The Worst MUSCLE mini figures from Super7

Super7 has been releasing a lot of new, officially licensed MUSCLE figures lately. Last time we covered their Alien MUSCLE. This post will spotlight another new set based on an original concept called The Worst. Despite their name, they just might be the "best" Super7 MUSCLE figures yet (har har...).

According to Super 7:

There are good guys. There are bad guys. And then there are…“The Worst”! Created in 2016 as a standalone toy line, “The Worst” began with Super7 looking back historically at their favorite franchises and finding that the best (or worst) characters in any given series were usually the villains. With that in mind, “The Worst” grew into an all new line of characters that were the best of the worst...

Before being given the MUSCLE treatment, these baddies were produced as the retro-styled action figures Super7 is probably best known for. I don't collect that style of figure, but when I saw these unleashed in MUSCLE form I could not resist.
 

So far, The Worst MUSCLE have only been released at San Diego Comic Con 2017 in special blue and green color 3-packs, including the purrty light green color seen here. The remaining SDCC stock was sold on the Super7 website (and pretty quickly sold out) after the convention. I assume there will be standard releases in other colors, such as the usual MUSCLE flesh color, but to my knowledge no details have been provided yet.

There are six different characters in this debut set:

-- Black Falcon

-- Snake Tut

-- X-2

-- Batula

-- Gas Phantom

-- Robot Reaper

I think my favorite is maybe Robot Reaper. Or Snake Tut. Or Black Falcon. Gah...I can't pick! I like them all.

I am very impressed by the sculpts on these. They are really, really well done. And to add to their coolness, each figure comes with a removable weapon! You don't see mini figures with removable weapons too often. This feature is well-executed, too -- each character's weapon fits well in its hand. 

I hope that The Worst MUSCLE are a hit so that additional series and characters can be produced. I love the idea of a toy line consisting of only original bad guys. The bad guys are always the coolest anyway, right?

What about you? Do you plan on picking up any The Worst MUSCLE?

Alien MUSCLE mini figures from Super7

In 2015, Super7 brought back official MUSCLE mini figures, only with Masters of the Universe characters instead of Kinnikuman. Since then, the company has been steadily giving other franchises the MUSCLE treatment, including the one you see here -- Alien! Being such a beloved franchise for over 35 years, it's safe to say several people were waiting a long time for proper Alien mini figures and must wait no more.

Super7 debuted Alien MUSCLEs in late 2016, in the classic MUSCLE "flesh" color, which you can see (and purchase) here. Since I'm not as big of an Alien fan as some, I decided to wait until the figures were released in a color I found more interesting. That brings us to the figures you see here, in a translucent "blood red" color, released earlier this summer at San Diego Comic Con. While they may not show detail as well as plain ol' flesh, clear red Alien minis were just too magnificent of a thing to pass up.

To add to the appeal, the set of 12 SDCC figures comes in a classic MUSCLE trash can, in white plastic with an awesome embossed lid featuring an Alien Chestburster. I believe the blood red set is the only variety to have been released so far in this way instead of in standard blister packaging.

The 12 characters in the Series 1 set include: Alien, Attack Alien, Ripley, Ash, Alien Egg, Parker, Kane in Spacesuit, Kane with Facehugger, Kane with Chestburster, Brett, Lambert and Dallas. Of course, the coolest figures are the Aliens themselves. All of the figures are very well done, but human minis are just never gonna be as cool as monster minis.

Here's the set in all its glory:

At the time of writing this, the Super7 store still has some Blood Red sets available, in addition to other Alien MUSCLE goodies including Series 2 figures featuring characters from the second film.

Being only a casual Alien fan, I'm not sure how far I'm going to dive into this line. That said, I certainly wouldn't mind having an army of mini Aliens in various colors!

What about you? Have you picked up any Alien MUSCLE?

Mini M.U.S.C.L.E. charms

One of the coolest things I ever remember getting out of a toy vending machine were mini, rubber, translucent colored charms of M.U.S.C.L.E./Kinnikuman figures. The top photo above shows a few that I got in the late-'80s out of a machine in a bowling alley. They originally had little loops for hanging on the tops of their heads, but I tore them off as a kid. My favorite is the coral-colored mini Iwao. I have a memory of seeing a clear blue one in the machine too, but it was at the top and I only got to spend a few quarters so sadly I never managed to get it.

Fast forward more than a decade later, and while browsing eBay I find more of the same type of charms, except glow in the dark and with more characters (as shown in the second and third photos). I was lucky enough to win the auction, and these little guys have held a place in my collection ever since.  I count 10 different sculpts, but I wonder if there were additional characters turned into mini charm form.

Has anyone else ever come across these?

Hand monster keshi unite!

