The Curious Case of Street Sharks MUSCLE!

courtesy of @lazzytom on Instagram

Hello and welcome back, everyone, to the U&R blog!  Gee-jolly-damn, it's been a while, as it always seems to be, but raising you're own little one with his own toy tastes keeps me out of the loop everything not monster trucks and dinosaurs.  The occasional Street Shark catches my rare attention though, which is the topic of today.

It was a dark and stormy night or a completely ordinary summer afternoon, whichever sets the mood better for you, and the usual suspect of interesting instances, Instagram, lies in my hand, cycling through a roll of pictures at a breakneck pace.  Hell, with a single flick, I'll let it roll until the sun burns out or I see something without paint application, whichever comes first.  Then like some grotesque emperor, drunk off wine and beef, I press the most slightest thumbprint against the screen at the first sight of something remotely entertaining.  My patience is tested to the limit, but not really.  In all actuality, I stumble my thumb across what I assume was the release of Street Shark MUSCLE.  What a cool surprise, thought, while I sat a bit dumbfounded that I completely missed every announcement of this.  A shoulder shrug later and I'm looking for the details on where to buy.  Was it Super7 ?  Are they sold on their website perhaps or am I looking at some rare set released in limited supply from a convention?  Maybe Kickstarter rewards are finally reaching mailboxes.  Nope, none of that.  Despite Super7 really being the front-runner of keshi production nowadays, with dozes and dozens of sets from multiple franchises, all of which look identical to these Street Shark sets, this was not their work.

Ok, so who do I write this check out to then?

Ebay, apparently!

The blisters have the Mattel logo on the packing, as well as stamped on the figures, so it was actual for-reals Mattel MUSCLE product, but its world-wide summer blockbuster release found fans rushing to the toy isles of discount overstock stores.  I suppose with the death of Toys R Us, where does one have a store release outside the big blue store or the big red one?  But a slightly improved dollar store seems to be a rather strange pick for your premiere.  And you can imagine what this did to the secondary market.  For those who didn't have one of these particular stores in their town or perhaps weren't even randomly stocked with Street Shark MUSCLE in the ones they had, they no longer had an alternative webstore to empty their bank accounts on.  It's like the wild, wild, west had returned.  You know, back in the day, without computers and the Internet, where kids did their chores and went to bed, and didn't spend all day with their Hoola Hoops and skateboards.  But just as these ultra rare three pack sets were selling for a hundo' a-pop, that bubble a-pop, finding these same sets reasonably sold around a reasonable retail price. What even happened?

The quick answer to that currently is that no one knows for sure.  The sexier answer, however, is that smarter people than I have speculation why this happened.

EricNilla, independent keshi artist, member of the LittleRubberGuys forum, and unparalleled knower and collector of all things keshi, reached out to the founder of Super7 and this was his response.

From Brian Flynn of Super7:

"I don't know exactly, but I have theory based on conversations had with employees when we made the WWE MUSCLE. We talked about making Food Fighters into MUSCLE, and they had some scaled down figures that felt like MUSCLE figures. My guess is that much like us reviving MUSCLE, they tried to take a Mattel property and remake it in MUSCLE, as a test to see how people would react. Shortly thereafter, a management change happened, and the WWE project was essentially scrapped even though the figures were made, probably like the Street Sharks. Then they had inventory with no plan on how to sell it, since it was an old management project. So, you are seeing people slowly buy off the inventory from Mattel as big chains in test buys, which is what is happening now. Just a theory though."

Brian doesn't work for Mattel but his company Super7 has worked with Mattel, or at least, their licencing department for their MUSCLE products, so I have good feeling that, although what he is guessing happened isn't confirmed, things could have very well happened like this or similarly.  Business is strange and all, but liquidating assets is something companies do all the time.  A preliminary wave of keshi minifigures could have very well fallen victim to that.  One management team could have seen potential in keshi minifigures, and wanted to try their hand at what Super7 has been doing well for a few years now.  Then a following team has their eyes focused in a different direction and trashes their previous work to make space for their ideas.  If this was the case or something like it, Street Sharks MUSCLE is lucky to have made it out alive in any form, even in such a strange circumstance as this one.  Clearance rack be damned, they made it.  Although, I guess the same can't be said about future Mattel keshi products.

