Hasbro, move over.
Marvel Legends is very much a product of its time. When the line debuted in May of 2002, the US economy was robust and petroleum was relatively inexpensive, which allowed these assembly-extensive figures to be affordably produced. ToyBiz went on to deliver what many consider the seminal action figure line of the last thirty years, and Hasbro has done an admirable job of carrying the torch since. But what if Marvel made the big move decades ago and pushed for their own exclusive toy line? What it Marvel Legends existed in the 1970s?
The Bad Old Days
In 1972, Marvel worked out a deal with the Mego Corporation to produce action figures based on their comic book properties. Imagine if Marvel had done an about-face when it came time to re-negotiate contracts and demanded an exclusively Marvel line? Mego would have been hard-pressed to argue. At the time, Spider-Man and the Hulk both had successful TV shows, which was free advertising for any toy line. Marvel was the #1 publisher at the conclusion of the Bronze Age and was subsequently in a prime position to demand its own version of Marvel Legends; only, in this case, they wouldn’t be the highly-articulated 6-inch figures of today, they would be highly articulated 8-inch figures featuring cloth costumes and removable accessories.
The Usual Suspects
Spider-Man, Captain America, Hulk, Iron Man, Falcon, Thor and the Fantastic Four all had Mego figures in the 1970s, but had the Marvel brand had its own Legends-style offshoot, we would have seen those ranks swell. Namor, Daredevil, the Inhumans, and Sgt. Fury would have all joined the gang in short order. But heroes were only half of the equation; Marvel had dozens of villains at the ready to recreate scenes from its popular line of comics. Spider-Man alone could provide the company a dozen easily realizable villainous characters on the standard set of Mego bodies. It’s clear there would have been more than enough characters for the Legends of the 1970s — but those players were just the tip of the four-color iceberg.
Monsters, Mutants, and More
In 1973 Mego met with representatives of Universal Pictures about producing a line of action figures based on the legendary company’s line of movie monsters. The licensing fee proved too high for Mego, so they passed on issuing official versions, instead producing their own take on these public-domain monsters. Had there been a more exclusive arrangement between Mego and Marvel, the toy company would have access to the comics publisher’s rich library of highly derivative (but free!) horror characters. Sure, there were some subtle differences between the comic and film counterparts: Dracula sported a goatee and the Frankenstein Monster rocked a sheepskin vest, but otherwise you could hardly tell the difference.
In May of 1975, Marvel relaunched their X-Men title, pushing the former teen heroes aside for an older international cast. And while the comic struggled to catch up to long-established team books like the Avengers or the Fantastic Four, the character’s enigmatic code names and eye-catching costumes would have been noticed by Mego. Its easy to imagine the company giving this colorful new team a sub-line in the way they did for DC’s Teen Titans in 1977. Imagine a kid’s reaction to finding Wolverine on the pegs?
Marvel published a lot of weird books in the 1970s. And while characters like Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four, and the Avengers dominated the newsstands, Marvel also produced more unusual books catering to a more esoteric mindset. There was Woodgod, Satana, Man-Thing and dozens of others. There’s a good chance at least a few of those characters would have made their way into the line: Star-Lord, Warlock, Thanos or even the ubiquitously named Captain Marvel could have joined their 8-inch cohorts on the increasingly crowded store pegs.
TV Tie-Ins Galore
Mego first produced their Hulk figure in 1974, but it wasn’t until the debut of the Jade Giant’s television show four years later that the character began to sell in appreciable numbers. Almost overnight the Hulk went from being just another figure to a sensation retailers ordered by the case. Mego was always chasing success through franchised properties, so their relationship with Marvel made sense. Between Hulk and Spider-Man, Marvel seemed to have TV sewed up, but a series of missteps led the company to abandon prime-time television by early 1983. Subsequently there was no big MCU-style push to propel product, which means that, after a few years, Mego’s Marvel Legends would be dangerously treading water.
Trends and Star Wars?
Marvel was never shy about embracing trends like urban vigilantism, motorcycle gangs, and kung-fu. Characters like the Punisher; Ghost Rider; and Shangi-Chi, Master of Kung-Fu added diversity to the company’s usual menu of super-heroics. These were grey-area characters who existed in PG for the comics page and R in Marvel’s black and white magazines. This kept readers “in the family” — while little Jimmy would inevitably grow out of Spider-Man, he didn’t have to leave comics entirely. The new generation of characters were sexier and deadlier. For all that, Mego wasn’t the sort of company to produce overtly violent characters, which means their version of Marvel Legends would be like a table with three legs.
The biggest trend in toys was unquestionably Star Wars. For one brief, shining moment kids had the chance to have 8-inch figures of both Spider-Man and Darth Vader. It nearly happened. Mego was happiest having ALL of the big properties, but in spite of having first dibs on the property, they passed on Star Wars in 1976. The company never quite recovered from this misstep. Star Wars wasn’t just a popular film, it was a cultural phenomenon that transformed all it touched. Kenner’s 3 3/4” figures reinvigorated the toy industry. The figure’s low price point made the toys affordable to all, while their small size meant Kenner could produce larger and subsequently more expensive vehicles and playsets. As for the kids, when it came to having space heroes to play with alongside our Megos, we were stuck with Mr. Rock.
Looking Back
It’s fun to imagine what might have been, but the reality of the situation is clear. Marvel Legends wouldn’t have worked at any other time in history; the dawn of the 21st century witnessed an unforseen conjunction of high-quality sculpting, superior paint applications, and articulation technology that made such a line possible. Moreso, the collector base was long established (That’s us!). In the 1970s Marvel characters were still the new kids on the block — even Stan Lee himself could not have foreseen their universal popularity and uncanny longevity. Chances are, retail could have absorbed more Marvel characters in Mego’s main World’s Greatest Super-Heroes line, but an entire line devoted to Marvel characters may have proved too rich for retail.
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