Covering the modern era of the classic Colorforms Space Aliens action figures. Presented in association with 16bit.com. Not an official site. Visit TheOuterSpaceMen.com for more.
One of the first things I heard about the New York Comic Con release of Terra Firma was that her flag wasn't as awful as the San Diego Comic-Con release.
The first thing I noticed was that the US flag has been trimmed of
excess white, but the flag still seems to have the same adhesive
problems which plagued the July version. On the bright side,
everything else about the figure is pretty good.
If you opted out of the customs for Galactic Holiday 2013 but lusted after the silver weapons, you're in luck! This post at Source Horsemen confirms that they will be available for sale soon.
Bucking three years of tradition, the New York Comic Con release of Colossus Rex
is solid white rather than a clear color - typically the Beta Phase
figures have brought us colorful variations on the designs, but this
year the Four Horsemen opted to continue their White Star program. I
have to say that this is a great way for you to actually see the
sculpted detail on these figures. The clear green absorbs a lot of the
work, and obfuscates the problems too. While I dig the clear green
figure, white Colossus Rex has some fishy fin details, nice pointy
teeth, and tons of scales on his person. The removable armor is still
here, and the fists are a bit more forgiving of holding his weapons.
I was holding back on the other Outer Space Men Cosmic Creators Edition figure reviews so I could say "it sold out!" Well, it didn't yet - the long-delayed Fire and Ice Electron+
is a pretty gorgeous low-run figure (to the tune of 200 pieces) and you
can still get it, if you want, in a fairly priced set. The line as a
whole seems to have found its audience to be increasingly more
selective, with very few non-Infinity Edition figures selling through a)
in a timely manner and/or b) at full price. As a supporter of the line
from the word "go," it's unfortunate to see that there's a strong
possibility that each and every one of these figures were purchased by
individuals who, like myself, are writing reviews for them. (Seriously,
the ratio of the run to reviewers is pretty high.)
While Terra Firma was forged from the stuff dreams are made of, Horroscope
is more on the nightmare side. The head was originally designed for a
male variant of Xodiac, which probably would be a lot less sexually
confusing for any young men who stumble on this one in their dad's
collections. (Generally speaking, if you see something involving large
breasts and tentacles, these elements are not on the same person. Or
so I've been told.)
I
liked the idea of the White Star figures a bunch - blank white figures
are great custom fodder, and I think would have made great debut
releases rather than as third encores. White Star Inferno came
out at a pretty high price-per-figure as a large boxed set, which I have
no doubt limited its appeal to hardcore fans or hungry customizers.
The set was marked down a significant chunk within a month of Comic-Con,
which stung, and the set was followed up by a New York Comic Con set of
six white figures based on the 2013 new characters.
As one of the final unproduced "original" Outer Space Men, Gamma X
benefits from years of history and is a bit of a toy legend in that the
original 1969 prototype didn't yield a mass-produced toy until this
one. For those dying for a Gamma X figure of their own, truly it is a
great day. For those just wanting a neat figure, it's OK. Feeling like
a mutation of the previously-released Electron+,
the concept of a man from beyond time was a sound one - the original
concept of a glow-in-the-dark figure in clear crystal armor - but as a
clear unpainted guy in a blue suit, the complete package is just not all
that exciting. Individual components, on the other hand, are pretty
amazing.
The first "new" prototype figure shown to the world was Terra Firma.
She was a big surprise at the Futuretro show in New York back in
2012, even though she's visible (barely) on an art print sold at the
show. She's also a fairly adult release in an updated children's line,
owing her look to the cartoon art of old Playboy magazines. This
certainly helps her stay in that 1960s vibe, despite being designed
rather recently.
Extending the life of the Outer Space Men
is a tricky proposition - you've got a line with limited marketing and
limited appeal, so rather than get tens of thousands of people to buy 1
of each figure, you get hundreds of people to buy seven or eight of each
figure. The strategy results in some increasingly clever creations,
including Blue Angel Commander Comet. Mel Birnkrant
did us a solid by describing his creative process at length, so go
ahead and read that when you're done gawking at the pictures.
They're here! I was lucky enough to get the box today - as usual my postman neither knocks nor rings the bell, but throws down the box as hard as possible so I can hear it in another room. Courtesy of the top-notch packing job from TheOuterSpaceMen.com, this new Cosmic Creators Outer Space Men Mel Birnkrant Edition came through perfectly - with a bonus mug, to boot.
