A popular line with Mego collectors, The Planet of the Apes line has many factory reproduced parts. This section will help you identify original parts from reproduction parts.
This page features the basic body styles used in the Planet of the Apes line. There are various colors unique to certain characters and the ape characters in the line have hands with sculpted hair on them, but here we'll address the basic body styles and their reproductions.
The first version of the mego male body was a metal rivet, less muscled body strung together with elastic. It has not been factory reproduced.
The second version of the Apes male body was more buff and had plastic joints instead of metal rivets, and strung together with hooks and rubber. Doctor Mego, EMCE Toys and Classic TV Toys offer factory made repro Mego bodies. DM's (marked 7th Street Toys on the back) is very accurate in detail and appearance but with a heavier feel and more rubbery hands. The EMCE bodies is exactly like the DM body, except marked EMCE Toys on the back. CTVT's bodies (marked Figures, Inc. on the back) tend to run a touch shorter, are more fragile, and have a slightly different design. A telltale sign of the CTVT body are the legs that tend to snap together at the knees. It should also be noted that Tim Mee produced the Type 2 body during the Mego era. This is a vintage knockoff that is identical in almost every way to the original body. It's weight is perhaps a touch lighter, and the Mego copyright info on the back of the body has been blotted out, but otherwise it's identical. Regarding specific ape bodies. Only EMCE Toys has reproduced the ape body with the hairy ape hands. Again, it is exactly the same as the DM body described above, except with the ape hands and done in a color to match the original Zaius/Cornelius body color, although it is a touch darker. It is marked EMCEToys on the back.
Zira is the only female in the Mego Ape universe, and she comes on a light brown body with ape hairy hands. CTVT has reproduced the standard Mego female body though. We picture a caucasian body to show the style of reproduction body available for female characters. The first version (not pictured) had a lot of issues. Cracks, lots of flashing and numorous other issues which are easy to spot. Some CTVT female bodies have a neck hole similar to the male body, instead of the neck stem that Mego used. CTVT eventually redesigned it's female body to work out most of the issues. It's close to Mego's, although the legs still want to twist in an odd way. It is unmarked. Doc Mego and EMCE Toys have also reproduced the female Mego body. This version is very close to the original Mego body. The biggest difference is at the joints. The pin holes on this version are a little larger than on the original body and the knees are re-designed with pin joints making them less prone to loose knees, a common problem with Mego female bodies. The pelvis is slightly different in shape and the legs on snap into the pelvis - bringing the legs together and minimizing the wide hips. The material the female body is made from is very similar to the DM/EMCE male body. The arms and legs are more rubbery than the original, and the torso and pelvis are much harder than an original. This reproduction is stamped with a 2008 Spherewerx / EMCE Toys copyright on the back. They have also produced a female body for Zira with the appropriate color and with the Ape hands. Again, marked the same way and identical in design to the other EMCE Female bodies.