WEBVTT - A Partial History of Action Figures 0:00:01.000 --> 0:00:04.160 Welcome to you Stuff you should Know from house Stuff 0:00:04.200 --> 0:00:12.720 Works dot com. Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm 0:00:12.800 --> 0:00:16.200 Josh Clark, and there's Charles W. Chuck Bryant. Jerry's right 0:00:16.239 --> 0:00:19.520 there to my immediate right, and that makes this stuff 0:00:19.560 --> 0:00:24.880 you should know the podcast the podcast. That's right. I'm 0:00:24.920 --> 0:00:29.480 excited about this particular podcast Chuff put together this episode. 0:00:29.520 --> 0:00:31.880 I should say, well, do you want to go ahead 0:00:31.920 --> 0:00:34.280 and announced the title for the people that maybe didn't 0:00:34.280 --> 0:00:38.640 need it, it is, uh, well, you you're going to 0:00:38.720 --> 0:00:42.680 selected title. It's the title. Oh geez, I don't know. Um, 0:00:42.720 --> 0:00:46.480 everything you ever wanted to know about actually, some stuff 0:00:46.520 --> 0:00:51.479 about action figures that you may already know, and some 0:00:51.479 --> 0:00:54.320 stuff that made the light you Well, that's a working title. 0:00:54.400 --> 0:00:58.000 Huh yeah. Yeah, but we're talking about action figures. That's 0:00:58.040 --> 0:01:01.200 the point of what I think that X size just was. Yeah. 0:01:01.200 --> 0:01:03.720 I was gonna say everything you wanted to know, but this, 0:01:04.160 --> 0:01:05.960 I mean, we could do there. I'm sure there are 0:01:06.160 --> 0:01:10.399 entire podcasts on action figures for sure. Yeah. And if 0:01:10.400 --> 0:01:12.520 you do, if you have a podcast on action figures 0:01:12.560 --> 0:01:15.040 right in, let us know. We'll we'll tweet it out. 0:01:15.240 --> 0:01:18.320 For the people whose boat this floated and this this 0:01:18.360 --> 0:01:22.360 one definitely follows in the vein of UM the Barbie episode, 0:01:22.360 --> 0:01:26.000 which I have to say is one of my perennial favorites. 0:01:26.160 --> 0:01:29.520 I love the Barbie episode. Yeah yeah, and Barbie actually 0:01:29.520 --> 0:01:32.160 makes an appearance in this one. You'd like to play 0:01:32.200 --> 0:01:35.959 with dolls? Uh? I like to play with action figures. 0:01:36.000 --> 0:01:38.800 I play with Barbies. I had older sisters, so like 0:01:38.840 --> 0:01:41.080 I was, I played with Barbie's whether I wanted to 0:01:41.200 --> 0:01:43.400 or not. So I made the most of it. But 0:01:43.440 --> 0:01:48.080 I don't remember my sister having Barbies. But surely she did, right, Yeah, 0:01:48.640 --> 0:01:51.920 she was a girl in America from the sixties on. Yes, 0:01:51.960 --> 0:01:54.120 she had a Barbie. Oh no, my sister grew up 0:01:54.120 --> 0:01:57.280 in the Soviet Union. Oh well, there you go. She 0:01:57.400 --> 0:02:02.200 had um a Martina. There probably wasn't Martina. But I 0:02:02.200 --> 0:02:04.200 mean that was a pretty good episode. And this one's 0:02:04.280 --> 0:02:06.720 kind of similar. It's it's got it all And like 0:02:06.760 --> 0:02:08.760 I said, Barbie kind of pops up in the beginning. 0:02:08.800 --> 0:02:15.840 She actually inspired action figures, UM, like basically directly when 0:02:15.880 --> 0:02:19.200 when Mattel I think it was Ruth Handler who invented 0:02:19.560 --> 0:02:24.160 the Barbie doll, right, and when she when she and 0:02:24.280 --> 0:02:27.639 Mattel released it, it was just a huge, enormous hit. 0:02:28.000 --> 0:02:31.000 And one of the big reasons Barbie was number one 0:02:31.080 --> 0:02:33.959 such a hit and number two so appealing to toy 0:02:34.040 --> 0:02:37.079 companies was that when you bought a Barbie, your buying 0:02:37.120 --> 0:02:41.200 experience wasn't over. There were always like more clothes and shoes, 0:02:41.480 --> 0:02:43.880 and like my sister had the pool that you could 0:02:43.919 --> 0:02:45.600 hang out with and it had like a shower that 0:02:45.680 --> 0:02:48.920 actually worked. There's just a ton of extra stuff to buy. 0:02:49.000 --> 