What Happened to 1970s Mego Superheroes? | The Magic Was Yours.

Starting in 1972, the World's Greatest Super Heroes stood eight inches tall, wore real cloth costumes, and could be undressed and re-dressed to become anyone. Batman, Superman, Spider-Man, Captain America, Aquaman, the Hulk, the Joker, the Penguin — thirty-three characters in all, each with removable fabric costumes, capes that flowed, and boots that came off. The removable-cowl Batman was the holy grail: pull off the mask and Bruce Wayne was underneath.

These were the action figures that defined a generation of boys in the 1970s. They came with the Batcave, the Batmobile, the Batcopter, and exploding playsets you triggered with an air-pump plunger. They fit in your coat pocket. They came with you to school, to your friend's house, under the covers with a flashlight. Your heroes met your friend's heroes and the rosters combined into armies. The magic wasn't in what the toys did — they did nothing on their own. The magic was in what YOU did: you supplied the voices, the stories, the whole universe.

The man behind them was Marty Abrams, who pioneered the interchangeable 8-inch body that became the industry standard. When George Lucas came looking for a company to make Star Wars toys, Abrams turned it down — he didn't think a science fiction film would sell. Kenner said yes. Kenner's tiny 3.75-inch figures sold hundreds of millions, the market shifted to small and cheap, and the era of the 8-inch hero with the real cloth cape was over.

By 1980 the heroes stopped coming. By 1982 the company was finished. The window boxes disappeared from the toy aisle, and a generation of boys grew up and put their heroes in boxes in the attic. But you never forgot pulling the cowl off Batman's head — and for a few years, being the writer, the director, and the whole universe.

If you had the 8-inch superheroes with the cloth costumes, tell us — which hero was your very first?

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