I had completely forgotten, but now I completely remember.

Exactly! Wow I had like half of these!

Same!!!

Still got one right here on my desk https://preview.redd.it/o4qli7lpuhqc1.png?width=3023&format=png&auto=webp&s=eb8e9f12d76e38c45bc5fc05e37a85caa21faa60

M.U.S.C.L.E.! I had a whole beach bucket full of them. I tried watching the anime when it was a Saturday morning cartoon, but I wasn't interesting to me. A few years ago I saw there was a company that was making M.U.S.C.L.E versions of He-Man characters. I was very tempted to get a few for nostalgia's sake.

They look cool. I think there were others like WCW and Iron Maiden.

Never knew it was a cartoon! I had some of these guys but thought they were just some random dudes.

In Japan, it's called Kinnikuman. It's a long-running manga and anime. I don't really know any more than that because, like I said, I didn't find it interesting.

Came in here Ctrl+F'ing for kinnikuman. This is the name I know for these figures. Other big names from living in Japan for part of my childhood: Bikkuri man, hokuto no ken

I spent part of my childhood in Germany (thanks, U.S. Army!) I remember Dr. Snaggles and Pumakl.

I can smell this picture. (To me it’s sort of the pink eraser smell)

That's because they're actually erasers.

If they were, they would have been the worst erasers ever.

I still have like 50 of these...and none that match yours. I love it.

Are any of yours the colored ones?

uhh... I don't think we use that term anymore

He probably meant any Oriental ones

That's not the preferred nomenclature

He didn't build the fucking railroads man, he peed on my rug!

That rug really tied the room together.

Asian-American, please.

I had some of them

I have all mine! Some are colors other than pink yeah

Why do I remember what these taste like?

I just looked them up on Ebay and they're going for ridiculous amounts of money

Dammit. I had a bucket of these things back in the day lol

Same here. No idea what happened to them. Mom probably tossed em… along with my garbage pail kids cards!

Yeah I was at a antique mall/flea market thing a few weeks ago and a guy had the hand (pictures) for like 45 bucks. Bonkers.

I had the wrestling ring

Same and the clamp on one side got stretched out from the bigger ones resulting in it being the weaker side my sister had to use

Loved these! Then the NES game as well.

oh geez! I had the 6 arm guy as a kid and I think he is now in a Hero's Quest box.

Funny story - So, my basement had a stationery bike - for hanging up laundry apparently. Well, one day, my sister decided to ride on it (you could do that as well). It had a wheel like a fan and while playing with the little muscle man, it fell into the wire enclosure around the blades. My dumbass decided to reach in.. My memory is of two dudes in white coming out of an ambulance and a scar on my fingertip. I was lucky, I suppose, that the tip of my finger didn't get cut clean off. I definitely survived many more mishaps, as we 80s babies likely all have in common. Thanks for reading.

I have a box of around 100 in the loft...coloured ones too. Worth anything? lol

Apparently so! I don’t know how they’re valued, rare etc.. but someone here said they were pretty expensive on eBay

I had a whole bunch, including the giant freaky hand with a little mouth. You used to get a clear dustbin shaped tub with about 10. Since I don't think we knew them as the actual anime characters, they could basically be anything we wanted. Still got a couple along with a couple of Monster In My Pockets, which I also loved.

My MIL kept all of my husband’s and gave the giant rubbermaid container to my kids who promptly lost like half of them

I had all of the ones pictured and many more. I remember going to Toys R Us and leaving excited with another transparent garbage pail full of new figures. I can remember what they smelled like.

The highlight of my morning bus ride.

I've been looking for a reason to dust off the 3d printer. Thank you

Made out of the same plastic that previously was 25¢ parachute man.

I created so many movie action scenes in my head with these lol

Still have a large bag of these. They were the RV toy lol. I had a wrestling ring, but broke it.

I broke the wrestling ring, by trying to wedge that bridge looking guy into the the holder.

I had a giant bag of over 100 of these that my mom gave away or threw out at some point after I moved out from home. I’m still sad about it.

perfect size for playing with in the book slot of your school desk back then.

I still have a couple that were given to my kids. They are probably buried in the bottom of a toy box somewhere. I do remember looking on Ebay for more when I was younger and discovering Muscle Men was apparently the name of a line of gay porn movies. That's how I learned to make more specific searches on there.

I think I had at least 4 of those figures!

I used to trade these with other kids at recess.

I only had that one with the crusher? on his chest. First column, 3rd row. I had no idea what he was, why he had a crusher for a chest, and never made any sense of him.

4th grade memories unlocked.

Yep. I got that six armed dude somewhere. Maybe a Kinder egg when I lived overseas?

My older brother still has our tub full of these dudes. He loves the eyeball guy with shoes on.

I remember getting tubs of these when my neighbor moved overseas.

My brother had so many of these!!

I wasted so much of my money on these.

Yesssssssssss! Loved these things!

Not only I remember them. I remember some names too.

