Monday, November 19, 2018

Alice from "The Brady Bunch" 8 Inch Retro Action Figure - Mego Corporation (2018)

Alice from "The Brady Bunch" 8 Inch Retro Action Figure - Mego Corporation (2018)

Alice from "The Brady Bunch" was released by Mego as part of their first wave of new action figures in September 2018.  It's currently available on Target.com and in many Target retail locations. Target's assortment of Mego figures varies quite a bit from store to store, but Alice doesn't seem to be selling out and still looks to be pretty widely available.  I guess there isn't a big demand for Brady Bunch action figures in 2018.  Yeah, it's a goofy show, but I watched so many episodes of it when I was a kid that I think it might be imprinted on my DNA.  So even if no one else wants Alice, I do, gosh darn it.

"If you think we're alive, you ought to speak."
So this figure, like all of the Mego figures, is more of a doll than an action figure, by modern standards.  But by the standards of the 1970s, when Mego was king, this was what action figures were all about.  Back in the day, "action figures" were created as a way for toy companies to replicate the success of the girls' Barbie dolls with boys.  It began with G.I. Joe, which was basically a Ken doll in military drag, and continued with other cloth outfit figures like The Six Million Dollar Man, Big Jim, and Pulsar: The Ultimate Man of Adventure!  But topping them all in the 1970s was Mego!  Mego made figures from Star Trek, Planet of the Apes, DC Comics, Marvel Comics, and more.  Smaller plastic figures, like Kenner's Star Wars figures, eventually came to dominate this category in the late 1970s and early 1980s, but if you were a boy in the early to mid '70s, Mego was where it was at.

Mego's Alice figure comes with an action-packed "SLICE OF CAKE" accessory!
Alice here has 14 points of articulation, and her legs and arms are held in place by elastic bands, just like the original figures from the 1970s.  Yeah, those elastic bands aren't as nice as modern day action figures ball joints, and as a result, even with 14 points of articulation, the figure doesn't really have as good of a range of movement as a modern figures... but it does have 40 years of kid-tested playability behind it, so there's that.  Yeah, that's the ticket!  Personally, I love these things, because I played with figures like this when I was a little kid, like 3-5 years old, and I still have vivid memories of my Mego Spider-Man and Batman figures, so any time I pick one of these up, it puts a smile on my face.  Would modern day kids like these things?  Who knows.  Maybe.  I mean they aren't that different from modern toy lines like Monster High or DC Super Hero Girls, right?  And of course Barbie is still going strong.  But those are all girls toys... would boys be into these?  Well probably not Alice, but, like, Dracula or something?  I'm guessing probably not, but who knows.  I suppose these are really aimed at grown folks like me who had the original Megos as a kid, anyway.

Alice with Greg Brady from Wave 2 and Marcia Brady from Wave 3
So yeah, um, here's some pictures of Alice... inspired by "Alice in Wonderland" and the Jefferson Airplane song "White Rabbit," because those also have someone named "Alice," even though it's a completely different Alice!  Or is she?  Seriously, did you ever notice that Alice from "Alice in Wonderland" and Alice from "The Brady Bunch" wear almost identical blue dresses with white aprons?  Seriously, maybe they are the same person!  Like, Alice from Wonderland grew up and became the maid to the Bradys!  Stranger things have happened.

Jefferson Airplane - White Rabbit


Jan Brady is the Queen of Hearts

Alice and the Bradys begin a Sackus Race

"...after waiting till she fancied she heard the Rabbit just under the window, she suddenly spread out her hand, and made a snatch in the air. She did not get hold of anything, but she heard a little shriek and a fall, and a crash of broken glass, from which she concluded that it was just possible it had fallen into a cucumber-frame, or something of the sort."

Front and back of the card

Alice and Greg try on each other's clothes

Go ask Alice when she's ten feet tall

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