2012 Alpha Phase Outer Space Men Arriving, Pheyden

 As Mel Birnkrant himself might say, "THEY'RE HERE!"  My very own box of 2012 Alpha Phase San Diego Comic-Con 2012 figures showed up on my doorstep Saturday, containing yellow Gemini, a pink (almost Nonilla Pink to you Glyos fans) Orbitron, and the massive blue Cyclops.  It's worth noting both Cyclops and Orbitron are much larger than the usual figures in this line, and the nearly $50 set is made a little less painful when you realize each figure has a high piece count and is nearly 100% new parts.  The Four Horsemen didn't skimp on these, Cyclops even comes in a box!  He's just that big.

I should note, in case some of you were wondering "So where are MY figures?"   I ordered the 2.0 figures and Four Horsemen Cosmic Creators series as well, neither of which have shipped to me, although a few people have reported getting 2.0 sets.  As such, sit tight, things are moving along still.

A big surprise to me was to finally see Cylcops up close, he has removable armor and a little surprise under it.  The head of Pheyden from Onell Design's Glyos line can be seen on his chest, and the real surprise is that this may not be a coincidence.

Mel Birnkrant has the only Outer Space Men page you should read (thank you for reading this one, by the way) and on it he has some interesting annotations on Cyclops which, I assume, you may have read.   Mel says:

"...Meanwhile, Matt [Doughty of Onell Design] called me one day, and we got into a conversation that lasted all afternoon.  We began to discuss the Cosmic Connection and the almost spooky affinity that he feels for the OSM.  And he pointed out something to me that I find rather uncanny!  THE EMBLEM ON CYCLOPS’ CHEST IS “PHEYDEN”!

"So, we agreed that to ask Eric [Treadway of The Four Horsemen] to be aware of that, and subtly bring the image out.  We went back and forth with sketches and discussion and both did drawings.  I soon realized that they were unnecessary!  In the end, I simply copied the photo of the emblem and in 2 minutes on Photoshop added two lines to represent the teeth and two dots to indicate small balls for eyes. Another solution was to just add the teeth lines and let the negative space and the shadow it creates, imply the eyes.  Subtle and more secretive; the more I looked at it, the more I liked it best.  It allows the viewer to see and experience what Matt saw.  The teeth alone are all it needs.  Eric agreed!  To the uninitiated, this will just look like part of the 45 year old design, which, indeed, it is!  But this really establishes a connection with Pheyden, originating somewhere, out there, beyond the Milky Way!"

So there you have it! Another Easter Egg in this great line.  We'll be reviewing the new guys in Figure of the Day on 16bit.com and posting them here as well, so stay tuned as we get to them in the coming weeks!  As always thanks for reading and for your patience on our getting to all the awesome new stuff.