These are the inaugural figures from Bandai’s Figuarts Kinnikuman series. There are two more figures due later in the year, so hopefully it’s something they stick with. Disclaimer: I’ve never seen the Kinnikuman Anime, or read the original manga. So why am I so excited to be getting these two figures?
Two simple little words: Figuarts M.U.S.C.L.E.
Yes, what I am holding is something I’ve been dreaming about for a long long time. M.U.S.C.L.E. were the static little eraser-colored figures that came in packs of four or more back in the ’80s, and I was a big fan of them. I didn’t know anything about their Kinnikuman origins at the time; all I knew was that they were cool little dudes with weird designs.
There have been toys made of these characters before of various levels of poseability. But this is Figuarts, who have so far never me failed in delivering pure action figure fun. I’ve been extremely impressed with the small handful of Figuarts figures I’ve gotten in the past, and though I don’t have as large a collection as some, I knew I’d be all in on Kinnikuman. I put in a preorder immediately, and I was not disappointed with these in hand. I literally couldn’t put them down once I started fiddling with them.
They started the line off with a bang with the titular Kinnikuman (which translates to Muscleman). Now, this is not going to be a figure for those who want completely hidden articulation or sleek lines, but I don’t think that’s even close to the intent.
They’re supposed to be highly flexible, because Kinnikuman is essentially a wrestling-centric property. Which is weird, because I hate wrestling. Well, I hate normal wrestling with the lack of super-powers and robots and weird-headed dudes. Maybe if wrestling was more like this, I’d have less of a callous disregard. Nevertheless, movement is the goal here, and these are crazy-poseable. I don’t even know how to describe some of the articulation so bear with me, but the breakdown for both of them is as follows:
- Upper neck
- Lower neck
- Shoulder Hinge
- Shoulder peg
- Shoulder ball
- torso swivel/crunch
- waist swivel/crunch
- double elbows
- mid-elbow swivel (yeah, the elbows actually twist on the elbo joint)
- ball jointed wrists
- ball jointed hips
- swivel thighs
- double-jointed knees
- mid-knee swivel (same as the elbow)
- ball jointed ankle
- rocker ankle
- extra set of jointed hands
I think that takes care of it. It’s nuts. Both of them feature the same amount of articulation, so you can turn them into plastic pretzels if you want.
Kinnikuman features three heads with three variations on his weird face: stoic, open mouthed and wide scream. They pop on and off easily.
Warsman has three heads as well: neutral, smiling and I’m assuming that’s either crying or sweating. I guess that would make sense if I had seen the anime, but I’m going with one of those. Of course, Warsman is supposed to be a cyborg, so he could be leaking coolant for all I know. Don’t pay attention to me.
Both of them come with two sets of hands: open and fists. Warsman features two removable Bear Claws that can be attached to either his open or his closed hands. There are two un-clawed pieces that snap to the backs of either pair of hands if you want him declawed.
The sculpting is stylized but very clean, and nothing gets in the way of the articulation, even Warsman’s oversized shoulder balls. They both feature a floating ab-section that rest over top of the articulation underneath so it all looks very natural regardless of the pose. As I said, the articulation isn’t completely invisible, but fun is the priority here.
These two and the two upcoming Kinnikuman Figuarts figures are more humanoid in appearance, but I’m extremely curious if they’re going to swerve into some of the nuttier variations. I’m willing to buy all 230+ M.U.S.C.L.E. Figures in Figuarts form if they retain this level of quality, as long as I don’t think about how much that will cost in the end.