0:02:51.600 And so when you bought a Barbie, you wanted all 0:02:51.639 --> 0:02:55.280 the other stuff too, And toy companies wanted to figure 0:02:55.280 --> 0:02:58.480 out how to do that with boys toys, but they 0:02:58.520 --> 0:03:00.520 just couldn't quite figure it out because one had ever 0:03:00.600 --> 0:03:03.799 come up with a doll for boys. And that's kind 0:03:03.840 --> 0:03:05.600 of what it required, is coming up with a doll 0:03:05.680 --> 0:03:08.799 for boys, and no one had cracked that nut. But 0:03:09.919 --> 0:03:13.480 Barbie made the whole thing all the more appealing. I guess. Yeah, finally, 0:03:13.480 --> 0:03:17.880 this dude name Stan Weston who actually knew Miss Handler 0:03:18.520 --> 0:03:23.040 and uh, he was in the toy racket, and um, 0:03:23.080 --> 0:03:26.040 I guess I shouldn't call it a racket. It's a 0:03:26.040 --> 0:03:27.840 bit of a racket. It's a bit of a racket. 0:03:27.880 --> 0:03:30.120 So he said like you were talking about, like, you know, 0:03:30.160 --> 0:03:32.680 there's tons of money to be made here. Uh. He 0:03:32.800 --> 0:03:36.680 was a military history buff and so he had this 0:03:36.840 --> 0:03:38.720 you know, the light bulb went off over his head 0:03:39.120 --> 0:03:40.840 and he says, what if we could come up with 0:03:40.960 --> 0:03:46.320 a soldier doll, or perhaps even a series of soldier dolls? Uh, 0:03:46.320 --> 0:03:50.000 and maybe not call them dolls. Actually he didn't, he 0:03:50.040 --> 0:03:52.960 didn't come up with the name. To be fair, His 0:03:53.600 --> 0:03:58.640 boss at has Bro VP, Don Levine or Levine uh 0:03:58.640 --> 0:04:02.520 in nine he was pitched this idea and he went 0:04:02.640 --> 0:04:04.440 nuts over it. And he's the one that said, maybe 0:04:04.440 --> 0:04:07.240 we should call them action figures, right, yeah, Stan Weston 0:04:07.280 --> 0:04:11.640 approached um uh uh yeah, Don Levine at like that 0:04:11.680 --> 0:04:15.120 toy fairents I got a great idea, And apparently he 0:04:15.320 --> 0:04:18.080 gave him a hundred thousand dollars just for the idea, 0:04:18.800 --> 0:04:21.400 and then he he since he worked with HASPO, he's like, guys, 0:04:21.440 --> 0:04:23.960 I've I've got a good idea here. So that roughly 0:04:24.080 --> 0:04:29.000 translates into about seven hundred and eighty two thousand dollars 0:04:29.000 --> 0:04:32.200 in today money, which is good though for an idea. 0:04:32.560 --> 0:04:36.440 But of course, anytime you're the schmuck that comes up 0:04:36.440 --> 0:04:40.000 with the idea that you sell for even seven hundred 0:04:40.000 --> 0:04:42.400 and eighty two grand and it goes on to be 0:04:42.520 --> 0:04:46.320 like hundreds of millions of dollar business. You probably always 0:04:46.400 --> 0:04:48.600 kind of feel like I got taken for a ride 0:04:48.640 --> 0:04:51.240 a little bit. I'm sure Stan Weston was like, I'll 0:04:51.279 --> 0:04:53.880 have millions of good ideas like these that I can 0:04:53.920 --> 0:04:56.600 sell for seven hundred and eighty thousand dollars a piece. 0:04:56.640 --> 0:04:59.560 I'm sure he may have. Yeah, I don't know. It's 0:04:59.600 --> 0:05:02.480 certainly not one like G I Joe. Right, Well, that's 0:05:02.800 --> 0:05:04.800 what we've been talking about. We talked about g I 0:05:04.880 --> 0:05:07.880 Joe a lot on this show, so uh, it feels 0:05:07.880 --> 0:05:11.040 appropriate that we sort of go down that rabbit hole. 0:05:11.160 --> 0:05:14.160 We're gonna be talking about action figures. Well, so, well, yeah, 0:05:14.160 --> 0:05:17.039 because G I Joe was the one that started, literally 0:05:17.080 --> 0:05:21.240 started the action figure craze. Every action figure that's out there, 0:05:21.320 --> 0:05:26.920 from like UM Action Jesus to UM to the Marvel 0:05:27.040 --> 0:05:30.719 Superhero Action figures to every action figure came from G 0:05:30.880 --> 0:05:33.880 I Joe. And if you want to get feminist about it, 0:05:34.000 --> 0:05:38.240 every action figure, including