#2 - Warped Arms

If you have M.U.S.C.L.E. figures with factory errors or damage, please email a short explanation and pictures to the University of M.U.S.C.L.E..

Tyler's Collection

Memories are funny things. The passage of time can cause them to change or even be completely forgotten. There are some memories that don’t fade. They act as tent poles to the story of our life. These memories are called “flashbulb memories.” They are vivid and can seem like they happened only moments ago. For Tyler Larkins finding a #153 figure as a child is a flashbulb memory.

“As a kid, I collected them to play with them. It became an obsession to find the claw that my brother and I saw on the commercial. I still remember the day vividly when I was looking through the blurred packaging of all the flesh 10 packs at the ZCMI toy store. I finally found one with a claw at the bottom and screamed out loud – one of the most vivid memories of my childhood! I think my mom bought the thing for me just so I would shut up.”

Tyler was mesmerized by the number of M.U.S.C.L.E. figures as wells as the wonderful variety of figures. His love of WWF wrestling only increased his infatuation with the intergalactic wrestlers. However, Tyler was not alone in his love of M.U.S.C.L.E. figures. He remembers the figures permeating the entire neighborhood. Even today when Tyler looks at some figures he will get a rush of memories about specific childhood friends and their various sandboxes or basements.

As a child, the experience of trading M.U.S.C.L.E. figures is often a central part. Because Tyler’s neighborhood was completely infiltrated by M.U.S.C.L.E. figures he vividly remembers the trading with other kids. One particular instance was especially noteworthy:

“When the color versions were released, my brother and I had a makeshift yard sale to unload all of our flesh figures to raise money to buy the new colorful ones. Most of the neighborhood kids had no idea about the exciting, blue, green and red MUSCLEs awaiting them in stores, and I remember thinking that we were really pulling one over on everyone. How times change! Today, the flesh versions are by far my favorite, and I regret selling those first ones.”

With Glass Case

“I was floored that each of those little pink guys actually had names!”

Glass Case

“Over the past few years, I have gravitated more towards only picking up a new figure or item if it looks good and fits well into my existing collection. I have never felt compelled to collect all 233/236 MUSCLE, because I am not crazy about all the figures. I have quite a few MUSCLE and Kinkeshi hidden away in a box under the stairs because displaying all of them does not appeal to me.”

With such a diverse collection it might be hard for some collectors to select one piece of their collection which they love above all others. Tyler is not like other collectors in that regard. He knows exactly which piece is his favorite part of his collection.

“I have MIB Flesh 28 packs that I picked up from Plastic Dreams in NJ back in 1998. They were case fresh, and I only opened them once to verify once and for all the correct numbering of which figures were included in the 28 pack sets. That information was sent to Nathan way back when, and has been used ever since on his site.”

28-Packs

Tyler’s collection may grow, contract, and almost continually change but there are some constant aspects to it. The first is that Tyler is very particular about his figures. Broken and/or dirty figures have no place in his collection. Especially frustrating to him are figures with writing on them or figures that have been damaged by a child biting on them.

Because his collection has a certain fluidity to it Tyler has a rather interesting approach to tracking his collection. He simply takes a picture of his collection every time he adds a new piece. While he sometimes has a box or two hidden away, the pictures are actually quite easy for him to take. His collection resides on two seven foot display shelves, and a glass display case.

Tyler’s collection may be well organized, but it does not preclude him from injecting M.U.S.C.L.E. into other aspects of his life. He has M.U.S.C.L.E. figures in his office and a figure hanging from his rear view mirror. These few additional figures provide him a wonderful connection to anyone that feels some connection to M.U.S.C.L.E. figures.

“I am reminded on a daily basis that I am part of the community. It amazes me how many times people come up to me at work, and say, ‘hey, I remember those guys!’ I find it a great segue to bring others back into the community. I say ‘back,’ because I think for the most part, all current MUSCLE collectors were also once collectors back in the 80s.

Kinnikuman

Thanks to Kinnikuman, M.U.S.C.L.E. will never fade away from Tyler’s consciousness. However he sees some things being necessary to keeping M.U.S.C.L.E. alive for other collectors.

“I would like to see more of what you [the University of M.U.S.C.L.E.] are doing – reaching out to others, making them feel welcome and giving them a chance to be a noted part of the community. I also like the idea of people sharing finds and resources.”

“While I love all the other MUSCLE sites out there, UoM, makes me think and remember like no other site can. MUSCLE is what started it all for me.”

