Customer Reviews

Mego 8" Super-Heroes: World's Greatest Toys!

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World's Greatest Toys does something that few collector books have and that is cover all the bases to make a complete experience.

In terms of photography and layout this is book unmatched, it is a visual treat made with a great deal of care. The toys pop off the page and you become numb after the countless packaging shots the author has compiled.

The writing is also exceptional, the author gets down to every trivial detail without sounding flat or dull, it keeps your interest to the very end. The well researched history of the company shows a never before seen look into Mego corp, very interesting.

If you were a child of the 70's or a toy collector, you will love this book.

I've had a personal love affair with MEGO since Xmas 1973 when I recieved my first REMOVABLE COWL BATMAN
(In my opinion,still the COOLEST 70's action figure...BAR NONE).
As I got into my 30's,I would have beautiful dreams of being in some forgotten department store and seeing all the MEGO WGSH's for sale.I buy as many as I can grab in my trembling hands and as I feel myself bathing in exasperated MEGO glory and good fortune... they are ripped from my clutches as I wake and realize..IT'S ONLY A DREAM...sigh!
My dreams became a REALITY with the release of Benjamin Holcomb's WORLD'S GREATEST TOYS book,
a DEVASTATING 256 page,hardback,high quality color printed masterpiece.Benjamin Holcomb's sincerity and
love for his subject matter is clearly evident in EVERY aspect,from the meticulous photography and layout,
to the detailed research done w past MEGO execs and employees,to the concise info on packaging variations that has never been as clearly defined in any existing reference/picture guide on MEGO WGSH.
This book also has rarities abound!!There are figures in here you never got a chance to see unless you were really lucky as a kid,like:Large S Superman,Removable Mask Robin,Broken Circle Suit Spiderman,Cloth Belt Riddler,and also a beautiful array of rare cards like:Iron Man,Green Goblin,The Lizard,Catwoman all BEAUTIFULLY photographed front and back.Actual size photos,uber closeups SUPER DETAIL EVERYWHERE YOU LOOK!!It's the next best thing to owning one of the sweetest WGSH collections IN THE WORLD!(The rare specimens pictured in this book are amassed from MEGO supercollectors.With some of the LOOSE pieces trading for upwards of $1000 - $2000 a piece, you will likely never again get a chance to see them in this much detail and photographic glory..That alone's worth the price of admission!!)
If you are a MEGO fanatic like me or just a 70's toy/nostalgia fan,RUN!!...don't walk to get this book,YOU WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED!!
Happy MEGOing-
MIKE

The quality of the this book is truely amazing. The breathtaking photography and the amount of insight into the Mego superhero line is fantastic. The author's desire to make this something special really comes through in this book. If you have any familiarity with these toys as a child (or know someone who does) you'll find yourself
engrossed in this book. The scope of information this book covers in mind-boggling. From good and bad selling figures (you'd be surprised by a few) to how the figures were distributed from the Mego warehouse. For the serious collector every detail you could want about the packaging (as much a classic as the figures themselves) is here.

That's the feeling I remembered and recaptured when I opened this book: that long-forgotten frizure of pleasure, opening a box to reveal a new Mego figure inside. Remember how that felt? I hadn't until I turned the pages and saw row upon row of Mego figures. Remember trying to decide which one to buy with your allotted $5? Impossible!

I've been waiting for a book like this for a long time. I've had a lifetime love affair with these toys (well, since I was five years old anyway)and I had always hoped that someone who was even more obsessed with these little guys than I was would sit down, write everything he knew about them (which in Benjamin's case is A LOT!) and take absolutely gorgeous photographs that cover every minute detail. Well, that has finally happened, and I couldn't be happier.

I first heard about this book over a year ago, and it's been very difficult waiting for it to be published. I admit, I was worried about an anti-climatic experience when I could finally read it, because what could possibly match the wildly high expectations I had for it, based on the few samples and bits of information that I had heard about during the book's creation. Well, I'm thrilled that the final product completely lives up to my expectations.

Anyone with even a passing interest in these toys will love the fantastic photographs and gorgeous layout. And there is more obsessive written detail than even the most devoted collector of Megos could imagine. But it's also a fun read, I can't seem to put the book down, and my wife has certainly been a "Mego widow" this past week.

Maybe I'm biased due to my love of Megos (of course, that may also make me more critical of any book on the subject) but I think this is the best book I've purchased in a long time. Highly recommended!

I've been a toy collector for as long I can remember. This is, in large part, due to the fact that when I was young my Mother had a job working in the Toy Department at K-Mart (SS Kresge). I always had the greatest toys ever as a child, and this included the "World's Greatest Heroes" line from Mego, which I have avidly collected as an adult. When I heard there was a new book under publication that promised to hold more information than any previous work in the area I immediately pre-ordered a copy from Amazon.

The information you will find between the covers of this book is astounding. The level of detailed information provided, the in-depth interviews with Mego employees and executives, and the mammoth photo spreads showing all variations of the figure is simply too much to absorb in even the first or second reading. Anything you have ever wanted to know about the WGSH line from Mego is here, and presented in lavish detail. I'm now beginning my third read-through of the book since I received it last month, and yet the book still holds my attention to the degree that I forgot to watch Football last night (which for me is saying something). Nothing here disappoints the reader, which I am sure you will read in the other reviews of this book.

