Collectible of the Week: Hornetroid (Mego; 1979)

It would be a tough call to select my favorite Mego Micronauts toy from the 1970s, but leading the pack would be 1979’s Hornetroid, “the fearsome Myriapod from the far-off galaxy of Thoraxia.”  The baddest MF in the Microverse, the Hornetroid is an interchangeable aerial attack ship that resembles a giant, malevolent insect.

The Hornetroid features a front cockpit which opens to house Micronaut action figures, gripping mandibles, four translucent purple wings, a cockpit canopy that resembles compound eyes, laser cannons and more.  The Hornetroid’s wings, for instance, could flap up-and-down by pressing a tab on the ship’s dorsal spine. 

Released at the same time as the “Terraphant” (a terrestrial vehicle resembling a monster elephant…) and personalities such as Membros (with the glow-in-the-dark brain), Hornetroid also shared an awesome quality with toys such as Milton Bradley’s Star Bird and Mattel’s Space: 1999 Eagle One.  In particular, the Hornetroid could come apart, and re-form into a scout mode by joining the aft and fore compartments and discarding the middle module. 

Mego’s Hornetroid was perhaps my most desired toy of 1979 because it looked so damn scary and cool.  I still own the one my Granny bought for me that year, but it is in really, really bad shape after three-and-a-half decades.  The back dorsal wing/spine is snapped off, along with one of the front compartment’s antennae.  

I’ve also managed to lose the weird transparent purple “bomb” to the ship.  I had it just a few years ago, but now it is gone.

My son Joel loves the Hornetroid, but my toy is so played out that it just falls apart if you try to pick it up, alas.  One of these days, I’m going to have to pick up another on E-Bay for him…

The Hornetroid, though not the right scale, also appeared in the popular Micronauts comic-book series from Marvel.

Collectible of the Week: 2-XL (Mego Corp; 1978)

2-XL is a “robot with a personality” manufactured and released by Mego Corp. in 1978.  This small robot is an “electronic toy” and “comes complete with 8-track cartridge, instruction, and game booklet.”

On the box, 2-XL is described as:

THE TALKING ROBOT THAT WILL

Tell Jokes

Ask you True-False Questions

Ask you multiple-choice questions.

Tell you if you are right or wrong.

Give you the correct answer.

Give you more information on different subjects.

Play games with you and your friends.

Play standard 8-track cartridges as well as 2-XL Cartridges.

A whole range of “additional 2-XL tapes” were also available at local toy stores of the day including.

Sports: “For the sports fan in the family, 2-XL sports tape is programmed for exciting questions, jokes, riddles on all sports, football, basketball, baseball, hockey, water sports, etc. Test your knowledge against the coach, ‘Uncle Brainy.’”

Games and Puzzles: “A tape of funny and challenging games and puzzles for the entire family complete with game book. Various levels of difficulty. Great for parties or those rainy days.”

Guinness Book of World Records: “What was the longest frankfurter ever made?  Who was the shortest woman who ever lived?  What was the world’s hopscotch record? Hundreds of challenging questions from the Guinness Book of World Record for hours of fun.

Science Fiction: “For science fiction, Superhero lovers.  Includes jokes, facts on fictional characters, superheroes, and famous science fiction characters.”

Metric System/Education:“2-XL introduces your family to the Metric System. In his own special way, 2-XL ‘educates’ and amuses as he translates the metric system into ‘English.’ A must tape for all members of the family before those speedometers change to kilometers.  And square yards into square meters.”

Interviews with Great People from History: “Did you ever chat with Alexander the Great, or Daniel Boone? Let 2-XL introduce you to the great personalities of history in the most fascinating Talk Show ever.”

Monsters, Myths and Legends: On the trail of Bigfoot, Dracula and Frankenstein, 2-XL encounters the scariest monsters of all time. It’s spine-tingling adventures ahead in our ghostly gallery of myths and legends.”

50’s and 60’s Nostalgia: 2-XL turns back the clock to the fabulous fifties and sixties as he tests your knowledge of intriguing trivia – Elvis, the Beatles, the Brooklyn Dodgers and Gunsmoke to name a few.”

Other cassettes included Astronomy/2-XL in Space, Believe This or Not, Adult Games and Puzzles, Animal World, Storyland: 2-XL and the Time Machine, U.S. Presidents and American History and The Basics of ABC’s.

