I love anything related to childhood M.U.S.C.L.E. stories. Recently we’ve learned about Jensen’s Christmas and Darren’s throwing game and I think those memories are priceless. Five years ago Professor Terry shared a great memory in MMMM #34.
His story reminds me of the early days of M.U.S.C.L.E. collecting. When I started we didn’t even know what figures were available. For better or worse, we’ve come such a long way as M.U.S.C.L.E. collectors. Maybe that’s why those simple, innocent memories feel so special to me.
This Quik update was the last Quik tube update. It’s kind of hard to believe we haven’t learned anything new in five years.
It also makes me a little sad that this is the last happy Quik tube story. The next time we saw a tube appear it was an unmitigated disaster.
With the distance of five years it is interesting to see these two topics next to each other. The Magenta #56 figure feels like the height of the M.U.S.C.L.E. collecting and the tube-bullshit feels like the rock-bottom of M.U.S.C.L.E. collecting. That’s quite a wide span of behavior. I wish it wasn’t quite so wide.
AW #149 is interesting to me because I really like the art of the Alien Wrestler. I also wonder what happened with the listing that disappeared. Did the seller quit or was a private offer made?
If I had to bet, then my money is on the seller quitting. I imagine they saw the other one sell for $41 and said, “I can’t lose money on this!” Which is still one of the funniest things I hear collectors say. If you paid a stupid price, then why do you assume someone else will pay a stupid price?
I think we see stupid selling behavior more often in M.U.S.C.L.E. collecting, than other hobbies, because the population is so small – combined with a low barrier to entry. M.U.S.C.L.E. figures can frequently be acquired cheaply. That allows dummies to buy a bunch of figures and think they will make some money. Unfortunately you can probably count on one hand, maybe two, the number of M.U.S.C.L.E. items worth trying to sell.
The Epilogue from five years ago was fun to reexamine. The bear gif, and his story, is still super cool. It also might be the last time I played with the 3D modeling program. I did end up printing one more figure, but he looked more like a Battle Beast.
Now my oldest has a 3D modeling class. That makes the five years feel like a long time. But if I think about Audrey II, then those 23 years don’t feel so long ago. Weird.
This SUS has had an unintentional theme. Highs and lows. Near and far. I guess it should also be brought to you by the letter “M” and the number “7.”
