Great Muta Suction Cup figure review

Walloping websnappers! Let's jump right in to another figure obscurity many Wrestling collectors
may not be aware of.  Blog #166 takes a swing at the Great Muta suction cup figure.


In 2002, Keiji Mutoh shocked the Wrestling world by jumping from New Japan Pro-Wrestling
to rival promotion All Japan Pro-Wrestling. As the Great Muta, Keiji Mutoh would defeat
AJPW legend Genichiro Tenryu to become the 30th Triple Crown winner on October 27th,
2002.

With a highly-publicized promotion change, taking over as AJPW president and winning
the Triple Crown for the second time by that point, plenty of merchandising based on Mutoh's
new Spider gimmick would be in the works.

The 2 and half inch figure is the only known suction cup figure of The Great Muta that comes
to mind.

If you haven't guessed already, the Muta suction cup figure was most likely inspired by
Spider-man.

While the detail isn't the best for a figure of this size, Muta's bug eyed stare and green, poison
-misted tongue are figure staples for Muta.

       
          


Face sculpt-wise, not Spider Muta's most glorious moment in figure form.

Muta's overly-exaggerated superhero physique brings to mind the WCW and Marvel
figures made by Toy Biz from the 1990's.

The suction cup sticks to just about any surface. I found the best results with glass and acrylic
surfaces as intended.

The suction cup on Muta's left hand cannot be removed.

The back of the Muta figure contains an All Japan Pro-Wrestling stamp on the back.


Closing thoughts:

The Great Muta suction cup figure, odd and interesting as it may be is not one of my
favourite depictions of Muta in his spider attire. Nor is it the worst (that distinction
goes to Character Product's Great Muta spider Bobblehead with ring).

I've read in the past that this figure was a Japanese prize item; available only in certain
vending machines as a gashapon or crane prize games exclusively in Japan. In that
regard, I tend to be more lenient on this minifigure.

The true saving grace of the Great Muta suction cup figure is it's overly-exaggerated
superhero physique ...and the fact that someone was inspired enough to create a figure
of Muta imitating everyone's favourite web-sling superhero.