Captain Kirk Star Trek Mego

Everyone remembers Captain Kirk and his adventures in outer space on the spaceship Enterprise. His popularity is reflected in the Mego Captain Kirk Star Trek Action Figure. Mego produced the Star Trek series in 1974 just as a new wave of Star Trek popularity was starting up. The Mego Star Trek figures are 8″ figures and was the first Mego series to be available only on cards and not in boxes.  Originally it was comprised of five figures – Kirk, Spock, Scotty, Bones and a Klingon.  Later Uhura was added.  Above is the earlier, and rarer, 5 face version of the card before Uhura was introduced.

Here is the 5 face card back.

Below you can see the later 6 face version that does include Uhura.

The Captain Kirk Star Trek action figures are not too rare, but you will need to do your homework if you want to get one that is original. If he is in the original blister, never opened, and the card is unpunched, he will fetch a higher price. A price of $100 to $600 dollars will get one of these action figure toys into your collection.

Take a closer look at the Mego Captain Kirk Star Trek action figure and you’ll find they are not all the same. He was the most popular of the Star Trek heroes so he got the most attention from Mego. Some of the variations in the figures are minor but still visible. The head of Captain Kirk had three different looks to him. The first and rarest is with lighter skin and slightly pink lips. Later versions left out the painting on the lips. The last and third version gave Captain Kirk darker skin. The third version is the most common one. He came with a real cloth uniform, but sometimes the tunic was a darker yellow. The lighter yellow tunics came later. The tunic came with a black border and the rank of Captain Kirk on the sleeves. The rank is done in a gold foil and is usually 3 bands though a 1 band variation exists as well. Black pants and black boots rounded out the uniform. The boots were part of the male body mold and could not be removed. A black utility belt, blue phaser and blue communicator were standard accessories for the Kirk figure.

Above we have the standard Kirk with 3 gold bands on his uniform. He also has the standard phaser and communicator.

Original packing was in a carded blister pack, most commonly with the six faces of Captain Kirk’s comrades. If the card has a completely white backing, the figure inside is likely of inferior construction as it was a later issue for Sears that came out in 1979 and is known for having weak hinge pins. You’ll find many of those figures with broken legs.  Not a good thing for Captain Kirk to have when when he’s on some distant planet fraternizing with the resident beautiful alien women.

The Star Trek figures, including Captain Kirk came in Type 1 and Type 2 bodies. Type 1 had metal rivets for hinges and were not particularly appealing. Type 2 used plastic hinges and a more muscular sculpt that looked more human and definitely made the figures more pleasing to the eye.

The Mego Captain Kirk Star Trek action figures are the easiest to find along with Klingons and Mister Spock. In the 1974 models, it is easy to find him without the bubble pack he originally came in or “loose”. A set of three loose figures can be found for less than $70 on ebay. That is for the Captain Kirk, Spock and a Klingon together. Mego also made a “Telescreen Console” that acted as a video game that the children could play with. Captain Kirk would be the one “playing” the game. It had a five inch screen with realistic Star Trek sounds. Collectors will find a Mego Captain Kirk toy a decent investment if he mint, unopened and preferably with unpunched card.

Interestingly the Mego Star Trek figures were once fairly rare and commanded a high price.  Then a large wherehouse discovery was made in the mid 80’s and hundreds of “new” figures were found.  This, of course, caused an immediate downward spiral in prices that have only recently started to recover.  With prices still reasonable this is a great set to start collecting. It’s fairly easy to put together the crew and the associated variations.  Captain Kirk, of course, would be the first to acquire.