THE KESHI CRAZE BEGINS
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| Whether he's called Kinnikuman in Japan or Muscleman in the states, this keshi figure toy line became popular with children all over the world. |
Japan released the first waves of random keshi figures of many popular characters such as Ultraman, Godzilla, Inazuman and even Spider-man (among many others) during the 1970s. As these pocket-sized (usually 2-inches) gum rubber figures became increasingly more known, they eventually started being exported outside of Japan in the late 1970s as free prizes in random Bonux packages (a Proctor & Gamble washing powder) in France and the Ukraine. However, it wasn't until 1983, when Bandai released the Kinkeshi toy line that the genre started to get a massive boost in popularity.
The Kinkeshi were based on the anime and manga stories of a wrestling superhero known as Kinnikuman (King Muscle) created by Yoshinori Nakai and Takashi "Yudetamago" Shimada, and boasted a total of 418 figures. In 1985, it was licensed and produced for the American market as M.U.S.C.L.E. (Millions of Unusual Small Creatures Lurking Everywhere) by Mattel, but they made a slight change in the product and used a harder rubber than the typical keshi figure. With the release of M.U.S.C.L.E., the keshi craze became a world-wide phenomenon.
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| The Kikeshi figures first released in Japan in 1983 (top) and the M.U.S.C.L.E. figures (made from a harder rubber) that came to the States in 1985 (bottom). |
While Mattel only used a total of 236 official figures for its line, as well as having no real back-story to the product like Bandai had in Japan, they distributed M.U.S.C.L.E. to the American public with a media blitz to capitalize on the pro wrestling craze that was currently sweeping the nation. Mattel produced 3 television commercials, a NES video game, a championship belt figure holder, a wrestling ring playset and a board game. The figures were distributed in clear, blister-packed random 4-packs, semi-opaque garbage can 10-packs, and 4 different team 28-packs (Thug Busters, Cosmic Crunchers, Mighty Maulers and Cosmic Showdown) featuring non-random assortments. It should be noted that on the back of each 4-pack and 28-pack there was an ad to order a mail-away 23" x 35" checklist poster. For a short time, the M.U.S.C.L.E. figures were also distributed as a free prize inside a Nestlé Quik 2 pound tin canister of chocolate milk powder when Mattel and Nestlé did a cross promotion together.
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| The M.U.S.C.L.E. mail-away checklist poster showcasing 233 pink figures. It should be noted, as the line expanded into non-pink colors, the poster was updated with the new colors. |
The first series of M.U.S.C.L.E. figures were all pink ("flesh") color. The second series was a half-and-half mixture of pink and either dark blue, red, or purple figures. The third and final series contained no pink figures, only dark blue, red, purple, magenta, salmon, lime green, neon orange, and light blue (it should be noted that in all the series' released, the same figures were used over and over).
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| In the second and third series, M.U.S.C.L.E. started adding new colors but kept recycling the original figures. Here's a complete collection of colors that figure #011 Hidora King came in (from L to R outside of ring: lime green, dark blue, pink, neon orange and magenta (from L to R inside ring) purple and salmon). |
Maybe the reason why kids got so obsessed with M.U.S.C.L.E. was because it could tap into their OCD while they were trying to complete their collections. First, when all the new colors got introduced in the second and third shipments, not all figures came in those colors -- so you had to basically find out which figure came in what color all on your own and some figures in certain colors were a lot rarer than others! Second, there were 3 pink figures not shown on the mail-away checklist poster; the #234 Muscleman and #235 Terri-Bull (those two came exclusively with the Hard Knockin' Rockin' Ring) and the #236 Satan Cross (which had limited distribution and was only available during the first shipment in random 4-, or 10-packs). Third, 6 of the 10 figures that came with the board game were exclusive to it; 5 grape colored figures and a lime green #235 Terri-Bull (the other 4 lime green characters could still be found as random assortments). And lastly, there are about 25 (could there be more?) super rare figures that got released randomly that could've been meant for another shipment that possibly never came into fruition -- yeah, good luck with finding those guys. It's all crazy, I know, but it worked like a charm because it's estimated that an incredible 6 million to 300 million M.U.S.C.L.E. figures were produced before the line came to its end in 1988.
In Japan, the Kinkeshi line and figures kept on
coming out with different cartoons, games, products, reprints, colors, sizes
and new series' that continued throughout the '90s and into the mid 2000s. In
2008, they did a massive reprint (29th anniversary) of the original line and
added some new figures. We didn't see much official product after that until
2017, when the Kinkeshi Premium line started and continues on today.
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| The rare #236 "pink" Satan Cross figure that wasn't shown on the checklist poster and was only scarcely distributed during the first series in 4- or 10-packs. |
ALONG CAME THE CAPSULES
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| Japanese capsule machines (called Gashapon Machines) from the 1980s. |
With the world-wide success of M.U.S.C.L.E. came knockoffs from other toy companies that wanted to mimic those figures and cash in on their popularity. But regardless of what came after, when it came to keshi figures, Bandai was still the leader of the pack. As the Kinkeshi wrestlers/characters had more of a cosmic and fantasy design to them (with a few figures actually being based off of real wrestlers), in 1987, Bandai went full reality and based their brand new "The Pro Wrestler Keshi" 2-inch figure line on real superstar wrestlers from the NJPW (New Japan Pro-Wrestling) organization.
