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To whom it may
concern,
My
name is Darrin M.
Vindiola Sr. I am
the founder of the
M.U.S.C.L.E.
Preservation
Society. The M.P.S.
is dedicated to the
preservation and
collection of the
toy line known as
M.U.S.C.L.E. If you
do not recall,
M.U.S.C.L.E.'s were
made in the
eighties, and are
little pink
wrestlers that on
average, stand about
one and a half
inches tall. There
were hundreds of
different sculpts,
and there were even
accessories sold for
use with
M.U.S.C.L.E.'s, such
as the Hard Knockin'
Rockin' Wrestling
Arena, and
Championship Belt.
The toy line had
quite a successful
run in its day, even
without a cartoon
promoting them! Our
organization Boasts
of having the first
and most extensive
M.U.S.C.L.E.
resource on the
Internet, members
worldwide, and a
quarterly
newsletter. The
M.P.S. has one
underlying goal, and
that is.. to get
M.U.S.C.L.E.'s
re-released to the
toy market.
The reason for this
letter is to notify
you of an existing
online petition
directed to your
company by toy
collectors, asking
you to bring
M.U.S.C.L.E. back to
the market. It is
located at:
http://members.aol.com/VINDI/MUS1.htm
We wanted you to see
for yourself that
there has been a
most exciting
resurgence of
interest in the
toyline today in the
90’s. I have sold
M.U.S.C.L.E. toys on
my web-site before,
but I find it
extremely difficult
to keep these toys
in stock as they
sell out so fast.
However, I was not
the only place that
you could obtain the
toys from. On the
web-site
www.ebay.com there
are sometimes
upwards of 100
auctions at once
offering
M.U.S.C.L.E. items
to the highest
bidder. We are very
proud to have
founded the
Internet’s very
first M.U.S.C.L.E.
web-site, but since
our inception, there
have been numerous
sites launched. Many
of those links can
be found on our
web-site at:
http://members.aol.com/VINDI/MUSCLE.html
We at the M.P.S.
wanted to let you in
on how popular this
toyline is, still
some 14 years later.
We also wanted to
give you our
personal opinions as
to why we think
these toys might
have excellent
potential in today's
toy market. As we
all know, toy lines
such as Transformers
have been
re-released because
they started to
become collector’s
items after being
discontinued. G.I
Joe’s have also made
a strong comeback
after several years.
It is all a matter
of demand in the
public market. As I
am sure you are
aware, there are
more and more adults
getting into toy
collecting each
year. With this
great toy line back
on the shelves, not
only would you have
a whole new
generation hooked on
M.U.S.C.L.E., but
you would also have
numerous teenage and
adult buyers who
loved these toys as
kids wanting to buy
them as well. Also,
professional
wrestling is more
popular now than
ever, and since
M.U.S.C.L.E.’s are
miniature wrestlers,
I feel they would do
extremely well in
today's market.
There has also been
a sudden interest in
Japanese cartoons
and animation as of
late. Why, just look
at the Pokemon toy
line. You can see
some parallels
between the Pokemon
and M.U.S.C.L.E. toy
lines. For instance,
both of the American
toy lines spawned
from extremely
popular Japanese
cartoons. While
Pokemon does have
American cartoon
episodes,
M.U.S.C.L.E. did
not. Even though the
M.U.S.C.L.E. toy
line had quite a
successful run for a
couple of years, it
makes me wonder how
much more popular it
would have been with
a cartoon helping it
along. In addition,
both toy lines have
a massive amount of
characters. Pokemon
has over 150
different
characters, and
M.U.S.C.L.E. has
233, making the
collecting
possibilities quite
numerous.
I am by no means an
expert on the toy
business, but I, and
many others (as
shown on our online
petition) feel that
a toy company could
not go wrong
re-introducing this
toy line. Since our
inception over a
year ago, we have
had nothing but
positive comments
and thousands of
e-mails from excited
M.U.S.C.L.E.
enthusiasts. If
there is this much
support for the
re-release of
M.U.S.C.L.E online,
how many people not
on the Internet feel
the same way? I have
included a sample
issue of our
newsletter so you
can get a better
sense of what we are
all about. Also, if
there is anyone who
had anything to do
with the development
or marketing of the
toy line in the
80’s, I would love
to have a chance to
interview them for
our newsletter and
or web-site!
So in closing, we
sincerely hope that
Mattel looks into
the possibility of
re-releasing
M.U.S.C.L.E. You
would make millions
of collectors young
an old very happy!
The ingenuity and
playability of these
toys (not to mention
the affordability)
made them like no
other! In the
meantime, we will
keep adding more
votes to the online
petition as they
come in! Thank you
for your time, we
hope to hear from
you soon!
Sincerely,
Darrin M. Vindiola
Sr.
President ~ M.P.S.
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