Who knows where they are or even if they are still being stocked, but the next time you're kicking a can down a discount store isle, duck into the toy isle, maybe you'll get lucky.  If not, there's always someone on Ebay, hoping their set still rakes them in three figures in clams.

Also, as a final-final note, check out Eric Nilla's work and website at the link below.  He's to thank for getting or sharing what little knowledge we have on this strange situation, and the plug is the least I can do for the wholesale copy-paste of his forum post.  Thank you, I'm sorry!

https://ericnilla.storenvy.com/

With No Future Plans, Moose Toys Cancels Grossery Gang!

When pressed at Toy Fair 2019 in New York, late last February, about why there were no new releases teased for their Grossery Gang franchise this year, representatives had to break the news that there were no future plans for their gross-out food mini-figures.  For those who remember and collected Moose's Trash Pack, this is deja vu.

No toy line lasts forever, or even very long.  Classic Transformers and He-man only saw the majority of a decade before things were scrapped or moved around.  MUSCLE had even less time.  But there is something about this that stings.  I'm not sure if it's the second death of Trash Pack or a climate that should have treated the Gang better.

I spoke not too long ago about how mini-figures, especially those targeted at little girls were making serious bank and taking up whole shopping isles in big box stores.  It was glitter puppies, cutey babies, and pretty princesses galore, with one of the powerhouses being Moose's own Shopkins.  Shopkins, if you didn't know, are Grossery Gang if they took a shower and wore make-up, but Shopkins hit the scene between the death of Trash Pack and before the relaunch and rebranding of Grossery Gang.  Some would even speculate Shopkins roaring success paved the way for their disgusting cousins to come out of retirement, but apparently only for a short time.

Is the fad dying?  I certainly don't have sales figures or a demographic to rely on for information, but things still seem to be going smoothly, with the announcement of their brand name food Shopkins coming out sometime this year.  But I just don't know if little ladies are still into things like these anymore.  Moose Toys certainly has moved a lot of their focus into a different direction.

Oh well, such is life I suppose.  Moose Toys has very rarely hit a bulls-eye with keshi purists, but Trash Pack and Grossery Gang were awesome all the same.  It sucks mini-figures lost just a little shelf space so something else, but who knows what'll take it's place.  Only time will tell!

Kaiju Big Battel Kaikeshi Review + More!

Welcome back, everyone, to the U&R blog!  I am already back with some more rapid-fire reviews!  Holy smokes, I'm surprised too!  But don't get used to that becoming a catchphrase around here.  I have a long way to go to be rapid-fire around here, and I don't have it trademarked.  All the same, let's dive into things!

Kaiju Big Battel, the bastion of giant monster wrestling, has always had a place in my heart.  I think it was nearly fifteen years ago, since the first time I was pleasantly perplexed at the TV or computer screen.  It was Godzilla meets WWE, but it's gone a far beyond that now.  Today we look at one of their newer endeavors - Kaikeshi mini-figures!

Moving into Kinkeshi-inspired mini-figures is a play no one was surprised and everyone wanted.  There really couldn't have been a more natural fit.  Kaiju Big Battel had already incorporated so much Japanese culture into their wrestling shows, it sort of felt like it was only a matter of time.  After a successful Kickstarter last year, it had finally became a reality, and earlier this month a grabbed a view blind-boxes to see how everything turned out.


Upon removing them from their fast food apple pie box, I was immediately impressed.  Absolutely on-point, in almost every way.  Sculpted by George Gaspar, of former October Toys and now Double G Toys, the wrestling crew were handled and formed with mind-blowing accuracy and detail.  George kills it here, blasting the leather right off the ball, before bouncing it over the home-run fence.  My only regret is that I decided to dip my feet in first with just a few twists of the gachapon machine.  I should have gone deeper, as I even found a glow-in-the-dark chase in the lot.  And at five clams a pair, that's a hell of a deal. 


I was about to hand my debit card over to the good people at Kaiju Big Battel, but then I found through Instagram that Double G Toys has the complete set for sale in an exclusive purple.  I weep for my bank account.  Follow both links below, if you're looking for a purple set, a flesh set, or even dastardly, both.

http://www.kaiju.com/index.htm

https://doublegtoys.storenvy.com/

Gluppix the Arouser Mini-figure Review!

