What was your first "growth" sighting on TV?

[fleXodus]

When was the first time you saw muscle growth on TV or in the movies?

I was about 7 when I saw the movie "Hunk" on HBO. Though a cheesy 80s flick, the movie featured one of the hottest muscle growth scenes I can remember. In this comedy, a computer geek sells his soul to the devil in exchange for becoming a blond hunk. The transformation occurs when he's asleep and the series of shots features his quads, pecs and biceps swelling -- with that awesome stretching sound -- topped off with a generous swelling of his cock in his boxers. I may not have known I was gay at 7, but I sure did know that this was hot... or at least my cock did

Hunk is available for rental at most video stores, and you can probably purchase a cheap used copy on eBay.

Hunk: The Internet Movie Database

[growinguysf]

Ok, I'll state the most obvious. The Incredible Hulk TV series from the 70's (am I showing my age? ha ha). The opening scene was always my favorite where Bruce Banner is trying to change a tire in the rain (complete with the obligatory 1970's bell bottoms) and I think he slams his hand with a tire iron. He then procedes to grow massively into the Hulk and flip the car over. The sound effects and the shirt ripping is awesome! The rain, thunder and lightning only add to the scene.

Another one was in a, believe it or not, a Ritchie Rich comic book where this worker gets exposed to some sort of radiation and turns into this evil muscle bad guy. This comic was what inspired me to write the original "The Transformer" story where this guy grows huge from a machine that beams muscle growth into his body. I may still have this comic book at home. I'll have to try and dig it up and try and scan some pics from it.

Anyone else?

BTW, thanks Aphex for this awesome new site so all us muscle growth freaks can connect!

[LanceFan2001]

I have to agree with both of you, as both of these are my first muscle growth experience...

The Hulk in reruns, and Hunk on USA's "Up All Night"!

I have the Hunk video somewhere!

>>>Ikaika<<<

[claygrant]

hey guys, i'd have to say it was Ultraman. I think I had rented it when I was a kid thinking it was just another cartoon, but when he started growing... look out! I know it's not muscle growth, but it's growth all the same.

Otherwise, there was a commercial for some fitness machine (nordic flex?) in which a guy busts out of a statue, cracking it to show his bodybuilder physique. That was it for me.

[hulkmuscle]

For me, the first one I remember that got me off was when BLUTO got huge and muscular from eating the spinach instead of Popeye. The guys had a bet as to who would start a fight first and Popeye won because he made Bluto eat the spinach.

His chest blew up real thick and huge (he has a big battleship tattoo) and his arms friggin SWELLED.

I was maybe like 6 at the time, but the sensation of seeing that stays with me today.

6'1, 215 and grrrrrrowin!

[benchdude]

I remember that cartoon too, that was pretty cool, I always thought Bluto's muscle growth was so much better than Popeye's. I can't remember ever thinking Popeye looked cool when he was growing. I wonder why that was? was it something the animators did, and if so was it on purpose and why?

I don't know if this was the first one I ever saw, but I remember an ad on TV, and I can't remember whether it was for a movie or a TV show [or maybe it was an ad for a brand of beer], but there were these blue-collar guys at a bar, construction workers I think, and 2 of them were arm wrestling on a table. there was a regular sized guy and a huge gorilla, and I think the huge guy was black. the regular guy obviously had no chance of winning, and to emphasize how huge the other dude was, they showed a close up of his arm growing even more huge and tearing the sleeve all the way up to his shoulder while he made this tough-guy growling sound. then of course some hot looking girl comes up to the regular sized guy and says "if you win I'll buy you a beer", and all of a sudden he gets a second wind and powers the big guy's arm down to the table and wins. no muscle growth for him, but that huge guy's arm ripping through the sleeve was just heaven for about 2 seconds. it actually looked real too, a lot of clothes-ripping scenes are so obvious but they did a good job.

[Simon Lewis]

He-Man (okay not the usual definition of muscle growth) but heck, wouldn't you like to have those muscles?