G I Joe, ultimately came from Barbie. Yeah, 0:05:38.440 --> 0:05:40.880 it's a good way to look at it. So, uh, 0:05:42.240 --> 0:05:44.479 all right, here's the deal that I never knew G I. 0:05:44.600 --> 0:05:49.120 Joe uh debuted in before Christmas. It's almost as if 0:05:49.160 --> 0:05:52.320 they had planned that UH the original. I knew all 0:05:52.320 --> 0:05:55.320 this stuff. The original was twelve inches and had twenty 0:05:55.320 --> 0:05:57.640 one moving parts. And the thing I did not know 0:05:59.000 --> 0:06:02.640 was that G I. Joe was the collective name of 0:06:03.440 --> 0:06:07.680 all four of these Armed Forces dolls. You didn't know that. 0:06:07.839 --> 0:06:11.200 I thought the guy was Joe. No, that the for 0:06:11.400 --> 0:06:14.520 my era, the guy, the main guy was Duke, And 0:06:14.560 --> 0:06:17.280 for your era, the main guy was Rocky. Well, it 0:06:17.320 --> 0:06:20.159 depends on which one you had, Okay, So that was 0:06:20.279 --> 0:06:25.200 there was Rocky was the Army and the Marines Skip 0:06:26.320 --> 0:06:30.520 Skip was the Navy guy, and Ace was the Air 0:06:30.560 --> 0:06:34.320 Force guy, the fighter pilot. Right, So they ran out 0:06:34.320 --> 0:06:39.080 of names after name three, circle back to Rocky. They 0:06:39.160 --> 0:06:42.000 ran out of names. And they all were identical except 0:06:42.040 --> 0:06:45.000 for their clothing. Yea, as far as I know, right, didn't. 0:06:45.080 --> 0:06:48.920 Wasn't their head different? And was it the same? Was 0:06:48.960 --> 0:06:51.359 it the same face for each one? It was literally 0:06:51.400 --> 0:06:53.560 just their clothes were different. You know, I don't know. 0:06:53.920 --> 0:06:56.120 I'm going from my own memory, which is that they 0:06:56.120 --> 0:07:00.720 were all the same, dude, and they were all Franco Harris. Well, well, no, 0:07:00.880 --> 0:07:03.120 well they came up with an African American one at 0:07:03.120 --> 0:07:05.880 one point in like sixties, I think, yeah, yeah, they 0:07:05.960 --> 0:07:09.920 changed with the times. But to my recollection, those original dudes, 0:07:10.000 --> 0:07:12.520 and maybe I got in on the second wave. Maybe 0:07:12.520 --> 0:07:16.880 the original sixties ones were different, but I only knew 0:07:16.920 --> 0:07:19.680 Franco Harris, I got you. So maybe I just had 0:07:19.760 --> 0:07:25.120 Rocky maybe so Rocky or Rocky which one? Yeah, I 0:07:25.160 --> 0:07:30.480 had Rocky, not Rocky. So um, they come out with 0:07:30.520 --> 0:07:33.040 this this toy and it's the first one of the 0:07:33.120 --> 0:07:36.440 big differences with G I. Joe, because there were toy 0:07:36.520 --> 0:07:39.040 soldiers before. But did you ever have those like little 0:07:39.040 --> 0:07:42.160 plastic ones, a little plastic green men. You dump them 0:07:42.160 --> 0:07:44.040 out of the bucket and one had a bazooka and 0:07:44.040 --> 0:07:46.960 he was always the best one. And but that they 0:07:46.960 --> 0:07:50.560 were on like little molded plastic stands and you couldn't 0:07:50.560 --> 0:07:53.000 do anything with him except slide them around or whatever 0:07:53.240 --> 0:07:55.760 does have been around forever? Well, you could do a 0:07:55.800 --> 0:07:58.760 lot more with them if you had imagination and a 0:07:58.880 --> 0:08:02.440 lighter and a can of hairs. Right, Actually, I was delighted. 0:08:02.960 --> 0:08:05.240 It was toy story right where they had those those 0:08:05.280 --> 0:08:09.400 guys come to life. Uh. That was like really really 0:08:09.440 --> 0:08:12.200 cool to me when I saw that on screen. Uh, 0:08:12.240 --> 0:08:13.960 these because you know, like you said, you can never 0:08:14.000 --> 0:08:16.560 move them, so you see those little dudes actually come 0:08:16.560 --> 0:08:20.200 to life. Was pretty pretty awesome. You were like, Yeah, 0:08:20.280 --> 0:08:22.800 I've been dreaming of this day. I kind of was 0:08:23.160 --> 0:08:26.840 thank you. DreamWorks. Oh that's where they got the name? 0:08:27.400 --> 0:08:30.520 Was the dream Works or was that Pixar? Is Pixar right? 