MEGO Meet 2012 In Photos

The PopCulteer
June 15, 2012

MEGOMANIA

Last week your PopCulteer headed North to Wheeling for the annual MEGO Meet, a convention of devotees of MEGO action figures from the 1970s, and their modern-day counterparts. The poster for this year's show (seen right) was a tribute to Neal Adams' classic cover for the "Superman vs. Muhammad Ali" comic book. The folks at The MEGO Museum know how to put on a great toy show.

The Kruger Street Toy and Train Museum played host to this gathering of dealers, customizers and folks peddling new MEGO-style figures. As always, it was a blast.

As always, MEGO Meet was a blast! The odd thing was, I spent most of my money on GI Joe Adventure Team and Captain Action stuff, but the show was mostly MEGO, and rather than blather, I will now kick into photo-essay mode. Enjoy!

[caption id="attachment_8413" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Prepare for action figure Nirvana..."][/caption]



[caption id="attachment_8360" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Doc Mego, giving a seminar. Doc builds most of the figures used in Adult Swim's "Robot Chicken.""][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_8361" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Doc Mego's audience"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_8362" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Some of Doc Mego's spare parts"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_8363" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Brilliant custom work by Random Axe"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_8364" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="More by Random Axe"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_8365" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="I think this was part of Trappy's assortment of vintage and custom stuff"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_8366" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="More of Trappy's table, complete with the MEGO Obama"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_8367" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="MEGO also brought Micronauts to America, as seen at this dealer table"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_8368" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Some of the custom entries for the auction"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_8369" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="More customs"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_8370" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Another custom, a 12" Aquaman"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_8371" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Brick Mantooth, THE 1970s Macho Man"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_8372" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="More customs, including Drew Brees. Thankfully, nobody made a Tebow"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_8373" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="This table full of vintage figures is worth more than your house"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_8374" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Cast-Away Toys Gray Phantom on a cool stone throne"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_8375" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="These are the four MEGO-style Venture Brothers figures I need for my collection"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_8376" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="The first "Toy Lust" shout is to Nick Curnutte, It's Reissues of MEGO-style 8" KISS figures that dominated a case of cool stuff that wasn't for sale, dammit"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_8377" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="More not-for-sale stuff. Luckily, I gots most of these"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_8378" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="The second "Toy Lust" shout out is to Mark Wolfe. Look, it's Khan!"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_8379" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Mark's "Toy Lust" shout-out continues with a case full of Star Trek figures"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_8380" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Still more Star Trek"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_8381" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="There was a lot of Star Trek at the show"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_8382" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="A "Toy Lust" shout out to Mandy Petry, but sadly I didn't get any good shots of the Modern Dr. Who items"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_8383" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Had I brought twice as much money, I would've brought home the Evel Knievel and Major Matt Mason MEGO-style customs"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_8416" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="...and a "Toy Lust" shout out to Ryan Hardiman, who might have wanted the Dr. Hyde figure that's right there between the two figures I wish I would have picked up"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_8384" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption=""Toy Lust" alert to Roadblock. It's Animal Man, and not the "New 52" reboot, either"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_8385" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="This dealer had lots of non-MEGO stuff, most of which I wanted"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_8386" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Yes, it's custom figures of Count Chocula, Frankenberry and Boo-Berry. If these are successful, we may see Fruit Brute and Yummy Mummy next year"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_8387" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Yet another dealer with tons of cool stuff"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_8388" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Okay, I admit it. That GI Joe Mobile Support Vehicle came home with me"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_8421" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="I managed to resist this case of reasonably-priced Adventure Team and Captain Action figures"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_8390" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Johnny West made a cameo a week before the Marx Toy Collectors show at Kruger Street"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_8391" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="More really cool customs, including an Inspector Clouseau figure that tempted Melanie"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_8392" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Toy-Man Collectibles, from Wisconsin, from whom I scored a Black Talking Adventure Team Commander, and a Captain Action parachute. His eBay ID is Toyman_Chris and he has a ton of primo Evel Knievel stuff"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_8393" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="More of Toyman's stuff"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_8394" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Lee Harrah, showing off his custom Conan, with rooted hair."][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_8395" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="A close-up of Conan. I'll have to get a better photo for a later PopCulteer"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_8396" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Giant Man holding MEGO Jesus and Spock was one of my favorite things to see at the show"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_8412" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Let's take a moment to revisit Brick Mantooth. Seriously he is the "Dos Equis Man" of imaginary 1970s action figures."][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_8398" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Back at the custom auction, it's Brick Mantooth's super-sexy van"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_8399" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Yet another dealer loaded with tons of cool, rare toys"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_8400" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Another "Toy Lust" shout-out to Mark Wolfe. Star Trek AND Planet of the Apes at this dealer"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_8402" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="GAH! There's too much cool stuff everywhere.  My Blood-toy level is spiking"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_8403" align="alignright" width="250" caption="This would earn a "Toy Lust" shout-out to Lee Harrah, but since he was first in line to buy one, that lust is sated"][/caption]

This year's convention exclusive limited-run figure was an 8-inch MEGO Style figure of Pulsar. Pulsar was one of the cooler, weirder action figures of the 1970s.

Here's the description from Wikipedia, "Pulsar was a 14" action figure looked like a handsome middle aged man with short white hair. However once you opened his sweat suit top it revealed that his entire torso was clear plastic which allowed viewing of his internal organs. There was a button on his back that when depressed would make his lungs and heart pump and force simulated blood through some simulated arteries and veins in the body cavity. In addition to having visible innards, Pulsar's head could flip open and a holographic mission disk (a small lenticular plastic disk) could be placed inside. "

For this year's MEGO Meet, the organizers cooked up an 8-inche version of Pulsar, and he sold briskly at $90 a pop.  Major kudos to the fine folks at The MEGO Museum for organizing such a fun gathering, and coming up with such a cool featured figure.

If you see things in this photo essay that ignite your toy lust, visit the MEGO Museum and join the forums, and you'll probably be able to track down any dealer and customizer shown here.

[caption id="attachment_8405" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="One of the other cool items seen at MEGO Meet was a series of US Prezidents, depicted as Universal Monsters. You could choose from "Barracula," "Zom-Bush" and 'Monster From The Watergate Lagoon," among others. Clinton as the Wolfman had sold out"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_8406" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="One dealer had tons of odd Batman ephemera, much of it Spanish-language"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_8407" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="He even had the ultra-rare "Batman As A Naked Chick" action figure, though it's worth more still in the package"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_8408" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="I was so blinded by the Batman stuff that I didn't see the Major Matt Mason Space Bubble until I was writing this caption. Crap! How did I miss that?"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_8409" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Got Head?"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_8410" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Toy Lust alert for my kid sister, Diana. "Oh Mighty Isis""][/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_8414" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="With this, we bid farewell to Kruger Street Toy And Train Museum, but only for a week. Next week we will bring you two photo essays. One of the museum's permanent displays, and one devoted to the just-closed Hello Kitty exhibit."][/caption]