I came to the realization the other day that I own four different hand monster mini figures. Four different hand monsters! I think it's pretty awesome that at least that many hand monster mini figures exist, so I of course wanted to get a pic of all of them together. From left to right in the photo above are Mas Mano, one of three characters in the 2012 set of custom rubber figures called H.A.C.K.: OtherWorld Aliens, Handla, the first hand monster from the Japanese keshi line Neclos/Necros Fortress, Sunigator Shotai (a.k.a. the Claw), one of the most popular characters from Mattel's 1980s M.U.S.C.L.E line, and Handla-Left, the second hand monster from Neclos Fortress. They're all pretty great, but I think it's safe to say Sunigator Shotai will forever reign the king of all hand monsters, no?

Can you think of any other hand monster keshi?

Ornery oranges

There are a lot of moments in my life where I just stop what I'm doing and say to myself, "Damn, I'm a huge geek." One such moment came during the process of taking the above photo, during which I spent way too much time picking out, arranging and shooting a group of orange toys. I had so much fun taking a pic of a bunch of green mini figures together that I wanted to do the same for other colors, starting with orange. See? Huge geek. But if being a toy geek is wrong, I don't wanna be right. Now to figure out which color to do next...

Here are the toy lines featured in this photo: Dragons N Monsters, MUSCLE, Mini Boglins, vending machine knockoff of Marty Toy space creature, Diener Space Creatures, Garbage Pail Kids Cheap Toys, Necros Fortress, Freakies, party favor monster, Space Ace, mini vending machine kaiju, Monster in My Pocket

Kinnikuman kinkeshi

Bibinba, Okamaras, Queen Kinniku, Chienowa Man

What: I've been collecting M.U.S.C.L.E. figures for as long as I can remember, but it wasn't until a few months ago that I finally got a few figures from the Japanese Kinnikuman toy line from which the American figures originated. Many of the Japanese Kinnikuman figures, known as "kinkeshi" (which combines Kinnikuman with "keshi," the Japanese term for little rubber figures), were turned into M.U.S.C.L.E.s, but there were also a bunch that weren't carried over to the Western line. The strange assortment of characters above shows a few of those. There were actually some female characters in the Japanese line--see the red Bibinba and green Queen Kinniku above for a couple examples. And oh, a gay, cross-dressing monster named Okamaras (hmm, I am sure it was a completely unplanned that Mattel decided not to carry him over to the American line...). Another thing to note about these is that the material is much softer and more eraser-like than that of M.U.S.C.L.E.s.

When: According to this Kinnikuman Wiki, the kinkeshi line was launched in 1983 (two years before M.U.S.C.L.E. toys came out).

Where: Japan

Who: Released by Bandai

Ultimate Muscle

Comparison with Mattel M.U.S.C.L.E. figure

What: In the early '00s, Bandai brought M.U.S.C.L.E./Kinnikuman back to the North American market in the form of Ultimate Muscle. The line consisted of newly-sculpted Kinnikuman characters as a tie-in with the manga/anime series Ultimate Muscle: The Kinnikuman Legacy, with figures released in a variety of colors including red, yellow, blue, gold, silver and translucent blue and red (some painted figures were also released). One thing that stands out about these is that certain figures were sculpted so that you could pose them as if they were actually wrestling. At the time these figures came out I was not collecting many toys, but I remember coming across them at the store and not being able to resist picking some up. Even so, I could never get too heavily into this line for some reason. But being the mini figure hoarder that I am, I am glad I have at least a few in my collection!

When: 2002-2003

Where: U.S., Canada

Who: Released by Bandai

M.U.S.C.L.E.: The green gang

My favorite color of M.U.S.C.L.E. figures has always been neon green. No matter what other color it's next to, it always makes for the most eye-catching figure on the shelf; green M.U.S.C.L.E.s almost look like they could be glow-in-the-dark even though they aren't. I recently added green versions of some of my favorite sculpts in the line to my collection and had to get a shot of them all together. Interesting thing to note: The Planet Man figure (third from the right) seems to be a factory error, with his head tilted to the side in a way that makes him appear a bit wonky and drunk!

For more M.U.S.C.L.E.s, check out the original post I did on the line.

M.U.S.C.L.E.

Kinnikuman, Buffaloman

Sunigator Shotai ("The Claw")

Cubeman, Mito, Ashuraman, Puyo Puyo, Planet Man

Sunshine

Watchman, Personalman, Mr. VTR

What: Arguably the king of all mini figure lines, MUSCLE ("Millions of Unusual Small Creatures Lurking Everywhere") included a large selection of strange "intergalactic wrestlers" popular during the mid-to-late 1980s. Using 236 different sculpts from the Japanese line of "Kinkeshi" (eraser-like mini figures based on a manga and anime series called "Kinnikuman"), MUSCLE was brought to the U.S. market in a harder plastic material that initially came in a flesh color and later included eight additional colors: red, light blue, dark blue, neon green, neon orange, salmon, purple, and magenta. The figures ranged from monsters to robot-like creatures to various types of humanoid characters. MUSCLE were sold a few different ways: in 28-packs, semi-clear plastic "garbage can" 10-packs and carded 4-packs.

When: 1985-1988

Where: Sold in the U.S. at toy stores, department stores, although all of the MUSCLE sculpts originated in Japan as Kinkeshi

Who: Released by Mattel