1975 was a tremendous year for Mego, and one of their best partners was the now sadly defunct Montgomery Ward chain of Department stores. Mego created many an exclusive figure for MW in the 70s, and in 1975, the wishbook featured 8 pages of Mego goodness. Let’s dig in, shall we?
The Mego Wizard of Oz line debuted that year and was a massive hit with retailers, thanks to a gala toyfair even put on by Marty Abrams. By involving the film’s producer Mervyn LeRoy, Abrams could get living Oz cast members to rub elbows with toy buyers and sign autographs.
The Walton’s also premiered in 1975, Mego got the license for nothings and took their shot. The Mad Monsters were in their final year and Commander Power was an attempt to get in on the Evel Knievel market.
The Dare Brothers was a pretty curious line for Mego; these beefy daredevils could fly thanks to their glider. This set is quite rare now.
The belle of the ball from 1975 was the Mego World’s Greatest Superheroes. Wards went all out with their Superhero pages, and this lovely cartoon implies that the Joker is hostile toward suffragettes.
Who is Hombre you ask? He’s a figure Mego made for Ward’s. He’s essentially a Fighting Yank with a new hat and he’s four dollars cheaper than GI Joe.
The Planet of the Apes line was still a big deal in 1975 and millions of kids “Went Ape” that Christmas. We recently did a video about the tree house and it’s below:
Dr. Kromedome was created in 1975 by Mego. You see Steve Austin didn’t have a bad guy to fight (yet) and Ward tapped the World’s Greatest Toy Company to fill that void. Dr. K is a funky-looking bad guy.
Finally, we come to another new toy line for Mego in 1975. Based on a TV show that was cancelled 5 years earlier, Star Trek would prove to be one of Mego’s hottest sellers for the year. Not that in the photo the Bridge playset is actually a prototype.
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About the Mego Museum. Created in 1996 by Robyn Adams, the Mego Museum has been the premier destination collector reference site and online community for collectors of vintage, new and custom mego figures.