The wondrous and boxy 2-XL, who came equipped with a voice that sounds like Lou Costello’s, was re-modeled in the 1980s to be less boxy, and somehow less fun.

Below you’ll find TV commercials for 2-XL in both of his incarnations. 

Collectible of the Week: Star Trek: The Motion Picture Action Figures (1979; Mego)

“Collect all of Mego’s fantastic action figures to recreate the adventures of the crew of the Starship Enterprise…”

I love Star Trek, I love Mego, and I love sci-fi action figures. 

But despite my absolute nostalgia and affection for the action figures I’m featuring as collectible of the week here today, I must admit that they are not really very good, at least objectively-speaking.  Of course, that never stopped me from playing with them as a kid…

In 1979, Star Trek: The Motion Picture was released in theaters, and Mego manufactured a series of small, 3-inch figures to go with the revival film.  There were apparently two releases. 

The first release consisted of six Enterprise crew people: Captain Kirk, Mr. Spock, Commander Decker, Lt. Ilia, Scotty, and Dr. McCoy.  

The second release of six -- which I never saw in stores anywhere – included aliens featured in the films. These included Klingon, Zaranite, Betelgeusian, Arcturian, Megarite and Rigellian.  You say you don’t remember any of those aliens, except the Klingon? 

That makes two of us.

Although it was a relief to see that these action figures were not held together at the shoulders and knees by small, easily breakable metal pins (like Mego’s The Black Hole and Buck Rogers action figures), these Star Trek toys -- while “fully poseable” -- certainly seemed like a bare bones releases. 

The characters don’t come equipped with phasers, wrist communicators, or even a tricorder for Spock and Bones.  And the photos on the back of the cards reveal the characters…in different costumes.  Kirk is wearing a short-sleeved tunic, not his two-tone (and very attractive…) admiral’s uniform.  Meanwhile Decker is in gray in the photo…while the figure is wearing yellow.

All this established, I do find these Star Trek figures appealing if only because they are wearing some variation of those The Motion Picture-style uniforms, which always remind me of the 1970s, Space:1999, Ark II and the like.   

As a rule, I believe that all of us in the future should endeavor to wear pajamas, I guess…

Anyway, these action figures -- especially the aliens -- today fetch very high prices on E-Bay and other online vending venues.  I have vivid memories of running into a department store called Bradleys in the early 1980s and seeing these particular action figures discounted for a dollar apiece.  

I always hoped against hope that one week I’d see a Klingon, an Arcturian or a Rigellian on the shelf…but it never happened.

Collectible of the Week: Moonraker James Bond (Mego; 1979)

In terms of sci-fi movies and collectible toys, 1979 was a banner year. 

Movies such as Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Alien, Buck Rogers in the 25^thCentury, The Black Hole and Moonraker premiered that year, and every title on that list also saw memorable toys produced by Mego Corp.

I collected toys from all those sci-fi franchises, but never had the full line ofMoonraker action-figures, alas. 

Still, I vividly recall seeing these 12.5” -tall action figures on the shelves at Toys R Us and wishing for them.

Recommended for children three and over was this action-figure of Roger Moore as James Bond, described here as “The World’s Greatest Secret Agent…Legendary Commander 007.”  On the box is emblazoned the legend: “Action-packed Spy Adventures in the Fabulous Realm of Space.”

The most amusing facet of the action-figure, however, is that Bond wears a (loose) bow tie over his space suit.

Other figures in the “fully articulated, fully poseable” line included Holly Goodhead, the menacing Jaws and Drax. I remember seeing all of the figures in stores many times, save for Drax, and to this day, Jaws fetches a pretty penny on E-Bay.

What makes this particular Bond toy special and memorable to me is that Moonrakerrepresents the first occasion since the 1960s, I believe, that James Bond action-figures were mass produced and widely available.  This is the first time, in other words, Bond was in toy stores in his 1970s Roger Moore persona.

I also had a Moonraker model kit in 1979, which, of course, was merely a space shuttle model with special decals.

Late Night Blogging: Star Trek Mego Toy Commercials

Collectible of the Week: Star Trek: Mission to Gamma VI Playset (Mego; 1976)

I recently featured here the Mego U.S.S. Enterprise bridge set from the seventies.  In 1975, Mego also produced a great Star Trek toy to stand alongside it, the rare Mission to Gamma VI playset.

This Mego playset offered a landing party-style adventure for the young Star Trek fan, showcasing a an alien landscape and headquarters.  

