Me Go Back to the Island!

Namaste,

I'm a longtime Mego collector and customizer (I founded the Mego Museum website in 1996 and continue to be involved there to this day) and a huge Lost fan and I'm embarking on a Lost Mego customizing project in anticipation of the Biff Bang Bow! Lost figures coming out summer 2010.

It seems like I may be a bit of a rarity: A Mego fan who is a Lost fan and a Lost fan who loves Mego. There's not a ton of Losties at the Mego Museum (but we did have a good discussion thread going during Season 6) and it seems like some Lost fans are not reacting well to the 70's retro aesthetic, which I can understand. We will see how many of us are out there who are fans of both worlds, I'm hoping there will be enough to keep this new line going.

To me, the new Biff Bang Pow! Lost line brings two of my absolute most favorite things together, a perfect storm of geeky obsession.

I am hoping that there will be enough interest in this line to generate future waves and I'd like to try and create some enthusiasm for Lost Mego customizing. If you are a newcomer to Mego who is attracted to the new Lost figures and would like to make some custom figures to expand your set I'll try and offer a guide to the custom Mego world and point the way toward the heads and boots and clothing you might use to outfit your own Island adventure.

As a first example, here's my first Lost custom, a Dharma Initiative redshirt. This is exactly where Lost and Mego can be such a great marriage. The time travel aspect of Season 5 brought the Losties right back to the heart of the Mego era in 1974-1977. So there are a number of Mego head sculpts that will work quite well for DI custom fodder. Almost every Mego head has long groovey sideburns and shaggy hair, and a great number of them have been reproduced in recent years so they are plentiful and inexpensive. This figure uses the Sir Galahad head which is available in reproduction at Classic TV Toys. The boots and rifle are Planet of the Apes accessories available reproduction from Doctor Mego.

The jumpsuit I made by hand, using an Action Jackson Air Force pilot jumpsuit as a template. I will try to post a pattern when I can, this is the first one I made and it needs some tweaking. But it was very inspiring for me to think of how easily a Lost fan can make some fun action figure toys in the 1/9 scale.