ON LAND, AT SEA, IN THE AIR, FIGHTING YANK IS ALWAYS THERE…
The Fighting Yank (or MINTEX knock off, as it is often referred to by G.I. Joe and Action Man collectors) was the Mego Corp’s attempt to provide a cheaper version of Hasbro’s very successful G.I Joe.
Back in the 1960’s MEGO developed a 12″ action figure for a toy line based on America’s Quarterback “Joe Namath”. This new figure and the available outfits quickly became a success for the Mego Corporation. But they didn’t stop at this one figure because around the same time they also decided to jump on the GI Joe market.
They used the body style from the Namath figure, but produced a cheaper version with a hollow blown plastic body that twisted at the waist and legs with metal rivets at the knees and ankles with non-jointed arms that had a metal wire in them so they could bend.
The figures were sold in window boxes and came complete with uniform, weapon, accessories and of course a metal Dog Tag, they even had their own range of equipment packs and accessory cards that could be bought separately.
It is also worth pointing out that the Fighting Yank and Mintex were both made from the same moulds in Hong Kong as were the later Cherilea Figures that came with the vehicles
In the mid 1970’s Mego introduced three new versions of the Fighting Yank, they were The Baron, Yankee Bravo and The Hombre, these new figures came with a gold circular dog tag and a new range of outfits.
There was also a “Systems Control Headquarters” playset that came as a suitcase and opened up to show an Earth Science Lab, Control Centre and Supply Room
The heads changed over the years from the original G.I. Joe lookalike to their own “Flocked Head” fuzzy hair version, they even brought out a black version presumably to compete with Hasbro’s Tom Stone.
The release of Mego’s “Fighting Yank” became the centre of a Legal battle in 1966 when Hasbro the producers of GI Joe took Mego Corp. to court over alleged copyright infringement. read more here
The markings on the back of the earlier editions didn’t carry the Mego brand but were stamped “MINTEX” Made in Hong Kong, in fact it wasn’t until 1970 (well after their failed legal battle with Hasbro) that they started stamping their figures with “MEGO” MGMLXX Made in Hong Kong.
It was the same with the clothing tags, the earlier outfits simply had “Made in Hong Kong” on them while the later labels had “Mego Hong Kong” on them.
It is worth pointing out that there was actually two figures with the “Fighting Yank” name, as both Mego and Princess Grace Dolls (PGD) both came out with a Fighting Yank figure around the same time…
