this van and the Mobile Bat Lab, but went with the SWAT van because it had a more realistic and military look to it. The Punisher would never drive a 60s flower power mobile.
It also comes with my custom doll of Micro, Punisher’s partner-in-crimefighting! He and the van come tricked out with all sorts of accessories: a roof-mounted minigun turret, a tripod missile launcher which can also be mounted to the roof, a VHF radio set with handpiece, a laptop with removable disks, and whatever other toys I can cram into the back.
Frank also had a slick hog to ride for doing drive-by drug deal raids or reluctantly teaming up with Ghost Rider.
I’ve been adding a lot of villains to my Mego collection lately, namely due to the lack thereof in the official lineup for whatever reason. My second custom Mego project is no exception: the Red Skull, archenemy of Captain America!
I started with this handsome resin head I found on ebay. Not sure if the seller acquired it or made it himself, but it’s a swell rendition of the old school Red Skull from the comics, which is what I was aiming for. I was worried his neck plug wouldn’t fit in the hole even with the hot water treatment, but turns out soaking a Mego bod in boiling water for a full minute gives it a very workable consistency, and he popped right in!
With the head attached, I knew he’d need gloved hands that could hold weapons, so I got him a nice pair of Chips arms perfectly suited to the task. Even without his hosen, Herr Schmidt is already looking pretty badass.
His accessories all came from Dr. Mego, with the exception of his nazi armband. I had to print that myself, after several failed experiments in design and size which almost resulted in an awkward conversation with the family about the presence of nazi symbology cluttering the office.
Another awesome box by Dengar, and he’s ready to join the collection! As you can see by the box art, he’s a dead ringer for classic Red Skull! All he needs is his face painted, which I may have to attempt myself, against my better judgement. I’ll post the results here when that happens.
I recently added a classy cravat to make him look more sophisticated. His neck seemed too bare, but with the old green suit, it just didn’t look right. So I pilfered a couple Action Jackson army suits and swapped the pockets, then finally had the head painted by Lynn Stahl of Metalhead Minis.
The end result is perfection! Red Skull has finally joined the ranks of my impressive Mego collection.
Two new acquisitions have brought a lot more green to the collection. I never drew any attention to ol’ Oliver Queen when he came in the mailbox, mainly because it took awhile for his repro box to catch up with him.
Green Arrow is known for being the best head sculpt in the World’s Greatest Super Heroes line, and one of the best designed dolls overall. It’s hard to disagree with that stately beard and ‘stache, although it’s hard to fit him in the box with his hat on unless I turn his head sideways. The box itself is strikingly minimalist in colorscheme, almost entirely green inside and out, with only some yellow lettering for contrast.
On the Marvel end of the spectrum is this awesome custom Mego of Scorpion, who brings the Spider-Man villain count to three (four if you count Punisher, technically). His suit is hand-made, and the resin head modeled from a bald Conan and painted exquisitely. My only complaint is the “base” of his tail, which makes fitting him in his box a tight squeeze.
The box is awesome to behold, too, another ace creation by Dengar on ebay, continuing the green-and-purple theme of the Spider-Man rogues gallery. He rounds out the group nicely in or out of his packaging.
I organized the collection by franchise title. It amazes me that I now have enough Megos to assemble the Avengers, Fantastic Four, Justice League, and Batman without re-using anyone. I’ve also got an impressive set of Spider-Man characters.
After several revisions, I finally completed my custom Mego Punisher doll, and have thus added Frank Castle to my massive Mego trove.
I first ordered most of the parts from FTC, only to discover the body and head were atrociously bad, so I scrapped them in favor of a type 2 Joker body and what was originally a Scottie head – Star Trek’s Scottie head sculp has a nice resemblance to a generic “men’s adventure fiction” protagonist complete with no-nonsense scowl. Ultimately it just didn’t look right, though, and after a few more head swaps, I finally got a good custom head from Dr. Mego, painted beautifully by Lyn Stahl of Metalhead Minis!
I also replaced the Mego arms with LJN SWAT arms: they’re bulkier and articulated at the biceps, so Frank can actually hold his weapons properly! I’ve since done the same for all my Punisher customs.
