New info on the meanings of the enigmatic Y/S N.T. trademark:

Date: Sun, 23 Aug 1998 15:22:17 -0500
From: claymore@gte.net
To: t.r.drage@(my old address)
Subject: "Cryptic Signs"

If you're wondering about the "cryptic writing" on the back of the MUSCLE figures, that's the copyright info for the series Kinnikuman.
Y=Yudetamago, the author of the manga (all 50 or so volumes of it)
S=Shueisha, the publishing company of the manga (and other ones like Fist of the North Star
N=NTV, the network the cartoon was broadcast on
T=Toei, the animation company that did the cartoon Kinnikuman (and Fist of the North Star, Saint Seiya, etc.)

Hope this helps!!

Sincerely,

Ian Cranston

New thing

From: Mike Hadder mhad@doubled.com
Subject: Nestle's Quick M.U.S.C.L.E.!!!!!
I recently found some odd information about M.U.S.C.L.E. on the back of an old He-Man magazine! It seems that in the mid-eighties, every box of Nestle's Quick powder mix, (the powder that you add to milk to make chocolate milk), had a M.U.S.C.L.E. avaliable inside. The add shows drawings of a few M.U.S.C.L.E., (all of whom are real M.U.S.C.L.E. characters), and a cool picture of Muscleman clobbering Terri-Bull. There was also an actual photo of the bicycle chain lock guy. He looked to be a real M.U.S.C.L.E., so it's doubtful that these were the rubbery M.U.S.C.L.E. imposters. Especially since He-Man and M.U.S.C.L.E. were both made by Mattel. Pretty strange, huh?

New ponderings: It has been deduced that many of the 'rare' M.U.S.C.L.E. not on the poster are actually figures only released in Japan! Here are some pictures of 4 of these, as well as a Japanese 28-pack, kindly provided by Halco 60

New info from Jimmy Hadder:

Hello, my name is Jimmy Hadder. My uncle and I have been M.U.S.C.L.E. enthusiasts for about eight years. Your website is a fantastic tribute to the hours of joy these little freaks can bring. In it, you had a question concerning the names of all of the 28 pack sets. There were four 28 packs released in the U.S.A. They each had different names and had different colored background stars behing the picture of Muscleman on the front. I own all four of these sets, so I can confirm this information:

Set #1-Thug Busters Set (green background star)
Set #2-Cosmic Crunchers Set (red background star)
Set #3-Mighty Maulers Set (purple background star)
Set #4-Cosmic Showdown Set (Yellow background star)

Also, the 28 pack boxes containing all pink M.U.S.C.L.E. showed the picture of Muscleman on the front of the box with no emblem on his head. It also had an offer for the mail-in poster printed on the back. The 28 pack boxes containg all colored M.U.S.C.L.E. showed Muscleman with a Japanese symbol on his head, and the back of the package had no poster offer.

I may also have some information concerning your questions about the symbols carved in their backs. On the front of The M.U.S.C.L.E. Mega-Match Game, there is some copyright information along the bottom. In this writing are the words; copyright Toei/Yudetamago 1983 -and- copyright Mattel, Inc 1986. While this may not be exactly what the symbols mean, it's as good a place as any to start looking.

Exclusive!! M.U.S.C.L.E. bring good luck!!:

Date: Fri, 06 Feb 1998 13:05:15 -0500
From: Stephen Nagrabski
To: t.r.drage@(my old address)
Subject: MUSCLE

Hi,

I have a M.U.S.C.L.E. man, one that looks like a cat man. He's been hanging above my rearview mirror in my car for over 10 years. He's been with my thru 3 cars. I consider him my good luck car charm. I Think I would be lost if he would ever get lost. Funny how you can get attached to little things like that.

Stephen

This just in! Exciting(?) news on the number of M.U.S.C.L.E which were available! The eagle-eyed Brant Snell has deduced that there were actually at least 237 different figures! I think:

"you will see that the Muscleman (the one pictured in cartoon form on the back of the packages, with the ridges on his chest and both fists outstretched) is indeed on the poster"....."For years I assumed that that was the Muscleman who came with the ring---well, lo and behold I have this Terri-Bull who does NOT show up on my poster anywhere!! (The one included with the ring---both fists outstretched). There is one very close to him that IS on the poster, with both hands down, palms open--very confusing--but not THAT one!!
So I wonder, WHY is Muscleman on there but NOT Terri-bull???? If you have both, compare them---the Muscleman that came with the ring is much larger!!! Basically, he is the same sculpt, but bulked up!! A different M.U.S.C.L.E. entirely!!!!!!"....."Go to: Kazzy's MUSCLE page" ....."Notice the light bulb M.U.S.C.L.E, it's not anywhere on the poster either!!!!
also......I was cross checking my M.U.S.C.L.E.S, and found ANOTHER one that's not on the poster!!!! It's a guy with four arms, a face on his stomach, a spiked helmet, and two small wings. In his Lower right arm, he's holding a sword and in his upper left arm he's holding a shield. Also in his back there is a small hole."

