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

Dyed M.U.S.C.L.E. figures have been occupying some of my M.U.S.C.L.E. time. (I’ll finally be sharing it next week.) As I sat down to write this SUS I wondered, “Has the topic come up very often on the site?”

The first figure that came to my mind is the Green #63. Because Marty Hansen was selling the figure it was very quickly considered authentic. Even I quickly jumped on-board.

By the time I did the write-up for this website, I was less convinced. I went back into the depths of LRG and found that Marty and sold the figure to Alex Forbes (arforbes) for around $500.

Marty was a motivated seller. Alex has a long history of lying. Not the most supportive “evidence.”

In the same, private, thread it was suggested that Marty and Alex used to bid up each others auction to avoid paying the Reserve Fee on eBay. I don’t know that to be 100% true, but it certainly doesn’t seem too outlandish given the other behavior we have seen from Alex in the 10 years since that was posted. I also trust the person that shared that information. But, who knows?

Not a huge story in 2020, but relevant to the Green #63 validity argument.

After the Green #63, there wasn’t another dyed figure that jumped into my mind. I had to dig into the site. The first one that I discovered came from Auction Watch #50 – which also mentioned a painted figure from AW #17.

Thankfully the fake Purple #153 figure didn’t sell.

AW #17 was very interesting to see again. It features two sellers and both were banned from LittleRubberGuys.com. I had forgotten about the $5000 price tag for the Mysterious Partner. That seems even more ludicrous today. Did anybody buy that figure? Did I just uncover another Alex lie?

The “Magenta” #153 figure is pretty laughable too. It just looks shitty; so poorly painted. I went back to LRG to see what I could find about the listing. The part that made my brain melt was Marty defending the seller of the Magenta #153.

I. Swear. To. God. This. Was. Not. Intentional.

What are the chances these stories would find a way to intersect? Your answer is probably directly tied to your level of cynicism.

I’m pretty cynical. I’m not very surprised.

AW #131 didn’t exactly have dyed figures, but it was interesting to see again. It had two stained Class A figures. The figures sold for $22. Have we seen a stained Class A figure since then?

AW #133 isn’t an intentionally dyed figure. The figure is clearly stained.

That didn’t stop the seller from trying to sell it as an error. M.U.S.C.L.E. collectors were not fooled. The figure didn’t sell.

However, the final auction screen shows that the figure was relisted. I went to the seller, yardsale2000, to see is it was still listed – or sold. I couldn’t find anything.

I did see that the seller is still wed to $39.99 price tags for M.U.S.C.L.E. figures.

Finally, there is the…Purple Claw?

This mess of a figure showed up in an Epilogue from 2018. I seriously can’t believe the seller had the audacity to pass this Flesh figure off as Purple. It doesn’t even look Purple. The figure looks filthy.

I think it is VERY interesting that he linked to Alex Forbes’ “website.” Out of all the M.U.S.C.L.E. resources in the world, that happened to be the one he picked. If that is a coincidence, that it might be the strangest one ever. Like, in the history of human existence.

The other thing that made me laugh from the Epilogue was the “Don’t Know” game. That was a fun game.

I am also more certain than ever that the use of “rare” is the mark of a smarmy salesman. You can write that shit is stone. Is that too “agro?”

Thanks to the Epilogue I also discovered Auction Watch #128, but I don’t want to write anymore. Just re-read the link. 😉