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

M.U.S.C.L.E. Sticker Set

How did these go undocumented and unmentioned for 32 years?

Unfortunately, aside from the sticker, there is almost no additional information. Gregg said that he bought them from a Canadian seller. However that does not mean they were exclusive to Canada. The seller could have bought them from a US seller decades ago.

The original seller did not know the specific cereal the stickers originated from either.

There are a few pieces of data worth mentioning:

• The sticker has a 1987 copyright.
  • Releasing “color” stickers makes sense at this time. The Flesh figures have been replaced by Color figures. The Color figures were used as a low cost solution to inject some extended life into the M.U.S.C.L.E. brand. Stickers are another low cost option.
• 

  C.U.T.I.E. Sticker Set

  There are C.U.T.I.E. stickers too.
  • I don’t like the C.U.T.I.E. figures. But I can imagine Mattel wanted to promote both their “boy” and “girl” minifigures at the same time.
• Nestle Quik and General Mills were good partners.
  • Thanks to Gregg’s Photostream I was able to find a General Mills cereal box that included Nestle Quik. I believe they partnered again with Nesquik cereal. We all know M.U.S.C.L.E. partnered with Quik. It seems very plausible that Mattel would then partner with General Mills.
• General Mills liked stickers.
  • Again, thanks to Gregg’s Photostream I was able to find a General Mills cereal box that included stickers. Kenner released M.A.S.K.; I wish I had Mattel evidence. I was able to find some M.A.S.K. stickers from cereal. They look much nicer than the M.U.S.C.L.E. and C.U.T.I.E. stickers.

What does all of that mean?

I’m not sure. There are so few details. Finding additional details will not be easy, but now we know to start looking.

I think there is one final piece of data worth examining. I often talk about the various “rare” ephemera that exists within M.U.S.C.L.E. collecting. And I have often said that only a tiny niche, within the extra tiny nice of M.U.S.C.L.E. collecting, care about these items enough to buy them.

When Gregg sold these stickers, we saw evidence of this phenomenon. There were three bids, but all by the same bidder.

Final Sale Price