See?

• I know nothing about the orange one except that he's an odd shade of orange.
• The light bulb man is definitely a character from the manga.
• The bloke with the 4 arms is, as can be seen from the manga, actually composed of two wrestlers, the head of one penetrating the other's stomach and forming a sort of centaur effect, hence the four arms and the face in his body. The general consencus is that there is a hind part to this figure which plugs into the hole in his back, but we have yet to discover physical evidence of this.

M.U.S.C.L.E could be purchased in the following quantities:

• Individually, loose. (Although I never saw them being sold this way; it may have been a myth. It was common knowledge at my school however, as if someone lost or broke* one, they would have to pay the price of an individual figure, which was, if I remember rightly**, 24p)
  I have recently recieved reports that individual M.U.S.C.L.E were to be found in bubblegum machines in the USA, and, even more astoundingly, news of bootleg M.U.S.C.L.E in more recent machines!
• Four-packs, in a blister pack.
• Ten-packs, in a cool plastic rubbish bin which was almost transparent, but not quite enough to see exactly which figures were within prior to purchase. (I have read of these bins being glow-in-the-dark, but I don't recall this being true. They looked like they should glow though!)
• In boxes of 28. There were four of these, each comprising a set of figures not found in the other packs. Each of these had a name; #3 was the "Mighty Maulers", another was called 'Cosmic Showdown', and can be seen at Universe 777, (as can a ten-pack). Anyone remember the name of any others?

One of the many perplexing features of M.U.S.C.L.E was that each and every one carried upon it's back this cryptic symbol:

The colours in which M.U.S.C.L.E were released towards the end of their existance were: dark blue, light blue, red, magenta, orange, bright orange, purple, green. You can see examples of these creatures of many colours on Patrick's page. Patrick has found some weird light purple figures too which we now know to be from the board game, and I had a pale orange one.
There is a mysterious rumour of transparent M.U.S.C.L.E.; blue and green ones have been spotted!
The bootleg M.U.S.C.L.E found in bubblegum machines are apparently a lighter than normal pink, while other fakes are a variety of different colours.

Some M.U.S.C.L.E-related artifacts which were avaliable included; a board game, a wrestling ring with joystick controls (I always wanted one of these), a kind of belt thing for carring the figures around in, and a Nintendo Entertainment System game. There is also a big Japanese Kinikuman figure, with movable arms and a cloak.
Pictures of the different M.U.S.C.L.E. packs and toys can be found here on Darrin's site.

The TV advert was pretty spectacular because it showed you all the figures en masse. The kids in the ad held huge handfuls of M.U.S.C.L.E, and we envied them. I remember having some pointess argument about something ridiculous like if it was physically possible to hold so many M.U.S.C.L.E in one hand. Bizzare.
If you know of any archive of 80's ads, or something like that, where this, and indeed any other ads which may have existed, could be found, or if you some how have the ad on video and could send me a copy, frames grabbed from it or a digitised movie of it, please email me!!

At the same time as M.U.S.C.L.E were around, an equivalent for girls, named C.U.T.I.E.S (Coolest Ultra Tiny Individuals on Earth - Thanks Patrick!) were sold. All I know about these was that, obsessed as my friends and I were with obtaining anything remotely M.U.S.C.L.E related, we were too embarrased to buy any C.U.T.I.E.S. Please let me know if you can remember anything at all about them, coz I can't. These people can, however:

The mysterious ZAPGUN sez:
I saw a box full of CUTIE four packs at a dollar store two years ago (this box usually held the MUSCLE four packs). If I remember correctly, they were a bunch of neon colored teenaged girls dressed up as cheerleaders, whereing rollerskates, etc. I think that they were taller than MUSCLE.

Here's what fount of wisdom Thomas Wilson has to say on the subject:
The girl MUSCLES (CUTIES) came in many colors, just like the later MUSCLE men. There were purple, red, orange, etc. I never saw any pink ones. That probably would have ruined it for us guys because we were all precariously ignoring the fact that they were pink for so long (I always thought of them as bubblegum colored).

More facts and fictions when I think of them. If you have any trivial info on M.U.S.C.L.E (I would be suprised if you had any which wasn't trivial actually), please email me. I've put about a million mailto links in this site, and I'm not about to add another, so find my address yourself!

 
Ok, ok; it's tim@spiteyourface.com

 
*They were nigh on impossible to break except deliberately. Breakages I remember include:

• A girl at school biting the hand off one of my figures, a thin, skull-faced creature. (The M.U.S.C.L.E, not the girl)
• My friend melting a hole in one of his with a magnifying glass.
• Various injuries created upon the unfortunate things, including biro black eyes, red paint blood, and some nasty gashes created with a sharp impliment.
• A M.U.S.C.L.E my sister found once in a car park, who had been slightly squashed by being run over. (This figure was a curious, not entirely practical mix of human and pair of pliers)

**I don't.

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