M.U.S.C.L.E. (Millions of Unusual Small Creatures Lurking Everywhere)
From 1985 to 1988, Mattel released about 236 2 inch PVC wrestling figures in the US derived from a Japanese line called Kinkeshi. Kinkeshi were based on a manga and anime called Kinnikuman.
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As shown below, the main hero is Muscleman. He leads the Thug Busters. The bad guy is Terri Bull, leader of the Cosmic Crunchers !!
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I had no idea until now that the rest of the figures in the line all have names too ! (Thanks Nathan's M.U.S.C.L.E. Blog)
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I had piles of these guys back in the day ! Only the pink ones though, I didn't know about the other colors til I acquired these guys recently. I actually used to wrestle them against each other. Wrestling Mania was full upon me back then. I could take any figure and create matches with them. These guys were perfect for it ! The memories of scanning each pack to find the "cool" looking one that had a good wrestling pose that I could use in a match ! The best part was I could always afford a pack or two cause they were cheap enough !
Upon researching these little pink gems I have found all kinds of nostalgia, mostly seeing a lot of the ones I had as a kid. Looks like I'll be starting a bit of a M.U.S.C.L.E. collection now !
For me they are a great childhood memory....Left in the past though. Glad ya got em!
ReplyDeleteThanks ! They are a cool memory.
DeleteI had a mess of these too back in the day. My favorites of these are Sunshine and the Claw/Hand one.
ReplyDeleteThere's quite a few of these guys, and some rare ones too. It was fun looking for the ones I used to have, and I had a lot !
DeleteOh crap I remember those. I never had a lot of them maybe at least four. But ya those were totally cool dude.
ReplyDeleteThey're one of those little things that everyone had, but not everyone found a good use for em :)
DeleteThe fact that they established those two characters (Muscleman,Terri-Bull)as respective leaders made these more collectible imo.I always wanted a Terri-Bull as a kid but never found one.It was still fun as heck shaking the package/trash can around to see if he was in there :)
ReplyDeleteI remember having to pass on some cool looking ones cause they were packed with ones I already had :) then remembering to search for them at other stores. I guess it made em instantly collectible and tradable because of the doubles too.
ReplyDeleteAHHHH the memories :)Those were some great times!
Deleteits nice that we can relive them doing these blogs !
DeleteLove this! Brings back some great memories of setting them up in my room. My brother and I had tons of plastic tubs full of these.
ReplyDeleteThanks ! These little guys were something you could get tons of and still have fun !
DeleteMan, I had a nice collection but, after finding out about the series Kinnikuman that MUSCLE was used for and got a while new love for the characters and learned about how deadly some of the villians were. Also what real wrestlers some of the guys were based on and the other fact that A LOT were fan creations.
ReplyDeleteThe Claw, shoe, alligator in sneakers were all the same guy. Warsman was the all around bad ass. So many people he killed in the ring. Teacup man getting the worst. He punched a hole in him and then popped his head off and drank from it.
Yes, I thought it was cool the some of the figures were based on Funk, Rhodes and Abdulla. I noticed there are many variations on the same guy but it didnt discourage me, I used em anyway.
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