Comic Action Heroes, 3 3/4" action figures by Mego, 1975
Above are Aquaman and Robin (missing an arm). These figures are the same as the Pocket Heroes produced in 1979 but have bent legs instead of straight legs. Other DC characters in the series include Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Shazam, Penguin, and the Joker. Vehicles included the Batmobile,modeled after the 1966 TV series, and Wonder Woman's Invisible Plane made out of clear plastic.
Star Wars, 3 3/4 action figures by Kenner, 1978
The very first Star Wars movie made it's debut in 1977 and shortly after the toy industry was dealt a knockout blow from one source.... Kenner's Star Wars action figures. Companies who were not on board with Star Wars from the very start, such as Mego and Mattel which had both passed up on the licence, were left behind. Every kid in North America wanted Star Wars action figures. This made it difficult for other toy companies to sell non-Star Wars related toys. Mego had been the leading toy company since the early 1970s, but struggled to keep up with the success of Star Wars. This in addition to some bad business practises behind the scenes at Mego led to the company going bankrupt by 1981.
The popularity of Star Wars action figures also led to a significant decline of interest in the market for 8 inch and 12 inch doll "action figure" toys. From 1978 onward toy companies mainly produced their action figures in the smaller 3 3/4 format, similar to the Star Wars figures, as this was what the market now demanded. It wasn't until 1981, when Mattel's "Masters of the Universe" action figures were introduced, that a different format of action figures would be successful, and even then it was an exception to the new "rule" of producing action figures during that era.
Action figures based on the three original Star Wars movies have their own pages on this blog:
Battlestar Galactica, by Mattel, 1978
There were six figures made in series one of this collection. My favourite is the very popular Daggit action figure which is hard to find without a broken tail. Two variations of the Daggit figure were made, one with light brown plastic (shown above) and one with tan plastic. Next to Daggit is the figure of Lt. Starbuck, missing his fabric cape/robe. I'm missing the figure of Commander Adama. Unfortunately figures of Captain Apollo and Lt. Boomer were never produced for this series.
Ovion missing his fabric outfit/cape, Imperious Leader with a home-made outfit, and the Cylon Centurian with most of the silver rubbed off of his armour. Series two included four figures: Baltar, Lucifer, Cylon Commander (this figure is the same as the Cylon Centurian only with gold armour instead of silver), and Boray.
Pocket Super Heroes, 3 3/4" action figures by Mego, 1979
Above are Batman, Robin and Superman. The paint on Batman's face has worn off. These figures are the same as the Comic Action Heroes from 1975 but have straight legs instead of bent legs. Other DC Comics characters in the series include Wonder Woman, Shazam, Aquaman, Penquin, Joker, Lex Luthor, General Zod, and Jor-el. The Batmobile from the Comic Action Heroes line was reissued as part of this set however the top "dome" section was modified. Rather than having one solid clear lid that flips open, the windows on this version match with how they looked on the 1966 Batman TV series and are fixed in place.
In addition, Mego made a series of smaller Marvel Comics action figures, however I only have Spider-Man. The others include Hulk, Captain America, and Green Goblin. Once again, Mego also made similar action figures of these four characters with bent legs for their "Comic Action Heroes" series in 1975. A smaller version of the Spider-Car vehicle that Mego had made for their 8 inch Spider-Man doll, was also offered as part of this series.
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