In Search of Mego Batgirl in a pre-eBay world

By Jill Katz
May 16, 2016

When I was 3 years old, I was a cute and quiet little redhead, growing up in the suburbs of Philadelphia. Some of my earliest memories from then involve watching TV with my older brother Michael, especially reruns of The Monkees, The Banana Splits, and Adam West's Batman show in particular. Actually, my strongest memory was of Yvonne Craig's Batgirl, and her red hair. Besides my father's mother, whom I met only a couple of times that I can recall at that age, I never saw anyone else with red hair. Not in real life, and definitely not on TV. So, being a 3-year-old girl, I assumed that when I grew up, I was going to be Batgirl. (I guess I didn't understand that brunette Barbara Gordon was putting on a red wig to become Batgirl).

Around this time, Michael started getting Mego superhero dolls, and I would get all the superheroines. We had all the good guys (no bad guys), DC and Marvel alike. But by far my favorite was Batgirl. We would play for hours with those dolls. One day, my brother's jerky friends from up the street decided to take my Mego Batgirl and completely break her apart. My mom replaced her with a second one, which the hooligans decided to break again. On my third try with my Batgirl doll, I managed to keep her until I was nine or so. Granted, she was wearing Supergirl's costume, and her utility belt, gloves, and boots were long gone, but she was still my favorite.

Then came that horrible day. While playing with our superhero toys, my brother decided to use Batgirl's hard plastic removable cowl as a helmet, and jammed her head first into our 12-inch Wonder Woman doll. And with that battering ram attack, my last Batgirl broke her neck.

Since Megos were no longer sold regularly, it finally came to a mad hunt for a new Mego Batgirl. We went to every Kiddie City, every Kay-Bee Toys, every Best / Bosco, every single place that once sold Megos. We even drove 45 minutes away and crossed the bridge into New Jersey to visit Heroes World in the Cherry Hill Mall, where you could find any kind of superhero goodness. It was there that we were told that Mego no longer made new toys (although I did pick up a Mr. Fantastic and Invisible Girl doll from their waning supply). My mom even went through back issues of our comics and wrote directly to the Mego company. Alas, no luck.

Every single time I was in a comic shop, toy store, or department store with a toy section, I would always look for my Mego Batgirl.

Then, my senior year of college at Temple University, while interning for Philadelphia's NBC affiliate, I managed to talk my boss into doing a piece on turning old toys into profit. We went to a bunch of different stores that I had researched for the piece, with no sign of my Batgirl. It had now been 13 years since I last had her, but I never stopped looking. Then, in an attempt to throw Comic Investments (our weekly comic book shop stop) some publicity, we shot some footage in the store to show how they traded old video games.

I, having done all my work already, got to looking through some magazines. It was the first time I had ever really looked through their magazine rack. Sure, I was up to my ears in Starlog magazines and basically anything Star Wars, but I had never noticed they had a toy pricing guide. Now keep in mind, this was way before eBay, in the spring of 1995. So I went through the whole magazine as the camera crew set up and shot the segment.

Somehow the Gods must have been smiling on me that day, because there in the back of the toy guide, under advertisements, someone was selling a mint, loose Batgirl for $125! (Yes, I still remember the cost. Besides my dogs, no other purchase had ever made me happier). A few weeks later, she arrived exactly described, in all her minty glory. She even had her utility purse still attached to be utility belt! (That was one of the things I learned always happened over the years: the purse was almost always broken off). And I had purposely chosen the loose doll because I know I would have torn open any packaging to curve her curled hair around my finger one more time like I did as a toddler. And there was something that brought me back to age 3 at the smell and feel of the doll. (Don't worry, I didn't chew on her boots this time).

You know, a wise man once told me about how some cultures believe that inanimate objects can be believed to have a spirit. Maybe Mego Batgirl's spirit called to me through the years. Maybe I felt I owed it to her for being so special to me at such a young age. Maybe I was a tad obsessed with my childhood. But I'd like to think that I made a connection to Yvonne Craig's and my hair color (which unfortunately for me had darkened to a deep auburn through the years), moved on to the doll, then on to comics with her in them, and even got to the point where, after dumping my first (and most horrible!) boyfriend, I walked into the salon the next day and asked my stylist to give me “Batgirl red” hair. Not the same color as the Mego mind you, but Yvonne's wig. A color I have kept up with for the last 19 years. And if those roots grow in too long, showing way too much brown, I don't feel like myself anymore, and have to get to the salon ASAP! I now identify as a redhead thanks to my persistent fascination with Batgirl.

I also pack a small pouch in my purse with just about everything one would need for any emergency (MY utility purse?). I have been known to say I have a "semi-photographic memory," which helped me through school, and brings back very distinct times throughout my life in such detail I feel I'm there. (Batgirl is said to have a photographic memory).

So here we are, more than 20 years later, and my Mego Batgirl is still in mint condition (although her cape has faded some), and in a sealed acrylic case on my display shelf. And sitting on the shelf next to her in his own individual case, is her boyfriend Robin. I was "shipping" them as a couple 20 years before shipping was a thing. But that's a story for another day ....