Action Figures Gone Wild

I can still remember the thrill I felt getting my first action figure as a kid. It was the early ''70s and a toy company called Mego introduced four superhero figures--Batman, Superman, Aquaman and Robin--on sale at a place called Toyworld in my area. Now, this Toyworld was quite a ways from us and the only place carrying them initially. I saw the sale flyer and bugged my mother to bring me out there to get one of them. It was summer vacation and I was so excited I could pee.

The first pick was Batman. Mego action figures were eight inches high and posable, not like the superhero bendies I'd gotten at a younger age. The Mego corporation had been around since the 1950s, but really exploded with the introduction of their superhero line. They also followed with a very nice Planet of the Apes line and classic monster line, all of which I eventually ended up owning and stupidly gave to a cousin when I thought I was too old for them. The early models were released in a nice square collectible box, and the Batman came with a cowl you could remove to reveal Bruce Wayne. Unfortunately, this was changed to straight molded heads a short time later for all the figures.

When I got Batman home I was pretty stoked but it only took a couple days before I figured he was lonely with no villains to fight and no superfriends to chum with. Somehow I managed to wrangle another trip to the store and a Superman and Robin figure. A few days later, my grandparents arrived from the South to stay with us a month and my grandmother got me Aquaman, the last figure. My grandfather was not entirely happy or encouraged to see me playing with dolls. I recognized the what's-wrong-with-that-kid look, though he didn't say anything, because he actually liked me, and didn't like my sister. So me flying Superman around outside was tolerated but frowned upon. Good thing it wasn't a Barbie, I guess.

Over the next year or so Mego really geared up their lines, releasing both Marvel and DC superheros, along with the Apes and Monster figures. I snagged a rare Captain America, though some moron had opened the box at the store and lost the shield. It was the only one around, so I bought it. Shazam, Spider-man, Joker, Riddler and probably fifty other figures came next. I got GI Joe action accessories sets to go with them, like the treasure chest, and filled it with plastic jewels and colored tinfoil I made into gold and silver coins. I had tried the foil-covered chocolate coins, but I always ended up eating them before my heroes found the treasure. A few girl figures came out a short time later--Batgirl, Zira, I think Catwoman. I think my parents wondered about those purchases a bit. And I certainly did check them for anatomical correctness. For years I thought only men had nipples...action figures are of no use for sex ed.

It was a fun time, an imaginative time. There were no neighbors where I lived and I was a loner anyway, reading comic books, Doc Savage and Avenger novels and concocting fantastic adventures and a few weird hero trysts with my Megos.

Mego went bankrupt in the early eighties and action figures shrunk in size and got much better molded, but with that they lost the something special those of us who collected the early Megos enjoyed. I wish I had held onto them because some of them are worth a lot. The sad thing of it is, you are not, as the saying goes, only a kid once. You just forget how to be a kid during your teenage years, and rediscover it later on in life, if you let yourself. And fortunately we can now get our action figures in comic shops, where we're amongst fellow nerds and geeks who won't look at you askance for buying the latest figure...but you should probably stay away from the Lady Gaga one just in case...