• Welcome! The TrekBBS is the number one place to chat about Star Trek with like-minded fans.
    If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

This is an outrage! Mego FACTS OF LIFE action figures leave out Natalie

Just Googled those. JESUS, those are some hideous little dolls. Not only is there no Mrs. Garrett or Natalie but they made Tootie white. That looks more like Veronica from the Archie comics. :shrug:
j0P1vw2.jpg
 
So I guess Sue Ann, Nancy or Cindy are out of the question.
 
Last edited:
They make action figures for sitcom characters? Where are the Three's Company ones?

If you're going to be outraged by the lack of Facts of Life characters, shouldn't there be one of the character played by George Clooney?

Fun fact for people who don't watch CBS reality shows: A few years ago Lisa Welchel was one of the contestants on Survivor. She did quite well, lasting close to the end. In all that time, only one other contestant figured out who she was.
 
They make action figures for sitcom characters?

Apparently, but what demographic was asking for them? I recall some blink-and-you-missed-them figures based on I Love Lucy in the 90s and they collected dust on shelves. I doubt any of the viewing public was thinking of dolls and/or action figures when the series was first run. Yeah, there was no action figure market when Lucy was in production, but even as the action figure market developed & exploded in the 60s and 70s, no manufacturer--not MEGO, LJN, AHI, Hasbro or any other company saw Lucy as a winning license where figures were concerned.

If you're going to be outraged by the lack of Facts of Life characters, shouldn't there be one of the character played by George Clooney?

Wha--?? Make a Clooney figure based on his relatively obscure FoL character and not one based on ER's Doug Ross? Oh, the horror...the outrage. ;)
 
Just Googled those. JESUS, those are some hideous little dolls. Not only is there no Mrs. Garrett or Natalie but they made Tootie white. That looks more like Veronica from the Archie comics. :shrug:
j0P1vw2.jpg
This doll was already on clearance at Target yesterday along with Norm from Cheers. At least Norm came with a little mug of beer.
 
God, I'm biting my tongue on a nasty comment, we're allowed to joke about our own, right? :evil:

Anyway, I'm not in their marketing research dept but I would think if someone was nostalgic enough to buy these they'd want to "complete the collection" even if they weren't a Nat fan. Does anyone buy three TMNT figures?
 
You take the good, you take the bad...

Maybe they're taking a page from Lego and holding out as an exclusive minifig for an over priced dormatory playset featuring Natalie.
 
Last edited:
Just Googled those. JESUS, those are some hideous little dolls. Not only is there no Mrs. Garrett or Natalie but they made Tootie white. That looks more like Veronica from the Archie comics. :shrug:
j0P1vw2.jpg


To coin a phrase, "There's gonna be trouuuuble..."

It's ironic that in this day and age more and bigger screw-ups are made with the most basic character articulation... just watch 30 seconds of the premiere episode and all the characters are right there on screen. It's hard to miss the physical attributes, scaled for size on a TV screen.

I loved TFOL, especially seasons 1-4 (season 1 was cheesy yet fun, 2-4 and the revamped approach were first rate) but kept watching throughout its run, and Beverly Ann (with inspired casting of Cloris Leachman!) helped eke out a couple more years, with her introduction year being rather strong.

But who are the toys really for? Remember that movie Spaceballs and Dark Helmet was playing with the action figure set to his own movie? That ain't me... Especially in that if I want an eight inch action figure, I ain't going there...
 
Last edited:
God, I'm biting my tongue on a nasty comment, we're allowed to joke about our own, right? :evil:

Anyway, I'm not in their marketing research dept but I would think if someone was nostalgic enough to buy these they'd want to "complete the collection" even if they weren't a Nat fan. Does anyone buy three TMNT figures?

Since shows like TBBT joke about us all the time as it's one of the few areas of the human condition that doesn't get any backlash, PC or otherwise... shouldn't be wrong in laughing at one's self or one's own, as long as everyone else is in the same show - nobody being off limits (like "In Living Color", one of many shows that made fun of everyone without exception and everyone knew it was in the context of only comedy), and everyone knows it's meant as comedy and nothing serious or being made as intentionally offensive, in which case everyone's being grilled or everyone's too thin-skinned and/or everyone's owed an apology or more but I digress. And someone who worked on that show was probably "one of us" too. And having said all that, I've laughed with the show as well as at it.

There are lots of fans of Natalie as well. For several reasons, omitting her is just wrong.
 
What makes more sense is some Mork and Mindy dolls. Mork was a alien so people might buy. Also include the egg ship and don't forget Jonathon Winters.


Jason
 
What makes more sense is some Mork and Mindy dolls. Mork was a alien so people might buy. Also include the egg ship and don't forget Jonathon Winters.


Jason

Yeah, but thanks to the visage of Tootie and Jo (who looks more like an amalgamation of Blair and Mrs Garrett!), I suspect for Mork & Mindy they'd replace Mork's humanoid visage with that of a gigantic rooster of disproportionate proportions* (but having Urkel's suspenders) and Mearth will literally be a chick, freshly hatched. The playset also comes with Boulder Skating Rink, which takes the form of a big skillet, oddly enough...

* don't say that while munching on a mouthful of sardine crackers
 
Does your last sentence reference the action figures, or just their figures?:cool:

:guffaw:

The action figures...

:guffaw:

Even more interesting, look at the figures for both Blair (Mego Facts of Life) and Marcia (Mego Brady Bunch) - it's the same head mold, just painted differently to reflect the infamous stay-puffed football-on-the-nose scene. Or how Greg from the Brady Bunch looks like Michael Landon from "Little House on the Prairie" but with police uniform... Or how Alice's head looks like "Baby Burps-a-Lot"'s after drinking a long island iced tea with extra caffeine brought to us by Jolt. Or how Tony from I Dream of Jeannie looks like the Master from Doctor Who but without the beard... I sense a new product line in the future, but I digress: Most importantly, I now understand why certain e-Retailer websites lack the ability for customers to provide detail reviews - the actual figures are so malshapen that they just invite the most sardonic of responses.

To be fair, the lack of facial articulation wouldn't be out of place for most if not all action figures made in the 1970s (even those nice eight-inchers), or even some of the 1980s, back when imagination was needed to really fulfill the experience, as Dark Helmet will attest to when playing with his Spaceballs action figure set. But manufacturing methods have become so much more intricate since - thus robbing customers of having a fantasy.
 
If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Sign up / Register


Back
Top