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= B. Bonanno Guide Class
= B. DeMars Guide Grade
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We didn’t know
For the English-speaking fans introduced to the M.U.S.C.L.E. toys, most of us wouldn’t find out the origins of the beloved characters in the series until much later in life. With that came newfound stories and identities behind the rubbery personas that became whatever the imagination wanted them to be. Only to find out later that perhaps we were wrong entirely but it didn’t matter because the figures still remain memorable either way.
For the obscure character collectors for a long time referred to as Shyaneruman it wasn’t obvious what the name translated to and the figures identity often became anything from farmer related, cowboy, Crocodile Dundee, whatever. However, the Chanel Man as a minor form of the primary hero is a memorable likeness from the early heavy comedy and parody productions of the series.
Appearing in the American Tour material, the pro-wrestling parody has our main character Kinnikuman for which the franchise is named disguised as an African to create some chaos between the larger leagues of the Superhuman World Council, and the World Federation. Fans unaware of the identity probably wouldn’t have guessed the blackface appearance disguise as a parody of Japanese black-face singers the Chanels (later known as Rats & Star).
Eventually Skull Bozu and Sheik Seijin discover the ruse and decide to rematch Suguru and Robin Mask. Appearing as essentially an alter-ego Kinnikuman defeats several competitors while leaving a pair of his sunglasses seen on the figure behind as a kind of calling card. Another parody nod to silly celebrity style culture gimmicks.
Serving as comedic relief in an era where comedy was less of a concern for the general markets and people didn’t seek reasons to get offended easily. The figure as we know it was a favorite to many fans simply for the identity it presents on its own.
It’s just too bad most of us weren’t in on the jokes that were opted to be dropped from their identities when Mattel rebranded the series as collectively just the Millions of Unusual Small Creatures Lurking Everywhere.