53 replies to this topic

[imperfecz]

Alright so my brother and I had M.U.S.C.L.E.s as kids right? Well over the years I don't know what happened to mine so I've been building a collection since my re-kindled fascination. My brother still has a shoebox with his in it and guess what mint condition one he has?

Yup that's right!

 Purple_Claw.jpg   670.69K   23 downloads

Alright so my camera won't work with my computer right now so this is just a crappy scan (t-shirt backdrop)
Anyhow I told him he could get a pretty penny for this but I don't think reality sinks in too easy soooooooo.... I kinda stole it tonight to get this scan. PM me if you want to make him an offer and we can see if he wants to part with it. Just PM me if you really would buy it if he accepts an offer OK.

Don't know that he will sell it, but thought it would be nice if you guys could see that there's anothr out there. Oh yeah and it would've been purchased in either Phoenix AZ or Sacramento CA as we would've lived in one of those two areas at the time.

[NoBody]

Another one?!?!

Can we all agree this figure isn't rare, just incredibly desireable?

I'll agree, I presently have two.

[nicodemus]

Another one?!?!

Can we all agree this figure isn't rare, just incredibly desireable?

While not as easy to find as other figures...I agree that the 'rare' tag doesn't quite fit anymore.

It certainly doesn't deserve the hype (or price) it has been receiving over the past year+.

[jkaris]

I would still say it is "rare". Or at least, very hard to find.

Nothing on the level of a SR though (except for BHS and SHA, which should no longer be classified as "Super Rare")

[jkaris]

Don't know that he will sell it, but thought it would be nice if you guys could see that there's anothr out there. Oh yeah and it would've been purchased in either Phoenix AZ or Sacramento CA as we would've lived in one of those two areas at the time.

That rules out it being a Canada color.

[Soupie]

My brother still has a shoebox with his in it and guess what mint condition one he has?

Ha, that's really cool.

However, speaking as a collector (and not a kid), I'm not sure I'd want to have had a purple Claw, or, say, Satan Cross or SR figure in my childhood collection. When I first started collecting MUSCLEs again, finding and acquiring a Satan Cross figure was one of the most exciting milestones! (However, collecting for me has always been more about the "hunt" than the "trophy.")

Having a purple Claw, Satan Cross, or SR figure in your childhood collection is kind of like being Michael Jordan and never getting to see Jordan in the playoffs, or like being one of the Beatles and not getting to be a Beatles fan.

As to the classification of the purple Claw as rare or otherwise. When it comes to putting a price on "rare" figures, it's not always about availability. For instance, while I may not have a purple Claw, I have plenty of Claw MUSCLE figures. On the other hand, I have ZERO MUSCLE SHA and BHS figures. So, even though there are more BHS figures than purple Claws, I'd still (personally) prefer to have a MUSCLE SHA or BHS than a purple Claw (or other hard-to-find/rare colored MUSCLE).

Value is not determined by figure availability alone.

Edited by Soupie, 27 August 2008 - 11:57 AM.

[doc_moore_j]

I know DJNiku would be interested in this. Havent seen him on the board lately. Maybe drop him a PM or Email to let him know you have it.

[Scumdogg]

For some reason, this is the kind of thread that makes me REALLY wanna get my colored M.U.S.C.L.E. collection off the ground. I can't even remember the last new ones i got. Perhaps it's time to refocus my efforts.

[gilgar]

Another one?!?!

Can we all agree this figure isn't rare, just incredibly desireable?

I'll agree if I can have one for $5 or so

[THEGODBEAST]

How many have been spotted or that we KNOW are in existence? I would say if it is still under 12, it is still rare. Not super rare, but, rare none the less. HIGHLY DESIRABLE, you bet! Meatcutta might still be looking for one as well.

TGB

[doc_moore_j]

5 out of hundreds still seems pretty rare to me.

[Kevin Mayle]

With 10 plus years of a community scouring every MUSCLE auction that has ever been listed on Ebay, plus all the other avenues of tracking down these toys, only 5 of them turning up sounds pretty rare to me irregardless of what kind of percentages you try to attribute some online database.

[Jet-Mech]

I certainly don't put all of my stock in the MUSCLE Database...But I stick to the notion that the Purple Claw is not rare.

