Conan Mego!

I spotted this minty carded vintage Conan Mego figure and just had to post the pics. You can practically smell the 1970's coming off this thing...

Original Conan the Adventurer Action Figure Production Proof Card Backs!

Here's a sweet production proof card back from the Conan the Adventurer line of action figures, based on the 90's animated series. A production proof is what they have to run by the big wigs at a toy company before everything goes to print. This is a one of a kind piece! This particular card was for Wrath Amon (the watered down villain of the series) who's the green dude on the right in the final pic. Another nice addition to these pieces is what appears to be the original inked drawing of the Wrath Amon character which was used in the toy packaging. Sweet!

Mego Conan Gets Some New Gear!

You guys may remember a little while back when my homeboy, Greg, hooked me up with a sweet vintage Conan Mego action figure and that I went all googley-eyed over because I had been searching for one since I was 13 years old. You can read my gushing post about that HERE. Well, you may also remember that the figure wasn't completely complete as far as completeness goes. And such was my love for this figure that I just had to get the poor fellow some new gear!

So I went to a site called Dr. Mego's Repros, who specializes in reproduction parts for vintage Mego action figures. The site is downright crazy looking so I was a little worried about ordering from him at first, but sometimes when you need a reproduction Conan axe, you can't be too choosy. Turns out that this guy is top notch!

Well, $30 and three weeks later my prized Conan Mego action figure is looking sharp with his brand new boots, belts, sword and axe! I've just gotta stop typing so you all can see him in all his glory...



CROM! That's one bad ass looking Mego! So thanks to Dr. Mego for making repro parts available to collectors and once again, mad crazy thanks to Greg for one of the greatest birthday presents I ever received! (By the way, Greg's birthday was last Monday, so everyone say happy birthday to him for me!)

I'm going to say it again... CROM!

New Warcraft Action Figure Looks a Lot Like a Barbarian We Know!

Toy News International released some shots of the new DC World of Warcraft Unlimited action figures and one of the characters reminded me of a certain barbarian destined to wear the jeweled crown of Aquilonia upon a troubled brow. So, although not officially a Conan action figure, a little bit of modifying and customization could turn this figure into one hell of a Conan! I'm probably going to have to grab one of these when they hit the stores.

Take a look!





You can see more pics of the other figures in the line and get more info HERE.

Conan Pit Fighter Version 2 Action Figure Out Now!

Well, it's supposed to be out now, but it looks like it's still on pre-order. But just giving you action figure fans a heads up that'll be available hopefully very soon. If you guys haven't seen the Version 2 Pit Fighter, he looks like this...



...as opposed to the original, seen below...



Both equally awesome, if you want my opinion.

You can read all about it and pre-order one HERE. What are you waiting for?!

I'm Almost Speechless...

Man, it really looks like 2009 is going to be my year, gang. Not only have I had incredible fortune as a collector and a fan of all things Conan, but I'm also fortunate in the kind of friends I have. My great friend and fearless DM, Todd made me a badass custom Conan action figure, Bubbashelby bestowed upon me an original Conan trading card, generous reader Kevin from Ohio completed a decades long search for my new Conan Endless Quest books, and then to top it all off, my good friend, fellow gamer and co-DM Greg gave me a belated birthday present today. We met for coffee and as I was hanging my hoodie on my cafe bar stool, he leaned against my tall Americano an original 1974 Conan Mego action figure.



Let me put this into perspective for you all. When I was 13, I was reading the letters section in the back of an issue of Savage Sword of Conan and in one letter, the reader mentioned that his favorite action figure when he was a kid was his Conan action figure. Up until that point, I never knew that a Conan action figure even existed. Fast forward about a year or so when I was in a bookstore in a mall, and I stumbled on to a book about antique toys. Flipping through it, I discovered the Mego section and lo and behold, there was the grim son of Cimmeria right there on the page. I must have stared at that picture for a full fifteen minutes.

