Planet of the Apes Playsets

Mego did a fair bit of recycling from
Action Jackson to the planet of the apes line, from the M16’s
to the Astronauts entire
wardrobe. The Action Stallion however is one bit of recycling that
made a terrible amount of sense. Horses played such a major role
in the series that this piece is essential to a Mego Planet of the
Apes collection. Note that the front of the box features a prototype
Mego Soldier Ape.

Mego would continue to use this horse logically in
other lines such as the
Super Knights ,
Dinah-Mite and the
Western Heroes

Mego Planet of the Apes Action Stallion in Catalog Mailer Box

Thanks to our pal Corey LeChat we have this beautiful mailer box Action Stallion in the Museum Galleries.

Mego Planet of the Apes Action Stallion in Catalog Mailer Box

While not as widely collected as regular packaging, mailer box items are coveted by a segment of collectors and stuff like this is very hard to get.

Mego Planet of the Apes Action Stallion in Catalog Mailer Box

I’m geeky enough to know that this is from the JC Penney Catalog of 1975.

The Action Stallion from the 1975 Sears Catalog, for
more on this check out the
Mego Christmas Catalog Section of the Museum.

There is a second Apes Horse! Parkdale Novelty (Canada)
and Cipsa (Mexico) released this non articulated horse with the
Catapult and Wagon set.
This Horse was also proposed in 1976 as part of the
Mego Waltons line but it never materialized.

While many of the Mego items didn’t seem to fit the
primitive stylings of the apes (ie: M-16’s) these playset pieces
were logical additions to the “Ape World”

Thanks to Mike D’Aloia we have pics of the Mexican version of the Battering ram which featured some snazzy redrawn artwork.

In the US, the Catapult and Wagon set was sold by itself and kids
had to buy the action stallion if they wanted a horse. (FYI that’s
a custom human in that wagon, you aren’t missing a figure folks)

Rare boxed version of the Canadian exclusive (Parkdale Novelty)
Catapult, Horse and Wagon set. The box features the same artwork
as the US version (sold sans the horse) but is much longer, features
bilingual packaging (still the law in Canada) and a notification
on how this set was made exclusively for Parkdale Novelty (and offered
exclusively for Sears Canada). Cipsa sold the set as well in Mexico
but the packaging is much different.

Horse from the Mexican/Canadian Catapult & Wagon & Horse
set. Horse’s hooves have ball bearings in them
so it glides.

The Canadian Exclusive Horse, Wagon and Catapult set from the 1975
Sears Canada Catalog, for more on this check out the
Mego Christmas Catalog Section of the Museum.

“Thats it, just a little closer” Forbidden Zone Trap playset courtesy
Brian Heiler

Here is the box which features an unhappy looking astronaut Burke.

A boxed Planet of the Apes Fortress is the largest set that Mego produced for the apes, it’s constructed of sturdy laminated cardboard, which means it was mainly for indoor us.

Check out our YouTube video on the Mego Planet of the Apes Fortress

Alan Verdon models the unique jail cell for this playset, which is sturdier than the cage included with the Treehouse playset.

The lovely General Urko models the gun rack and sun reflector. The Sun reflector was actually used in the series making this one of the more show accurate pieces. Missing is the conspicuous “Planet of the Apes” flag from the sun reflector. If you’re missing yours, see below:

Download a scan of the original flag by clicking the pic or by clicking here

Alan models the “work table”, it seems pretty morbid that we as children got so many opportunities to reenact vivisection scenes.

FORTRESS INCLUDED:

2 story fortress structure, with “floor”
between them (glossy finished

cardboad)

“Sun reflector” and POTA flag (paper
flag on wooden stick) which goes on top

Jail Cell, small, holds 1 or 2 (cozy)

Work Table (cardboard)

“Gun Rack”

2 Ladders

3 rifles and 3 “Control Sticks” which
all fit on

the “gun rack”.

Mego Planet of the Apes Jail

The jail is a logical addition to this line of lower cost items, seeing as the jails in the playsets are usually cardboard. The secret of the padlock would take a child about five seconds, seeing as it took me about ten to figure it out.

Mego Planet of the Apes Jail

Here is the Astronaut tucked away in his cell.

Cipsa Mego Planet of the Apes Jail

Pictured above is the Mexican Cipsa release for the Jail (now known as Jaula Simia)  with artwork retouched from the US release, the Soldier Ape has been replaced with Ursus.

Cipsa Mego Planet of the Apes Jail

The back of the box depicts the entire Cipsa line, something the US box doesn’t do, it just repeats the box art on all four sides.

Cipsa Mego Planet of the Apes Jail

Here is the Cipsa Jail loose, it is a slightly different colour than the US version. I know it’s not terribly important but it’s important dammit. Other than that it’s indistinguishable from the US release.

Rare Planet of the Apes Rock Launcher which was only available as a separate piece in the United Kingdom from Palitoy. (ala Brain). The artwork is of course, striking as all Palitoy card artwork normally  is.

Planet of the Apes Rock Launcher by Palitoy.

This is the only item that utilized the same artwork that the UK action figures did.

Planet of the Apes Rock Launcher by Palitoy.

The Throne is a strange addition to the line, a chair that becomes a cage seems more in place with a Horror movie theme than with apes.

Here is the Mexcian version of the throne released by Cipsa, the box depicts the Astronaut, however this figure was not released in Mexico.

The Planet of the Apes Treehouse wasn’t based on anything in the films but was a repackaged version of Action Jackson’s Jungle Treehouse but seeing as Caesar lived in a treehouse in the previous year’s “Battle for the Planet of the Apes” it made perfect sense. The treehouse was an incredible seller for Mego, in an October 1974 Playthings magazine the Treehouse was listed as “outselling comparable toys 20 to 1”.

A treehouse playset all set up thanks to John. Below are the known releases of the treehouse, although it is shown in the Bullmark Japan catalog, it is widely believed it was not released in a Japanese box.

.

The Planet of the Apes Giftset included the treehouse and the first five figures in baggies, a very similiar concept to the Enterprise Gift Set. These gift sets are hard to find and are extremely popular. Photo courtesy of Mike D’Aloia.

The
Parkdale Novelty (Canada) Treehouse Box (top) much like the Canadian boxed Enterprise Playset is much smaller than it’s US counterpart and a harder to find variation. It’s always fun to highlight the french side of the box but the other side is in english.

Treehouse came with:

House building (vinyl over cardboard) with “fold down” staircase

Work Table (vinyl over cardboard)

Capture Net

It also had a set of 3 rifles and 3 “control
sticks”and a Jail Cell.

The Village Playset is the exact same structure as
the Batcave, but has different cardboard art inside the vinyl, including
a painting of the wrecked Statue of Liberty on the back. The Action Jackson Lost Continent Playset was another form for this set and actually was marketed as a Planet of the Apes piece!

This may be the only playset that has activelly promoted
human dissection, and the victim on the table is a Phillip custom.
Photo by Phil

The village is rather large but it’s so striking to look at. NOTE: The Captured astronaut is actually just an Action Jackson figure.

Related Images: