Tag Archives: Comic Action Heroes

Wales Comic Con

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Wales Comic Con

Saturday 6th April

Glyndwr University, Wrexham

The last time I was at Wales Comic Con in Wrexham was back in August 2022, and a lot has changed since then. That last event I called “a triumphant return”, though it seems that everything moved back to the substitute venue in Telford. Now the convention appears to be back in North Wales for good, which I’m very happy about.

I mean, I don’t even know where Telford is. Somewhere near Birmingham, I think, so a couple of hours away. Whereas Wrexham is fifteen minutes away from home. It’s easier for me to get to Liverpool, so why would I go to Telford?!

Wales Comic Con was certainly more modest this year. I could tell right away, as I was able to park on the University grounds. The event was reduced to just one sports hall, rather than sprawling over the campus. There were less people milling about, which was actually a bonus, as in previous years the halls could get very crowded.

As always, there were plenty of vendors selling all manner of wierd and wonderful merchandise. My family and I had a right old time adding paraphernalia to our respective collections, and were well satisfied by the wonders on offer.

Our only issue with the event was that some of the celebrity guests had cancelled. In particular, Christopher Lambert of Highlander and Greystoke fame was a temptation we couldn’t resist. I’ve given up on the celeb autograph hunting game as an expensive disappointment, but I was ready to come out of retirement for Connor McLeod.

Unfortunately, M. Lambert had cancelled his appearance (possibly some time earlier), though there had been no warning from the event organisers. In fact, event staff on the day were somewhat vague as to whether he’d cancelled or not. Refunds will be provided, but the Highlanders absence was quite a blow. This was not a kind of magic.

The cosplayers saved the day, as always, with some great displays of imagination and creativity. There were fewer than previous years, obviously, but were still very impressive. Thanks to everyone who posed for photos!

A reminder re the photos on this blog: I am not a professional photographer. I have a nice (but old) camera, and I’ve recently been beset with technical difficulties. My trusty PC has died and I’m cobbling this together on an old laptop running Windows 7 and no photo editing software. So I hope the pics are OK – feel free to share etc as you please, cosplayers.

In conclusion, it was great to have Wales Comic Con back in it’s proper home, and despite a few issues, we all had a great day. Let’s hope the move back to Wrexham will herald a return to form and this convention can get back on its feet.

Superhero Action Figures

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You may well be familiar with the Mego action figures of the 1970s – they made dozens of superhero dolls approximately 8 inches tall.  You can see my Batmobile and Captain Americar toys (all I have left from my Mego collection) in an earlier post.  They also made figures for Planet of the Apes and tons of other licenses.

Other than the 8″ line, there were also a series of 3.75″ superhero figures, known Comic Action Heroes.  These examples of this range of figures have been in my collection since the late 1970’s.

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Originally I bought a Spiderman figure, from the sadly long gone Toy & Hobby in Chester, but he broke.  This line of figures weren’t the most robust – a common problem was the legs breaking off.  the body below the waist was made of rubber, and likely to give way.

So Spiderman was posted back to the Customer Service department.  A few weeks later I received a parcel containing some replacement figures – these are the ones you see here.  No Spiderman unfortunately, but I got a few others as compensation.

The Dynamic Duo of Batman and Robin was pretty cool to have.  Strangely, Batman’s head was made out of soft rubber which was attached to his cape.  As a result, you could pop off Batman’s head if you so desired.  Also a bit bizarre, the Boy Wonder is actually taller than his pal!

The Joker was a nice figure, quite good facial detail.  I remember also owning Superman in this batch, but he’s long since disappeared.  And I think my sister had the Wonder Woman toy.

The final figure from this range is The Incredible Hulk.  Raging green and mean, he wears traditional purple pants and also has a good face sculpt.  However, Hulk’s left arm (not seen in the photo) fell off, and had to be reattached with glue.  Like I said, not very robust.

A couple of years later, Mego made further superhero action figures, in the Pocket Super Heroes line.  They were very similar to the earlier figures, but with straight legs rather than bent.  My only figure from this line is Lex Luthor.  Again Lex has a good (for the time) face sculpt – I’ve always thought there was a resemblance to Gene Hackman.

These Super Heroes were pretty cool figures that I loved.  A shame that they weren’t very durable, and that Spidey isn’t in my toy box any more.  Still, cool seventies toys that bring back loads of memories.

You can read more about this range of toys at Toymania here.