Mego Museum Interviews: Ken Abrams

This 14K gold pendant was made to commerate the One Millionith Ape figure sold.Ken is considering parting with it, serious buyers can contact Ken through the Museum at megomuseum@aol.com

By Brian Heiler

Ken Abrams is the kid we all wanted to be, the son of Mego Toys President and Creative Mastermind Martin Abrams.Today, Ken has handled the licenses for such properties as Star Trek, Spiderman, Conan and Stan Lee Media. I caught up with Ken last week and found him a very grounded person who really had a passion about talking about Mego.


Museum: So first off, what was it like?

Ken Abrams: What can I tell you, there was nothing better! It was instant popularity

M: I guess you were the first kid invited to birthday parties

KA: Absolutely, first kid picked. It's weird I have dreams where everything is still for sale and I see it all for ninety nine cents, it still haunts me.

M: I think every Mego collector can relate, I ought to know from experience. So did you as a kid have anything that I may have never known about?

KA: I got everything first, I had every micronaut. I had the Rocket Tubes, did that get released?

M: Yes, it did.

KA: Oh yeah, they pulled them because they didn't work, same with the phaser battle game, both shipped in minimum quantities.

M: Do you have any favourite lines?

KA: Yes, the Apes and Star Trek, those are my favourites. I still have all of them.

M: Was your input important on the Apes Line?

KA: Not really, but I had a lot of input on the WGSH.

M: How?

KA: My Dad didn't know who the superheroes were, he thought it was just Batman and Robin. You can't do that today make a line with DC and Marvel figures together.

M: No thats true, those were the glory days. Do you remember the Alter Egos, were they a hit

KA: Those were the heads? They were done as a premium so yes they sold well, it was one time thing.

M: Any other mego lines profit from your input?

KA: Kiss was my idea. My dad didn't know who they were and I talked to him about getting it, he got the rights for little. Later on, he became friendly with Gene Simmons, my dad took me to a rehearsal. I was 11 years old and got to meet Kiss, it doesn't get any better.

M: Have you ever heard about the Logans Run line?

KA: Yeah, that shipped didn't it?

M: Sadly, no.

KA: Well Mego was definitely going to do that, it was based on the TV show not the movie, I am surprised that didn't ship, it was done.

M: I have had heard rumours of a mego revival, can you tell me about that?

KA: My dad and I have tried but the biggest problem is that the name was bought by Lego Toys who thought it was too similar. There is no name that comes close to Mego and unless we have a ton of money to throw to Lego and on Licenses, it's not going to happend, it's too expensive and contrary to popular belief, we didn't get rich from Mego.

M: Do you think your attempts to revive mego sponsored the Fampous Covers line?

KA: I worked at Marvel, they referred to it as their Mego line.

M: Any other cool memories?

KA: I was in an Action Jackson commercial and one for Tapper Snapper

M: I've never heard of Tapper Snapper.

KA: You put them in your shoes and it simulated tap shoes.

M: Ah, maybe they never came to Canada. I just saw a piece of Mego stationary go for $ 50 on ebay, what do you think about that sort of thing?

KA: I love it that's great, do you like Toyfare's Twisted Mego Theatre?

M: Oh yeah but do you?

KA: Of course, (Wizard CEO) Gareb Shamus is a friend of mine.

M: Any other projects we should know about?

KA: My dad is relaunching Micronauts, it should be happening shortly but it's going to happen.

M: Any more memories?

KA: Yeah, one last thing, there used to be a kids show called "Wonder-Rama" that was sponsored by Mego. It was a "Krusty the Clown" kind of show with an audience of 200 kids and one would get picked and win prizes. Everytime I would go on the show, I would win and then they'd take the toys away from me, it was a setup. it's funny now but then, try telling a five year old he couldn't keep his toys.