With Toypocalypse just a few days away, the 4H have announced an OSM poster featuring all thirteen characters… could it be that the final three will be unveiled at the show? I’m getting a little ahead of myself though- I still need to review Wave 4 featuring Electron+ and Alpha 7!
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Before I jump into the review, I do want to highlight the new Outer Space Men poster. It features artwork by one of my online buds, Nathan Baertsch (check out Nate’s DeviantArt page here!). I might have to have to a talk with Nate as it appears that all my favorites are towards the back, but how can you not love seeing them all together like this, particularly in the sculpting style done for the new figures?
Also pictured at right is the exclusive Outer Space Men Cosmic Creator’s set of Waves One & Two that will be available at Toypocalypse and later at StoreHorsemen.com. (ooh, shiny!)
Here’s the official Four Horsemen Press Release:
Click to Enlarge – (No, really) The Four Horsemen’s upcoming gallery show, Toypocalypse 2: Futuretro begins this Friday, February 10th at 7pm at the TT Underground Gallery in New York City, and the Horsemen are ready to reveal the limited edition Outer Space Men print that will be sold along with the exclusive “Cosmic Creators” Outer Space Men figures set at the show.
Painted by fan favorite artist and frequent Four Horsemen collaborator, Nathan Baertsch, this 11″ X 17″ image on high quality, uncoated, heavy card-stock is Nate’s vision of the Outer Space Men originally created by renowned designer Mel Birnkrant back in the late 60’s.
This print will be available exclusively along with the purchase of the extremely limited Outer Space Men Cosmic Creators series – The Birnkrant Edition figures set. The Cosmic Creator’s set consists of alternate versions of four of Mel Birnkrant’s most famous creations. The set featuring Metalmorpho, Deep Blue Ultra-Nautilus, Goldiac, and Blazing Inferno will be signed not only by Mr. Birnkrant himself, but also by each of the Four Horsemen. Each set of figures and OSM print is $125.00 at the Futuretro gallery show.
-FH-
As I noted last week in my Comet & Mystron review, the 4H were kind enough to send a set of the newest Outer Space Men my way for review. I had originally planned to do all four figures together, but best laid plans and all that. I do think this way turned out better, allowing me to spend a little more time on each figure. If you like these reviews in pairs better than a quartet, let me know!
Since I’m already expecting big things from this weekend’s Toypocalypse, I’m going to fall back on that old expression and start small. The coolest thing about Alpha 7 is that he represents that the OSM are not all the same size. We live in age of… uh, let’s be nice and call it uniformity, where nearly all of our figures in a given line share the same height. I generally accept it without much complaint (but really Hal Jordan ain’t as big as Superman), but that doesn’t mean I can’t praise it in the obverse. I’m happy to have Alpha at one end of the spectrum, and really looking forward to bigger characters to come.
Uniformity is an important aspect for Alpha because it also relates to the one thing about this figure that I didn’t initially like. His small stature doesn’t allow for standard size Glyos joints at his elbows and kness. It’s not a dealbreaker, because it doesn’t take away from Alpha 7 as a standard figure, but I did think it knocked some points off because it limits his Glyos compatibility… though like any good Glyos builder, I found a way to use it.
The smaller pegs actually do have an alternate use; they fit into the hands of the Outer Space Men, allowing for all manner of crazy weapon builds that the larger figures can now hold thanks to this particular piece. I’m not sure if those crazy guys in NJ cooked that up or it was a happy accident, but it turned what I once thought was a drawback into a cool feature. It may not help attach bits to Alpha, but his sacrifice helps the other OSM. Thanks, little guy.
Thanks to the accordion joints on the original, Alpha has the same basic design as his less height challenged brethren and he looks sharp in his blue metallic & yellow suit. I’m still not too keen on how the legs attach, but since it’s unique to Alpha, I’m not going to make hay about it.
Alpha includes the two extra bent arms, his helmet, detachable air tanks (jet pack?), and his trusty pistol. The pistol is particularly sweet because it was run in clear blue, but features a painted handle. The result is a pretty cool effect, as if the gun were charging up.
Alpha may not be my favorite Outer Space Men, but he’s a cool addition and his height will awlays guarantee him a spot in the front of the display! Continue to Page Two…
Great review! I love the picture with Electron finding out about Pluto! I’m gonna get these because the infinities are the ones I collect, but those birkrant editions are really tempting. Too rich for my blood though.
So, all this and nobody discusses the elephant in the room? How several of the designs are kinda sorta swipes from various sci-fi movies?
I mean, not that anyone even REMEMBERS “The Man from Planet X” anymore.
anyway, those do look like fun. It’s a pity more effort is being made to make them “rare! LIMITED! COLLECTIBLE!!! OOOHHH NOZE SOLD OUT TOO BAD” then just cranking them out, making them cheap, and letting people have a ball with them. That’s the whole ‘urban vinyl’ community style of thinking and man, you can make money but you CANNOT have growth, you just keep feeding an ever-narrowing circle of customers.
