The Mugato was a horned alien who carried poison in its fangs. He had a humanoid shape to his body and once attacked Captain Kirk. Luckily, Bones was there to zap him with a phaser. Mego made somewhat of a copy of the Mugato Star Trek alien for the children back in 1975. Even though the differences are easy to see from the television episode, this action figure has become a collectible.
A Mugato was more of a beast than a being with any type of culture. They were big with white hair and a row of external spines on their backs. The Mego rendition of the Mugato was with more of a human aspect. But since this Star Trek alien had to fit in with the rest of the aliens in the Mego series, his action figure was given red pants and a belt. The color of the horn on the action figure is red. In contrast, the color of the horn on the television character was off-white. But with the obvious differences in the Mugato from television and the Mego Mugato, they did an okay job.
The head of the Mego Mugato is an orange color with hair that is molded into the head, like a helmet. The orange-colored horn sticks out from the top and naturally attracts scuffs. It will be hard for a collector to find one without an abrasion on the top of the horn. The plastic body of the Mugato is created out of orange plastic. The orange hands of the figure are ape-like as are the orange feet. Curiously, the pants have hair coming out of the bottom of the legs, as if they are covering super-hairy legs. The wrists have the same design. The fabric of the Mugato action figure was originally created out of green material, but it is common to find the color has faded to yellow. On the front of the shirt is a large V-shaped symbol with a brown background and orange circles for decoration. Mego gave their Mugato a black belt, but it seems to leave a stain on the shirt of the toy. This problem is so common as to be accepted as a “permissible defect” in collector’s circles. For some reason the knees of this alien action figure broke easily, so finding a Mugato like this is also not a surprise. There was just one version of the Mego Mugato, so many of them had these same weaknesses.
For the collectors the 1975 Mego Mugato Star Trek alien is not hard to find on the major markets online. The presence of the “retro” models testify to the popularity and collectability of the originals from 1975. An original from 1975 will vary widely in price from around $400 up to $1200 if mint on card. Be sure to examine the card back and front. The front will have an alien landscape with a red and blue planet, the same as the other 1975 alien figures. The back will have an artist’s rendition of 14 total Starfleet and Star Trek alien figures with the face of a Mugato among them. Loose figures sell for $200 to $400 if complete.