Bandai would sell and distribute this 10 keshi figure set in "Capsule" Machines or "Gumball" Machines (called Gashapon Machines in Japan). There were 5 Japanese NJPW wrestler figures; Tatsumi Fujinami, Riki Choshu, Jumbo Tsuruta, Akira Maeda and Hiroshi Wajima and 5 American "mystery" wrestlers (that were HUGE stars in Japan); The Road Warriors: Hawk & Animal, Bruiser Brody, Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair. All 10 figures each came with a leaflet and in 5 different colors; pink ("flesh"), blue, yellow, green and red. And despite being just capsule machine prizes, the detail on each figure is something to behold as they support highly realistic faces on chibi-like bodies.
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| Capsule Machine header card (called the Daishi) showcasing the Japanese wrestlers available in this 10 figure set (from L to R: Akira Maeda, Jumbo Tsuruta, Riki Choshu, Tatsumi Fujinami and (in back on the right) Hiroshi Wajima). It should be noted, in the upper back left is a picture of wrestling superstar Genichiro Tenryu in action, but unfortunately he's not included in the set. |
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| The front and back cover of the leaflet that you got with each figure in a capsule. It showcases both the Japanese wrestlers (painted) and the silhouettes of the "mystery" American wrestlers. |
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| Inside the leaflet. |
Sadly, The Pro Wrestler Keshi line lasted only about a year before disappearing from Capsule Machines, yet it still maintains a cult following (along with Kinkeshi, M.U.S.C.L.E. and a host of other keshi figures and knockoffs) from wrestling and toy collectors who still try and "collect them all." It should be noted, that despite the 5 different colors in this set, it's the pink ("flesh") colored figures that are the most desirable. Some can command hundreds of dollars each on the secondary market (see figure value list below). I have also been informed that there are a lot of counterfeit or bootleg figures out there so educate yourself on the product here and choose wisely before purchasing.
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| The entire Pro Wrestler Keshi 10 figure set from Bandai has become increasingly more valuable throughout the years, so if you're in the market to purchase one (or all), make sure you are buying an authentic figure because there have been a lot of reproduced or counterfeit figures made.
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Inscription on the back of each wrestler.
©Z• S• コナ
B•
(© = copyright Z• S• = artist コナ = Kona (studio location in Japan) B• = Bandai)
THE PRO WRESTLER KESHI FIGURE VALUE CHART*
Tatsumi Fujinami: 50.00 (100.00 pink)
Riki Choshu: 50.00 (100.00 pink)
Jumbo Tsuruta: 50.00 (100.00 pink)
Akira Maeda: 50.00 (100.00 pink)
Hiroshi Wajima: 40.00 (80.00 pink)
Ric Flair: 100.00 (200.00 pink)
Hulk Hogan: 100.00 (200.00 pink)
Bruiser Brody: 150.00 (300.00 pink)
Hawk Warrior: 150.00 (300.00 pink)
Animal Warrior: 100.00 (250.00 pink)
*All price listings based on MINT condition value. Price will decrease as condition and cleanliness drops or color fades. First price listed indicates the colors of blue, yellow, green and red. It should be noted that "keshi red" is sometimes mistaken for orange or orange/red and the more the color fades the more orange it looks. See picture below for an example.
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Here's an example of condition and color fading on figures and its effect on price values. The "yellow" Animal Warrior is clean, without scuff marks and still has nice color; he is valued upwards of 100 dollars. Although the "red" Ric Flair and Tatsumi Fujinami are both in nice condition and clean, they look more orange than red and suffer from major color fading; Flair can sell for around 50 dollars while Fujinami could sell for about 30 dollars.
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THE PRO WRESTLER KESHI AND M.U.S.C.L.E. COMPARISON
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| #071 "pink" Neptuneman vs. "yellow" Hulk Hogan
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| #046 "red" Robin Mask vs. "red" Ric Flair
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IN ENDING...
Professional wrestling
has always been a popular commodity in America and Japan. During the “Golden
Age” of wrestling (1982-1992) the industry went to another level and became a
pop cultural phenomenon. Fans couldn’t get enough, as these real-life
superheroes or monsters (hey, have you’ve seen some of those guys?) came to
life and clashed for good and evil inside a wrestling ring. The top-tier of pro
wrestling superstars always had massive amounts of charisma and comicbook
accurate physiques that captured the imaginations of the youth and kept them
glued to their television sets on Saturday mornings or begging their parents for
tickets to the next event in their area. Combining wrestlers with toys and
making them action figures was an easy crossover, even when it came to the
2-inch small PVC gum rubber of keshi figures.
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| Custom painted (from L to R: Tatsumi Fujinami, Jumbo Tsuruta, Riki Choshu and Bruiser Brody) |