[71ent]

in '83 or '84, there was a Flintstones vitamins commercial with a kid aging rapidly from a toddler to a teenager. His sneakers ripped open as his feet grew, the buttons popped on his shirt, etc, all with sound effects. It wasn't really muscle growth but it was growth and I remember getting really excited by it. And then not long after that all those milk ads started...

[fleXodus]

Originally posted by 71ent
...And then not long after that all those milk ads started...

YES! Those milks ads were hot. There were several that stuck in my mind --

The first, and probably one of the hottest ever was the kid flexing and morphing into a massive musclestud. He starts out as a normal kid, starts mentioning how milks helps you grow tall; as he says that he starts to get taller... then he says that milk is good for your muscles -- at that, the kid hit's a bicep and you see it literally swell up from pipestems to nearly ripping the sleeve. The other free arm that is resting on his waist starts to spread out as the lats under his shirt thicken... and suddenly the quads in his jeans swell so large that they touch... mmm.... damn, that was ONE HOT COMMERICAL.

I also liked the milks ads that had the guys standing in front of the mirror, seeing their image change as they grew big and strong thanks to the virtues of milk. I liked on particular ad where a coach is standing next to the mirror and within it a little kid in a football jersey. He's small and skinny and says "C'mon coach..." asking him to let him play on the team and also that he's been drinking milk. Sure enough, the kid starts growing and by the time he's done he's much bigger and taller than the coach, his voice a booming bass, totally dripping with power...

And finally there was the milk ad where a high school freshmen who was picked on the other kids starts to workout and drink milk. There's a great shot that switches between the skinny kid and the buffed up one, as he drinks his milk and flexes his thicker arm... in the end, the guy has totally outgrown his former oppressors as he bumps into them in the hall, doing nothing short of shocking his former bullies.

Yeah, Milk.. it certainly does a body good....

[benchdude]

I still have that one on video with the kid [the first one you mentioned], but it's so old I don't think the quality is very good anymore.

I need to get some hardware to get stuff from TV to computer, I've been wanting to do that for a long time.

by the way, I always thought Skeletor was the coolest one in the He-Man cartoons. I don't know why, I guess the skull and the hood made him look like more of a badass instead of that pretty boy with blonde hair look. I wonder if anyone does morphs of cartoon characters? heh

[built_spill]

Incredible Hulk reruns and combining them in my young head with bodybuilding competitions on ESPN.

[hecad84]

I grew up during the '80s after the Incredible Hulk live action TV show had been cancelled, but reruns were airing every morning. I absolutely loved watching the transformations, even though I was too young then to know why. I would turn on the TV around the time the TF scene would happen, watch it, and then do other things until it was time for the second TF. I remember I would actually get mad when the TF wasn't shown but was just implied.

The first growth experience that I realized was a turn-on was the milk commercial where the kid in the green shirt explained the values of milk, and as he did so, his body changed to reflect the benefits, including "...milk is good for my muscles...", and so his clothing suddenly swelled up. I remember vividly the first time I saw that. It was during a Saturday morning cartoon, and as the kid's muscles grew, my dick grew right along with him, and I felt pretty good! I was still too young to realize what had happened and why, but after seeing that commercial a couple times, and the same thing always happened, I quickly realized that I liked it!

[muscle_d_2000]

This goes way back but I remember an old cartoon called Sinbad the Sailor. It was about a kid (Sinbad) who sailed around on a boat and when he got into trouble be had this magic belt. All he had to do was tighten the belt and his muscles would grow huge. Whew...it still makes me hard thinking about it.

[buffdoc]

Wow what a flashback! The movie" Hunk" on USA's "Up All Night" was a definite favorite of mine when I was a young teen. I also remember a Ben & Jerry cartoon where each of the characters got super huge.

[ytontx]

The one Popeye cartoon that always got me going was the one where Olive was the nurse and they Popeye and Bluto kept trying to get into accidents, except their dumb luck kept saving them.

At the end they even fight on a railroad track as the train is coming, but they push each other off before either of them could get hurt.

