Namakeshi

Name of Toy Line: Namakeshi

Manufacturing and Distribution: Nama Niku, Muscle Things, Marty "THEGODBEAST" Hanson, and Eric Nilla.
Years of Production: 2011-
Countries/Regions Available: Unknown
Size/Scale: 2"
Figure Trade Markings: *
Approximate # of Figures: 5 sculpts, dozens of colorways

Details: Namakeshi are the creations of the Nama Niku webmaster; Nama Niku is an English language website devoted to covering Kinnikuman related news. Kinnikuman is a Japanese property that began as a manga and has since been represented in anime; mini-figure, action figure, vinyl, and designer toy genres; video games; apparel; and more.

In brief, the Kinnikuman story centers on the goofy but super powerful, main character, Kinnikuman (Muscleman) and his struggles against a plethora of equally powerful evildoers. The story is incredibly rich with humor, creativity, originality, and charm. Since their origin in the golden 80's, Kinnikuman and "Kinkeshi" toys have overtly and subtly inspired countless artists and creators.

Mattel's M.U.S.C.L.E. toy line - which many Western collectors will recognize - used some of the sculpts from the Japanese Kinnikuman toy line but discarded the characters and story. While this allowed/forced Western collectors to create their own storyline and characters, we missed out on one of the greatest storylines to ever come out of Japan.

The Namakeshi proudly fall into the category of toys overtly inspired by Kinnikuman. In fact, Namakeshi are "kitbashed" sculpts, meaning they were created by using parts from Kinkeshi sculpts and original sculpture. *Thus in many cases, the original Kinnikuman keshi trademarkings, YSNT, can be seen on Namakeshi.

The author of Nama Niku tells us:

Nama Niku means "Raw Meat" in Japanese, and is a nod to the "niku" (肉) in Kinnikuman combined with the idea of raw/fresh Kinnikuman news.

Most of the figures I come up with are either an homage to something in the Kinnikuman universe, or a shout-out to the term Nama Niku (生肉) itself. For instance, the Meat Grinder is all about the Raw Meat!

Clawshine Figure Foto

Toy Line: Custom/Independent

Sculpt Name: Clawshine

About: This figure is the result of a collaboration between sculptor Jason Frailey and toy maker Marty Hanson (also known as The Godbeast). Jason sculpted the figure, and Marty produced it.

The sculpt is a combination of two popular MUSCLE/Kinnikuman characters that Western collectors refer to as the Claw and Sunshine; combine the two characters, and you get Clawshine!

The  craftmanship of the piece is superb. The sculpt is incredibly detailed and well-proportioned. The scale is the same as MUSCLE and Kinnikuman figures, which is approximately 2".

Marty produces his figures in a hard, high quality resin that captures all the details of the master piece. There are no pressure bubbles nor flashing.

Look for a full MXD entry devouted to Marty's work sometime in the future.