How's it going, everyone, and welcome back to the Unarticulated & Rubbery blog!  It's felt like forever since my last entry, maybe because it has been, and that's sucks.  I am sorry, but let's continue.

Can I express how amazing of a place Instagram is for keshi mini-figures right now?  I'm sure like all social media platforms, it'll run it's course, run itself into the ground, and stick around as a empty hollow husk of its former self far longer than it has any business, but right now, at this moment, it seems like the to-go place for the hottest and latest independent releases and news.  Every time I scroll through my feed, there always seems to be more and more mini-figures coming out from new and interesting faces.  Frankly, even if I had the free time I once had, it would still be a daunting task to cover it all, buy it all, and support it all, but if you're not already there, I suggest you pop over and give it your go.

But speaking of scrolling through the endless sea of Instagram's mini-figures, I did come across one piece that peaked my interest.  Canadian cartoonist, Scott Diggs, released a mini-figure called Gluppix the Arouser.  Coming up two inches or so, gooey, and brightly colored, Gluppix checks all the immediate boxes, so I figured he would a perfect fit for long-awaited return to the blog.

It, in a lot of way, reminded me of our friend Bukkake from Fint Toys, in that sort of dripping slime monster design, but it was smaller and not produced by the same cast of indie characters we've come to expect.  So maybe a cousin or a brother from another mother, I thought?  Maybe some compare and some contrast, as unfair as that may be, considering there really may be no relation whatsoever?

I received this pink goo-ball inside a bad with header, providing some humorous backstory and lore, as well as some extra fun art for when he's done hanging around the shelf.  It was all great and good, but let's get into what everyone wants to know.  How does the Arouser stack up?

Right out of the gate, the scale on this one is spot-on.  He mingles just fine with other classics.  Not too big, not too small, and his firmness is right there as well.  No god-awful paint applications.  Just a nice, basic, keshi mini-figure like a purist like me would appreciate.  However, my photo above won't really assist me with some of other criticisms.  There were some surface bubbles in the fingertips in my figure.  Largely I think that's not much of an issue, but where that one reaching arm is the single action-like appendage it has, it was a little disappointing.  Following that was the lack of definition in the sculpt.  Again, maybe it was just mine, but I really wanted the flowing drips, facial features, and the random trash items arranged around his body, to really pop out, but they were sort of too smooth for what I hoped.

But I'm not saying it was a complete flop.  I actually still very much liked the fig.  I would consider myself a fan now and keep my ear open for any new releases coming down the pipe.  A home-run out of the park?  No, but it's still worth the clams and the look-see if you're interested.  Follow the link below for more!

 https://scottdiggs.storenvy.com/

https://www.instagram.com/scottdiggs/?hl=en

Happy New Year From The U&R Team!

Hey, everyone!  Just a quick update today, as it's now the first of the year, just to wish everyone a happy New Years and I'm really looking forward to what 2019 brings!  Looking back at 2018, it was a largely absent year on the blog, but with the overhaul and redesign, I'm excited to post more regularly with news, reviews, and wacko opinion pieces.

Until then, enjoy this picture of my little toy reviewer enjoying the latest pink variant of the Robo Toy Fest mini-figure we snagged earlier.

Thank you for dropping by and I'll see you soon with more!

A Look at DesignerCon 2018 Keshi Exclusives!

Courtesy of Isumark of MWOTR (Instagram)

Welcome back to U&R!  We were just speaking of DesignerCon 2018, so let's keep that topic going with some more talk before the big designer toy event of the year rocks the west coast.  Here are just a few exclusives that caught my eye, but I know there are even more eluding me.  Let's take a look!

The first is from none other that Mystical Warriors of the Ring.  They have been quietly working on something as of late, and this announcement of this limited run of Tatsuya resins in blue and green hope to make it worth the wait.  And from the teaser picture, it appears there will be clear and metallic version available as well, but there is no way of actually knowing unless you visit them personally at Booth 2528.

