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

Have you ever run into someone that you haven’t seen in 20 years? It’s weird. It is even more bizarre when the person was, at best, a casual acquaintance. That’s how I feel as I start writing. I feel like I’m supposed to catch-up, but where do I start?

I’ll start with something I never quite knew where to put. Have you ever met a M.U.S.C.L.E. fan or collector in the wild? I haven’t.

I’ve met up with people who were fans of M.U.S.C.L.E., but it has never randomly happened. I don’t expect it to ever happen. There’s not a scenario I can imagine where M.U.S.C.L.E. figures would come up.

That’s why I love to hear about it happening. I treasure a great M.U.S.C.L.E. story more than any tangible M.U.S.C.L.E. item. The only thing I enjoy more is vintage pictures of M.U.S.C.L.E. toys.

This isn’t a vintage picture, but Bill Raeth shared a pretty cool M.U.S.C.L.E. story with me. Hopefully you like it too.

My wife is training a new guy for his job, and her office is where my collection is (my wife puts up with a lot obviously). Anyways, he saw my case, and told her that he had them as a kid. When I was able to talk to him he identified ones he remembered, and I shared the ones I remembered and liked too. He asked if there was a ring, and I showed him it. He then said his family must have made him his because he had a wooden one. I told him about the belt, magazines, rarer figures, tube, and nestle quik can.

I just thought it was neat to meet in person another person who remembered these.

I was amazed that someone else had a wooden ring from their childhood. What are the chances? It has to be pretty slim.

I do have to make one painful admission. I’m kind of hiding it here. I bought the special edition of Batman v Superman. I was hoping I showed up in one of the added scenes. I did not. I guess that ends Batman v Superman posts on the site.

As I’m getting ready to open eBay I feel like I’m bracing for impact. I saw a little bit because of Auction Watch, but I was allowed to ignore most things because I wanted to have a very narrow focus. Now I’m going to let it all in. What do I see when I look at eBay auctions?

Oh – wait. One odd little footnote about eBay. I got an email about this auction. Nothing special about it.

But the buyer said the seller was Alex Forbes. He was worried about him actually shipping the figures. I told him not to worry; that he’d get his stuff. He was worried that “arforbes” could bid up his own auctions. Yes. He could.

But I was more curious what stuff had been sold from this account. The Purple #3 auction jumped off the screen. Why bother playing dumb?

Why bother with the entire charade?

I would never have the energy for all of the silly games. I can’t imagine trying to deceive people for years and years.

I am far from perfect. I feel bad for the mistakes I’ve made in the past. I’ll make more, but I try to be a good person. I can only imagine actively trying to be a good person. The only way I can rationalize that behavior is when I use an utterly unflattering lens. I hope I’m wrong.

So, what else is happening on eBay?

– What a gem for only $2.99!
– This guy makes overpaying, and paying different prices, easy for buyers.
– In 2016 is it possible to have pictures (and a scan) this bad?
– I don’t like the BIN, but maybe a…$20 offer?
– This lot is “Awesine.”
– Don’t need these for my collection, but I love seeing them.
– “M.U.S.C.L.E. 5 Pack” I hate when people show off – especially with skills like counting.
– Shipping might be a little high, but I love a $0.99 starting bid.
– Who wants a lot this big? The seller should have broken it into lots of 100 figures.
– “Adult Owned” It’s an open 10-pack. What?
– As mixed lots go, this one isn’t too bad.
– Are people serious? I think these are people trying to be M.U.S.C.L.E. trolls.
– $65 for an incomplete belt and ruined box.
– Or $70 for a pretty nice sealed belt. (Ending Soon)
– These are my two least favorite customs ever. Way too violent for my M.U.S.C.L.E. taste.
– I know it will be time to officially leave the hobby when a Purple #208 doesn’t make me smile.
– I’ll be watching this out of morbid curiosity.
– This seems like an easy purchase. If you don’t buy it, then I might.
– 10% off. If you want to save 76 cents, then act fast.
– Ha. This one made me laugh. The shipping slayed me.

I wasn’t going to do Asshole of the Week. I saw lots of M.U.S.C.L.E. things on eBay that I didn’t like or didn’t agree with, but none of it felt worth calling a person an asshole. But then I saw this lot.

I was stunned. I let out a quiet, exacerbated huff. I literally could not believe he had a BIN of $575 for 113 Flesh figures. That’s $5.09 per figure. I don’t know what else to say. This lot has literally left me speechless.

Congratulations to our newest Asshole of the Week – malicediscounts.

The Epilogue used to have a Picture of the Week too. Instagram has made that feature largely irrelevant. With that said, sometimes I see something posted that I really, really like. The Picture of the Week is probably going away but I will share M.U.S.C.L.E.-centric Instagram pictures that I really like.

Here are the two I really liked this week:

[instagram url=https://instagram.com/p/BK6qHJqBPYX/ hidecaption=true width=320]

[instagram url=https://instagram.com/p/BKyEmxqAxq7/ hidecaption=true width=320]

One last note. I know I still owe a handful of packages to people. I haven’t forgotten. Feel free to hate me. It is justified. Please know that I’m trying.