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

Being a grown-up this week meant putting the site on hold.

Thankfully the view was better than a Detroit winter.

It’s a shame there was a temporary hold because a lot of M.U.S.C.L.E. stuff happened. I’ll write more about it next week, but I should hit the biggest headline right away.

HiWay Hauler for sale. Here’s the part that knocked me on my ass. I’m 99.9% sure it isn’t this guy.

I haven’t seen a M.U.S.C.L.E. Hauler since 2008 and now I’ve seen TWO in TWO months. If this was strictly a M.U.S.C.L.E. situation, then my Red-Flag-Flying-Scam-Alert would be going crazy. Make no mistake, the Hauler is a Hot Wheels item. This Hauler is going to end up in the hands of a Hot Wheels collector.

I can certainly be labeled as cheap because I don’t believe M.U.S.C.L.E. items are worth their price tags. I can own that. But I also can understand when certain items achieve a certain price. My agreement and understanding are two very different things. For example, last week I could understand listing this sealed game for $100 (it didn’t sell).

That’s why I don’t think that the $1,995.95 opening bid is too crazy. I think it’s even less crazy because I can imagine a Hot Wheels collector paying it. Hell, that’s what it last sold for in 2008.

I will be very curious to see this Hauler auction unfold. As of writing 33 people were watching the auction. I bet half of them are M.U.S.C.L.E. collectors – none of them looking to buy. My bet is there are 15 serious bidders who will all place their bid towards the end of the auction. But I can’t guess a price. The $9,995 BIN seems absurd, so bids can’t go that high.

It seems reasonable to guess that the final price will be around $5~6K, because of “safety bids.”

Honestly, the only thing that could shock me – the Hauler not selling. That would blow my mind.

Ok, one other thing. If Hot Wheels collectors were staying away from the auction because the entire community knew the seller was a piece of garbage. But that just seems crazy. How could something like that ever happen?

One final note, where are the words below the logo?

– Fuck this kind of seller. There’s no argument here. This is good for one person – the seller. Is there anything in the world that is positive when it is good for one person, but bad for everybody else?

I can’t think of one thing.

– When it can’t sell for $0.01, then it’s always a good call to raise it up to $0.15. Shrewd.
– How does one land on $68.85 as the opening bid?

– I like Purple Tortles.
– I like Errors. (Uh-oh, not a great voice trend.)
– Search the site for my feelings. I can’t keep repeating myself.

Serious question, are we starting to see the purge? I haven’t paid focused attention, but I’ve seen more and more of these types of auctions. And the more I see/notice; the more the price seems to be dropping. Am I wrong?

Are all the people that bought five sets finally trying to sell off the four they didn’t need? Am I wrong? I’m very curious how other people feel. I might be on my own island here.

I have to fight a feeling. It’s the feeling of shouting, “eBay is dead! Auction Watch and the Epilogue are a waste of time.!”

Arguably, Auction Watch and the Epilogue are a waste of time. Maybe I didn’t mean exactly that. I guess you could even argue aspects of eBay that have died or are in the midst of dying. Maybe I don’t know my feelings at all?

I do feel waves of frustration. I can’t imagine how most other people can stay with the M.U.S.C.L.E. hobby. I can acknowledge that I am a crazy M.U.S.C.L.E. minority. But how could anyone else stay with it?

I don’t think most can. I’m starting to think that most shouldn’t.

If I re-discovered M.U.S.C.L.E. collecting today, then I would have purchased five figures and quit.

That’s not true. I would have stuck with it. And there will always be people coming in and out. But I don’t want to repeat myself.

I want to try and end on a fun note. I’m wasting my time, and yours, if it isn’t fun. Here are two Instagram pictures I really liked this week.

[instagram url=https://instagram.com/p/BQGd0dtAFSX/ hidecaption=true width=320]

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

The mini-Necro has me very excited. I try and reserve judgment until I’m holding a figure, but that’s a great picture and showcases the figure spectacularly.

The Pink Ranger jersey is awesome too. I always tell my boys to like whatever they like; never worry about what other people think. I try and show them that too. We went to Disney World and I picked the pink bracelet. They asked why I picked the girl one. I asked them why it was a girl one. They couldn’t answer. I told them I liked it and picked the one I liked. They said, “Cool.”

It never came up again.

Sharing that story makes me think of another story kind-of like that. My buddy got married in Bozeman, Montana. Before the wedding we went to a local bar and I wore my Pink M.U.S.C.L.E. sweatshirt. I thought nothing of it.

We get to the bar and I can hear some guys scoffing at my “pink sweatshirt.” One of them says, like a total asshole, “Nice sweatshirt.”

Of course my response is, “You wish you could look this good in a pink sweatshirt.” He says nothing and nothing comes of it.

The next morning I’m feeling hungover as hell, but we’re laughing about the night before. I decide to recount how bad-ass I was responding to that guy. My Montana buddy just laughs, “Dude, he didn’t want to commit a hate crime when he beat your ass.”

I started to argue, but as I played the interaction back in my head – yeah, it came off super gay that night. I had walked into the bar with two lesbians, a very out-of-place pink sweatshirt, and a buddy who was too put together for a Bozeman dive bar. We were our own pride parade walking into that place.

But I did look good.