But perhaps the greatest gift this book has to offer is this: when showing this book to my nephews (so that they could see what superhero toys were like when their uncle was their age) my mother came by and, seeing the page we were open to (we were reading the section on Mego's Falcon figure) said "I don't remember that one". What followed was a conversation about her time working in K-Mart's toy department, how she would find gifts for me for my birthday and Christmas, and what the toy business was like in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Complaints about Kresge sticker guns, rack displays of Mego and Kenner Star Wars figures, Blue Light Specials, the diffuclty in wrapping the carded vs. boxed Batmobile - a time capsule of my childhood years from a perspective I could not, until now, share. To date we had never before had such a conversation, and if not for this book we might never have had it. It's this type of priceless moment that makes me now carry this book wherever I go, hoping to spread the joy of youth to more and more people.

In short - Even though this book is phenomenal, it is more than the sum of its substantial parts. Buying a copy is a ticket to a time machine that lets you return to the better days of your youth, when times were simpler for you, when the "Super Friends" were on each and every Saturday morning, and when Mego was king! Thanks Benjamin Holcomb!

This book does not cover everything Mego, but its a wonderful collection of photos and important information. I recommend the book for any Mego collector.

My husband has been waiting for this book for a long time now, since he came back from attending the "Mego Meet" convention in 2006 and ranting and raving about this book that was going to be the "be all end all" book for Mego toy collectors. As soon as the book was made available for order I put in an order for not one but two copies, because I know how hard he is on his books and assumed that this one would get worn out from re-reading it constantly, knowing him! Finally just a couple of weeks ago, the books arrived and for several days I did not see my husband without that book in his hands, haha. Even though I myself am not a toy collector, and honestly wasn't even around when these toys were initially on the shelves, I found quite a few interesting things while perusing the book myself, and am amazed at the high quality of the images and just how detailed the whole thing is. I work in a bookstore so I see lots of different kinds of collector oriented books, and I can't think of any that I've seen which have this much amazing attention to detail. When I showed the book to some of my co-workers, we all were amazed at how intricate and interesting the book was, and the professional quality of the overall layout. A few of my co-workers even wound up ordering copies themselves to give as gifts to their spouses or others who they knew had grown up with these toys and/or still collect them even now. My husband and I even ordered extras to give out as gifts to friends of ours for Xmas, and now that I've seen the quality of the book, I am quite pleased to be handing these out as gifts this year. Anyone who is fond of superheroes, old toys, or nostaliga from the 1970s should find this book to be of interest to them, I'd say. So thank you to the author and the publisher for creating such a great book that gives my husband so much joy. Now if I can just tear him away from it so that he'll get some other things done around the house, I'll be even happier!

....it's a hot button for her and it always brings out the worst. She just hates it when she makes a home cooked meal, serves it hot, calls for dinner and people don't show. I know this, so when she's worked over dinner I make sure I come when called. Usually it's my son who get's in trouble for having to be called more than once.

Tonight I made a mistake. I came home from work as I have everyday this week and asked the same question..."Did the book come today?"

Today I got the answer I was waiting for. You got a package.

Well, needless to say I forgot about all else and opened that box and started browsing through this book. I wasn't reading, there is too much content to read quickly, too much to learn, but I had to at least see each page. I've been waiting since I first saw one of the early pages about 2 and a half years ago.

I thumbed through and was only halfway when the dinner bell got rung. I was in the next room but didn't hear. Well, I heard a voice saying something, but was just too absorbed. I heard her speak again a few minutes later and some auto response in my brain replied "I'm on my way". Of course I didn't mean it, I didn't even realize I was saying it, I wasn't done yet!

Needless to say I didn't come to dinner on time. By the time I got there dinner was well underway. My wife wasn't talking and neither was my son, knowing that I was in trouble, he figured the best course of action was to keep his mouth shut. Took me some fast talking and a few apologies to smooth things over.

So thanks Benjamin, for getting me in trouble with my wife. You're arwork, photos and layout were too stunning to put down. I've seen most of these figures before and I've written pages for [...] 's Accessory check with similar content, but all of a sudden it was all fresh again and I couldn't put it down. I've already learned things I didn't know, seen things I've never seen, and I've yet to read a word.

I've heard it all through the Mego community, but I have to say it again. Bravo! Despite the minor marital issues you've just caused me, I salute you for a job not well done, but for a job that surpasses all expectations, and for the true love that's on every single page and in each photo. Stunning.

Guess my wife is just going to have to deal for a while, as I actually read the thing. I'm guessing I'm going to be a bit distracted for a while.

I received this book as a gift, and I gotta say that it's pretty amazing. I was very young in the '70s, but I remember playing with my Mego superhero team. Aquaman. Batgirl. Captain Marvel. Thor. Wonder Woman. Spider-Man. Human Torch. As a six-year-old, there was no better toy available than those omnipresent Mego superheroes. Of course, I didn't have all the Mego heroes -- there were just too many of them, and some characters (like Supergirl, Isis and Conan) were extremely hard to find. But I have them all now -- in this luxurious hard-bound book filled with pictures.

This book is perfect for anyone into Mego collectibles or superhero figures. The cover and pages are of high quality, and the colors leap off the page. I am impressed with what a top-notch production this book is, considering the esoteric nature of the topic. Overall, the book is very well written, and it's brimming with facts about Mego's production of the various characters who comprised the WGSH line. For a toy geek, it's a major page-turner. So if you are a toy geek, or if you love a toy geek, get this book. It's simply amazing.