I'm also queuing up for the Ninja and for that painted Budo that I hope to see sooner or later. In the meantime I've picked up the first two Medicom new body colabs (Kinnikuman and Super Phoenix) and they've really grown on me! Great toys, not exactly up there with the regular 5S releases but still a very nice variant. I may finish up trying to hunt them all down.

I find it odd that I have no interest in the retro body styling on the Medicom versions, but I'd take the same style for Tiger Mask any day of the week. The yellow Neptuneman keeps popping up when I'm searching. He might be next.

I can't but suggest you pick him up, he's awesome.

I have been in Tokyo for the past few weeks, and thought I would share some of the Five Star Toy pics I have taken thus far. I will be posting many more soon...


フィギュア王 no 186 (last months issue) with Complete Five Star Toy and CCP Kinnikuman figure history checklists. Will post full scans when I have a chance.


Yamashiroya Exclusives


Nakano Broadway Mandarake Microkan (Got permission to take more pics for my blog ~ those should be up soon as well)








Vintage Kinnikuman Vinyl and Kinkeshi


Score #1


Ikebukuro Kinnikuman Muscle Shop Exclusives






Score #2

Aaaaand then I keep seeing pictures of the Akuma Shogun and Ashuraman... Damn. Great photos, great score. Thanks for putting those up. As much as I hate bringing up the old chestnut of hanging on to our youth, those really had me flashing back to toy hunting for M.U.S.C.L.E.s.

Thanks NN, great stuff. Makes me want to take a flight and go first thing to Nakano Can't wait to see more!

I absolutely shudder to think how rapidly I'd go broke if I were where you are, Ty.



Why would you ever hate bringing that up?? This is a hobby founded on nostalgia...and an online community founded on sharing that passion and those stories from our youth!

I love living vicariously through your AMAZING passion for Kinnikuman, Nama Niku

I anxiously look forward to the complete checklists!

Oh, just because it's mostly unspoken. We all know what it is that drives the collecting bug. I just mean the cliche of me saying it. Not the memories themselves. The memories are awesome. I constantly say that my particular generation was the first to have everything that surrounded us as kids grow up, evolve, and improve with us AS we got older. Video Games, toys, comic books, TV, and film. We never really had to sever a connection if we didn't want to.

There is a new Kinnikuman MUSCLE Shop opening on Thursday in Tokyo. I got a look at the new space earlier this week, and it appears they have glass cases set up for a Five Star display along with other historical Kinnikuman toys.

I have a MOC M.U.S.C.L.E. 4-pack that I am going to drop off for them...






Look kids, I'm bigger than Kinnikuman... The official Kinnikuman mascot that shows up to all events.

MORE, MORE! Rabid hunger that cannot be satiated!

Great photos. Can't thank you enough for your awesome site and dedication to sharing this stuff.

Just to rephrase myself from earlier, I don't hate the nostalgia, I hate that sometimes my own personal gushing gets a little too demonstrative.

In this case I'm happy to lose my frickin' mind. These Five Star figures do it for me. They feel like the essence of Kinnikuman even though they don't completely match the kinkeshi figures nor do they quite resemble the hyper musculature of the comic, they feel absolutely dead on.

Tack onto that my own love of pro wrestling of all varieties from around the globe and these get my fists pumping.

I couldn't agree more.

They really feel like the "perfect" toy-representation of these characters I've always wondered about. As I learned of M.U.S.C.L.E.'s heritage (thanks, internet!), I got to see a whole different side of these guys. They were characters with names...something I'd always suspected even when I was little and playing with M.U.S.C.L.E.'s for the first time.

So seeing these super-high quality (and huge!) sofubi with flawless paint is such an incredible thing. No, they don't feel like the kinkeshi at all...but for these characters, they just feel right.

See? Gushing can never be too demonstrative--as long as you're around other folks who share that passion.

Today's score... Original 1979 Shonen Jump Cover Ver. 2. Figure King x Five Star Toy Kinnikuman Day Exclusive Set. Limited to 29 sets total.

Congratulations on that Green Mask version!

I JUST bought him when he popped up on Mandarake yesterday, was as happy as a clam, and then I get an email today, Order Cancelled

Couldn't believe it. BUT, I'm sure I've been in the other seat many times too. So Congratulations to the Mandarake winner too!

I curse your children and your children's children

I didn't see any when looking..was there ever a Pandaman released?

Nope.

Figure King Issue 186 Five Star Checklist scans as promised:

Those are so great!

Thank you for sharing!!

Yeah thanks, awesome of you to scan these for the board. So much goodness in these pages!

Glorious, Ty.

Happy to help.

Excellent!

Now all I need to do is blow up the images to 1:1, hang them on the wall, and if I squint I can pretend I have them alllllllllll.

Five Star Toy announced a new Benkiman Sofubi at the recent Kinnikuman Day event in Osaka.

They had a cool little talk show featuring the owners of both Five Star and CCP. Here is a pic of what they showed up on the big screen: http://ameblo.jp/fivestartoy/image-1171 ... 77713.html

They also mentioned having multiple new sculpts in the works.

Awesome!

Thanks for the info, Ty...as usual! That's great to hear that they're still continuing to make these amazing figures. I hadn't heard about any new sculpts for a bit, so I was getting a little nervous. Benkiman's a classic, but I'm really looking forward to that Ninja. And Geronimo, too, if that's still happening...