The next feature comes from Robo Toy Fest, who hosts a convention of their own under the same name.  They seem free next week, so along with their attendance, they are bringing some hot robot action.  Hot pink robot action to be exact.   The RTF Robo Keshi is touching down at Booth 305 and this guy could be the sleeper sell-out of the weekend.  Only the second variant of this particular model, the dark green one that came prior instantly sold-out, so there is some indication this might follow suit.  I personally love this guy and will be hoping to mule this one home.  Hot pink.  Robots.  Exclusive and rare.  Gimme gimme gimme, and I sadly lost out on the green one, so this is my redemption song.

Courtesy of Nama,Niku (Instagram)

Our next comes from independent artists Eric Nilla and Nama Niku.  This collaboration is a beautiful kit-bashed bootleg deathmatch set, including two familiar kaiju monsters, now with some nicely oiled abs and thighs, and a ring to contain all their violent break-outs.  If you love the odd, strange, inventive, and independent, dropping by Booth 2325 might be something on your convention agenda.

Courtesy of PlanetXAsia (Instagram)

This final colorful look comes the far off distant world of Planet-X.  These rubber rainbow variants will be blind bagged in a set of five, with other figures not pictured here, with the whole mystery set only costing you twenty clams.  That's quite the steal for variants that could very well be looking at one-of-a-kind status.  Luckily Planet-X isn't as far away as first thought, you can visit Booth 1243 to get your very own.

Alright everyone, that's the batch for this update, but if I find more, expect me to come back and share what I find out!  Thank you and I'll see you guys next time!

http://www.designercon.com/

Double G Toys Releases OTMFG Sets!

With Designer Con 2018 just around the bend, hitting Anaheim California November 16-18, it's almost a bit too fitting to bring up some interesting updates regarding one of the former members of October Toys.

Since it's dissolution in 2016, fans have been on the ready to see what was next out of the pair, now on individual adventures.  They have remained mainstays in the designer toy scene, but have largely remained absent from toy production with a brand of their own.  I'm sure I can't be the only one who believes it's just a matter of time before something in the vein October Toys returns.

Recently, George, one of the owners of October Toys, currently under Double G Toys re-released an array of classic OTMFG figures.  These figures were once released monthly, and only a couple at a time.  Over the course of a couple years, fans were amassing quite the collection, but now you can accomplish the same effect with a single mouse click.  But maybe not.  These sets are an amazing buy and a great way to pick up some awesome minifigures you may have missed years ago, but not all of these are master sets.  For example, there are gold and silver variants of the Dcon Vincent for sale on the Designer Con website, but I'm not insinuating these were ever meant to be master sets.  It's just easy to get excited and imagine they were.

These are perfect for those who missed the entire October Toy experience and want to get into what made them so special and popular with fans and collectors.  If you're starting out, this is the way to go, but it's not a bad idea for diehards to pick up some of the remaining stock as well, for extra trade and resale value.

The question remains - is this the sign of a return of October Toys?  I wouldn't quite jump to that conclusion quite yet, but I think this is an interesting move by Double G.  If you want me to gaze into my crystal ball, I would suggest this is a liquidation of sorts.  Whether these were leftovers from the webstore or remained in a personal collection, I would say these might be the last OTMFG minifigures October Toys has left to sell.  And maybe this is a liquidation to reduce unwanted clutter or inventory from storage, but maybe it's the rustling of something more.  I think, whether you feel this is one thing or the other, if these sets fly off the shelves, per se, George will take notice. Instant huge sales could dictate whether or not this was a necessary move for new product or a one-time buying bonanza.  This falling in line with a convention next week has my interest perked for the future, but who knows!

https://doublegtoys.storenvy.com/

Rambling! Did Shopkins Start An Epic Minifigure Trend?

Welcome back, everyone, to U&R, and sit back first the first bit of high-octane rambling since the rebranding.  Today I'm tackling and proposing something a bit adjacent, but still semi-related, to keshi minifigures.  It's Walmart, some of the biggest minifigure brands out there, and a demographic you'd wouldn't suspect - roll out!

Since I've been publishing entries to this blog, I've been talking about a resurgence of keshi minifigure production and collecting.  It's what captured my interest from just nostalgia of an old 80's toy line to a present day hobby, if not obsession.  I've used this phrase with, I admit, some ignorance.  I remember classic minifigures from the 80's and 90's, but fell off the wagon of little rubber things, until a few years ago, where I learned that a community had formed to collect, trade, and share info for a number of years prior.  Maybe in that gap, between the 90's and what I presumed to be the resurgence, there was other activity.  If there was, that certainly makes the comeback not that significant, but instead, interesting that it never fully left.  This complete history is something I lack, but maybe should pull together for a future article.