I have 1 still floating around my house not sure where i put him last

Yep my older brother had the whole set. I chewed the shit out of those things. Ruined them all.

Yep my older brother had the whole set. I chewed the shit out of those things. Ruined them all.

YES! Oh. My. God.

Meeeee

My cousin had hundreds of these and I was so jealous.

Got a bag of them somewhere and a small ring that you put them in with some claw thing and you smacked them into one another until 1 fell off. Lol I also had some that were different colors. I have a blue version of the dude with the camera head and microphone arm

Fondly

Part of my childhood used to go crazy trying to collect them all

I still have the muscle wrestling ring. Joints were dope

The Nintendo game was awesome!

I had a big coffee can full of these guys.

I remember the smell of the rubber. For some reason, I loved it.

Millions of Unusual Small Creatures Lurking Everywhere We used to burn these with a magnifying glass.

I had forgotten about these. I had a bunch! But now I'm also remembering other plastic junk toys from back then, too, like Oodles, Sea Wees, and Breyer Stablemates.

I love how one is just like... a gate.

I remember there was a promotion with these guys & quick chocolate milk. I drank a lot of quik to get the dude with a lizard face. Worth it.

I still have my MUSCLE collection and my son plays with them now.

Oh man. To have the full collection today… 🤌

My siblings hated me because I loved chewing on them!

Oh my god

One of those is just a hand, and the other is just an arch way.

I still have a bunch!

Those are based on characters from the anime and manga series, Kinnikuman. Funny how so much pop culture is just relabeled products from another country.

I still have a complete set, except for Satan’s Cross, the super rare one. My favorite toy growing up.

Whoa. Completely forgot about this. LOVED them.

Wish they still made them, I’d love to introduce my son to these.

Wow... WOOOOOOWWWW... I completely forgot about these. Thank you for unlocking this memory!

Memory unlocked

I loved these things! I had this board game, but I just used it as an arena 😆 https://preview.redd.it/2yq20acyijqc1.png?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=12a5a1fbc6d6796ecc5e31be2d9a416938260af7

Bro yes I had so many

I had such a collection

I love this subreddit. I had a gallon size ziploc of these.

Muscle Things

I chewed on mine.

So many toys I totally forgot about WTH

Where did these originate from? Like was there a cartoon or a comic book? They just kimd of came out of nowhere.

A 1979 manga, turned toy line and anime.

Still own mine.

I totally forgot about those.

M.U.S.C.L.E. Things was an acronym, standing for Millions of Unusual Small Creatures Lurking Everywhere. In the mid-80s, they were a slam-dunk birthday gift you could give to any host of any birthday party you were invited to.

Had the one with a whole in its head

I was a Battle Beast kinda kid

Ohhhhhh yeahhhhh!!!!

Every one was my favorite

Damn. You just made my day. Such fond memories. I had about half of these. My favorite was the 6 arm guy

The series these come from is still going in Japan. The Manga that these characters come from, Kinnikuman, is supposed to get a new anime adaptation this year, actually.

First time shoplifting was as a kid in the single digits stealing a pack of these. I remember them coming in a clear plastic garbage can.

They should have just included matches or a lighter with these. I can still remember the smell of the fumes as they blackened and melted.

Yess!!! MUSCLES.

I still have some in a box somewhere.

A core memory!

At some point in my childhood I went from Star Wars, Transformers, and GI Joe toys to M.U.S.C.L.E., Guts! soldiers, and Micro Machines. Clearly there was a toy-making trend that saw a backlash against the giant expensive toy kits of the early 80s, likely coupled with parents spending more money on video game (Nintendo) gifts for their kids, making tiny toys the perfect niche product. I really enjoyed them and honestly have more memories with them than I do with the Millennium Falcon, but that could just be an age thing.

A friend had about 5 to 8 cookie tons fill of them. Different colored ones too.

I forgot all about these things. I had several of them

In order of most clear memory to least clear: 1. Neon ones. 2. The "wall" one. 3. The one that was a top- you could spin it?

Core memory unlocked thanks op

Still have mine. Too many to go through but I think some are worth some money.

I had these, as well as the far superior Monster in My Pocket.

I still have a bunch

hell yes, I had so many of these figures.

Ohh yeah I had a couple of them

Man I had a whole collection of these 🙌🙌🙌🙌

I used to have thoughs when I was kid

Hell yeah! I still have mine!

Well, I didn't remember that's what they're called, but the instant I saw the picture, I knew what they were. I had a few of the ones in this picture, and probably about 15-20 of them all told. They were not really the most interesting toy out there, but for a little while me and my friends were pretty into them.

God I loved these , loved how there were infinite variety and loved the packaging.

I loved these until G I Joe came out. 

u/Lillian_Madwhip

Still got mine! ❤️

My brother and I always fought over which muscle men belonged to who. My dad's solution was to mark one of the feet black with a sharpie for mine. I had access to a sharpie. Me 1 Brother 0.