~*~ About the Project ~*~
Like many men of a certain age, I have a deep nostalgia for the toys of my youth.
The Mario Opera
In college, circa 2001, I became re-obsessed with the Nintendo games I had played as a kid, rebuying an NES and Super NES on eBay. I found myself chasing the rush of nostalgia I'd feel upon seeing something old again for the first time. That obsession led first to the Mario Opera, and eventually GameJew.
GameJew
GameJew was a character I created in 2006 on the then-brand-new YouTube. He sang songs about video games, interviewed game designers, camped 36 hours to be the first person on the West Coast to get a Wii, and even sang to Shigeru Miyamoto.
“I offer up this bit of context to explain my feelings about M.U.S.C.L.E.”
The M.U.S.C.L.E. Connection
Of all the toys I remember—He-Man, Transformers, Batman figures—there is something about M.U.S.C.L.E. that has always felt different. Their American heyday was brief, roughly 1985–88, but their short existence belies a dedicated fanbase that has lasted for decades. Toward the end of my fifth year of Song A Day, I dedicated Song A Day #1781 to them.
The CryptoPunks Connection
In late 2017 I discovered CryptoPunks. Looking at that field of related characters gave me the exact feeling I'd had as a kid collecting M.U.S.C.L.E. figures. Ever since, I have wanted to bring M.U.S.C.L.E. to the blockchain.
I know some old-school collectors may hate that idea, and I understand. But I have put a ton of work into this collection, and I am excited to see it come to life. The photographs remain a free collector archive; the MATT auction is under construction until the production launch is ready.
