Logo for the Mego Action Jackson Knock Off The Adventurer

The Adventurer! A cousin of Action Jackson?

backer for Mego Action Jackson knockoff, THE ADVENTURER Action Jackson (and Big Jim) inspired a great deal if imitators in the mid seventies, it's not surprising really, seeing as the concept is basically public domain. Characters such as "Big Bill" and "Adventure man" from AHI hit the dimestore racks with little to no fanfare. However two Action Jackson imitators have a distinct difference to the others and that is both were packaged with actual Mego Product!

The first figure, Captain Eagle was actually a quality figure, he features a mego like body and he's notably more handsome than AJ. Captain Eagle (Mego would actually release a figure of the same name for the Eagle Force line) could be found in a baggie with a header card or shrunk wrapped to Action Jackson outfits. Obviously, Captain Eagle was created to help clear out existing Action Jackson inventory (perhaps by the same person who created reverse Captain Patch and bundled him with Fighting Furies outfits) It is unknown as to whether the good Captain was created by Mego.

Close up of Captain Eagle, who kind of resembles Martin Landau

The Adventurer is an even bigger mystery, the packaging is nameless but several of the outfits are not only identical to Action Jackson but they also bare Mego markings and tags. There are also outfits completely unqiue to the line, could they be an unreleased AJ second wave?.

The doll itself invites more offers for speculation, the head is a retooled use of Pedigree's "Tommy Gun", however the Tommy Gunn head was used by Mego in the 1960's for their original fighting yank.

The Adventurer line could be easily dismissed as a knock off AJ that simply used a blowmolded figure and molds taken from Action Jackson. It could also be argued that the line was an attempt for Mego to beat the knock off artists by creating their own lower priced brand. In 1975, Hasbro toys, known for G.I. Joe squeaked out a blow molded doll called defenders which was an effort to combat imitators, the defenders' clothing and accessories were familiar because they were left over G.I. Joe pieces.

Many former Mego employees have mentioned that while Action Jackson's initial orders were huge, the reorders were almost nothing, leaving a glut of inventory in the factories. The bodies could be reused for "World's Greatest Superheroes" and the heads could be melted down for reuse (as Neal Kublan had once suggested) but one might theorize that a quicky knock off like the Adventurer was created to deal with the excess outfits. We may never know.


Boxed Figures and Outfits
(Click to Enlarge)

Photographer notice the camera

Secret Agent

Golf

Safari

Photographer Secret Agent Golf Safari

I am unsure what this outfit is supposed to be, wearing it would be an adventure of sorts

Fire Rescue suit is identical to AJ

Boxed Adventurer
BACK OF THE BOX
Unknown Fire Rescue Outfit plus Figure Back of figure box


Captain Eagle was often found shrunk wrapped to two or more Action Jackson outfits

Notes: The Adventurer doll was also sold in his own box (More on that later) at least one more outfit is known to exist (Fishing). All packages mention that the outfits fit Action Jackson on the front..


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