I bring this all up, because although it was a term I had used in the past, correctly or not, about keshi minifigures, it stands in awe of a tidal wave from multiple minifigure toy lines.  It's something I never would have guessed, but very happy and intrigued is happening.

Shopkins has only been around since 2014, but the concept has been in production a lot longer.  Manufacturer, Moose Toys, has built their company on retired successes like Trash Pack and Fistful of Power, but have evolved their brands and toy lines through the years.  We've seen the Trash Pack turn into the Grossery Gang.  We've seen the their homage to Kinnikuman with Mutant Mania come and go.  And we've seen their model of selling blind bags of gross and weird minifigures, re-imaged for girls and those with less interest in the stinkier things in life.  That is Shopkins, and like no other toy line previously produced, Moose Toys struck gold with it.

Shopkins' success could be attributed to many different factors, like those circle graphs that show a perfect storm of sales in the center for these little cookie characters.  Maybe little girls truly enjoy minifigures than boys?  I'm not sure that's completely true, but the Japanese kawaii culture of tiny cute things could have some influence across the pond.  I feel it's themes of cuter and happier food characters and fashion cast a wider net than booger figures do.  A broader appeal creates more sales over a larger crowd of children and parents, and overall, this is only amazing news.  So much so other companies are taking notice and producing their own collectible minifigures, altering the formula slightly to hope for a slight edge over competition.

I've recently visited Walmart and took these two pictures, although I could have taken a few more, just to show off the scale of this avalanche.  Not every display is of a minifigure line, but I only wish keshi had quantities like this on shelves.

Granted, I'll say this - most of these brands don't have me that interested in collecting a master set.  They fall victim to the same song and dance of Moose Toys.  They are slight smaller than the scale I prefer.  They have paint applications, if not absolutely doused in paint.  Some are made of a softer rubber that I'm really not much a fan of, that makes you wonder why I ever liked Trash Pack, but the gross theme was always interesting to me.

Although I may never dive into any of these, I think it's absolutely awesome this generation of young ones are getting into minifigures, even if it's not particularly the 80's stuff that I love.  It gets them into collecting the sets, wondering what else is out there, and possibly searching the history books for the classics.  It's not all spun with this selfish root to keshi either, but interest towards the future, wondering what this new wave of interest will cause in the future-adults looking back to capture their favorite toys they collected as kids.

We speak of Kinkeshi as if it should be on Mount Rushmore.  I feel Shopkins, in time, will receive the same.

Boo! Ironhaus Pro Releases Trick or Treat Gorewads!

Welcome, everyone, to the first official update under the Unarticulated & Rubbery name.  I'm really excited to get back into this, and hopefully more often than I have been this last year and so.

There's always something about the fall time of year that always brings keshi minifigures back to the front of my mind, and it's hard not to wonder if that mystery something is candy and strange, spooky, party favors.  When you're talking about independent artists with a mutant, horror-theme, to their product, Ironhaus has to be at the top of that list, so it's with no surprise they are quick to release some new Gorewad Monsters just in time to get your spookiness on.

Appropriately named Trick or Treat Gorewads, this new set has a mixture of new, old, and weaponized sugar, just to cover all your Halloween necessities.  Including three brand new Gorewad characters, the set also includes a few previously retired miniatures from their Larvapocalypse line and your mandatory ration of candy, rounding off treat portion of the sets namesake.

So where's the trick?  Aside from the criminally low production quantities, I'm not really sure there is one.  Within my collection of keshi minifigures lines a good bunch of Gorewads, so I've always been satisfied and impressed across the board on detail, design, and materials used.  If you're a fan of Grossery Gang and things like that, but have a couple gripes about this or that, I find Gorewads makes up where they miss, aside from the scarcity.  This puts interested collectors counting down to the exact moment releases like these drop, with trigger-happy mouse buttons, but none of that is all that out of the ordinary anymore.

