Showcase #11: 29th Anniversary 2008 DVD 418 Kinkeshi Reissue Set
This is what started it all for me!
By pure happenstance I was looking for a new anime to watch. I am a really big fan of Saint Seiya, Dragonball Z etc (older anime and not so much new stuff).
I have a weird fondness for watching anime in Japanese (with English subs if possible) and I bumped into Kinnikuman and remembered two things:
1-Watching Ultimate Muscle in my local Chicago affiliate (I am pretty sure it was channel 26 the U/WB). Being a huge Pro Wrestling fan and former wrestler it was a natural gravitation.
2-Watching Kinnikuman in Spanish when I visited relatives in Mexico as a child. So I thought: “Let’s give Kinnikuman a try!” I didn’t want to watch Ultimate Muscle but I wanted to watch the original source. I did my research and looked for DVDs online.
Before even knowing about LRG’s existence (wish I had before I bought the set) I naturally went the amazonjapan route. I found the entire series in Japanese but this particular listing I saw had figures (the reissue set). Which I would later find out where called Kinkeshi and that triggered another memory and that was MUSCLE!
I was born in 1985 so I missed the initial release but remembered my Dad buying me Muscles at a Woolworth in Chicago and Bootleg Ninja Mite 28 Packs at a Dollar General! So I just pulled the trigger and bought the DVD set with the figures (not knowing that it was part of a bigger set which included other cool stuff that unfortunately my set did not have).
For $300 bucks I thought it was a deal (in hindsight I probably could have gotten a better deal but I try not think about that Haha). I am a collector at heart (from comics, figures and movies) so once I started I jumped into the lake that is kinkeshi/kinnikuman!
As far as the reissue set: I think it’s obviously the cheapest route when it comes to having a full Japanese Kinkeshi set. What I love most about the reissue sets is what some dislike and that is that they are smaller in size. I find that practical for storage reasons!
Having them that size comes in handy when displaying them (for me its nail polish displays) and having mostly all of them fit in two shelves (standing them by themselves will not work without some kind of base). For display purposes it’s a great set and for some the only way to own and see the rare sculpts from Parts 20 to Parts 30. I like having them all crowded together and it reminds me of some of the pics I have seen online which show the entire collection in 1 picture from Japanese publications/ads.
For me Muscles go with Kinkeshi (color schemes/tone be damned! Not that picky). To me they are in the same family regardless of PVC and rubber (Of course not together! You don’t want your dudes melting!)
Eventually I want to display these better but for now two shelves will do! Now you can find the sets online without the extras or the DVD set etc for about $150 to $200 (with or without shipping). You might get lucky on yahoojapan and buy them for cheap in an auction no one is paying attention to for example. I
don’t get regret buying them as it lead me to collecting Kinnikuman/Muscle and it also makes me want to collect the original Kinkeshi even more.
At UofM, ProfessorTerry had a nice musing about the reissue set which can be found here: http://blog.uofmuscl...le-musings-101/
So if you bump into this set buy it! Be aware that sometimes when buying this set online (even if new) some figures end up missing from a set (due to negligence or just the seller not including it). So count those rascals!
I can imagine in a couple of years the full reissue set might become scarce. I know that the “CHINA” reissues don’t get the love the regular vintage kinkeshi do but I think had we not had that reissue set we would not be seeing the premium set volumes today (just a hunch/opinion).
So am all about supporting the product
Attached Files
Edited by kayfabe1985, 01 July 2017 - 12:19 AM.