The decision to incorporate minions in Mega Man M.U.S.C.L.E. makes me happy. This set has Flesh Mega Man, Sniper Joe, and Ice Man from the original game! Sniper Joe would change shape a bit - and get a vehicle - but the rest look more or less as you would expect.
Unlike the other incarnation, Mega Man is about as bare bones as he gets. Neither hand has his Mega Buster, so this is a cartoony two-fisted take on the blue bomber. His pose is similar to that of some standard M.U.S.C.L.E. fare, with fists up slightly and stubby legs straight. Thanks to the translucent nature of this particular plastic, his details are kind of hard to see. There are big eyes, and the parts where his gloves end and the arm starts are kind of hard to separate. The typical helmet designs are here - the crest, the ears - and the hands and feet are enlarged as they should be. I would've loved to see this figure in a slightly more opaque plastic like the original tiny pink wrestlers.
Next up is the annoying minion Sniper Joe - complete with shield and arm cannon. I don't know if it's based on any particular artwork, but the one eye is there in the helmet plus the shield has the little box on it. The buster lacks the energy meter box, and the pose is about normal for this format - he's flat, with an elbow jutting back and a backpack on the figure. For some reason the helmet is glossy and the shield is more matte, the latter of which looks batter in terms of showing off the sculpted detail. Like the other figures in this set, all stand easily.
Lastly: Ice Man. I both love and hate his stage, with awesome music and exploding penguin robots. And those terrible ice blocks that disappear and reappear, requiring expertly timed jumps and short-term memorization. The figure just looks cool with two raised fists and an "O-face" from the Rockman Complete Works book. He has a fur-lined suit and a rocket backpack, the latter of which I never noticed in the original NES game or its box materials. There's no real indication of a weapon here, but the goofy face from the old art and the right suit are enough to make me dig it.
Due to the designs and how the plastic interacts with the light, I assume another color might be better for these. I buy "flesh" because of how much I love the whole M.U.S.C.L.E. thing, but if there was a good opaque color tomorrow I'd probably buy it. For the novelty of Sniper Joe and the rest, it's probably worth picking up - but it's not as novel as Dr. Light or Metall.
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