Minifigure review: M.U.S.C.L.E.: Shogun Figures by Super7

  I've been a pretty big fan of Super7's M.U.S.C.L.E. offerings as they've made my top 10 toylines list every year for the past three years. Most of the figures have been good with a few of the sets, such as Street Fighter II, The Worst, and Iron Maiden being flat out amazing. The only line thus far I thought was a total bomb was the Mega Man series. With waxy plastic, a really dull non-pinkish color, and really soft, weak sculpts, those were terrible and didn't even deserve to be labeled as M.U.S.C.L.E. figures. Sadly, Super7 just released a line of minis as bad or worse than the Mega Man figures: Their Shogun Warriors themed Shogun Figures. I'm not very familiar with Shogun Warriors but considering that the pictures made the characters looked unique and I love M.U.S.C.L.E. figures so much I went ahead and ordered these the day they went up. Big mistake! Super7 botched these big time. Seriously, I love their MOTUC line and M.U.S.C.L.E. but releases like this leave me scratching my head. This could have been a great line of minifigures as Shogun Warriors was comprised of characters from a variety of different Japanese properties, so you get dozens of crazy cool designs. Too bad the sculpts on these are so waxy and limp that you can hardly tell what's even going on with them. Let's take a quick look at all four packs from the series after the break...

 Pack A:

Height: 1 3/4ths inches

Includes: 3 figures

Non-Scalper Price: $6 dollars

 Doublas M2:


* A mechanical two-headed beast, Doublas M2 has a great design. Again, it's such a shame that the material, waxy plastic, and color just don't make for a nice looking mini. I had to use some lighting tricks to get these to really show up well in photos.

 Mazinger Z:


 * From what I gather, Mazinger Z is the main character of the series. Every pack includes at least one figure of Mazinger in one for or another.

 Aphrodite A:

* Aphrodite A could have been a really cool mini but, again, the soft sculpt just seems to wipe out all of the details. I will say, however, that every figure in this series stood up really well. Sometimes these smaller, slimmer minis don't stand up well but Aphrodite A doesn't have that problem at all.

 Pack B:
 
Height: 1 3/4ths inches

Includes: 3 figures

Non-Scalper Price: $6 dollars

 Garada K7:

* Another Mechanical Beast, Garada K7 apparently teams up with Doublas M2. Again, great design, solid pose, cool scythes, but horribly made.

 Rokuron Q9:


* Another Mechanical beast, this guy has three heads. The character I found on the Mazinger Wiki has five heads and is called Rockron Q9, so I'm not sure if this is the same guy or not. 

 Mazinger Z with jet scrander:


* Here's another Mazinger. Man, if this guy was cast in the same quality of plastic as some of Super7's other M.U.S.C.L.E. lines, he would be epic. As it stands, this guy is just waxy and disappointing.

 Pack C:

Height: 1 3/4ths inches

Includes: 3 figures

Non-Scalper Price: $6 dollars

 General of Darkness:

* Man, this guy could have been amazing. I mean, not only is he a massive mean looking guy with a giant helmet, cape, and sword but he even has his true face on his chest. It's too bad that the crazy cool face on his chest is nearly invisible due to the waxy plastic. Seriously, these guys being this weak just kills me! Ugggh!!!

That's me. That's me dying because I want better minifigures.

 Minerva X:

* Here's another cool female robot that has nearly all the detail wiped out due to the plastic used. Again, she still stands up great (like Aphrodite A), so at leas there is that.

 Great Mazinger:


* Here's another Mazinger figure. Again, cool design but lousy composition.

 Pack D:

Height: 1 3/4ths inches

Includes: 3 figures

Non-Scalper Price: $6 dollars

 Great Mazinger with great booster:

* This could have also been one of the star M.U.S.C.L.E.s in Super7's line if they had just made these better. It's doubtful we'll ever get a recast of these, so that sucks, right?

 Count Brocken:

* Nearly Headless Nick? Nope, this is Count Brocken. He's a Nazi who lost his head in a car accident. Weird, huh?

 Archduke Gorgon:

* This guy's body is a giant saber toothed tiger. Seriously, I wish he had been cast in the same quality of plastic as the better M.U.S.C.L.E. figures Super7 has released. This design is too cool to be wasted here.

   What a cool group of characters who, sadly, have been crafted in terribly waxy plastic in such a blah looking color. Seriously, I have vintage keshi figures that I got from gumball machines which are clearly Kinnikuman and Fist of the North Star bootlegs that have better color and sharper details than these. How can Super7 keep releasing such inconsistent figures in this line? I get that they have different sculptors but the plastic quality shouldn't be any different, right? I so rarely hand out truly negative reviews but these are absolutely Crap and a 1/2 figures. Avoid these and wait for something better!



These are the first figures of any of the Shogun Warriors I've reviewed. For more M.U.S.C.L.E. reviews from Super7, check out the following:

M.U.S.C.L.E. Alien by Super7 (2016)
Pack A: (Alien, Ash, and Ripley) 
Pack B: (Alien Egg, Kane in Spacesuit, and Parker) 
Pack C: (Attack Alien, Brett, and Kane with Facehugger)
Pack D: (Dallas, Kane with Chestburster, and Lambert)

M.U.S.C.L.E. Aliens by Super7 (2017)
Packs A-E

M.U.S.C.L.E. Iron Maiden by Super7 (2018)
Iron Maiden 3-Pack (Red) 

M.U.S.C.L.E. Masters of the Universe by Super7 (2015)
#1 Masters of the Universe Set (Green)
He-Man, Teela, & Man-At-Arms
Purple Skeletor & Skeletoken
Ram Man, Buzz-Off, & Man-E-Faces
Series 3: Packs A-F
Skeletor, Beast Man, & Trap Jaw
Whiplash, Tri-Klops, & Mer-Man

M.U.S.C.L.E.: Mega Man by Super7 (2017)
Pack A: (Mega Man, Ice Man, and Sniper Joe)
Pack B: (Mega Man Firing, Metall, and Fire Man) 
Pack C: (Dr. Wily, Cut Man, and Guts Man) 
Pack D: (Dr. Light, Bomb Man, and Elec Man) 

M.U.S.C.L.E.: Robotech by Super7 (2018)
Pack A: (Rick Hunter, VF-1A, and Battlepod)
Pack B: (VF-1J, Roy Fokker, and SDF-1)
Pack C: (Guardian, Lynn Minmei, and VF-1S) 
Pack D: (Zentraedi Soldier, VF-1S, and Tomahawk)

M.U.S.C.L.E.: Street Fighter II by Super7 (2017)
Pack A: (M. Bison, Ryu, and Vega)
Pack B: (Balrog, Dhalsim, and Ken)
Pack C: (Blanka, Guile, and Sagat)
Pack D: (Chun-Li, E. Honda, and Zangief) 

M.U.S.C.L.E.: The Worst by Super7 (2017)
Pack A: (Black Falcon, Snake Tut, and X-2(the Unknown)) -Purple
Pack B: (Batula, Gas Phantom, and Robot Reaper)- Purple 
Pack A: (Batula, Gas Phantom, and Robot Reaper)- Red 
Pack B: (Black Falcon, Snake Tut, and X-2 [The Unknown])- Red 

M.U.S.C.L.E.: WWE by Super7 (2018)
Jake Roberts, Ultimate Warrior, & Junkyard Dog
Million Dollar Man, Sgt. Slaughter, & "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan
Ric Flair, Iron Sheik, & "Mean" Gene Okerlund
Roddy Piper, Randy Savage, & Andre the Giant