UofMUSCLE.com – M.U.S.C.L.E. Figures from Mattel

Color M.U.S.C.L.E. Poster
by Professor Terry

Color Poster

Flesh Poster

As mentioned in previous MMMM posts, I never had or even saw the M.U.S.C.L.E. poster as a child. As a new adult collector the M.U.S.C.L.E. poster was high on my list. I received a ratty flesh poster for free with a lot I bought and this still is blu-tacked to the wall in my garage.

What I really wanted was the color poster as I have a love of the colored figures over their flesh counterparts.

When I bought my color poster, I was quite excited to receive it, even though it’s not a perfect example. There are silver pen marks on the boxes as the previous owner must have used it as a checklist – which, of course, was it’s original purpose. Otherwise why have little stars in each box to check off the figures as you collect them?

However, it was upon further inspection that I noticed some very peculiar things about the color poster.

1. Figures #8 and #10 are both pictured as #10.
2. Figure #18 is pictured in Green, yet there is no Green #18.
3. Figure #47 is pictured in Light Blue, yet there is no Light Blue #47.
4. Figure #86 is pictured in Light Blue, yet there is no Light Blue #86.
5. Figure #97 is pictured in Salmon, yet there is no Salmon #97.
6. Figure #114 is pictured in Salmon, yet there is no Salmon #114.
7. Figure #170 is pictured in Magenta, yet there is no Magenta #170.
8. Figure #176 is pictured in Magenta, yet there is no Magenta #176.
9. Figure #192 is pictured in Light Blue, yet there is no Light Blue #192.
10. Figure #203 is pictured in Orange yet, there is no Orange #203.
11. There are only two Class A figures on the poster Purple #1 and Purple #153.

What I find most interesting is that the two Class A figures shown are two of the most popular ones, in particular #153. Why have they chosen those two figures only? Is it a coincidence?

My thinking is although there are a lot of errors in the color figures, the fact that two of the most popular ones being shown in Purple isn’t a coincidence. My theory is that the two Purple figures were actually released in the USA at first and then possibly pulled in to be re-released with the other figures that were released in Canada. This would explain them showing up somewhat regularly in comparison to others. There are no mistakes with the Purple colored figures on the poster either which supports this theory.

The majority of the color figures on the poster are also Purple, Red, and Dark Blue, the first three colors released. This makes sense seeing the vast majority of the figures on the poster are still Flesh and the company introduced the first three colors mixed in with Flesh ones. It also says to me that the fact there are no errors with any of those colors means the poster was produced in between the original three colors and the other colors being released. This explains the number of mistakes with the coloring of the later released figures.

Lastly, the error containing figure #8 being pictured as figure #10 is only on the colored poster, not the flesh one. So the color poster must have been redone? A bit unusual, I always assumed that the Flesh figures were just colored in a photoshop type move to save costs.

So owning the color poster has probably left more questions than answers.