In the past few days, we've covered a lot of figures produced by Toukon Shop; New
Japan Pro-Wrestling's long-time, in-house figure maker.
Perhaps one of Toukon Shop's most familiar figure to western Wrestling fans,
Blog #164 covers the Great Muta Super Star Figure Collection (white paint
variant) figure.
back in 1997. It's also the second figure in the line to contain the "Hyper Heroes" logo.
Great Muta comes dressed in his recognizable white and black facepaint. Muta's lips
are painted - a nod to Muta's signature Poison Mist attack.
The back of the packaging lists Great Muta's name in Japanese Katakana as well as
Muta's physical stats along with an intimidating portrait.
The figure's parted hairstyle and ring attire are a reflection of Great Muta's mid 1990's
New Japan Pro-Wrestling look.
The left side of Muta's ring attire (not shown) contain's Great Muta's name. The right side of
Muta's ring pants contains a komodo dragon motif.
Closing thoughts:
Perhaps one of the most popular figures from the Toukon Shop line with western audiences is
the white paint Great Muta figure ...and for good reason! Great paint job, recognizable sculpt
and plenty of era-accurate details.
The white paint Great Muta variant would be the first-ever action figure made of either Keiji
Mutoh or The Great Muta. Interestingly, Great Muta's red facepaint variant wouldn't be released
until a year later (as Super Star Figure Collection #7) in 1998, Muta's NWO variant (Super
Star Figure Collection #8) the same year and Keiji Mutoh wouldn't get his first action figure
until 1999 (Super Star Figure Collection #21) through Toukon Shop.
Generally speaking, the red facepaint version, despite being released a year later, is considered
slightly more collectible with Japanese collectors; seeing as Muta's red design is the first thing
most fans think of when they imagine the Pearl from the Orient.
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