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| 2018 MEGO 8" Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley |
Back in the 1970s, the toy company MEGO was at the top of their game. Toy stores were filled with their 8" World's Greatest Super Heroes, Star Trek, Planet of the Apes, Starsky and Hutch, and Wizard of Oz as well as a variety of other awesome action figures. Although by 1978, rival company Kenner was dominating shelf space with Star Wars toys, MEGO was still manufacturing some amazing toys including the 12" KISS action figures! Despite their best efforts, the Star Wars craze was a powerful force and by the early 1980s, MEGO was hurting. Despite success with several lines including KISS and Dukes of Hazard, it wouldn't be long before the famous MEGO logo would disappear completely from toy stores across the country.
For decades, MEGO fans have wondered "what if..." about a variety of toy possibilities. Many clever customizers created their own 8" MEGO figures of characters that were never produced such as Dr. Doom and Green Lantern. The popularity of this style of action figure led to several new toy manufacturers releasing figures in the same scale and size. They must have sold relatively well, because as of 2018, MEGO is back in the stores (well, they're back in Target stores anyway).
I had wanted the KISS figures as a kid, but they hadn't been in the stores for a while when I was growing up. I tried to make customs out of some old 12" GI Joes I had picked up at a flea market, but that was a complete failure. When ebay first arrived on the scene, "KISS figures" was my first search and I eventually pieced together a set for a pretty decent price. So when I saw that MEGO was back on the shelves and that one of the properties they were releasing was KISS, I was instantly on board.
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| Closeup of The Starchild and The Demon |
I've read a lot of complaints about the quality of these new figures and, to be honest, I have to admit that the heads could look better. With that said, I've seen some photos of repainted heads that look pretty amazing, so it might be largely a case of poor paint jobs. However, aside from the heads, these figures are very cool! The outfits are awesome 8" versions of the 12" originals that I have always loved. Plus, this time KISS comes with molded guitars instead of the cardboard cutouts from 1978. Just the fact that you can pick up 8" KISS figures by MEGO at your local Target store for around $15 is enough to make me smile! At this point, they seem to have only released Paul and Gene (I mean The Starchild and The Demon). I do hope that despite their departure from the band, Ace and Peter are released as well. The packaging doesn't mention Ace or Peter by name, but their images from the 1978 solo albums are on the card as "The Catman" and "The Spaceman" so hopefully we'll be able to complete the set with all four original band members! Thank you, MEGO, for many years of fun...and hopefully many more years to come!
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