Ah well, at least I can enjoy the excellent as always reviews. 🙂
I don’t really think it is the elephant in the room, because Mel has discussed this.
http://melbirnkrant.com/osminterviews/
There is no secret. That is why I assume nothing is brought up….no one is hiding anything.
As far as your ‘limited’ argument, and the fact they don’t make many to make them collectible…..I think you are reaching there. The Infinity editions are designed to be made available for ‘Infinity’ if you will. For the first waves (1&2), there were a LOT of them made, (you can see a picture of all the boxes coming into their warehouse)….and they just recently sold out of that run. They announced they are back into production of them and they will be available for a spring restock. That doesn’t sound very limited to me.
The next Infinity waves (3&4), are also always available and can be bought in the Storehorsment right now. I would think they would go right back into production for these as well if they sold out. That doesn’t seem very limited to me either??
If you are referring to the ‘con-exclusive’ clear versions, then your argument still doesn’t really work. I have bought every version made so far, and not once has it been hard to do so. Maybe the first SDCC version, but that wasn’t even that hard. Those versions are only made as a way to help generate funds so that the 4H can move forward with other characters. Not only that, those versions are typically always a run of 300 or more. In terms or 4H figures, that is a pretty high number. Most of their variant ‘big in house figures’ are runs of about 250….and those typically take forever to sell out. You really can’t expect them to make a huge run of each figure and have to sit on all that stock that doesn’t sell out….that would kill this line immediately.
Many of those ‘limited’ figures that you say are so rare….are available at the Storehorsemen, or sponsor website for months and months after they are released. You can still get NYCC OSM on the Storehorsemen and those were released in October….you can still get the Galactic holiday edition at the store which were released in December. Many of the sponsors (i.e. AFX) have been trying for the past few months to move stock so they have been clearancing them out. So again, this doesn’t seem really limited to me. Infact, it seems pretty obvious that more than enough are made if they are clearancing them off and they still are not moving.
My point is, your argument is flawed because is just simply isn’t true. The only thing I think I can agree with is that the variants are priced high. But again, this comes back to the fact that they are being made to generate funds to move the line forward. And while the prices do seem high, you need to look at the rest of action figure market and see that these prices are right in line these days.
Well, I have to own up, I guess I am ignorant on this, so, there’s that. I’ve never really looked at Storehorseman as I just don’t have any real interest in their product. I know, that makes me at least apostate if not an outright heathen, but they really don’t do anything for me. 🙂
My apologies all around.
No worries Steve. I just didn’t want misinformation out there about the line.
As far as your lack of interest…..this line seems like people are either all in….or have no interest at all. There doesn’t seem much in between. Obviously we are both on different ends of that spectrum. 😉
Oh, if I could buy OSM in a store I’d be all over it. I’d prefer they be Major Matt Mason size and made of rubber but even so.
I was referring to the other 4 Horsemen toys, which while I can admire them from a technical standpoint, leave me utterly cold.
You need a Scarabus, my friend.
What I *NEED* is Space Ghost with 32 POA, and Magnus Robot Fighter with robots that go *SQUEEEEEE* when he chops them in half, and…and… 🙂
Space Ghost would make a cool figure in the OSM scale… O.o
It’s ok Electron+, March 13 is Pluto Planet Day (in New Mexico anyways). How many other planets have their own day?
i love the kirk bit, but come on… space is still plenty cool. especially w/ some of the recent reveals, like the deep space long exposure shot and the insane number of exoplanets we have now identified, and then NASA just released that 3D moon map… great shiz man. never has there been more need for imagination to run wild and toys needed to spur young minds to ponder the heavens.
Is it too late for my to get into this line if all I want are the “normal” colored ones?
Nope.
http://www.shopfourhorsemen.com/
Waves 3 & 4 are in stock. Waves 1 & 2 will be restocked in a couple months.
Thanks for the link Fire King! I meant to post that the other night, but I had too much going on.
Anyone ever read C.S. Lewis’ “The Space Trilogy”?
In the books Lewis described space travel, other planets, and extraterrestrial life in a far different manner than the way we currently imagine it with science, film, art, etc… Space was filled with light, planets were filled with benevolent creatures of all shapes and size. The extraterrestrials had a very different ideology on life, culture, and society than what we have on Earth. It all seemed to have a warm, glowing “Kum ba yah” feel to it. Anyways, I get the same vibe from the Outer Space Men that I got from those books. After reading that interview posted above, it seems Birkrant created the line with that same vibe. Whether he’d ever read the books or not I don’t know.
Where’s that little flying saucer from again?
Club Penguin? I think. I found it at TRU.