| Mego Planet of the Apes Continued (1973 - 1975) |
| The Planet of the Apes figures were sold in the following Series: |
| Series 1 Cornelius, Zira, Dr. Zaius, Soldier Ape and Astronaut (all on Type 1 bodies). Sold in very limited numbers in window boxes in 1973, then exclusively blister carded by 1974. |
| Series 2 Virdon, Burke, Galen, Ursus and Urko (mostly Type 2 bodies with a few Type 1s mixed in). Sold in limited numbers in 1974 and more frequently in 1975. |
| Cornelius |
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| Cornelius was sold in the first series on a Type 1 ape He came fitted with a stylish olive green tunic and pants and brown standard Mego moccasins. |
| A couple of variations of Cornelius exist: |
| 1) a version with fabric instead of the standard olive. 2) purple vinyl tunic like Galen 3) an irridescent green haired Cornelius (pics coming soon) |
| Zira |
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| Zira came fitted with a stylish olive blouse and skirt and some really groovy brown cowboy boots (same as Dynah Mite). The blouse has reddish brown inner sleeves attached to the outer sleeves. Also of note: Zira is the only standard Mego utilizing "space-age" Velcro. It leads one to wonder why they did not use it on any of the later figures, but it is possible that at the time it was still new and fairly expensive and also Zira was the only figure with a FRONT snap, so perhaps they used Velcro to avoid those unsightly sew strings from a snap. |
| Some variations also exist in this figure: |
| 1) like Cornelius her blouse and skirt were also made in limited numbers from brown material 2) a version without inner sleeves has been found carded |
| Dr. Zaius |
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| Dr. Zaius was another popular figure in this series, as well he should be. His head sculpt is excellent and his outfit is very solid, well for an ape. |
| Dr. Zaius did not have variants other than in the boots he was sold with. Some versions were sold with Black Superhero boots and some were sold with very cool black "hiero" boots which have marking like hieroglyphics on the sides. |
| The Soldier Ape |
| A definite hit, this figure is probably the second most common to Cornelius and perhaps even more. I am not all that thrilled with the head sculpt, it seems like they gave him too much hair or something, but I wont complain too much. His gloves are also pretty silly, but they beat brown plastic over mits which I am sure they considered. |
| An army of Soldiers is a must for the true Ape collector, they just look great in mass. Each Soldier Ape came complete with plastic bandolier, machine gun with string, standard black AJ boots, brown cloth (with leather torso) tunic and pants, and gloves. |
| Several variations exist for the Soldier Apes as well. All four exist with regard to the leather portion of the outfits and the cloth remains the same on all four: |
| 1) Navy Tunic - has a brighter blue leather portion of tunic/gloves 2) Brown Tunic - has a brown leather portion of tunic/gloves 3) Lizard Tunic - a "scaly" leather portion tunic/gloves 4) Silver Tunic - has a silvery/gray leather portion of tunic/gloves |
| Soldier Ape Variations |
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| Standard Blue Brown |
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| Silver Lizard |
| A very generic product here, Mego could not get the rights to do a Heston figure, so instead the made a plain figure and called him the Astronaut. Sporting some super groovy sideburns, the Astronaut is ready to boogie. He comes with a cool light blue/gray flight suit, Helmet with visor, a white plastic Robin style belt, and black low-top boots.. He has also been seen with a white elastic belt and white boots as well. |
| Galen |
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| Hmm, looks familiar doesnt he? Yep, Mego cut the corners here and he is identical to Cornelius. Sooooo very sad. Well, ok, they painted his ears green and the leather portion of his tunic is purplish in tint usually but otherwise that is the only difference between this figure and the Cornelius figure. Oh, he was mostly released on Type 2 Ape bodies. |
| Galen can be found with same two outfit variations as Cornelius: brown (rare - see top picture) and green (common - see bottom picture). |
| Ursus |
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| Also known as "Urko" or "Helmet Head" in the Ape world, Mego really set out to confuse kids by changing the names on these figures throughout production. Mego packaged Ursus and Urko (the other General) under both names, but I will stick with the more commonly accepted naming convention. |
| Ursus is a really sharp figure. I don't recall seeing a purple-clad Ursus but, combined with the mustard colored top and trim, he makes a really fashionable ape. To be complete he should have three-toed boots, a gun and a bandolier with a knife holder (and knife). He's very hard to find complete. |
| Urko |
| Photo coming soon! |
| Also known as "Ursus" in Megoland.. Urko came in both the soldier ape outfit (with gloves) and in a similar top with cuffs (that packaged with no gloves). The suit with the cuffs was packaged (as far as I know) with the three-toed boots, whereas, the one packaged in the Soldier Ape outfit came with the standard soldier lace-up boots. |
| Variants of his outfit exist including the Brown and Silver versions. |
| Burke Verdon |
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| "I smell a human!" |
| Burke, like his cohort in crime, Verdon, are two wild and crazy guys on the run from the Ape Generals in the short-lived TV Series, Planet of the Apes. Mego actually reproduced them very well, they have great head sculpts and nice "slave" attire. |
| Burke (brown hair) comes complete with torn light yellow pants, burlap type vest, brown shirt and standard brown Mego moccasins. |
| Verdon (blonde hair) came complete with torn light yellow pants (same as Burke), torn light yellow top, brown cloth vest and standard brown Mego moccasins. |
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