It's also worth noting that Alpha 11 is cast in a clear colorless plastic and is painted - just like Metamorpho from the "2.0" line. 
While I've been hoping for "blank" or "unpainted" opaque figures like White Star Astro-Nautilus
for a while now, I always imagined them cheaper and sold individually.
A giant boxed set of 8 figures with practically no paint screams
"completeist only," which is no doubt why the 200-set run didn't sell
out at Comic-Con and why people aren't exactly screaming to get these. A
few samples were being flipped on eBay for $200 per boxed set, but
oddly nobody is splitting up the sets to sell singles just yet. Given
the increasing prices and decreasing customer base for the line, I hope
future, similar sets are sold individually just to encourage
less-hardcore fans to jump on board. Were I new to this line, dropping
$240 on 14 figures at 1 booth at a show would be pretty terrifying.
It's time for finals! Already! The great Mel Birnkrant reached out to the blog to say howdy and share links to dozens of new photos and stories about the upcoming and presumably close-to-final Outer Space Men action figures.
This figure was a long time coming - Colossus Rex
was first shown, fully-painted, to the public at Comic-Con in July
2011. As of my writing this, I've been home from SDCC for mere hours
and I just popped this figure open - and it's incredibly great, if you
like this kind of thing. Based on the 1968 original design from
Colorforms, this new figure comes packaged with Horroscope and Ohproatem
in a box rather than in bags with header cards. Interestingly, my
sets were swapped - the box showed the opposite set's characters on it
instead, for both packs. As far as I know they're all like this so
don't have a heart attack when you open the first box - it's probably
the correct set.
The Outer Space Men
line has been on a pretty level trajectory since its start in 2010,
with figures basically meeting expectations as to what you get for your 
I dig Cyclops
even if red doesn't shoot all that well. We've had plenty of red
clear Outer Space Men (Inferno, Astro-Nautilus, Mystron, Commander
Comet) so why not do one more? The big beast looks great in red, in
person at least. Red can be tricky to shoot right, but if you're not an
expert in photography they're all a little tricky. I am not an expert.
New! Shots of the 2013 Outer Space Men are up at FourHorsemen.biz, showing off how the figures will be grouped this time around. If you're just looking to complete your set of the vintage characters, that ain't going to happen because each one is paired with two brand-new characters. (I for one dig it.)
The post also teases that the Alpha Phase 2013 figures - one-color clear figures - will be announced soon with pre-orders and pricing, but that information is not yet available.
I got a few emails and tweets asking what was going on with these, as it was previously hinted the Cosmic Creators Mel Birnkrant Edition Waves 3 and 4 of Outer Space Men would be shipped in the near future. 36 of the 200 sets remain up for grabs.
There are two things you may wish to see:
Sometimes a high price stings for a long time, and with Gemini
time has softened it a bit. It still hurts, particularly given how
lush the fully-painted figure looked when he showed up at my house
recently at a lower price to boot. But I do love orange. So much.
Gemini is one of only two figures to be cast in orange so far, the other
being Xodiac from the very first release of these figures back in 2010.
Both the orange and the yellow plastics match fairly closely, making
this a worthwhile bright and shiny addition to your toy shelf. If
you've got a little extra cash to waste, that is, otherwise just get the
painted one.
One of the unfortunate thing about the Outer Space Men
line is that we get unpainted exclusives of each figure roughly six
months prior to the official painted releases, and in that time
expectations can start to go up. Gemini, with his high piece
count, looked like he was going to be fantastic, and the truth is he
turned out quite well. The only real drawback I found was sort of
nitpicky, and that's with the deco. Molded in white plastic (like the
rest of this series) the figure's yellow paint seems a little rougher
than the rest of the line, which tends to be pretty clean and glossy.
For all I know, it's just my sample, but it definitely lacks the sort of
polish that the other dozen or more painted figures have received so
far. Thankfully the silver face paint and clear helmets turned out
perfectly, so the end result is a very good action figure that, in
nearly any other line, would be spectacular. With wave mates like
Cyclops it's hard to look awesome, but the sculpting makes this a fairly
weighty release.