As you may recognize, the plastic mold of the giant alien statue or icon roughly resembles Vaal from the second season Star Trek episode “The Apple.”  Still, there are some interesting variations here, namely the miniature “Gamma Creature” aliens, also described in a TV commercial of the day as “Lilliputians.”

This eighteen-inch high playset came with the mountain statue and throne, a platform and a trap door leading down to a subterranean cave  It also included a giant lizard-like glove (or a “glove creature”) meant for grabbing and detaining your Starfleet crew.  The statue’s reptilian mouth was also movable, and the eyes could glow-in-the-dark.  The mountain is an impressive hunk of plastic, even today.

I must confess, however, that it always bugged me that the Gamma Creatures were out of scale with the Mego Star Trek action figures. It would have been a lot cooler if they had been of the same size, and not so cartoonish in design.  They look kind of silly, frankly.

I remember how I purchased a second-hand Mission to Gamma VI playset in 1987 from a small dealer in Nutley, New Jersey.  He sold it to me for fifty dollars, replete with box and also some loose Mego figures of Green Goblin, Iron Man, the Star Trek Neptunian, and the Gorn.  Alas, I no longer own the box.  It got thrown away when I was in college, in 1990, a fact which drives me crazy.  (That was also the span during which I lost my box for the Kenner Imperial Shuttle from Return of the Jedi.)

My second-hand Mission to Gamma VI set was missing the subterranean cave architecture and glove.  So it was really just the Vaal-like mountain, the inhospitable landscape, the platform, and the mini-aliens.  

Still, my son Joel has gotten a lot of play out of it lately, as it remains proudly on display in my office.  When his Decepticons or Renegades need a base, Joel uses the Mission to Gamma VI statue.  He does so, he says, because it looks evil.

This is a relatively rare Mego Star Trek set, and I hear that it is difficult and expensive to come by.  I would love to find one with all the pieces and the box, but I’m not holding my breath.  

Below, you'll find the TV commercial for the Mission to Gamma VI statue.  You'll notice that there it seem to molded in blue or gray, rather than green. 

 

Buck Rogers Day: Laserscope Fighter (Mego; 1979)

In 1979, the post-Star Wars, Glen Larson version of Buck Rogers took the sci-fi world by storm.  I was nine year old at the time, and both the feature film and the follow-up TV series on NBC were right up my alley.  

The franchise starred Gil Gerard as Buck, Erin Gray as Colonel Wilma Deering, and Pamela Hensley as Princess Ardala.  The tone of the enterprise was cheeky and knowing, and the special effects, for their day, were absolutely stellar.  Down to the sexy opening credits, the film version played like James Bond in the future, or in space, perhaps.

Accordingly, I was thrilled when I began to see toys from Mego lining the shelves at Toys R Us.  Among the first of these was a spaceship toy with a design you never saw featured on-screen: the “Laserscope fighter.” 

This sharp-nosed space fighter “with simulated lasers and explosions” featured a cockpit for the 3.5 inch Buck Rogers figures.  But more interestingly, it possessed a rear-mounted view screen through which you could track, target, and incinerate enemies.

The box explains: “Look through the view-screen and line up your target, press the switches – see and hear the lasers fire – the target will appear to explode right before your very eyes!”

Also according to the box legend, this Buck Rogers Laserscope fighter featured:

·         Laserscope viewscreen

·         Twin stub wing handles

·         Telescopic focus control

·         Realistic laser sounds

·         Swing-open cockpit

·         Fits any Buck Rogers figure.

Of course, I must confess that when I was generously given the Laserscope fighter as a gift, I was a bit disappointed because I really wanted the Buck Rogers star fighter, a craft which was featured on the show and boasted an infinitely cooler design aesthetic. 

But once I actually got the star fighter for the Christmas of 1980, I could enjoy the Laserscope fighter as a kind of “alternate” ship for the intrepid Buck.  The fighter sort of fit with the universe of the TV series, because Buck often ended up going undercover for the Earth Directorate, flying ships of various designs.  So it was kind of cool to be able to play out that scenario with a ship other than an “official” one.

Also, if I understand my toy history right, the “Laserscope fighter” was also released in Europe, but as a toy from a different Mego license: The Black Hole (1979).  

Of course, the design of the ship doesn’t fit that particular franchise any more than it resembles something you saw on Buck Rogers…