As Toy Biz lost the license, Hasbro swooped and freshened up the Batman Movie license as well as the other DC Super Heroes. This line was a complete surprise, around that time the internet was not your main source for toy news (I know hard to believe) but you would have to wait the month for Lee's Toy Review, Tomarts, and Toy Fare to see what was coming out. Well it must have been between issues, because this line came as a total surprise to me. I was walking down the figure aisle at TRU (that's Toys R Us for the ones not in the know) checking out the usual, Star Wars, Batman, any Star Trek, etc. After I finished I would break left and head for the car aisle, not because I liked cars, but I dug the micro machine space line (that's for another time or blog perhaps). I would zig zag my way up and down aisles till I got to the car aisle, so the next aisle after action figures was models and role play.
About mid way down the model aisle, and on the role play side were a set of the 9" DC Super Heroes. A set at that time was Aquaman, Green Arrow, and Green Lantern. It wasn't unusual to find figures here, because this space would be reserved for closeouts and dead lines. It was weird because these were here, I figured it was because they were going to reset the action figure aisle and needed a temporary spot for them to collect dust. Much later they would be moved next to the Batman stuff on the action figure aisle, but that was later, much later.
Having been pretty close to my budget on Star Wars figures, I grabbed just the Aquaman, knowing full well that the rest would be there the next time. It was weird back then, because you could walk into a store and pretty much find anything that wasn't Star Wars or Ninja Turtles. I actually spread the set of three over several trips to the store. I had planned it pretty well. First Aquaman, the Green Lantern, and finally Green Arrow. By time I made it to Green Arrow they had finally been moved, which by now had been about three months.
So why Aquaman first? These figures immediately reminded me of the Megos when I was much younger. I had a few Captain Kirk, Mr. Spock, Spider-Man, and Captain America. I considered my self very lucky. A few that I had wanted Iron Man, Batman, Robin, and Aquaman had eluded me. To this day I have managed to get a fresh Mego Kirk, a Batman I refurbished a bit with the help of Dr. Mego (awesome reproduction stuff), and a couple of Jokers, oh and I still have my original Spock (another story for later). Anyway Mego Aquaman and others still no luck, not that I haven't bid on them only to be out bid, but I see that as an issue of funds. Hasbro Aquaman, was to be my answer to not getting that Mego Aquaman, the bonus a Green Lantern and Green Arrow.
This Aquaman also reminded me of the last day I saw Mego Super Heroes in a store. It was at or right before the Star Wars figures started to hit in 1979. Another warehouse type toy store called Toy City, actually this was my favorite toy store. I remember turning a corner looking for Star Wars stuff and seeing a display of Spider-man and Hulk, and even then being struck with nostalgia at that age (kind of funny a nine year old waxing nostalgia) before I broke off the hunt to head to that "new" toy store Toys R Us across the street. My parents liked Toys R Us better for some reason, I always considered it the enemy of Toy City, even as an adult I felt like I was betraying a friend going in there. So even though I was now buying Aquaman I was also a little sad because it was taking place at Toys R Us and not Toy City, which had long been closed.
2 comments:
what a weird line these were--starting off with Aquaman and the SA Green Arrow, making Bats and Supes the exclusives??
still, i wish it had been a hit--they were nicely done, and, say, a Hawkman in this format woulda been sweeeet.
I hear ya, this line could have been awesome, it was a fluke that I even found Batman and Superman at retail, they were already being cleared out at a Target where I think the were an exclusive.
Post a Comment