Monday Morning M.U.S.C.L.E. Musings #137


In the last Epilogue I mentioned one of the joys of M.U.S.C.L.E. collecting is not having to worry about condition because the figures are indestructible. And that feeling largely carried over to packaged items too.

I never minded broken or damaged figures. I loved my broken Green #168 figure.

Green MUSCLE Figure 168

MUSCLE Wrestling Belt RingThat doesn’t mean I would refuse an upgrade when possible. I upgraded my Green #168 figure. But would I upgrade my window-box?

Maybe. There is a point of diminishing returns for me. There is some price-point that makes it pointless to upgrade. The frustration from overspending would overshadow the condition of the box.

But those are the easy realizations and thoughts that many collectors have. They might differ a bit from person to person, but most collectors have those basic feelings.

Here’s something that might be exclusive to M.U.S.C.L.E. collectors.

Dear God, I hope it’s not just me.

Does anybody else have a tough, almost-impossible, time throwing away M.U.S.C.L.E. scraps?

There is no confusion. I know I am looking at garbage that should be thrown away.

I was digging through a bag of figures and found these feet. They made me laugh initially; an absurd find. Then it was time to throw them away. I couldn’t. There was a little voice in my head that said, “Don’t. Those would be perfect for a custom.”

They might be – but I should know I’m never going to do it. Do you guys ever feel like this? Is there some M.U.S.C.L.E. thing that you should throwaway but can’t?

  1. #1 by Trashcandream on August 5, 2019 - 12:14 pm

    Absolutely! When I was a kid, our family dog had a habit of chewing up MUSCLE figures. Somehow she always knew to chew my favorites. I have long since replaced any damaged figures, but I still have some of the wrecked figures and their body parts in my box of figures and can’t bring myself to throw them away.

  2. #2 by Jensen Bohren on August 5, 2019 - 1:52 pm

    It’s comforting knowing the Mystery 033 is still floating around your house. 🙂

  3. #3 by Cloning007 on August 5, 2019 - 8:19 pm

    I have a box filled with damaged muscle men, i can’t get myself to get rid of. I sometimes send parts to bootlegera to make kit bash figures. Maybe one day I’ll make my own kitbash figure. But if anyone has any damaged figures they don’t want they can send them to me, then maybe I can pass them along to someone who can use them for a custom
    Figure.

  4. #4 by Walker26 on August 8, 2019 - 1:20 pm

    The Army officer who recommended to me to get a display case based on the poster found a few M.U.S.C.L.E. figures of his. One has marks on it. He sent them to me for free. They’re duking it out with the rest of my toys.

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