Tyler is certainly a devoted and experienced M.U.S.C.L.E. collector. With such a focused and disciplined collection it is not surprising that his advice to other collectors is succinct, “Collect what makes you happy.”

Tyler’s suggested LRG websites:

- Kaikodo.net
- Mandarake.co.jp

The entire M.U.S.C.L.E. community thanks Tyler for sharing his story!

If you would like to be a featured collector, please complete a questionnaire and provide photojournalistic pictures of your collection. Again, the focus of the pictures are not to solely highlight M.U.S.C.L.E. pieces, but rather how those pieces actually exist within the collector’s life. If you: (1) have any questions about the questionnaire or pictures; or (2) would like to submit your questionnaire and pictures, please email the University of M.U.S.C.L.E..

Sociology 300 Questionnaire (Word Version) – Click to Download
Sociology 300 Questionnaire (.txt version) – Right Click and Save

Left Angle

Right Angle

Top Shelf - Left

Top Shelf - Middle

Top Shelf - Right

Bottom Shelf - Left

Bottom Shelf - Middle 1

Bottom Shelf - Middle 2

Bottom Shelf - Middle 3

Bottom Shelf - Right

Normally a loose belt with a few Flesh figures does not demand any special recognition. However, in the world of M.U.S.C.L.E. minutia, this auction is quite noteworthy.

The seller of this auction has taken several clear and highly detailed pictures of the belt. Two things immediately stood out because of the quality of the pictures: (1) the belt appears to be silver instead of gold; and (2) the back of the belt buckle is different.

The seller has been asked about the color of the belt, but has not yet responded with an answer.

The second, and indisputable, feature of this auction is the back of the belt buckle. The University of M.U.S.C.L.E. documented an example with the number two above the “© TOEI/YUDETAMAGO 1985.” However the back of the belt buckle in the auction has a number one above the “© TOEI/YUDETAMAGO 1985.”

This level of minutia is hopefully interesting to M.U.S.C.L.E. collectors, but very unlikely to influence bidding – without more data. It would be helpful for M.U.S.C.L.E. collectors to inspect their loose M.U.S.C.L.E. Battlin’ Belts. There could be equal numbers of “One” and “Two” belts floating around. It could delineate between the window-box belt and the solid-box belt. Or it could simply be a mark to identify the mold used for the belt.

There could be other collectors with silver belts. It is simply too soon to tell if the “Silver Belt” is a true variation or a singular anomaly likely due to too much camera flash and plastic deterioration.

If you have any corroborating pictures and information, please email the University of M.U.S.C.L.E..

It is also worth noting that there is a severely warped Terri-Bull (#2) figure. Knowing that it is being sold along with the belt might suggest it warped from being imprisoned within one of the figure cases. However, none of the other figures appear to have suffered any warping. This figure will be added to The M.U.S.C.L.E. “Warp.”

As for the auction, the final price will be $40.

Auction Screen Shot

Auction Picture

Auction Picture 2

Auction Picture 3

Auction Picture 4

Auction Picture 5

Auction Picture 6

Auction Picture 7

The following 12 drawings were created by Kevin Mayle and posted on the predecessor to LittleRubberGuys.com – the American Kinnikuman Information Archive (AKIA). It should be noted that the Nazi character is not a M.U.S.C.L.E. figure, but a Kinnikuman figure. It has been included in the grouping because the earlier days of M.U.S.C.L.E. fan art had limited contributors.

If you have any drawings, paintings, painted figures, or any other fan art that you would like featured, then please send them to the University of M.U.S.C.L.E. with a brief explanation of the pictures, plus the date (as close as possible) of its creation.

Invasion T-Shirt

MUSCLE Things shared his design at the website cheaptoyland.com.

The auction states:

The M.U.S.C.L.E. poster was a mail-away offer from Mattel. One could be ordered by sending two four pack proof of purchases or one 28-pack proof of purchase. This poster is extremely RARE and I have also laminated it to protect it. The poster is of A4 size and in Excellent condition. Any questions, please email me

The intention of the auction description is clearly to mislead buyers into believing that the featured “poster” is the “extremely RARE” poster that was a mail-away promotion. It appears that the seller hopes the bidder will skim over or misunderstand the A4 size of the poster. So, what is A4 paper?