I would agree. The muscledb is useful to me for A) keeping track of what I, personally, own; seeing what other users own (and might be willing to sell ); and C) getting a very relative idea of the approximate rarity of a figure.

I've stated before that there are M.U.S.C.L.E. figures out there that, for whatever reason, we don't know about. Maybe someone gets enjoyment from having huge piles of figures that only they know about, maybe someone is trying to artificially inflate the value of certain figures, or maybe they've been sitting forgotten in a shoebox for 20 years. Just how many more of each figure remain to be discovered is a matter of debate.

[doc_moore_j]

Until Soupie created the color archive, the muscle DB was about the most reliable source in seeing which figures existed, but in many cases did not reveal how rare each figure was. There was manipulation, fraudulent entries, and errored entries, and incomplete entries (myself included there) scewing its accuracy and credibility. Like Jet-Mech its main purpose now days especially is to record and track your own personal collection, I wouldnt use it for anything else. Like Veers mentions, if you look at many of the other figures, several of them have only been recorded once, whereas the purple claw has a few, so it would appear if you used that, the purple claw is farily common and there are many other rarer colored figs out there, just nobody is interested in them, except a couple collectors.

[jkaris]

Hey, we used to think BHA and SHA were super rare.

[Scumdogg]

Hey, we used to think BHA and SHA were super rare.

I'd imagine that a Black Hole Ashuraman would be quite rare.

[imperfecz]

So I got a question on one of my ebay auctions today......

To: arforbes
From: l.designs
Item: Custom Mech Warrior Dropship Wargame War game terrain (330265951602)
Subject: Re: Question for item #330265951602 - Custom Mech Warrior Dropship Wargame War game terrain



Q: Hello, I saw you are selling a bunch of custom M.U.S.C.L.E. figures. The paint jobs are amazing! Unfortunately, I missed your auctions, will you be doing any more? Also, do you have any other muscle figures? Any multi colored Muscle figures? I am always looking for colors especially a claw in purple or magenta. Any chance you can send a pic of what you have for sale possibly? Thank you!

So should I refer him to this thread? Ignore it? Anybody got any good ideas here?
Anyhow just thought it was funny.... let me know if anyone has any good ideas on how to deal with this guy!
Thanks,
Luke

[Jet-Mech]

So I got a question on one of my ebay auctions today......

To: arforbes
From: l.designs
Item: Custom Mech Warrior Dropship Wargame War game terrain (330265951602)
Subject: Re: Question for item #330265951602 - Custom Mech Warrior Dropship Wargame War game terrain



Q: Hello, I saw you are selling a bunch of custom M.U.S.C.L.E. figures. The paint jobs are amazing! Unfortunately, I missed your auctions, will you be doing any more? Also, do you have any other muscle figures? Any multi colored Muscle figures? I am always looking for colors especially a claw in purple or magenta. Any chance you can send a pic of what you have for sale possibly? Thank you!

So should I refer him to this thread? Ignore it? Anybody got any good ideas here?
Anyhow just thought it was funny.... let me know if anyone has any good ideas on how to deal with this guy!
Thanks,
Luke

Were I in your shoes, I'd ignore him. And definitely don't let him know about the purple Claw.

I'm surprised he hasn't sold off his collection yet...

[lhssenior]

So I got a question on one of my ebay auctions today......

To: arforbes
From: l.designs
Item: Custom Mech Warrior Dropship Wargame War game terrain (330265951602)
Subject: Re: Question for item #330265951602 - Custom Mech Warrior Dropship Wargame War game terrain



Q: Hello, I saw you are selling a bunch of custom M.U.S.C.L.E. figures. The paint jobs are amazing! Unfortunately, I missed your auctions, will you be doing any more? Also, do you have any other muscle figures? Any multi colored Muscle figures? I am always looking for colors especially a claw in purple or magenta. Any chance you can send a pic of what you have for sale possibly? Thank you!

So should I refer him to this thread? Ignore it? Anybody got any good ideas here?
Anyhow just thought it was funny.... let me know if anyone has any good ideas on how to deal with this guy!
Thanks,
Luke

I'm confused... why is the question FROM you and TO him
-Barry

[jkaris]

He probably already SAW this thread and is fishing.....