Popeye tells Bluto, "Well someone's goin' to the hospital, and it ain't gonna be you."

Then Popeye wrestles with Bluto and force feeds him the spinach. You see th look of horror on Bluto's face and his biceps start to grow with power, then his chest gets real huge. His chest gets so big that the guns on the battleship tatoo fire. Then it pans back as he grows a little bigger and then uncontrolably he starts to beat up Popeye.

Here is the super built guy who gets even bigger who can't control his body because it is filled with such raw power.

If anyone has that on VHS or on .avi or .mpg I would really appreaciate it.

ytontx

A "Ben & Jerry" cartoon, Buffdoc? Freudian slip?

Sounds like someone needs a cheat day from the diet....

Wow...if only chowing down on New York Super Fudge Chunk would turn me into a muscle monster....

[hulkmuscle]

Add me to the list for that Popeye episode. But the one I'm thinking of takes place at the beach. Olive Oyl makes the guys promises not to fight, and Popeye eventually makes Bluto eat it so his hulked out body goes into overdrive and beats Popeye up.

Woof.

[ytontx]

This is a pic after Popeye feeds Bluto the spinach, but this is at the beginning of his growth. I know it seems like I am spending time on this, but this is a ver "fond" childhood memories that I still enjoy.

ytontx

[hulkmuscle]

more pics!!!

[ottomun6]

I still remember that Sinbad cartoon myself! The guy pulls his belt tight and turns into a super muscle stud. and I remember trying to do push ups as a kid trying to beef up like Sinbad.

[gogalicious]

I vote for the milk commercial!

I remember watching TV Saturday mornings religiously to get a glimpse of that commercial when I was a kid!!!!!

[GrowinHuge4U]

I'll second that with the milk commercial.. and the show Voyagers with Jon Erik Hexum was hot too with him lifting that kid around alot like he did.

[ottomun6]

Does anyone remember "Food of the Gods 2"? there was a dream sequence when the handsome scientist/doctor dreamed that he was screwing a nurse and then he noticed that his hands were big. As he looked down, the nurse screamed and he was growing into a giant! (needless to say the nurse was distressed because his meat had to be growing too!) but then the guy woke up. This was a bad movie, but it had some interesting growth scenes.

Another growth scene I remember is from Star Trek, it was about the crew being trapped on a planet to serve "Apollo". At one point Kirk pissed him off, and the guy grew to giant size right in front of them. The actor playing Apollo was a bit buffed, not big but athletic looking. Kirk wasn't impressed but I think I would have started running to get the guy as many grapes as he wanted the moment he started growing

[GIANT_MUCLE]

My firs has to be the milk ad with the growing kid as mentioned earlier, and there was onother which was a HI-C fruit punch comercial .It was shot live action at first with a red head kid being bullied by a kid in a class room while working on a clay project. the red head kid was working on this huge muscle figure of himself while the bully in a cartoony version of himself , then there was a dream secuence where the red head kid imagined that he was the figure he was working on (this was now stop motion animation)chasing the bullies figure.

[vanillamountain]

I think I was about 12 when I saw my first "real" growth sighting on TV that I can remember.

It was an episode of "Sabrina, the Teenage Witch." In that particular show, Sabrina's boyfriend Harvey needs to gain 30 pounds for football. So Sabrina puts a spell on him so that he can bulk up. But she messes up the incantation, and before long he's a 300 pound monster.

[ARCHEON]

There was another Popeye episode that featured a huge lifeguard. The lifeguard was sort of a "Bluto with blonde hair." Olive Oyl becomes smitten with the lifeguard at the beach when he flexes his muscles (the flexed biceps became both a bowling ball and pins to which he knocks out a strike). It was an unusual episode of Popeye because the lifeguard had a much more developed muscularity than Bluto. Does anyone else remember this episode?