0:08:30.680 --> 0:08:34.800 Probably got it wrong. That's right, it's a Pixar. We're 0:08:34.800 --> 0:08:37.439 still going to get emails anyway, even though we just corrected. 0:08:37.760 --> 0:08:42.080 They're they're all working dreams. So, um, I read this 0:08:42.120 --> 0:08:46.400 great article called geez what was it called? Uh, now 0:08:46.880 --> 0:08:49.080 now you know the history of g I Joe and 0:08:49.160 --> 0:08:52.680 knowing it as half the battle from Smithsonian dot com 0:08:52.679 --> 0:08:56.800 written by Jimmy Stamp. Was that his name the Stamper 0:08:57.520 --> 0:09:01.720 the stamps there, So, um, I didn't realize this. But 0:09:02.240 --> 0:09:07.400 you can't you can't copyright a a figure, like a 0:09:07.520 --> 0:09:10.560 human figure. So that was sort of an issue when 0:09:10.720 --> 0:09:13.880 people started to do knockoffs of g I Joe. But 0:09:14.000 --> 0:09:16.640 apparently early on in the process, G I Joe was 0:09:16.679 --> 0:09:20.240 well known for that scar on his face, and I 0:09:20.280 --> 0:09:22.920 didn't even know this. He had an inverted thumbnail. And 0:09:23.080 --> 0:09:26.080 both of these were because of errors in production, but 0:09:26.120 --> 0:09:29.640 those flaws were what allowed them to go after people 0:09:30.160 --> 0:09:33.960 for copyright infringement. That's right, that's crazy, Yeah, it is, 0:09:34.559 --> 0:09:37.600 um And yeah, I guess they were they were natural, 0:09:37.679 --> 0:09:39.760 like they didn't plan them or anything like that, but 0:09:39.880 --> 0:09:44.439 they just were happy accidents, I guess. Um. And actually 0:09:44.440 --> 0:09:47.000 over it also elsewhere, chuck that um G I. Joe 0:09:47.120 --> 0:09:51.280 was so successful as we'll see that by the seventies, Um, 0:09:51.320 --> 0:09:54.439 there were so many knockoffs that has Bro released its 0:09:54.480 --> 0:09:57.360 own line of knockoffs and cheaply made G I. Jos 0:09:57.440 --> 0:10:00.160 to compete with the knockoffs and and de Luke their 0:10:00.160 --> 0:10:02.679 market shure. Yeah, it was called Defenders, and they were 0:10:02.679 --> 0:10:07.600 just these really cheaply made versions of the big G. I. Joe's. Well, 0:10:07.640 --> 0:10:10.040 it was a huge hit though. Um it says here 0:10:10.080 --> 0:10:14.840 that they accounted for almost sixty six of Hasbro's profits 0:10:14.880 --> 0:10:18.760 in that's insane. That is nuts. And that was the 0:10:18.840 --> 0:10:21.079 year it came out right yeah, like right out of 0:10:21.080 --> 0:10:23.679 the gate. It was a really big deal. And again 0:10:23.800 --> 0:10:25.719 one of the reasons why it was because you had 0:10:25.760 --> 0:10:28.920 toy soldiers before. But this guy could move. Yeah, I 0:10:28.960 --> 0:10:34.040 think like or twenty nine moving parts. Um are different parts. 0:10:34.280 --> 0:10:37.040 And he was articulated so he could lift up his 0:10:37.080 --> 0:10:39.439 hand in karate chop you, although he didn't get the 0:10:39.520 --> 0:10:42.760 kung fu grip until the mid seventies. Yeah, that's where 0:10:42.760 --> 0:10:45.680 I came in. Okay, so he had kung fu grip. 0:10:45.679 --> 0:10:49.360 When you knew G I Joe, Uh, yeah, very much. 0:10:49.600 --> 0:10:52.880 It was so kung fu right, but he still looked 0:10:52.880 --> 0:10:55.320 like Frank o' harris. But he still looked like Banks. Yes. 0:10:55.559 --> 0:10:58.160 And then the other big innovation was the was not 0:10:58.200 --> 0:11:00.600 an innovation at all. It was following the Rby model, 0:11:00.640 --> 0:11:03.840 but for boys it was it was that this this doll, 0:11:03.920 --> 0:11:07.000 which no one called the doll. In fact, um, I 0:11:07.040 --> 0:11:10.440 believe Hasbro wouldn't do business with you if you were 0:11:10.480 --> 0:11:13.240 going to call it a doll as a retailer, they 0:11:13.240 --> 0:11:14.800 would just be like, well, you don't get any g 