When the Outer Space Men made their return in 2010, they were as alien to me as they are alien. After that introduction, I learned what I could and wrote an article about them, learned more through lengthy e-mail conversations with their original creator, Mel Birnkrant, and happily gobbled up the line as they rolled out. Thing is, when I saw the original thirteen designs, I had a clear favorite: the Man from the Fourth Dimension, Gamma-X.

Now, because the way my lucks runs, Gamma-X would end up being the last of the original thirteen for the Four Horsemen to recreate. So, four years after I started collecting the new OSM, Gamma-X made his way into my hot, chubby little hands. And… I forget I had him. The Four Horsemen had generously provided some OSM & Power Lords samples to me last year. We ran a week of OSM reviews. We ran a week of Power Lords review. And, Gamma-X, because I wanted to spend more time on head was held back… and then life got in the way. A promotion at work. My wife was pregnant. And my happy little OSM Infinity display went on without a key member.

Last week, it was reported that the Four Horsemen’s Outer Space Men license had reached its end. It’s bittersweet as the 4H introduced me to the OSM and their sculpting talent has basically overtaken my shelves. We’ve also got so many Treadaways at this point that we probably can’t count them all. The upside is that OSM isn’t done – the line will continue with the aid of the uber-talented Matt Doughty from Onell Designs. I don’t know a toy line that will have had so many superstar talents with a hand in the mix. I think there’s a lot to look forward to, but first I need to look back.

Gamma-X was in the fabled & unreleased second series of the Outer Space Men back when, so he’s not as widely known nor does he hail from a planet in our Solar System. Instead, he hails from the Fourth Dimension. His packaging featured crazy geometrical shapes and had the coolest planet icon in the upper right corner – it was Earth, but shaped like a cubed bizarro-world. It was inside a sphere, inside another cube being bisected by a plane, and then a star orbiting the whole thing. It’s unique among the designs and stands out as a result.

The figure itself carried that geometric theme over. Of all the designs, Gamma is the least organic. He still has the bipedal, humanoid design – he’s an Outer Space Man – but his features are largely all faceted giving him an almost robot like appearance.

The Four Horsemen carried that over faithfully to their version of the figure, right down to the uneven limbs and elongated feet. It’s a great sculpt and this is probably a good time to remind everyone again that the 4H sculpted these 1:1.

Now, for the most part, I don’t display the OSM with their helmets. We’re here on Earth last I checked and while they may not theoretically breathe oxygen, we overlook it so I can see the great head sculpts. Gamma though, he makes that tough. Gamma features more of a shell than a helmet. It’s nearly full-bodied, going from head to thigh and encapsulating his whole upper torso & head. And he looks that much cooler with it on. The extra circles, particularly the lenses through which he would see the world really enhance the figure and so he’s going to be keeping it. I do have to point out that it tends to only really close at one end or the other, so if you have it tight at the top for the accessory (I’ll get to that) then the bottom will be open. It stays on just fine though. Continue to Page 2…