[Rocky]

Yeah,
I remember that popeye episode with the lifeguard. There are two others I remember. I only saw it once, but Popeye and Olive were in a jungle and came across a Bluto like Tarzan. He was incredibley built ! But when he took Olive away, Popeye ate his spinach and buffed out to a Tarzan caracter too. Very hot ! The second one is about Popeye playing the role of jack and the bean stalk. He was a real woose, until, you guessed it, he accidently got thrown into some spinach and not only got muscles, but went into puberty ! I remember it showing hair growing on his chest.
.......Rocky.......

[sexiscriptor]

That sexually dorman popeye...what a guy...I'm not usually one for some of the really, REALLY old school toon muscle inflations, tho...However, some have nice "concepts" if I remember correctly (motivation, process, et cetera) that were well developed or could be easily stolen for a story or something...hint, hint

[norvabear]

Some about a year back did do a story about Popeye and Bluto battling it out in a boxing ring over Olive Oyl. Bluto is, as usual beating the crap out of Popeye. Popeye gets thrown out of the ring and eats his spinach to grow his usual muscles. Bluto is ready for him, though, and gives himself an injection and causes his already huge muscles to grow even bigger. it also makes him into a sexual beast and he grabs Popeye, rips his trunks off, and rams him down on his dick. They then screw themselves silly and end up being lovers. I thought this story was really hot, but can no longer find it in the Yahoo groups where it was originally posted.
I also remember that Popeye cartoon where Popeye gives Bluto the spinach so Popeye can get beaten up and go to the hospital where Olive's a nurse. But the ones that really got me going and I still whack off to whenever I see them on TV, were "How Green was my Spinach", where Bluto tries to destroy all the spinach in the world and when Popeye finds out he tries other vegetables to see if they'll make his muscles grow like spinach does. He tries some broccoli and flexs a small bicep, which collapses very quickly. Bluto then pops a bicep that's so huge, it grows another smaller arm that has it's own bicep.
The other one was called "Barking dogs shouldn't outta fight", or something very similar to that. This one is where Olive makes Popeye walk her poodle. They run into Bluto and his bulldog, who proceed to make mincemeat out of Popeye and the poodle, Frenckie. Both of them end up eating spinach and beating Bluto and his bulldog up, but I loved it when the little french poodle eats the spinach and gets his muscles. I have to admit that the scenes where Popeye and the poodle are getting the crap beat out of them really set me off. Can't really say why, though.

[benchdude]

I have part of the "How Green Was My Spinach" cartoon on tape. I know I have the part where Bluto flexes like you mentioned, but I don't know how much else of the cartoon I have. I like the part where Bluto inflates his chest to like 4 times its normal size and bounces Popeye into the concrete with it [which was also done by a gorilla in the cartoon where Popeye takes SweetPea to the zoo, which I also have on tape].

I have one of those gadgets to get stuff from TV/VCR into the computer, but I don't know how good the quality is, plus I'd guess it was at least 5-6 years ago that I recorded those cartoons, so the tape is really old by now, but I can try.

----------

[ARCHEON]

I find this thread unusually fascinating from the perspective of this forum and I'd like to comment further on it. It seems to me that the "first muscle sightings," (to which much testimony has been given) show that these particular events had an enormous impact on most of the members. The profound memories of seeing a cartoon character such as Bluto's biceps and chest swell from their already huge size to even bigger proportions or that the milk ads featuring muscle growth has stayed with people all this time. Some of these memories date back to the mid to late sixties but still resonate fresh in our minds even today!

Here's another trip down memory lane: Does anyone remember the reeeeaally old cartoon of Hercules? You may recall this particular black and white cartoon being so poorly produced that the body movement was minimal and the lips barely moved at all. Nonetheless, Hercules had a huge upper torso with even bigger biceps the size and shape of bowling balls. In fact, one could state he may have been the first "morphed" version of a bodybuilder. For those members who grew up in the Los Angeles area in the late 60's early 70's, you may remember Channel 13 broadcasting this series in the early mornings.

[divis24]

Is this the one whose theme song started with:

"Hercules! Hero of song and story
Hercules! Winner of ancient glory!
Fighting for the right, fighting with his might
with the strength of ten ordinary men..."