0:11:14.920 --> 0:11:18.280 I Joes. This is an action figures but on the 0:11:18.320 --> 0:11:20.360 package itself. And I don't know if you remember this 0:11:20.480 --> 0:11:23.240 or not. Um, I don't because I wasn't born yet. 0:11:23.600 --> 0:11:27.840 But there were pictures of the other dudes and the 0:11:27.880 --> 0:11:30.199 other outfits you could get, so when you bought one 0:11:30.240 --> 0:11:34.280 g I Joe. You, as a kid, were made immediately aware, whoa, whoa, whoa, 0:11:34.679 --> 0:11:36.960 there's other g I Joes out there, and I want 0:11:37.040 --> 0:11:40.440 to collect them all. Some little kid came up with 0:11:40.480 --> 0:11:44.079 that collect them all phrase just in his little brain. Yeah, 0:11:44.120 --> 0:11:47.880 some little kid named middle age marketing executive Don Levine. 0:11:48.520 --> 0:11:50.960 So not only that, but they had, you know, like Barbie, 0:11:51.000 --> 0:11:54.160 they had all manner of um other things that you 0:11:54.160 --> 0:11:57.000 could collect them by. Um. I had the had the 0:11:57.080 --> 0:12:00.959 jet pack, which um you would attach to string to 0:12:01.080 --> 0:12:06.520 simulate jet packing and send flying like between two trees. Uh. 0:12:06.600 --> 0:12:11.199 And then I had the uh the submarine. It was 0:12:11.240 --> 0:12:13.680 like a sea wolf. It was really cool. How big 0:12:13.760 --> 0:12:16.040 was the submarine? If you're playing with twelve inch g 0:12:16.200 --> 0:12:18.959 I Joe's, it was um to take up the size 0:12:19.000 --> 0:12:21.720 of like the family room. Well this is not gonna 0:12:21.720 --> 0:12:23.559 mean anything to anyone at home, but it's about the 0:12:23.559 --> 0:12:27.160 size of this lamp on our desk. Oh. So it 0:12:27.280 --> 0:12:29.160 was like a one man sub Yeah, I feel like 0:12:29.200 --> 0:12:31.840 it was. I can't remember exactly I feel I feel 0:12:31.840 --> 0:12:34.760 like it was about the size of us um, a 0:12:34.840 --> 0:12:38.120 little smaller than a bowling ball. How's that like a 0:12:38.200 --> 0:12:40.720 child's bowling ball? Yeah, because he had to sit in it, 0:12:40.720 --> 0:12:42.240 you're right. And he was a big dude, even though 0:12:42.280 --> 0:12:43.880 you would you know, in a set of position, he 0:12:43.920 --> 0:12:47.040 was smaller. Uh. And then I had the uh six 0:12:47.080 --> 0:12:51.160 wheel or eight wheel, I can't remember all terrain vehicle. 0:12:52.040 --> 0:12:55.199 Well that's nice, and that's about all that we were. Uh, 0:12:55.240 --> 0:12:57.720 that's about all we could afford. That's but that was 0:12:57.760 --> 0:13:00.600 probably quite an outlay from your parents. It was great. 0:13:01.160 --> 0:13:03.680 And that was over time, you know, right, several Christmas 0:13:03.679 --> 0:13:06.080 is right. Yeah, and this was, like I said, I 0:13:06.080 --> 0:13:09.280 came in on the seventies, but um, in the sixties, 0:13:09.320 --> 0:13:12.480 they actually uh g I Joe did not do very 0:13:12.520 --> 0:13:15.640 well because of the Vietnam War. Um, and it was 0:13:15.679 --> 0:13:18.560 actually kind of I think it was actually went away 0:13:18.600 --> 0:13:21.440 from production for a while. Yeah, it did. They just 0:13:21.559 --> 0:13:26.200 they basically retired him. I think the Vietnam War hurt sales, 0:13:26.240 --> 0:13:28.400 so they took him out a little bit, and then 0:13:28.520 --> 0:13:32.640 they re released him again, um and kind of rebranded 0:13:32.679 --> 0:13:35.680 him I think too as rather rather than a soldier, 0:13:36.120 --> 0:13:40.040 they rebranded him as an adventurer. Right, so this machete 0:13:40.080 --> 0:13:43.559 is not for cutting off the hands of uh Sherpa 0:13:43.720 --> 0:13:46.959 who leads us into danger. It's for um, you know, 0:13:47.280 --> 0:13:51.160 cutting through vegetation and on a jungle adventure to save 0:13:51.200 --> 0:13:53.960 sherpas who were for some reason live in the jungle. 