A plastic bubble and a cardboard backing from 1975 are suddenly the hottest thing in vintage toys. A graded Mego Green Goblin, the villain from Spider-Man’s rogues gallery, is climbing toward a price no Mego action figure has ever reached.

Auction house Hakes estimated it would finish between $30k and $50k. Bidding has already hit $90,000, with weeks still to go, according to a report from ComicBook.com.

Already Past The Old World Record, With Two More Weeks Left On The Clock

The figure is one of just two graded samples of the Green Goblin’s first-ever action figure on this 1975 cardback. The only other graded example sold through Hakes in 2022 for $76,700, which was the highest price ever paid for a Mego action figure.

The current bid has already beaten that by nearly $15,000. With just over two weeks left when the report was written, the figure looks set to become the first Mego action figure to sell for more than $100k.

“Nearly One Of A Kind”: Why Packaging And Condition Drive The Frenzy

Two things are fueling the bidding war: the packaging and the condition. Mego figures are seldom graded, and many Mego collectors care less about grading than other vintage toy fans do.

Still, supply is tiny compared with demand. There are usually only a single-digit number of graded samples of rare figures, and this Green Goblin is one of them.

The Green Goblin was issued on a plastic bubble and cardback only once, in 1975, before being discontinued. Most Green Goblins are found in a cardboard “window box” instead.

Carded Green Goblins are among the rarest items in Mego’s entire “World’s Greatest Super-Heroes” line, whatever their condition. The Action Figure Authority graded this one 80+ Near Mint, which takes it from “simply rare” to “nearly one of a kind.”

Mego Gave Kids Their First Super-Villains To Play With

The World’s Greatest Super-Heroes hit shelves in 1972, starting with DC heroes Batman, Robin, Superman and Aquaman. Marvel characters joined in 1973, with Spider-Man and Captain America leading the way alongside public domain hero Tarzan.

Mego was the first company to put articulated super-villains on shelves. Kids got the Joker, the Penguin, the Riddler and Catwoman, plus Mister Mxyzptlk, who is widely regarded as the weirdest pick in the line, and two Spider-Man foes, the Green Goblin and the Lizard.

Eight-Inch Bodies And Cloth Outfits Changed How Toys Were Made

Mego’s trick was a standard eight-inch body with cloth outfits. That cut costs and let the company offer a bigger cast of characters, and the low tooling costs let it gamble on licenses.

Sometimes the bet paid off in a big way, as with Star Trek. Sometimes it fizzled, as with the Wizard of Oz line. The super-heroes were a defining success, adding more than a dozen new characters between 1974 and 1977.

The Green Goblin and the Lizard debuted in 1975, the same year as Iron Man, the Hulk, the Falcon and Green Arrow. Like the Goblin, the carded Iron Man is a rarity, since he was only issued on a cardback in 1975.

Conan, Isis And A Flash-Shaped Hole In The Line

The 1976 additions were the most unusual. Instead of more Justice League members or Marvel villains, Mego chose Conan the Barbarian and Isis the Invincible. Conan was headlining one of Marvel’s best-selling comics, and Isis starred in her own Saturday morning series, The Secrets of Isis.

That show came before The Bionic Woman and Lynda Carter’s Wonder Woman, and was actually the first live-action female-led super-hero series. The Mighty Thor and the Fantastic Four also arrived that year.

The last new characters came in 1977 with the highly sought-after Teen Titans, including Wonder-Girl, Aqualad and Speedy. Oddly, a Kid Flash figure shipped even though Mego never made a Flash, which collectors call the biggest hole in the classic line. No new figures were issued after 1977, and the line ended in 1980.

Toys First, Collectibles Second

By modern standards, these figures are outmoded. The sculpts, the joints and the cloth outfits are products of their time, and design quirks like the “oven mitt” gloves on Batman are famous.

But the writer points out that none of that matters next to the warm memory of owning your very first Spider-Man or Superman. The figures were built to survive being dropped off shelves, dragged through dirt and carried around in a backpack.

Today’s collectors started out as those kids. The report says Mego revival lines still choose characters by “righting wrongs” of the original, and that explains why so many companies have tried to make a World’s Greatest Super-Heroes style Flash.

What This Means If You Have Old Toys In The Attic

A story like this sends plenty of people up to the attic. A few sensible points are worth keeping in mind before you start dreaming about six figures.

• Original packaging can matter as much as the toy. This Goblin’s value is tied to its bubble and cardback.
• Condition matters. Third-party grading, like the 80+ Near Mint grade here, helps buyers trust what they are bidding on.
• Estimates are only estimates. Hakes guessed $30k to $50k, and bidders had their own opinion.
• Look for the odd variations. Rarity often lives in details like a one-time card format.

The report sums up the feeling neatly: the warm childhood memories these figures bring back are worth six figures to at least a few collectors, even if most of us have to settle for a replica. With two weeks left, the Green Goblin may yet become a record-setter for 1975’s most wanted villain.

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