This week the trend in M.U.S.C.L.E. auctions looks to be quantity. Just look at the number of auctions with more than 60 figures.
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Of course, that doesn’t mean all of these are great auctions. There is a wide disparity between the prices, shipping, and condition of the figures – but there is no denying there are a lot of big auctions.
Weeks like this only serve to further mystify why some collectors feel an urgency to buy or complete their M.U.S.C.L.E. collection. It is the absolute minority of collectors that strive for a Master collection (every poster figure, in ever manufactured color). The vast majority stops at a Flesh set, or maybe a mixed Color set (one of each poster figure in any color but Flesh).
And for that majority there is simply an excessive amount of product available. There always has been.
#1 by Allsportdvd on August 16, 2012 - 6:55 pm
Unfortunately, I’m in the Majority looking to complete a Master Set (56 to go)
Another good article & very true, there is a glut of product there for those lloking for a flesh set or mixed color….
Has there ever been any questions around how many sets were released? In that I mean for example each flesh sculpt was produced 500,000 times, colored 300,000.
#2 by Chad Perry on August 16, 2012 - 9:10 pm
I’ve never been able to lock any hard numbers into place. However, based on some interviews from Archeology 200 it seems like the SKU’s could have been anywhere from 16,000 to 800,000.
There were four main SKU’s for M.U.S.C.L.E.: (1) 2637, a box of 72 four packs; (2) 2638, a box of 48 ten packs; (3) 2649. a box of 12 twenty-eight packs; and (4) 2749, the 144 four pack display box. So if a store ordered each piece, which is what Toys R Us used to do, then they would have 1680 figures in that store.
I also learned that there were about 1,198 Wal-Mart stores in 1987. That means if Wal-Mart used TRU’s ordering strategy, then each store would have, at least, 1680 figures from one order. Multiple that number by the 1198 stores and that gives you 2,012,640 figures. In two years, Wal-Mart alone could have housed almost 4 million figures.
Another way to look at the numbers is with Mattel’s standard SKU production. Even if Mattel produced the fewest figures possible (16,000 SKU’s of 2637) over two years, then you would have over 9 million figures (9,216,000). If Mattel simply ran their average of 200,000 SKU’s of 2637, then that would be almost 58 million figures. For two years of production, that would be 115 million figures.
Finally, if Mattel ran 800,000 SKU’s because MUSCLE was a low cost item, then there could have been 230 million figures made the first year alone. Maybe even half a billion figures over two years.
#3 by Titus on August 17, 2012 - 9:33 am
I really need to give in someday and order a large lot like these. I have boo idea what i have now.