A4 Paper is a standardized paper size established by the International Standards Organization. The paper dimensions are 210 x 297 mm. Throughout Europe and the world A4 is the close equivalent to U.S. letter size (8.5″ x 11″), but measuring 8.27 x 11.69 inches. (Source: Graytex.com)

This means that the seller is trying to sell a laminated piece of paper for a starting bid of nearly $23. Even if a buyer missed the subtle A4 note, there are two critical red flags that should also cause skepticism: (1) zero feedback; and (2) the picture isn’t the actual item.

Hopefully there are not any misunderstandings or impulse bids from M.U.S.C.L.E. collectors. As long as neither of those things happen this item will not sell.

Auction Screen Shot

Auction Picture

The more likely scenario is the former. It will be interesting to see if any feedback is left regarding this auction. It is also sad to see that another “poster” has been listed by the same seller.

Final Auction Screen

Winner: Ryan Schaeffer

The winner was selected by adding all of the participants to a list in Excel. Then each participant was assigned a random number and the list was sorted. This super-scientific method resulted in the winner being: Ryan Schaeffer.

The winner can contact the University of M.U.S.C.L.E. with shipping information, and the University of M.U.S.C.L.E. will also reach out to Ryan Schaeffer. If shipping information for the winner cannot be secured within 10 days, then the prize will go to the next person on the list.

Thank you again to all participants and congratulations again to Ryan Schaeffer.

This Wolf Voigt Custom #153
Belongs to Ryan Schaeffer

Wolf Voigt Custom #153 (Purple/Magenta)

The rules for this contest are quite simple:

1. The contest will end Friday July 23rd at 10AM EST.
2. You must “Like” the UofMUSCLE.com Facebook page.
3. You must become a “Friend” with Terri-Bull.
4. If you meet both of these requirements, then you’ll be entered into the drawing for the figure.

If there are any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact the University of M.U.S.C.L.E..

Please remember, the ultimate goal of the M.U.S.C.L.E. Figure Giveaway is to have fun.

This custom #153 has a special characteristic – it changes color due to hot water. This color change attribute works wonderfully. Below are some pictures that highlight the change, plus two videos demonstrating the actual change. The first video, on the left, shows the figure changing from Purple to Magenta. The second video, on the right, shows the figure changing from Magenta to Purple.

Now a third installment of the AF&SCP saga has been released by the creator of the original video, booginsroc:

- Video Posted by booginsroc

Two things are immediately obvious: (1) booginsroc has taken tremendous creative steps forward; and (2) the video is just too long.

Booginsroc’s creative growth is immediately noticeable as soon as the video starts. The landing of the spaceship is visually fun and interesting. The changing color could have been distracting, but it was used sparingly and it really worked for the specific scene.

There was also an excellent use of multiple “Muscleman” figures at around the four minute mark. By using several figures it really gave a strong break dancing look to the figure. Although that part was rather brief, it was probably the best part of the entire video.

It was also funny to see how many M.U.S.C.L.E. figures have flat heads. It was rather surprising how many different figures were able to be animated into head-spins because of their flat heads.

The only downside to the video was that it just felt too long. The six minutes and forty-two seconds felt much longer. In fact, it almost appeared as if three videos had been put together. It seemed like a second act started around 3:20, and then a third act around 4:37. Probably the greatest contributor to the length of the video was the repeated “in and out” of figures. Starting at about 1:20 individual M.U.S.C.L.E. figures start to walk in and out of the frame. Then two M.U.S.C.L.E. figures walk in and out of the frame. It started to feel like a showcase of figures, instead of a party.

It is fun and exciting to see the AF&SCP phenomenon grow and act as a source of inspiration. There will always be aspects of videos that can be improved or refined, but the important thing is that interesting M.U.S.C.L.E. videos are being made. And if they are being made, then hopefully M.U.S.C.L.E. collectors are having some much needed fun injected into their hobby.

The 800 pound gorilla in the room must also be addressed – will there be an AF&SCP Part 4?

The winner was selected by adding all of the participants to a list in Excel. Then each participant was assigned a random number and the list was sorted. This super-scientific method resulted in the winner being: zombiesandtoys.

The winner can contact the University of M.U.S.C.L.E. with shipping information, and the University of M.U.S.C.L.E. will also reach out to zombiesandtoys. If shipping information for the winner cannot be secured within 10 days, then the prize will go to the next person on the list.

Thank you again to all participants (mrbrianng, MissMorphine, tupa01, theorgg, clonewars123, Ericnilla, gilgar, and KissesForUsAll) and congratulations to zombiesandtoys.

This Custom #136 Luke Harris (l.designs) Figure Belongs to zombiesandtoys