Mego in the United Kingdom
The UK's Palitoy was one of mego's strongest partners, like Mexico's Lili Ledy they also carried Hasbro's GI Joe (As Action Man, they created such concepts as Kung Fu Grip, Eagle Eyes and Flocked Hair) and later, Kenner's Star Wars Line. Early on Palitoy simply carried Mego product in US Packaging but later took a select amount of characters and created their own UK only packaging. The variations don't stop with packaging, Palitoy created several proprietary lines such as Space:1999, Zorro and an extension of Mego's fist fighting Superheroes.The Battle Brigade was a unique Palitoy repackaging of the Lion Rock WW2 figures produced in Europe. Palitoy also purchased the Captain Power set and renamed Mike Zoom for the UK Market. Special thanks to Will Frost for all the great help on this page! Will donated much of the photos here. If you have any figures(loose or boxed) not mentioned here, or variations of them, please contact me, I would like pix!! Palitoy picked many of the best selling Mego Superheroes for this line, like with a great deal of Mego lines they tended to exclude female characters. Below is a checklist of Superheroes:
Palitoy Green Card Superheroes Superman, Batman, Robin, Joker, Penguin, Captain America, Thing, Hulk, Human Torch, Spider-Man, Lizard Hulk was a later issued figure, added no doubt in conjunction with the popularity of the CBS Television series, his card has unique graphics which likely means he was marketed as a stand alone figure. Hulk is also the easiest found carded Palitoy hero. The hardest to find Green Cards are the Marvel characters especially Captain America, Thing and Torch. Like Lili Ledy, Palitoy made unique use of the Mego Fist Fighting mechanism and produced a series of six characters from the Marvel and DC universe. The cards have an interesting die cut in them to make them appear as if the fist is punching outward, in the collector market it is difficult to find the cards intact The most uncommon in this series is Robin with two MOC examples known to exist
Palitoy Star Trek Early Palitoy Star Trek cards are almost Indistinguishable from the first run Mego "five face" counterparts, the main difference is a small legal line, which mentions Palitoy. For the later Star Trek Aliens series, Palitoy altered the existing Mego artwork and made the colors more lurid. Palitoy Aliens are difficult to find, Palitoy only released the first four aliens. Uhura was not released on a Palitoy card. Palitoy also produced the Transporter Playset which is the transporter from the Mego Enterprise Playset marketed on it's own. This is most likely because the majority of the Enterprise was made in North America, only it's plastic componants such as the transporter were made in Hong Kong.
Palitoy Starsky and Hutch Starsky and Hutch was a very popular show in the UK and Palitoy was quick to pick up the license for the Mego line, none of the supporting characters were released however. The figures were available on unqiue cards or as a two pack which included their pistols. Hutch wore a leather vest in the UK and the car was sold without it's twist out motor
Palitoy Zorro Palitoy released a stand alone figure of Zorro based on the Disney television series. There are less than ten boxed Zorro figures known to exist in the world For more information, check out the Mego Museum Zorro Gallery. Palitoy Links of Interest Click here to view the 1975 Palitoy Mego Catalog Click here to view the 1977 Palitoy Mego Catalog Join the Web's fasting growing Mego community on the Mego Museum!
Denys Fisher
AIRFIX Airfix is best known worldwide for their model kits however, they did distribute several Mego lines in the UK (as well as having their own action figure line The Eagles). Micronauts and Star Trek the Motion Picture are two well known Airfix releases. Airfix also released the Star Trek model kits that Mego produced, much like Canada's Grand Toys.
More on Airfix soon Mego 12" Superheroes have been found with both the Burbank and Pedigree toys logos. Many of these figures are very rare variations. Much of the time, the logo is merely a sticker, other times it is printed on the packaging.
Wiggins Teape
Lion Rock
Many toys found abroad feature the Lion Rock logo (most famously the Lion Rock World War 2 figures. Lion Rock was Mego's manufacturing arm and often their name was featured instead of Mego. These Shuttle vehicles are retooled Micronaut ships painted to look like Superhero vehicles, a smiliar series was released to the US in photoboxes. Robin Shuttle Got something I don't
have? Please don't be shy and send me a pic Questions or Comments? SPECIAL
THANKS to Max Espie, Super collector from Scotland, Mark Huckabone, Scott Arendsen, John Alcantaur (for selling me his Zorro) John Bonavita and Joe Levy. Mego Museum: The world's best website devoted to the toys of Mego Corp.
I buy Lincoln and Tomland Monster Figures! Have lots of toys to trade!
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