Tuesday, December 1, 2015

When (Fictional) Worlds Collide

I had intended to post the November 1978 issue of Women's Day magazine last month. Unfortunately, I never got a chance to, but I would be remiss if I didn't publish at least this article. It's a guide to building your kids a playset to go with their "spage-age" figures.  Please tell me someone's parents built them this awesome set.



I love the combined play action of Kenner's Star Wars figures with Mego's Micronauts and vehicles used in these shots.  I even see a dog and a cat thrown in there.  That was the way I always played with action figures.  It didn't matter if they were Mego Comic Action Heroes (DC or Marvel), Micronauts, or random figures out of a gumball machine.  Scale didn't matter either.  I made due. They all combined to create my universe.



The first image as separate pictures so you can see some better detail:



I never had store-bought playsets or anything as cool as this.  The best I did was gluing some Styrofoam packing pieces together  and combining with assorted cardboard boxes, but it was enough. Man, I spent some hours imagining great adventures.

15 comments:

  1. Never saw this before, but it is awesome!

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  2. There were specifically Star Wars-themed playset designs in a 1980 issue of the same mag. I've only found one photo showing one of them built by a mom (of course) for her kids, as seen in this post:

    http://2warpstoneptune.com/2013/02/26/womans-day-magazines-star-wars-playset-designs-1978-1980/

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    1. Thanks for the link, 2W2N. I'll have to look for that 1980 issue. And how cool is it to see one actually built?! Way to go, Mom!

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    2. Why of course? Seems a pretty Dad thing to do...

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  3. Nope - we built our space stations out of blocks of wood.

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  4. I would have loved that as a kid! In fact I'm tempted to get my nieces and nephews round to help me build one now! I remember covering my mum's sofa in masking tape one time back in the day, creating a futuristic roadway for my Micro Machine cars....

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  5. I never built this.... always wanted to though. I DID build the Mego Supercity. (It currently fills my living room....)

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    1. Pictures or it didn't happen! Seriously, I'd love to see it!

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  6. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  7. Say! I CAN show some pics! (Being only semi-computer literate I forget how to do stuff sometimes....) I do a podcast with a friend, and we did a custom Mego episode. There are some pics of Supercity mixed in here:http://obeythedna.com/podcast/dna-podcast-010-twisted-robot-mego-chicken-theatre/

    Don C.

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  8. wow This Stuff Came Out For A Year Before I Was BORN I Bet This Is WORTH A CHUNK OF $$$$!!

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    1. That's a good question, Unknown. I'm not sure about the collectibility/value of homemade playsets, but I'd probably buy one if I came across it.

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  9. I remember seeing this and coveting it profoundly.

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    1. My mother didn't buy these magazines unless it happened to be a special Christmas issue, so I don't recall ever seeing these. I had to make my own out of Styrofoam packing and cardboard.

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