0:13:54.040 --> 0:13:56.600 Now yeah, and they, like you said, they called him 0:13:56.640 --> 0:14:01.240 adventurer or the naval officer was called an aqua nat 0:14:01.800 --> 0:14:05.200 And then I very much remember that being the deal. Like, 0:14:05.280 --> 0:14:07.480 I didn't think of him as a soldier. I thought 0:14:07.480 --> 0:14:10.360 of him as you know. Well, I thought his name 0:14:10.400 --> 0:14:12.280 was Joe because I guess it was a dumble little kid. 0:14:12.720 --> 0:14:16.040 But I guess Rocky the G I Joe adventure guy 0:14:17.880 --> 0:14:20.920 slash Frinco Harris, right, and G I Joe. Actually I 0:14:20.960 --> 0:14:24.520 was taken from a movie called the Story of G 0:14:24.720 --> 0:14:28.240 I Joe. That's where that came from. Did you ever 0:14:28.240 --> 0:14:34.120 see that? No? No, have you? No? Okay, I'm just curious. 0:14:35.000 --> 0:14:38.240 So Chuck, G I Joe is, uh, he starts to 0:14:38.280 --> 0:14:40.600 do kind of poorly because of Vietnam. They take him out, 0:14:40.600 --> 0:14:44.440 they re release him, um, and he doesn't do very 0:14:44.480 --> 0:14:46.280 well when they bring him back out, even though he's 0:14:46.320 --> 0:14:50.400 an adventure right. Um, So G I Joe left. They 0:14:50.400 --> 0:14:52.680 stopped making G I Joe's for a while, and it 0:14:53.000 --> 0:14:56.160 created it left this big vacuum that was just waiting 0:14:56.240 --> 0:14:58.640 to be filled, and it was filled by a little 0:14:58.640 --> 0:15:01.680 company named Migo. And we'll talk about me go after 0:15:01.800 --> 0:15:11.640 this break. How about that sounds good? My? You should 0:15:24.920 --> 0:15:27.240 all right? Is it mego or mego? I've been saying 0:15:27.280 --> 0:15:30.840 mego in my head just because I'm a dumb American. No, well, 0:15:30.880 --> 0:15:32.920 I think mego is probably how they say it in 0:15:33.080 --> 0:15:36.200 the UK. Oh was that where it came from? No, 0:15:36.280 --> 0:15:39.960 they're American. I say mego to be honest, I have 0:15:40.000 --> 0:15:42.840 no idea. I'm sure there is a right way that 0:15:43.040 --> 0:15:46.200 Tommy Migo would love to tell you about. But or 0:15:46.280 --> 0:15:50.200 Tommy mego. But yeah, I've seen I've said mego in 0:15:50.280 --> 0:15:52.560 my head, but I don't know which one is correct 0:15:52.560 --> 0:15:54.320 to tell you the truth. All right, well, we'll just 0:15:54.440 --> 0:15:59.200 proceed fussly. I'll say mego, you say mego. Let's just 0:15:59.240 --> 0:16:02.520 call the whole thing off. So go ahead with me go. 0:16:03.040 --> 0:16:08.600 So so um g I Joe is gone. But again, 0:16:09.040 --> 0:16:12.320 this was you said? It accounted for like six it 0:16:12.360 --> 0:16:15.400 hasbro sales just in the first year. And he was 0:16:15.440 --> 0:16:19.560 a hit year after year after year for many years. Right, um, 0:16:19.600 --> 0:16:21.840 And even when they brought him back, sales were terrible. 0:16:21.880 --> 0:16:23.960 Compared to the initial stuff, but they were still making 0:16:24.000 --> 0:16:27.680 money off of them, right. Um, So this first the 0:16:27.720 --> 0:16:31.040 world's first action figure made a huge impact. And when 0:16:31.040 --> 0:16:34.360 the world's first action figure wasn't around anymore, well, there 0:16:34.400 --> 0:16:36.600 was a void that was to be filled. And this 0:16:36.680 --> 0:16:41.040 company called me Go decided and I think one or 0:16:41.080 --> 0:16:44.040 nineteen two, that a pretty good place to start would 0:16:44.080 --> 0:16:47.280 be releasing a line of action figures that were based 0:16:47.280 --> 0:16:52.040 on superheroes. And they released, um, a line of superheroes 0:16:52.400 --> 0:16:57.360 called the World's Greatest Superheroes Action Figures, and I think 0:16:57.480 --> 0:17:00.240 nineteen seventy two, and it was a pretty big hit, 0:17:00.360 --> 0:17:02.920 like right off the bat. Yeah. And what they did 0:17:03.000 --> 0:17:05.800 was they were super smart and kind of had a 0:17:05.840 --> 0:17:09.320 lot of vision and said, I think where it's at 0:17:09.560 --> 0:17:13.120 is not necessarily creating characters from whole cloth that kids 0:17:13.160 --> 0:17:17.840 don't know of, but licensing very famous characters and selling them. 0:17:17.880 --> 0:17:21.200 So they got a hold of licenses for uh, Spider 0:17:21.240 --> 0:17:23.919 Man and the Hulk and Batman and Wonder Woman and 0:17:24.000 --> 0:17:27.040 Iron Man and Captain America. Yeah, and not just yeah, 0:17:27.040 --> 0:17:30.000 if you'll notice that's DC and Marvel characters in the 0:17:30.080 --> 0:17:32.560 same line, Like that's unheard of today. They did not 0:17:32.640 --> 0:17:36.760 discriminate back, you know they did. It was a wonderful time. Uh. 0:17:36.760 --> 0:17:40.000 And not only that, but they said, you know, we're 0:17:40.040 --> 0:17:43.280 making money hand over fist selling these action figures. Um, 0:17:43.520 --> 0:17:46.640 what if do you think kids would actually buy villains 0:17:47.160 --> 0:17:50.000 like the Joker? And do you think they would buy 0:17:50.000 --> 0:17:54.800 side characters like Robin and Bat Girl and other villains 0:17:54.840 --> 0:17:56.919 like the Riddler and things like the Batmobile and the 0:17:56.960 --> 0:17:59.800 Batcave place that, And before you knew it, they were 0:18:00.000 --> 0:18:05.679 pumping out things like, uh, Bruce Wayne's Foundation building, I 0:18:05.760 --> 0:18:08.080 know that was the real thing. Or what was the 0:18:08.119 --> 0:18:11.320 other weird one? The store? Oh, they had they had 0:18:11.359 --> 0:18:15.920 an exclusive with the Montgomery Ward store. So it wasn't 0:18:15.960 --> 0:18:18.760 like it wasn't a store, but at the at Montgomery 0:18:18.880 --> 0:18:23.440 Ward only, Oh, you could buy the non superhero versions 0:18:23.480 --> 0:18:28.120 of superheroes like Peter Parker and Bruce Wayne, which is like, 0:18:28.760 --> 0:18:31.679 all right, you you sit there in your cubicle and 0:18:31.720 --> 0:18:33.600 that's what you do. Well, the rest of us are 0:18:33.920 --> 0:18:36.359 saving the world. That's what you do with that action figure? 0:18:36.359 --> 0:18:38.119 All right, that makes much more sense. I thought they 0:18:38.119 --> 0:18:40.560 had a Montgomery Ward play set. That's what I thought 0:18:40.560 --> 0:18:43.280 at first. Two like Bruce Wayne worked there or something 0:18:43.840 --> 0:18:45.399 which of course he didn't even work. I don't know 0:18:45.440 --> 0:18:48.760 what I'm thinking. So this gave orders. They were making 0:18:48.760 --> 0:18:52.200 tons and tons of money. Um. In nineteen seventy three 0:18:52.280 --> 0:18:55.960 they moved into movies with their Planet of the Apes line, 0:18:56.040 --> 0:19:01.040 which was some plastic primates, and then the Astronaut that 0:19:01.160 --> 0:19:04.199 was taller, and that was a huge hit. Yeah. And 0:19:04.240 --> 0:19:07.360 the other thing about me go to Um was that 0:19:07.880 --> 0:19:10.720 all action figures have been like twelve inch twelve inches 0:19:10.800 --> 0:19:14.359 tall up to that point, and Migo's line was eight inches, 0:19:14.400 --> 0:19:16.880 So action figures are starting to shrink a little bit now, 0:19:17.080 --> 0:19:20.400 that's right. Uh. And the one, uh, the one actually 0:19:20.440 --> 0:19:24.120 had even though I have no idea why I had 0:19:24.160 --> 0:19:30.800 the Star trek Um Enterprise Bridge and then I guess, man, 0:19:30.800 --> 0:19:32.440 I know I had Spock and Kirk and a couple 0:19:32.520 --> 0:19:36.080 of others, but you know, I'm well known to not 0:19:36.240 --> 0:19:39.320 have ever seen any Star trek at all except for 0:19:39.359 --> 0:19:43.200 maybe one movie or something, So I have no idea 0:19:43.280 --> 0:19:46.960 why I got that. I mean, if it was a 0:19:47.000 --> 0:19:50.320 cool action figure, like I had some weird I had 0:19:50.320 --> 0:19:53.280 a weird Wizard action figure when I was a kid. 0:19:53.440 --> 0:19:56.920 But you're in the Weird Wizards, you still are, well, 0:19:57.000 --> 0:19:59.199 I am now as a grown