The Mego Corporation, originally an importer of novelties and inexpensive toys, was founded by David Abrams in 1952. Most of their items, which included items as varied as baby dolls and cameras, were distributed without copyright, date or company trademark.

In 1971, Martin Abrams, the son of David Abrams, was promoted to President of Mego Corporation. The 28-year-old was the first toy executive to pay large amounts of money for exclusive rights to popular movies, comic books and TV characters. Until that time, licensing had not been a successful venture for toy companies. Abrams guided Mego into the world of licensing and in the direction of becoming the world's greatest action figure producer. Due to him, Mego was one of the top ten toy companies at the end of the 1970s.

Success

One of Abrams's greatest and most successful ideas was the use of interchangeable 20 centimetre (eight inch) bodies and accessories. This cut costs significantly and enabled Mego to recover from failed action figures (such as the Planet of the Apes line). The bodies¹ could be reused in various Mego action figure lines.

Action Jackson, which was Mego's first creation, and, more significantly, the introduction of the World's Greatest Superhero line in 1972, were the beginnings of Mego's successful lines of figures. The first four figures it released were Batman, Superman, Captain America and Spiderman. By 1977, there were over 30 different figures in this line, including The Fantastic Four, Conan, Aquaman, Tarzan, Batgirl, Supergirl, Catwoman and Thor.

The Turning Point

Coincidentally, 1977 also signalled the beginning of the Mego Corporation's end. The company decided not to produce the action figures for a film called Star Wars. Advance word for the film was not great, and no one could have known how successful it would later become. This propelled Kenner into the lead in the small action figure market while Mego struggled to regain its lead by acquiring the rights to Star Trek: The Motion Picture, The Black Hole, Moonraker and the Buck Rogers in the 25th Century television show. All of these action figure lines together still did not come close to the impact, or the sales, of the Star Wars action figures.

Throughout the late 1970s and early 1980s, Mego released various toy lines in the original 20cm (8") size as well as 23cm (9"), 30cm (12") and 10cm (3¾") versions. Flash Gordon figures were produced in the 23cm scale and proved to be a failure. The 30cm figures, which included the Superheroes, Star Trek, and the rock bands The Captain and Tenille and KISS, were created to compete with GI Joe figures, while the 10cm figures were created, ironically, to compete with the KennerStar Wars 10cm figure line. The original 1970s 20cm line notwithstanding, the 10cm Micronauts range, which featured figures from the Microman line of figures from Japan, was the most successful, helping Mego to stay afloat a few years longer than they would have been otherwise able.

Mego began to experience difficulties in the early 1980s due to licensing failures. To stay in business, Mego sold off parts of its corporation. Eventually, in June 1982, the end came as Mego filed for bankruptcy and toy production stopped.

Further Information

For more information, please visit the Mego Museum, an excellent guide to the Mego action figures.