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

Kinnikuman Zebra (M.U.S.C.L.E. Figure #85)
by Professor Terry

Taking the pictures for this weeks MMMM, it was pretty apparent that I have a nearly identical collection of Kinnikuman Zebra as I do Kinnikuman Soldier. I have only noticed this now as I don’t keep these figures all together, they are scattered about the display cases.

Now looking more closely at the figures there are some subtle differences.

I don’t have a Kinnikuman Zebra Class A – funny enough have owned both the Red and Salmon figures, at one point, but have just moved them on even though I quite like the sculpt. I do have a 1991 Amethyst figure of Kinnikuman Zebra instead, which is actually a bit more difficult to locate than a Class A, I haven’t seen a Kinnikuman Soldier one yet.

I don’t have the other Romando variant, which is a white and black version instead of grey and black. Certainly a more difficult version to find.

I don’t have a custom painted Kinnikuman Zebra, maybe one day I’ll do it.

I don’t have a bootleg thumb wrestler of the Kinnikuman Zebra; not sure it even exists.

I don’t have the little flag that goes with the Kinnikuman Zebra SD Kinkeshi, but let’s face it, that’s clutching at straws.

All of those “don’t’s” outline the beauty of collecting the Japanese versions of figures. No two figure collections are exactly the same or it takes a huge amount of dedication (and money) to have two figures with exactly the same variations in a single collection.

To me the most interesting note in regards to the Kinnikuman Zebra figure is just how similar the M.U.S.C.L.E. sculpt is to the 1991 Kinkeshi sculpt. The figures are practically identical. Take a close look at the pic of them side by side. They are not at the doppelganger stage like the VTR sculpt (which I have to look real hard to spot the difference) but these two are much closer than any other 1991 Kinkeshi and their M.U.S.C.L.E. counterpart.

Lastly, this figure of the Five Fated Princes is the most unusual to me, I guess having African decent means he’s a Zebra, but then in thinking about the other four Fated Princes, the Zebra isn’t that weird at all as you’ll find out in next weeks MMMM.