105 replies to this topic

[Soupie]

Nice score. Nothing new as far as sculpts and color. The green looks a tad dark, but that's not unusual in pictures. The green is much lighter, and nicer, in hand. I'm going to guess that these are made of the hard- or medium-type plastic, probably the medium.

So far, the only ones I've found in the soft, rubbery material are the sculpts that were actually in the bubble on your card. (They also come in different colors, including flesh.) I just got a few loose ones from Theorgg. (You can see a picture some of them on Toypedia.)

SpasticPlastic had previously mentioned the existence of the soft, rubbery ones, but I hadn't seen any until I received Theorgg's.

I'm thinking that we're dealing with two different toy lines that were awkwardly thrown together. The soft, rubbery ones that aren't pictured on the MUSCLEMANIA card, and the medium/hard ones pictured on the card that we've yet to find carded.

It's almost like the soft, rubbery ones were leftover stock that they decided to lump in with the MUSCLEMANIA line. Although, the figures I got from Theorgg do have wrestling belts too.

Edit: All "my" thinking had already been done by Fitz earlier in this thread. Also, the rubbery figure that Spastik shared a picture of is actually one of the sculpts pictured on the back of Veer's card. So, maybe they are all the same MUSCLEMANIA toy line after all. :shrug: We'll just have to wait for more info.

Edited by Soupie, 18 May 2009 - 10:40 AM.

[TheOrgg]

How do the sizes compare, Soups? Also, I tried to look at the new addition to the MUSCLEMANIA page, but it wasn't on there, yet. Even refreshing didn't pop it up.

-TheOrgg

Oh, Soups-- should you mention that the very soft MUSCLEMANIA figures will 'bleed' onto other figures?

Edited by theorgg, 18 May 2009 - 12:23 PM.

[Soupie]

How do the sizes compare, Soups?

Well, none of the women I've been with have had a prob--, er, oh, the size of the figures. Yeah.

The image I was thinking of is actually on the Toypedia Flickr page. You can see they're the same scale.

http://www.flickr.co...239795/sizes/o/

Also, you can see one of the rubbery ones in a solo Figabulary entry here: http://minifigures.b...abulary_02.html

[Soupie]

Whether the change in plastic type was for cost-saving purposes or marketing purposes, I don't know, but it's not unprecedented. Diener Space Creatures can be found in at least three different plastic types as well: firm, soft, and rubbery. The rubbery ones, like the rubbery MUSCLEMANIA ones, were also marketed as erasers.

Also, I have actually not noticed a size difference between any sculpts, no matter the plastic type.

I believe Theorgg was asking if the rubbery MM figures he sent me were the same scale as the firm-plastic ones I had. They are.

[TheOrgg]

Correct. Looking at pictures of the non-stretchy ones, they look like they'd be smaller than the stretchy ones. Apparently not. The size alone makes these guys pretty cool, really.

[Soupie]

Anyways, it looks like Select was about one thing only - ripping off other toy companies.

By ripping off, do you mean stole their ideas or actually bootlegged the sculpts of other toy lines - like Exogini did to Kinnikuman and Ninja Mites? The reason I ask is because if the MUSCLEMANIA figures are bootlegs of a higher quality toy line, I'd love to know what it was.

[Nyarlathotep]

So I have been looking into Select from time to time, mainly because I think MUSCLEMANIA should have a part at UofM (but I don't know what). Anyways, it looks like Select was about one thing only - ripping off other toy companies.

Convertors

I even had some of these.

I never really thought Converters were ripoffs, just a lesser known brand behind Transformers and Gobots. They have a bunch of quite unique figures. The spies were some of my favorites. Yes, there was a robot bandwagon at the time, but it doesn't necessarily mean it was a ripoff.

It is true that here are also quite a few bootleg Converter copies out there as well.

[BaltanII]

I'm sure he means ideas, not actual sculpts. Some of the Convertors do share molds with figures that ended up being Transformers, but that's because those molds got licensed to more than one company, which included Hasbro (TFs) as well as Select.

[mrjayberry]

Whether the change in plastic type was for cost-saving purposes or marketing purposes, I don't know, but it's not unprecedented. Diener Space Creatures can be found in at least three different plastic types as well: firm, soft, and rubbery. The rubbery ones, like the rubbery MUSCLEMANIA ones, were also marketed as erasers.

Is there a possiblity that at least one of these types of plastic is for the vending machine market?

[NamaNiku]

Great write-up Veers!

[TOPHER]

DITTO

[Soupie]

Just bumping this interesting old thread.

[Aikola]

I was telling soupie the other day that 3 years after starting this thread I finally managed to score some of these, i got the really stretchy ones they are kind of strange and weird to hold unlike anything ive seen in a minifigure before, just got to track down a couple of harder ones now.

[fkro6784]

I had a bunch of the soft, stretchy versions of these as a really little kid. I'd guess I got them in the late 80s, I want to say Toys R Us. I think all of them have since melted, at least partially (just by being stored in a box, not left out in the sun or anything). Sometimes onto other figures, creating a big mess. Not a good material for durability. Most I had to throw away because they were melted beyond recognition. I am sure I still have a couple even though they're damaged. I'll take a pic later.

Edited by fkro6784, 20 March 2012 - 01:03 PM.

[bronchuseven]

I seem to recall that original Kinkeshi will melt as well, but only onto certain types of plastic.

[Ericnilla]

The kinkeshi won't melt, but it will melt plastics such as capsules.