Vintage Mego: Planet of the Apes Treehouse 

Yeah that was the fun of Mego.

Wish we could see a picture !

I feel like a picture WAS taken but I’m not certain. If I ever come across one in an old album I will post it. Thanks for the comment!

Thanks!

perfect timing!

I am so making a Mego Doctor Z.

The various jail cells found in so many play sets of the era were a simple and easy play feature. You could catch and cage the bad guy. You could rescue your hero. Stage a jailbreak, etc. this was also a period that saw a huge revival of interest in that Universal Monster style horror properties among the boys toy demographic. So lots of dungeons and evil labs.

Thank you!

One of the things that pissed me off was ; WHY could they have not come out with these in 1972 at the height of Apes Movie Mania (between Escape and Conquest would have been PERFECT!). I would have been age appropriate. NO embarrassments from friends , neighbors, family. I wanted the treehouse and I got it that Christmas . Later my mom found the One Million B.C. cave set up on clearence and gifted it to me for Easter . During that year I transitioned to disaster movies (Towering Infreno , Earthquake , Airport 1975 were "the big 3") . I acted out all the disaster movies with the Apes , with the astronaut taking the lead in many of the starring roles. LOL .

When the "second wave" of Apes came out - I was totally over it.

I have a theory that the gift set was created to get rid of unsold inventory.

@@BrickMantooth That makes sense. I've only ever seen it at the discount store.

Aw, thank you, sir.

Heh, I was three when this came out, so I also just almost missed the apes.

My pleasure!

it's a solid way to explain that stuff.

@@BrickMantooth I had that kind of imagination! 😆👍 I even made up a reverse story that Cornelius & Zira had bullets removed on life support and stole the Icarus out of a museum, traveled back to The Planet of the Apes, and Prevented the atomic bomb, by pleading with Taylor, Nova is pregnant. This time had to hide Nova's baby because it will grow up to talk, being Taylor's baby & the twist is that it's Brent's baby!!!

Yeah I woke up this morning thinking I forgot to mention that troll version.

Yeah that would have been cool.

@@BrickMantooth With a name like that, she should have been teaming up with Action Jackson. Instead, she is bragging that she owns a beachball.

I can only imagine.

Oh you're welcome ;)

Mego did insert the inflatables into the house. The separate set is very rare.

I made a cardboard hall of Justice and Hall of Doom.

@@BrickMantooth haha! Great minds!

I think so!

@@BrickMantooth so much imagination. Just so you know I tried to order your books and magazine on Amazon and they won’t ship to the uk☹️

Yeah they didn't sell them in the UK sadly.

I wasn't aware.

If you are interested it is called "Also Sprach Zarathustra" by Richard Strauss. It makes anything sound important. lol

@@josephgioielli It was also used in 2001: A Space Odyssey, which opened with a scene with apes in it.

Ah ha maybe that's why they used that piece of music for the commercial. 🐵

Nah, the films just got knackered.

It's hard to say which sold better.

Yeah, gotta keep that on the DL.

Yeah the cartoon show came out in '75, so it wasn't an influence. Also, I was just thinking of Ba Ba Black Sheep a minute ago, it's really weird you mentioned it.

The wagon should fit the action stallion, that's what they did in the states. The horse was only sold in Canada and Mexico.

@@BrickMantooth you’re right, I just got it and the wagon is a little bigger than I thought it’d be. I don’t know how I’m going to fasten anything to the stallion because he’s got nothing back there but his tail, but he certainly is in scale.

I am not sure if Mego has much retailer interest in playsets but hope springs eternal.

I can't say that'll ever happen, the tooling alone would kill it.

@@BrickMantooth That’s a shame, I missed out on quite a lot of those play sets at the time and would love to own a few, my wallet would divorce me if I tried to buy them at eBay prices.

@@ajclements4627 the hardest part would actually be the printed vinyl wrapped panels. Most of the plastic in it is pretty simple, and could be easily managed by a 3d printer. The only real complex tooling would be things like the rope ladder, where the string is cast into the plastic. A hobbyist or garage kit maker could do the plastic parts easily. Heck if the new release Mego line is still doing well I could see them releasing a generic “Mego Action Treehouse” as a display setting for your figures.

@@andrewtaylor940 I wouldn’t even mind a few cosmetic changes, like the “rope ladder” being a diy sort of item, etc.

@@ajclements4627 as mentioned, it could be 3D printed, albeit the vinyl might have to be a thick cardstock or plastic and the ladder would possibly be easier to just print. if someone has the gear, no doubt a reasonable copy could be made. far more interesting would be to go outside and find some sticks to make the frame out of. the floor could be cardboard, the canopy some cloth. the bits and pieces you could DIY with any number of materials and tools you probably have laying around. if you have some shears that can cut plastic, you're halfway there. :) we should look at the stuff we throw away at home and at work then have the mindset of, 'can i chop that up and make something useful out of it?' no joke, that's how people start small businesses and begin new careers especially where toys and games are concerned.