He had a friend who was a little satyr, played a pan flute...

This is the one that got my little incipient hormones racing!

[ARCHEON]

You remember the theme song!? Dang, what a memory! And your first post, too! Who knows what will happen now with members responding to this issue of first muscle sightings. This thread has somehow clearly got its "finger on the pulse" central to the members of this forum.

This isn't a "growth" siting but I remember my first facination with a musclular guy.

Now, I'm not ancient but I am in my mid-fifties. I remember browsing through an old set of encyclopedias (three big volumes) dated about 1910 when I was a kid of about 8. There was an article in there about Eugen Sandow (1867-1925) so he was current when that encyclopedia was published. He was hot stuff back then. I went back to that article many times facinated by the difference between him and the adult men I knew at that time.

-- LeatherGryphon --

[brahms97]

norvabear:

The story you are looking for, "Popeye vs. Bluto" by the incomparable BBMSN (not a paid endorsement), is still there at the Muscle Growth Stories Yahoo group. It's message #3892, 4/6/2002. It may also be available elsewhere.

[AngryLeek]

many times)Archeon is completely right. Many times, the cartoons I've seen with scenes of muscle growth are burned clearly into my minds eye. It seems that cartoons inevitably turn to the story of muscle growth/transformation or the appearance of a really buff character, so it hardly surprises me that it appears so frequently as the first experience of many other people here. Naturally, I still love cartoons & have never stopped watching them.
I remeber many of the examples that mistake mentioned. It's scary often how much I know the exact scenes he has mentioned. I'd like to add some other examples from my memory although I bet I'm kinda going off topic for this thread

-Tom&Jerry (Not the Dr. jekyll epsiode) - Tom & neighboring cat from adjacent apartment fight unknowingly to pull Jerry out of mutual wall. When they fail, they imagine that Jerry might be gigantically musclebound before scoffing.
-Filmation's Ghostbusters - the Ray-descendant is transformed so that his belt tightens forcing his gut's mass into a powerful build & muscular arms. very sinbad jr. I'm told
-Real Ghostbusters (somebody used to have a good-quality version online)
-Wish Kid (aweful Macaulay Culkin cartoon - he wishes to be a superhero)
-Rocko's Modern Life (mirror, mirror)
- Darkwing Duck (drinks a fertilizer, kapow, huge)
-Timon & Pumba (On Stonegate.furvect.com but it's never available for d/l EVER)
-CatDog (excellent episode in particular)
-The Simpsons (many, many, many times)

and the list goes on

[mman]

I was only going to mention this if I couldn't find it in anyone else's post. How about one of the early Mighty Mouse cartoons? I know that I was always hoping to see the one that showed how he changed from an ordinary mouse into a superhero. I remember one on Tom and Jerry, too. What's the deal with bulked up mice? I guess it's hot to think something so small could become a lot more powerful!

[ottomun6]

Yeah, I remember that episode, they even added some nice dramatic sounding music to match his steps as he stomped up to Tom. It gave the extra impression of this musclebound Jerry weighs a ton.

[benchdude]

Originally posted by mman
I was only going to mention this if I couldn't find it in anyone else's post. How about one of the early Mighty Mouse cartoons? I know that I was always hoping to see the one that showed how he changed from an ordinary mouse into a superhero. I remember one on Tom and Jerry, too. What's the deal with bulked up mice? I guess it's hot to think something so small could become a lot more powerful!

there was also a Darkwing Duck episode, I think it was the same one mentioned before, where the experimental formula is tested on mice and they grow super huge upper bodies [didn't do much for their legs though.. heh] and then showed them doing bench presses and walking on their hands.

what about the newer Mighty Mouse series? I think it was on in the late 80's or early 90's. that one had some serious muscle. all of MM's friends who were superheroes were humongously built animals, the Badger was one of my favorites [can't remember his name]. there was actually a cartoon where he and the evil nemesis The Cow had a posedown with all the real bodybuilding poses. I would love to get that one on tape again.