Many years later, my fandom for Conan only increased and I never forgot the Conan Mego. I used to check flea markets and toy shows, with no luck. Eventually, sites like eBay began to give me proof that they were out there somewhere. I would occassionally check eBay in hopes that somebody would be selling one within my meager price range, again with no luck. I always figured that one day, one way or another, I would get one. Maybe I'd finally find one in an antique store or something. So for twenty-three years I have wanted a Conan Mego and today marks the day when I finally got to see one, hold one in my actual hands. I had never even seen one in real life before. And now, because my homeboy Greg is a kickass friend, I officially own one. And it's a beauty!



He's missing some parts, as you Mego-files will notice. Specifically his sword, axe, yellow belt and boots. However, there are some awesome websites out there selling repro parts for Mego action figures that I am definitely not above ordering from! Some serious collectors frown on repro parts... whatever. I even found a site that makes and sells reproductions of the original packaging backing cards. Once I get all the parts, this baby is going to be glorious!



What he still has is in great condition. The sword scabbard is missing a piece, but again, I can always order a new one. The loincloth (or as Greg liked to call it; the fuzzy diaper) is clean and in awesome shape. His wristbands are perfect! The figure itself is in remarkable condition; tight joints, clean body, no discoloration on the head and the hair looks like it just came out of the box. Greg definitely took care of his toys better than I did when I was a kid!

Which reminds me. I have to mention that this Conan Mego was actually Greg's from when he was a kid. Apparently his Mom kept everything in a box, stored away, and he just remembered he had it and now passed it on to me. And I promised him I will take great care of Conan. And you all know damn well that I will!



Here's some closer details of the figure...

"Aaaarrrggghhh!!!"









So, I'll wind this up by thanking Greg again for his thoughtfulness and generosity. I can't wait to order all his new little parts and to make look like new again! Be sure that I'll be posting updates on the progress, whether anyone here wants to hear about or not. ;)

Okay, I'm going to go play with my action figure now!

Conan Mystery Figures!

While searching around for various Conan stuff, I came across these photos on a Picasa page, one of which I had seen before, so I think these pics were simply collected by the owner of the Picasa account, not that he actually owned the figures. However, to be safe, I emailed him, but considering that his entire page is in Spanish, we may have a communication breakdown. I've yet to hear back from him, so the mystery of what these figures are remains unsolved.

The first figure, which I've seen once before, I believe is from Spain and was never openly marketed as an official Conan product, but take a look at him. Who else could it be?



And then I found this other version of the same figure, but presented as a keychain.



But the real mystery is with the last figure. Now, I looked at this and immediately saw a very Arnold-like version of Conan. It's clearly plastic and seems to have some posablility to it, specifically in the shoulders. However, the lighting is all whacked out, so you can't see it very clearly. My searches found no other example of this figure and I even tried to go to the website seen in the watermark, but it doesn't seem to exist anymore. Take a look for yourselves...



If anyone has seen this figure before, or knows anything about it, please let us know! The mystery must be solved!

The Riddle of Plastic...

So, earlier today, when I should have been sitting at the computer actually doing some work, my ass hoofed it down to my local comic book shop down in Pike Place Market, right here in scenic Seattle, Washington. I thought I'd pick up some of the new Dungeons & Dragons Against the Giants miniatures, which I did, but what really honked my horn was stumbling across one of the new Conan action figures based on the first movie. I've been drooling over these bad boys ever since I heard they were coming out, so I didn't waist any time and knocked over four little kids, kicked and old blind lady and stabbed her seeing eye dog with a Lord of the Rings Collector's Edition Sword of Aragorn Replica just to get to the register.

Check it out...





I only picked up the Warpaint Conan figure and will go back and get the Pitfighter version next week or something. Oh, by the way, I'm not one of those keep-my-toys-all-mint-condition-and-in-their-packaging. No, I crack those blister packs open faster than a monkey with a peanut. And these beauties have no less than, count 'em, three whole points of articulation!





Now seriously, I ask you, how many action figures in the past have come with severed pea-soup covered heads? Yeah, that's how Conan rolls, yo...





And I'll leave you with a parting shot of ol' "crazy eyes" Arnold...

Conan the Barbarian Film Locations in Spain!

Hail!

