Cool Toy Of The Week: Classic TV Toys

Chances are that if you were a kid during the 1970s, you were aware of MEGO action figures. These were little 8-inch tall figures that started out as a wildly popular line of Superhero figures, featuring both DC and Marvel characters. After mining that trend for a couple of years, MEGO started acquiring licenses to produce action figures based on hit TV shows of the day, like C.H.i.P.S, The Dukes Of Hazzard and Happy Days.

The MEGO figures were made like the old-style GI Joe, with an articulated body held together with elastic bands, and cloth uniforms. The head sculpts were a bit clunky, but that was part of the charm. Collectors go nuts over these figures. MEGO went belly-up in the early 1980s, after famously passing up the chance to make toys based on a little movie called Star Wars, but the company's 8-inch action figures left quite an impression on the collective pop culture psyche of the children of the polyester decade.

Today, a new company has resurrected the classic MEGO-style action figure. Classic TV Toys began producing reproductions of some of the most-beloved MEGO figures last year. They've also picked up the license to make action figures in the MEGO style for other TV shows that didn't have their own action figure lines back in the 1970s. Happy Days, The Munsters, The Brady Bunch, Married With Children and Space 1999 are just a few of the action figure lines they have available. They've even produced a MEGO-style figure of Andre The Giant.

These figures are very close reproductions of the body types used by MEGO back in the day, and they've even designed the packaging to look like the old blister cards that we used to see hanging in K Mart. If you have some older MEGO figures in distress, they also sell new replacement parts.

Classic TV Toys has also recreated several of the "generic" MEGO figure lines as well, with new figures of Pirates, Monsters, Cowboys and Knights. This is a huge nostalgic rush for those of us who had these toys when we were kids. Priced between 10 and 15 dollars, they're inexpensive enough for today's kids. You can order Classic TV Toys action figures, and check out their full assortment, at their website.