up. I wasn't as 0:19:59.200 --> 0:20:01.479 a kid. I was like, what is this thing? Gotcha 0:20:01.920 --> 0:20:04.280 some weird wizard. Well, I don't know why I had it. 0:20:04.320 --> 0:20:06.960 But the Star Trek uh that their collection was that 0:20:07.040 --> 0:20:09.800 was another big hit. So they were just they literally 0:20:10.000 --> 0:20:13.200 kind of uh I mean g I Joe and Barbie 0:20:13.240 --> 0:20:15.760 of course kind of spawned this thing, but it seems 0:20:15.760 --> 0:20:19.639 like Mego really took it to another level. Yeah yeah, 0:20:19.760 --> 0:20:25.520 um they kind of they kind of. Yeah, Action figures 0:20:25.520 --> 0:20:28.560 were cool and g I Joe had really started something, 0:20:28.600 --> 0:20:34.359 but Migo, um yeah, they just they established it forever, permanently, 0:20:34.400 --> 0:20:38.240 and they also showed other companies to like, hey, man, 0:20:38.440 --> 0:20:41.479 go get yourself a license and stick to it, like 0:20:41.560 --> 0:20:44.840 get creative, like with the Star Trek license that they had. 0:20:45.400 --> 0:20:49.040 Clearly the toy designers had actually watched Star Trek episodes 0:20:49.080 --> 0:20:52.640 because one of the place sets was from um, one 0:20:52.680 --> 0:20:55.560 of the sets from an episode of Star Trek, the 0:20:55.600 --> 0:21:00.119 Apple episode. Um, like you don't necessarily see that. You 0:21:00.160 --> 0:21:03.800 didn't see that before. With Action figures, it was more like, hey, 0:21:03.960 --> 0:21:06.680 you you you know this guy, just buy them. This 0:21:06.760 --> 0:21:09.159 is like you're into Star Trek and so are we, 0:21:09.600 --> 0:21:12.960 and here is some awesome place that's based on your 0:21:13.040 --> 0:21:16.200 love of Star Trek. So Migo definitely broke the mold 0:21:16.200 --> 0:21:19.520 in that in that sense as well. Um, but they 0:21:19.680 --> 0:21:23.000 also like they were it for action figures, like nobody 0:21:23.000 --> 0:21:25.840 could compete with me Go. Um, they would buy stuff 0:21:25.880 --> 0:21:29.399 from Japan and then turn them into new stuff here. Um, 0:21:29.440 --> 0:21:31.840 there was just no competing with me Go in the US, 0:21:31.880 --> 0:21:35.400 even though a lot of people were. But they they 0:21:35.480 --> 0:21:38.720 also dropped the ball in the most spectacular fashion anyone 0:21:38.760 --> 0:21:41.320 could ever drop the ball in the action figure world 0:21:42.680 --> 0:21:47.240 like they It's almost it's almost an elegant end of 0:21:47.240 --> 0:21:49.679 the story because it literally makes you cringe when you 0:21:49.720 --> 0:21:51.680 read it. And there's two different versions, but both of 0:21:51.720 --> 0:21:54.160 them are like, um man, yeah, I think there's really 0:21:54.160 --> 0:21:56.800 only one version. I literally could not find a single 0:21:56.880 --> 0:22:00.200 source other than this one guy's blog who claimed the 0:22:00.240 --> 0:22:03.240 other version. But um, what we're talking about, and if 0:22:03.240 --> 0:22:06.120 you know action figures, you probably see this coming. Uh. 0:22:06.160 --> 0:22:10.520 They declined the Star Wars brand and allowed Kenner to 0:22:10.600 --> 0:22:14.640 pick it up. Yes, So how though, which story is true? Well, 0:22:14.720 --> 0:22:18.480 the story that I think is true is that they 0:22:18.720 --> 0:22:21.119 didn't want to invest and they said that you know, 0:22:21.119 --> 0:22:22.880 we're not gonna throw our money at every little thing 0:22:22.920 --> 0:22:26.119 that comes along, going to be a little more discerning. Yeah, 0:22:26.160 --> 0:22:28.480 that one hurts. That hurts more than the other story. 0:22:28.480 --> 0:22:31.399 The other version was that, like, um, the people who 0:22:31.480 --> 0:22:34.679 could sign the contracts were out of town when George 0:22:34.760 --> 0:22:37.400 Lucas came by to offer him the franchise. And now 0:22:37.400 --> 0:22:39.040 that I'm saying it out loud, like yes, that's a 0:22:39.119 --> 0:22:44.000