So I came across this guy's blog, who traveled to Spain and actually set out to find the site where they did a bunch of filming for the Conan the Barbarian film. The story goes that the majority of outside scenes were shot in Spain, due to its varied scenery and "old world" feel.

So sure enough, this guy found two of the spots! The spot where they filmed the "Wheel of Pain" scenes still had a bunch of crap lying around, like the carved wooden heads from the ends of the wheel spokes shaped like eagle and dragon heads. how this guy stopped himself from just taking one is beyond me. I would have stuffed that into a duffel bag faster than you could say "Crom!"

And not too far away, the guy managed to locate the site where the "Mountain of Power" was originally built, and seemed to have found some debris from when they demolished it after filming ended.

So my hat's off to this guy for sharing his adventure with us. Check out the pics...















In other Conan movie news, I'm not sure how many of you have seen this, but new Conan action figures are coming out soon based on the first movie, and I came across a really great shot of the "War Paint Conan" version along with a proposed limited edition bronze version. See for yourselves...





From what I'm hearing, there will be two initial releases in this toy line. Here's a shot including the "Pit Fighter Conan".



That's it for today! See you all soon!

Classic Conan Mego Action Figure!

I thought it was high time to tip my hat to the first, and in my opinion, the greatest, Conan action figure ever made. It would be hard to believe that if you were a boy growing up in America in the 1970’s and you didn’t have at least a couple of Mego super hero action figures. I had several, my favorites were my Batman and Robin, but I also loved my Spider-man dearly. One that I never knew existed and probably would have killed for had I known it was out there somewhere is the Conan Mego action figure.



In fact, I never learned about it until just a few years ago when I started getting into toy collecting and saw it on ebay.

This is truly just a badass figure in a 1970’s kind of way. Not nearly as detailed as action figures today, but I think that’s what gives it its retro-charm. Just check it out...



Now, I don’t own one of these myself, and I consider it the holy grail of Conan collectables. These bad boys go for anywhere from $40 (incomplete) to over $100 complete, including his belt, sword, axe, bracelets, boots and loincloth. I just can’t spend that much on an action figure right now. But one day... ;)

Hell, I’ve seen the sword alone go for $20!



So, here’s to you, Conan Mego action figure! One day, you will be mine!

Conan Remco Action Figures!

Way back in the early 80’s, a little action figure line called Masters of the Universe took the toy world by storm. Following the success of the toy line, many toy companies rushed to put out their very own lines of bulky, muscle-bound warriors with a penchant for heroic fantasy. Remco was a relatively small toy company at the time, but found great success with their He-man "inspired" toys.

One of these toy lines was based on our very own Conan the Barbarian. Now, these toys were hard to find, and I never even actually saw them when I was a kid, and my heroic fantasy action figure radar was on full blast back then.

The line is a little confusing. It looks partly based on the movie, and partly based on the Marvel Comics Conan publications, and at the same time based on nothing at all. Let’s take a look...

Here we have a couple of carded figures from the line, specifically Conan the Warrior and Thoth Amon. Notice the Conan logo on the packaging which looks a lot like the "sword through the letters" logo from the motion picture. And the drawing of Conan over the logo is a dead ringer for Arnold...


There were only five figures in the line, incuding two Conans (which really didn’t look like Conan at all, with is light brown hair and smiling face). The figures were: Conan the Warrior, Conan the King, Thoth Amon, The Devourer of Souls and one simply called "Jewel Thief" which was an arbitrary red translucent skeleton wearing a cape that I don’t remember from any Conan movie, comic or book.


Here’s a closer look at the figures...


Allegedly, there were vehicles and playsets associated with this series, but all I have ever found on the internet is a reference to a Conan "War Chariot"...

But as you can see, it looks like a corny red wagon pulled by a random rubber dinosaur. The figure in the pic is not even from the Conan line, but from Remco’s "Warlord" series. So this may be toy urban legend, a lot like the Conan/He-man myth.

The last thing I’d like to show is the back of the cards that show the entire collection along with a couple of animals that I have never seen...


So they had a short life and are now one of the most collectable action figures series ever. One day I hope to add them to my collection, until then, I’ll just have to keep blogging!

Thanks for reading and I’ll see you all next time!