However, as of the time I am writing this, they were release a couple days ago with a few sets still available, so the sad story of snoozing the exact moment of the drop and missing out on some figs eludes us this time, thankfully!  But how much longer?  I don't know, but as Halloween approaches just around corner, these guys will all be terrorizing the public long before the first skeleton knocks on your door for chocolate.  To avoid missing out, click on the link below!

https://ironhauspro.bigcartel.com/

Rebranding Announcement and Rambling!

Oh no!  What is even happening?!?!?!

Hello former-Keshi Droppers, welcome back to the blog!  As I am sure everyone will notice, things look a bit different around here, none of which will come to any surprise to some of you, but hopefully its nothing too too shocking for everyone else.  It's certainly something that's been in the works for a while now, and now seemed like a great time to do it.

I started this blog a few years ago, thanks because of a move.  I was stuck with my girlfriend in the upstairs guestroom of her mother's place, with space at a premium to say the least.  I had found a vending machine at a local grocery store offering tiny plastic wrestlers, and because they were both very cheap and very small, they stood beside me along the desk during the do-nothing nights at the in-laws surfing the web.  It's around then I found the designer toy scene and the resurgence of  what I would learn to be keshi minifigures.  A year or so later, I would start this blog, just as a private place to jot down my thoughts and opinions, where I thought they were a bit too fringe and stupid to share on a public forum.  It didn't take long to find my private place to be pretty public too, but in time, I accepted it and enjoy sharing this space with everyone that drops by.

I bring this up because I am amidst another move.  How annoying!  But that's the life you live until you buy your own house and lay down the roots, I suppose.  A spider can dream.  The situation has definitely changed, with Spider Baby joining us for this new adventure, but my thoughts are brought back to the small, the unarticulated, and the rubbery once again.

So why not turn the page now, right?  I think, or rather hope, I remembered bringing this up once to twice before in previous posts, hopefully more than a passing mention, but if I know my mind, I'm sure it swirled around my head enough that it convinced me it reached my keyboard.  I apologize if it never did.  Regardless, here is my reasoning, if it's required.  The name Keshi Drop or The Keshi Drop is dumb and barely makes no sense, even if you're in the know of the keshi collecting scene.  It's largely inspired by the moment something becomes available like a new album or toy, which cool kids call drops.  After learning these minifigures I really enjoy were once made from a Japanese eraser material called keshigomu or keshi for sort, for some otherworldly reason those two interesting words joined together, sounded neat at the time, and I ran with it for a few years.  I've never been called out on it either.  No one has ever said that the name was dumb and made no sense.  Bizarre, but that goes to show how nice and accepting people are in this toy collecting community.

The new name, 'Unarticulated & Rubbery', is a mouthful, but perfect to my sensibilities at this moment.  Everyone that clicks on knows what they are getting into from the very second the page loads up.  No barfing spider.  No crazy colors.  Stripped down and easy to get into for anyone, new or old, to whatever the hell we do here.

Also, I want to make this mention as well.  As perfect as 'Unarticulated & Rubbery' is, it is not mine.  I was going through my Instagram feed, as one does, and a picture of the recently reviewed Imaginext Muscle Men caught my eye.  "I didn’t expect to like these, but I love them - unarticulated and rubbery!"  I agreed with the caption, but the last bit stuck with me, and stuck with me, until I knew I had to reach out and ask for permission to rip him the hell off.  So, thank you, General Veers with University of Muscle, for lending me your charming phrase for this new phase and rebranding of my blog.  Please find his website's link below and show some support!

On top of that, I also want to thank my friend Jim who re-imagined some stills I had sent him of some Kinnikuman figures.  Again, with the rebranding, I didn't want to muddy up any imagery, so MUSCLE and Kinniuman was most definitely going to be at the top of the page this time, and he did a stellar job bringing all that to life.  He's a promising artist that would love to do stuff like this full-time, so please visit his site as well and give him love!

Alright, everyone, I think that's it for this time.  I don't think the site has fully changed over to it's new-new look quite yet, but it's certainly different enough now to let everyone know what's happening.  That will happen eventually with some new posts, but in the meanwhile thank you for popping in for this announcement.

http://uofmuscle.com/

https://www.deviantart.com/epicsaveroom

Imaginext Series 11 Muscle Men Review! Bonus SpiderBaby!

