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.
I have enjoyed the Cosmic Radiation Zero Gravity figure, but it's wildly inessential. Regular Zero Gravity [FOTD #2,041]
already glows in the dark and for $5 more has a cardback and a more
interesting paint job. The Infinity version has a preposterously
detailed human head, thanks in part to some of the best paint you'll see
on a human head the size of a peanut. Commander Comet is often
similarly as good - you can't not be impressed by it. 
I was expecting a glow-in-the-dark version of Jack Asteroid - which we got - but to get a new character like Zero Gravity too? I'm surprised. He costs more than the original Jack Asteroid figure and has less paint, but the dude friggin' glows.
The fully Glyos-compatible astronaut has alternate bent/straight arms
and can be taken apart at nearly every point of articulation, and then
some. That little moon ingot pops off, the helmet dismantles to 3
pieces, and the figure has an ab and a belt joint. The mold should
look familiar - it was first released as the glow-in-the-dark Alpha
Phase Metamorpho in 2010, and was subsequently released as multiple
Metamorpho and Jack Asteroid bodies, most of which was reused for other
figures in the first couple years of the line. It's the perfect generic
humanoid template, they could keep more heads coming and I'd probably
buy even more redeco figures.
Also
interesting, Xodiac’s weapon received a semi-late change before
production in 2010. The butt of the gun is actually a Glyos peg,
whereas the mechanicals for it (seen here with the PMS colors: http://database.glyos.com/2011/08/xodiac-glyaxia-command.html) show it rounded off.
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.
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. 
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.
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. 
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.
The Four Horsemen posted another Infinity Edition carded figure! A carded sample of Horroscope has been posted for your viewing pleasure along with the promise of shots of the other ones over the next few days.
