While Terra Firma was revealed to the world first, Jack Asteroid
worked out well as a variation on the theme. For all intents and
purposes, Mr. Asteroid is the 21st Century Major Matt Mason stand-on.
The original Outer Space Men were made by Colorforms to be
compatible with Mattel's line, and since Mattel isn't doing anything
with Major Matt Mason (and indeed may never) it's reasonable that this
Space Race toy line needed its token human white male astronaut. The
orange-suited figure is an insanely clever reuse of Terra Firma's helmet
and accessories with Metamorpho's body and a new head. One of the big
selling points of figures (like this one) that use the Glyos system is
that you can swap around parts, but it seems this is mostly used for
customization purposes or color-swaps. With Jack Asteroid, they're
giving us what amounts to a completely new figure just by using paint
and existing accessories - kudos.
[ READ THE FULL REVIEW ]
I was pretty surprised to see Terra Firma
at a New York event for The Four Horsemen a few years ago - not only
was she the first new member of this group in decades, but she was
rather shapely. Having a fairly limited background in such things I
thought her form looked a lot like Little Annie Fanny character I saw in
a Hake's Auction catalog that got mailed to me, which I later found out
was a Playboy cartoon character, which I wasn't interesting enough to
know already because... when you meet my parents, it'll all make sense
to you then. This nifty new figure draws heavily on real-world space
program elements like her orange suit and the overall coloring on the
figure, plus builds on the 1962 cartoon character's built-in 1960s-ness
from Harvey Kurtzman and Will Elder. Borrowing from that which came
before is smart - the original Outer Space Men aliens were
derived from the back pages of films showcased in the likes of Famous
Monsters of Filmland, so it's only appropriate to have Terra's origin
come from contemporary magazines.
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Back in May of 2010, I was blown away when I saw the announcement that not only would I be getting some Outer Space Men
figures, but they'd be 3 3/4-inch scale, Glyos compatible,
fully-poseable, and made by the Four Horsemen. That first batch was
glorious - each figure was well made, freely able to stand or sit and
everything just plain worked. Figures could sit in vehicles, the
glow-in-the-dark figure glowed quite well, and they were a very
reasonable $10 each - despite being super-low-run figures. A few years
on, edition sizes of 200 struggled to sell out and by the time we got to
Gamma X, it feels we just limped over the finish line to update the classic Mel Birnkrant action figure property. Some were good - Colossus Rex,
for example, was an exceptional figure and arguably the apex of what
Glyos compatibility has given us - but as the line went on, each year we
saw new problems. Figures may tumble off your desk due to weak hip
joints, or they couldn't quite sit, or in the case of Gamma X... I've
got a lot of complaints.
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The inspiration for Horroscope
started as one of many original designs over the years, the name of
which came from an old movie monster projector toy. (It's true, I
asked!) Sketches of the character originally started out as an
alternate head for Xodiac, but instead ended up has his daughter.
Building on Terra Firma's parts, Horroscope has a unique chest not yet
used on any other figure - note the lack of the flat surface used to
mount a helmet. Her accessories are cleverly repurposed from Xodiac,
and her new 2-part head was designed quite nicely. This is a keeper.
[ READ THE FULL REVIEW ]
I will always have problems spelling Ohpromatem
but I will say this - she's impressive. The concept originated from
some Mel Birnkrant sketches that seemingly were made for the male
Metamorpho body, but instead the development bent the gender into
something just as creepy and arguably more interesting. She's also the
kind of thing I think I need to hide, because this is the first and
only figure I can name that actually has light-up breast functionality.
How am I supposed to explain this to visitors?
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As we look at White Star Xodiac
- which I feel is pretty good - we're at a point where I think we can
all say that we've seen the bulk of what this line has to offer and how
it shook out. On the bright side, those of us who were too young (or
not yet on this planet) got a shot at some really cool characters,
rendered in a wonderful sturdy style. Also, it served as a stern
reminder of how fickle the collector market continues to be as most of
the figures were available for half price at some point or another if
you were willing to wait. Most of the "Alpha phase" figures sold
quickly, and there were a couple of fast-selling specials, but when you
get right down to it this is another line that the history books say you
could've saved a couple hundred bucks if you just waited it out on most
of them, even if it meant paying a premium on eBay for the "rare" ones -
it turned out the marketplace for the line was indeed small, but on the
bright side I actually have some of these guys. You can't win 'em
all, but I had a good time - and this is a pretty good figure despite
being stupendously lacking in deco.
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Since its debut in 2010, Outer Space Men figures have been erratically priced - bafflingly so, in some cases - so a higher-dollar figure like Colossus Rex
inspires scrutiny. At $26, you might ask "is it any good?" The good
news is that unlike the fairly awful Gamma X from the same release, Mr.
Rex is actually pretty awesome. When you pick it up, you can see
details that remind you that yes, this was indeed designed by the same
Four Horsemen that bring you Masters of the Universe Classics and other greats, while Gamma X reminds you that some things really aren't worth the wait.
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