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

Auction Watch #170 is the perfect bridge from this week to five years ago. I wish I was clever enough to orchestrate this week and AW #170, but I’ll settle for being lucky. How does it “bridge?” Excellent question, let me explain.

We have the AOTW-centric first listing. That bridges nicely to the new polling for this week’s Epilogue (did you vote?). It’s amazing to me how many shitty plug-ins exist for a relatively basic idea – polling. I tried to find evidence that awful lot sold, but I couldn’t find any.

Second, the Nestle Quik listings. I think that bridges back to my thoughts about the sale. I distinctly remember this flood of Quik figures. I wish I would have documented the sale price of each one.

Finally, we have a Purple #153 listing. I think that bridges nicely to the Silver Boat Paint Project. I wanted to actually see how long it has been: about 4429 days (or over 12 years). I know it’s longer than that, because I wouldn’t have shared until the figure was in my hand.

I was going to mention the figure’s final price, but it looks like the story went sideways. And that brings me back to the recent Quik Tube. M.U.S.C.L.E. collectors need to talk and be open. The bad stuff only happens when there are secrets and hushed conversations. You won’t always like the truth, but there’s no hiding from it. (Well, that used to be true. Trump’s cult is doing its best to change that. [If you’re offended, then you don’t understand the difference between a Republican loyal to the republic and democracy and a legitimate cult member loyal to an individual.])

Normally updates to the virtual archives are new colors. It is kind of rare to add a brand new sculpt. This post featured two new sculpts.

Future Strength figures are fascinating to me. The figures are wonderfully ugly, mysterious, and fresh discoveries still happen. Or used to happen. I still love them.

There haven’t been any updates in years. I seriously wonder why? Did we discover everything? Did people stop caring about them?

Five years ago we entered the B Period. There was some grumbling and rumbling in the community, and I had a sampling plan to help eliminate them. Spoiler alert – I didn’t change it.

I’ve said in many places, in many different ways, but I’ll say it again. I’m glad I didn’t change it. The effort is not worth the payoff. The Class system is a fine tool. It’s a fine hammer. Trying to “better it” would probably just result in adding a flashlight and nail file.

The one positive, at least for me, when talking about the B’s was the gifs. I don’t know why they make me smile each time. It seems so silly to me. The Epilogue featured another one.

I think the bee gif was the best part of this Epilogue.

Well, that and the broken ring story. I had forgotten about that.

There is a small update too. They got bored with the ring before anything could be replaced. I think my boys’ reaction to the ring is probably what most kids did. That ring toy is momentarily fun.

It reminded me of their fascination with Escape from Jakku Playset. It was a huge hit at Christmas. For a short time, they couldn’t wait to get new ships to use in the game. Then it just stopped. No slow down; just total abandonment.

I can’t remember specifically when or how I put my M.U.S.C.L.E. figures down. That memory is gone. Seeing my boys abandon the ring and then the Jakku game makes me think kids were mostly the same way with M.U.S.C.L.E. overall. It was awesome. And then it wasn’t.

The SUS from five years ago was insanely short. So is the revisiting of it.

Finally, there was a MUSCLEMANIA update. I expected it to be the last one, but there are still a few more coming. The last one was in 2018. When will be our next MUSCLEMANIA update?