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8-Inch World's Greatest Super-Heroes Aquaman Figure from Mego
The Aquaman action figure was first released by Mego in 1972 along with Batman, Robin, and Superman as part of the very first series of figures from the extremely successful line of World's Greatest Super-Heroes 8" action figures.
Though the Aquaman character has gone through a few visual changes in more recent years, Mego's version of the character is probably the most enduring and the one that was most well-known by comic book fans back in 1972.
Made popular by Filmation re-runs which originally aired in the late 1960s, Aquaman's popular orange, green, and black look was reinforced by the success of Mego action figures.
Simultaneously, and for thirteen straight years starting in 1973, the Superfriends cartoon series ensured that this particular look would be the way a generation would remember Aquaman.
The Mego Aquaman action figure is actually wearing a one-piece bodysuit or unitard. There is no printing whatsoever on the fabric. However, when you examine it closely, the body suit of the Aquaman action figure has quite a bit of stitching and utilizes several different materials.
The Mego Aquaman action figure has its torso and arms covered in a stretchy orange material which forms a sort of long sleeved-type shirt. In most cases, the shirt has a yellow vinyl belt stitched-in at the waistline. In rare cases, the belt is not stitched-in across the waistline, but instead it hangs freely around the waist of the action figure.
For the much more common stitched version of the Mego Aquaman, the bottom part of the belt is also stitched to a pair of black trunks. In actuality, Aquaman's orange top is stitched directly to the figure's black trunks and the yellow belt is really just stitched over the other materials.
Mego really tried to be true to the character designs as much as possible. On the front of the Mego Aquaman action figure's belt is an "A" sticker -- actually more of an upside down "V" since there's no horizontal line as you would find in a normal "A". Compared to the "A" appearing in comics and cartoons at the time, it seems like Mego compromised with this simpler version.
Mego must have wanted the "A" to extend slightly above the yellow belt and onto the shirt the way it did in comics & animation which meant it needed to be die-cut. Leaving off the horizontal line made it much easier to manufacture and apply.
Loose figures nearly always have this sticker missing. The model in our gallery below has a slightly overzsized repro version. Even when you find a Mego Aquaman still in it's original package, many times the glue from the "A" has simply dried up and the sticker is floating loose within the package.
The material used for Aquaman's black trunks can be found in two versions -- one made from a stretchy fabric similar to the one used for the action figure's torso & legs and a second version which is not stretchy and similar to the material used on the capes of Mego action figures like Shazam, Batman, Robin, Batgirl, and Superman.
The bottom of Aquaman's trunks are then stitched to the bodsuit's legs which run all the way down to the feet and are made from a green stretchy-material.
On the back of the calves and stitched in-between the seams of Aquaman's uniform are fins made from a smooth green vinyl material very similar to the one used for the classic Mego oven mitts.
Speaking of which, Aquaman came standard with a pair of green, vinyl oven mitts -- the same type seen on Mego Batman and Robin action figures.
If you examine the legs of a bodysuit from a Mego Aquaman action figure you'll notice that there are two seams on each leg. Normally you would only see one seam in the material of a bodysuit like this. Mego's approach of using two seams on each leg of Aquaman's bodysuit probably had to do with the way the fins were attached to the legs of the bodysuit.
Aquaman's bodysuit opens from the back and utilizes two snaps -- one at the base of the neck and another behind the yellow belt at the waistline.
Of the original four Mego superhero action figures, Aquaman is the rarest. This is due to the fact that for every case of 24 figures, there were only 2 Aquaman included.
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