If you're ever doubting just how much of an American staple MUSCLE were in the 80's, of course you can make note of it's present day reassurance for vintage and new products with collectors, but also, it's homages within bootlegs and production.

One such finds themselves within the blind bags of Imaginext Series 11.  Standing to scale with the rest of their Imaginext brethren, the duo of Muscle Men stands quite a bit taller, and overall larger, than their classic counterparts, but nothing about it feels wrong.  I've been stricter in the past, railing some mini-figures for size, materials used, or anything else not adhering to the keshi code, but holding them in my hand, I am a lost of venom and harsher critique.

I sit and wonder what could have loosened my grip from winging these two into the ocean, like I virtually did in my last review, and I think I have a conclusion.  What I've reasoned is that these are not MUSCLES or keshi figures produced by a different company.  This is Fisher-Price paying respects to a grand classic by taking one of their action figures and giving it the Kinkeshi twist.  It's the muscle-flesh tone, the rubbery flexibility, almost complete lack of paint or sticker application, and inarticulation, despite what the sculpt may perceive, that really stand out as important factors and details when considering keshi.

Did Fisher-Price make a perfect keshi figure?  No, but I don't think they attempted to.  Fisher-Price, however, knows exactly what a keshi figure is, and I think that's worth a few bonus points.

Coming close to the end of this calendar year, I might just be claiming these two from Imaginext might be the best you can do for your buck this year.  Don't miss these!  Provided its a lucky pull in a blind bag, this set is only five clams and an absolute steal, even if you pay double that or more otherwise in auction or on forums.

As a bonus, and maybe something that contributed to my glowing praise a bit, is my son's review of these Muscle Men.  Within moments, Spiderbaby the bucket monster was clashing, gnawing, and tossing these guys around.  The are both likely lost and only he knows of their mysterious location now.

Super 7's MUSCLE Mega Man Vs Shadow Devil Set Review!

With a little extra cash in my pocket, I took to forums, social media, and auction sites to find some goodies I had missed.  Sadly, what I found was the best stuff and the hottest stuff had instantly sold out when it dropped, and the inconvenience of having some spending dough now not then had me looking for things with big production numbers.  Who really in the west has that in spades than Super 7 right now?

I do a little search here and there, come across their new She-Ra Keshi Surprise stuff and I fall instantly in love.  That's going to be some stuff I cover very soon, but I also find that there was a Loot Crate exclusive Mega Man MUSCLE product too, so I figure for the sake of limited edition-ness, I should check that out first.

The product I find is a two figure set called Mega Man vs. Shadow Devil, and I'm really interested.  It seemed it should be affordable enough to patronize my interest, but also be a pretty solidly-themed product for those just getting into Mega Man MUSCLE.  From the pictures alone, I loved the hulking size of the Shadow Devil compared to the blue bomber, and it was only a matter of time before I scored my own through auction.

I recently received it, shredded the packaging regardless of limited edition, and got my hands on my very first Mega Man MUSCLE's from Super 7.

Out of the gate, I loved the colors, but something really didn't feel right with Mega Man.  Actually, to be frank, there wasn't a whole right with the main man and namesake of this series.  The color was nice, but the sculpt was really flat, only looking nice in the packaging it came in.  Pulling it out and checking it out from different angles did it no justice, as if the 2D nature of the game was something they were actively trying to preserve.  To make matters worse, my Mega Man couldn't even stand up, as his feet were bent in a way that made his already lack of depth even harder to balance.  Take a look at these images on the side.  It's hard not to be disappointed when it's staring you right in the face.  The shadow devil was pretty cool, however not really as flexible as I had imagined, but that wasn't the biggest of flaws here.

I've been singing Super 7's praises for some time now, but admittedly, all from a distance.  I certainly can't appreciate it enough that they have produced so much keshi-inspired products in the last few years to keep interests high, here in the west, but quality can't be this low, can it?

I'm not going to let one mini-figure sink the whole ship here, but maybe I can see why this was shipped to Loot Crate and packaged the way it was.  Certainly not the finest of their work, as I'm guessing their better sculpts are reserved for their sets closer to their store's vest.  Further investigation is needed.