I had to start digging.
The first thing I checked was Musclemania's manufacturer (or at least distributor) Select Merchandise, Inc. All I knew is that they were in New York. Surprisingly, it was kind of easy to find some information about them. I simply went to the New York Department of State website.
And found the following information:
Current Entity Name: SELECT MERCHANDISE, INC.
Initial DOS Filing Date: OCTOBER 26, 1982
County: NEW YORK
Jurisdiction: NEW YORK
Entity Type: DOMESTIC BUSINESS CORPORATION
Current Entity Status: ACTIVE
DOS Process (Address to which DOS will mail process if accepted on behalf of the entity)
SELECT MERCHANDISE, INC.
303 E. 57TH ST.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK, 10022
So, my next step was to try and contact the organization. I was unable to find any phone number, and this location did not have any listing of a Select Merchandise, Inc.
Based on the look of the building (thank you Goggle Maps) it doesn't look like manufacturing took place there. It was clearly their office. It's possible that Select is still "operating" but with a new name and/or this company/person receives the mail. I find this incredibly unlikely.
Seemingly hitting a dead-end I wanted to know what else Select had done. I felt that a better understanding of the company could shed a little light into their operating procedures. I was right.
It looks like Select was a bottom-of-the-barrel toy company. Aside from Musclemaina they also created a cheap He-Man knock-off Ninja Assassins (possibly Ninja Defenders too). It seems like they had a thing for Mattel. Just recently I was able to spot a carded figure on eBay. It went for $95, much more than I would have expected. This was the write-up:
NINJA ASSASSIN "WERE WOLF" SELECT MERCHANDISE. 1985
NIJA ASSASSIN "WERE WOLF" RAISE ARM THROWING ACTION USE LEVER IN BACK TO ACTIVATE.OTHER FEATURES. CARD BOTTOM TWO CORNERS ARE BENT.THERE IS A CREASE GOING TOWARDS THE TOP.PLASTIC BUBBLE HAS A FEW DENTS TOP ALSO LEFT CORNER . COLORS ON CARD ARE VERY RICH. YEAR 1985. SELECT MERCHANDISE INC. # 7500
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Most importantly, it had a decent picture of the back of the card. It looks like they hard a pretty standard format.
I also found out that they had produced several children's books, all of which can be found on Amazon for the price of shipping.
Of course, I had to buy one. Yes, it is an authentic Select item. And yes, it is a steaming pile of turd. I would say the audience is elementary school kids. I will try and get some scans up ASAP.
The one new piece of information I got from the book, was that it was printed in Korea. Perhaps all of Select's manufacturing was done there?
So that is what I found, but where does that leave me with that 1984 date?
Here's what I think. Select was a shizznitty knock-off toy company. They saw MUSCLE's success (and He-Man's) and wanted to rush their product to the shelves. By putting the 1984 copyright maybe they thought they could say they were inspired from the Japanese Kinnikuman, instead of clearly ripping-off Mattel. No matter what, I feel confident that these figures do not pre-date MUSCLE's.
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