The rifle, belt, boots, and bodysuit are also FTC, and look nice enough when fully assembled into the Punisher’s likeness, though again FTC lets me down: the suit has a hole in the backside, and the original belt split after only a little pressure. I ditched the belt in exchange for a Signature Series Punisher belt which had to be trimmed with my scalpel.
The chest decal is especially nice and comes courtesy of nemo1635 on ebay, though it is slightly larger than expected and doesn’t fully cling to the chest as a result. But it also stays on really well (so far) and looks great on display.
The box was made by Greg Jensen, and looks and feels just like the sort of box Mego would have produced had they made another wave of Marvel characters. I imagine his reproductions are just as impressive.
My Mego collection has become remarkably “fast food logo” in its dominant colorscheme. A couple recent purchases allowed me to basically bag all the red heroes from the toy line.
Team Red consists of Spider-Man, my very first Mego purchased from a fellow collector when I was a teen; the newly restored Human Torch; a near-mint Shazam; and a used but nonetheless spiffy Iron Man. Now I need to start grabbing characters with starkly different palettes to balance the collection out.
Finally, FINALLY got a Mego Lizard to battle my Spider-Man. He has a dirty and flimsy but original lab coat complete with Mego label. All I have to do now is figure out how to clean and iron it safely.
Lizard is one I always wanted for a lot of reasons. His awesome alligator-man head (which is rubbery, so you can make him gnash his teeth together in a threatening manner), his cool colorscheme, and the fact that he has unique details to the line: scaly hands and feet, and a plush tail. The green dolls were notorious for having brittle knee and elbow pins, but this one’s joints are in great shape and (hopefully) show no sign of breaking anytime soon.
I’m tempted to leave the coat dirty to reflect that he’s an animal who lives in the sewers. Would be nice to iron and clean it without damaging the fabric, which already looks pretty delicate from age.
I got two Human Torches and started a Frankenstein-esque project to take all their best parts and assemble them into a near-mint Torch.
Torch #1 had never been removed from his beat-up, price tag covered card. I cut a hole in the top like with my Spider-Man so I could remove him whenever I want. Oddly enough, my second carded Mego doll is ALSO French, just like my Spidery-Mon. Torch #2 was purchased loose from a Facebook group.
Here’s the situation I was faced with:
Left (originally on card, since removed):
-faded, sticky head
-cracked left hand
-busted left leg pin
-rest of body is pristine
-suit is in excellent condition
-cracked feet
-good, tight joints
Right:
-missing left hand (replaced by Guy Luke – thanks man!)
-teeth marks in arms, left leg, and torso
-head is cherry red with no gray
-suit frayed, crotchless, and missing button
-feet also cracked
-good, tight joints
The job ended up being a bit easier than expected: the carded body was pristine apart from the busted knee pin (which I super glued back together) and the gray, sticky head. So I ended up just doing a head-swap after repairing the leg.
I hadn’t done a head-swap with a Mego before though, and I didn’t want to screw it up. Spider-Man’s arm barely survived leg replacement surgery and I didn’t want a repeat. Luckily I still had TestBat, pictured below on the left. On the right is TestBat taking one for the team as I prepare to boil his head and shoulders in order to twist off his head. (I mentioned this out of context to a friend and confused the shit out of her. The pictures didn’t help.)
The end result: two bad condition Human Torches became one near-mint Human Torch (pictured left with Thing), and one raggedy hobo Human Torch (right, with TestBat). Success!
He looks great, especially on the card. I cleaned the sticky residue from the inside of the bubble with a ruler wrapped in a soft, windex-sprayed cloth.
My first boxed Mego, procured at the Glendale Toy Con, is none other than Edward Nygma! The box is pretty nice, apart from the torn bit at the top when his original owner first opened him. It’s nice that I can take him out and display him whenever. (I also got a nifty loose Mego of the Thing!)
He’s currently being guarded by Batman.
French Mego Spidey, my first purchase as an official collector for a whoppin’ $16. Mego made these dolls in the late 60’s and early 70’s; they’re a favorite item among many toy collectors, and for a while I’d wanted to collect them myself…’til I realized the price range for the average doll on ebay, that is.
His leg broke recently, and he’s currently still in the emergency ward until I can replace the broken knee pin, or get a pristine new leg to match the rest of him. He’s in great condition, and my first Mego, so he’s getting no less than the best treatment.
Mike's Toybox 