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Early Examples of Product Licensing
by
Mego Toy Corporation
Early Example of Mego Licensing
This may not be that cool to you so I apologize in advance....but for me I think its almost the coolest thing I've ever seen. Years ago I came across this very unusual Mego item. Its the only one I've ever seen before or since. What is it? Its a Japanese Tin Helicopter that Mego had custom altered and branded as a TWA Airline helicopter. Why is that so cool? Well, I believe based on the products and old company catalogs I've seen that this is one of the first (if not THE first) time that Mego made a LICENSED product instead of a GENERIC product. If that's true, then this item symbolizes a huge turning point in the company's history because as we all know LICENSING is what set Mego apart in the 1970's and made them the company they became. Check out the pics below to see what I'm talking about.
1971 MEGO Japanese Import TWA Airline Helicopter MIB
This amazingly mint example of the extremely well made heavy metal helicopter is one of my favorite Mego items. There is no indication on the chopper that it is a Mego item because it wasn't made by them. The box, however, shows the Mego logo on the bottom left corner of the flap. Likewise it has text (not shown) on the box that says the item was "Made exclusively for Mego Corp NY, NY 10010 in Japan".
Mego vs. Non-Mego Helicopter from the same company
Here is a comparison of the Mego helicopter next to its generic counterpart that was manufactured by the same company. The design is only slightly different....the upside down people that I failed to upright don't count. I knew as soon as I saw this police chopper that I had to get it also even though I paid waaaaaaay too much for it and had to ship it in from a Japanese seller. Oh my the stupid things I've done but at least it allows you to see the difference. I'll just say I took that one for the team.
