Four Horsemen acquire
their first licensed property…

NoisyDvL5

Forty-two years ago the space race between the United States and Russia was in full swing, and a full wave of action figures known as “The Outer Space Men” was released that caught the imagination of a generation. Although the initial salvo of characters was well received, the characters that were to be part of the second wave, collectively referred to as “The World of Tomorrow”, never made it into production and currently only exist as elaborate prototypes / production samples in the homes of a couple of fortunate collectors.

Fast forward to today… Four Horsemen Toy Design Studios have been able to have a hand in the successful re-launches of many of their favorite toy lines from their childhood, but a few of their favorite properties have so far been unobtainable to them – until now.

Collaborating closely with the property’s creator, Mel Birnkrant, the Four Horsemen are proud to announce their first venture into licensed properties – The Outer Space Men!

Already well into production, the first two 3-3/4 inch scaled waves of The Outer Space Men will consist of two characters per wave.

Wave one will be Astro-Nautilus: the Man from Neptune featuring four articulated tentacles and his regal undersea trident; and Inferno: the Flame Man of Mercury wielding his fiery flame blaster and removable helmet!

Wave two will contain Xodiac: the Man from Saturn along with his Saturnian scepter, disintegrator pistol, and removable helmet; and Metamorpho: the Man from Alpha Centauri brandishing his morpho-gun, alpha sensor, and transforming facial features!

The Outer Space Men creator, Mel Birnkrant has given the Four Horsemen full access to all of the OSM archives in order to assure the highest quality and coolest new interpretations of the characters possible, but the collaboration doesn’t end there…

In an effort to re-introduce The Outer Space Men to as wide an audience as possible, new play features have been added into this new version of a classic toy line! Working directly with Matt Doughty, owner of Onell Designs, the Four Horsemen have incorporated Onell Designs’ innovative Glyos joint system into The Outer Space Men, making them almost 100% compatible with all of Onell designs’ releases! The Outer Space Men is something that both the Four Horsemen and Matt have been discussing for years now, and it just seemed like the perfect property in which to incorporate the phenomenal Glyos “fit function”.

As production nears completion, more images and product availability info will be released. The release of The Outer Space Men marks a new approach to action figure production for the Four Horsemen, and more info about this, other announcements and what role the Horsemen’s FANtastic Exclusive venture will play in all of this will come next week.

50 thoughts on “Four Horsemen acquire
their first licensed property…”

  1. I’ve never even heard of these before, but they’re kinda neat! I like the two more astronaut like monsters on the left most.

  3. I’ve seen the originals….it seems a waste really…I mean of all the licences the 4H could aquire….they’ve done it again, another worthless property no one will be interested in.

    1. Are you serious?

      Pretty negative if so….from what I have read, there are already alot of people that have interest in this line and are very excited. Myself included.

      It’s a bummer you see it as such a worthless property.

    2. There’s a market for these. It may not be big, but it doesn’t have to be for the Horsemen to turn a respectable profit at that level. Bigger properties should be handled by bigger companies. This is a perfecf fit in my opinion.

      The only crime here is that we won’t be getting a 3 3/4 Glyos Matt Mason to go with these.

      1. I’m sure they 4HM can make a generic ‘human’ astronaut in this line….and just not call him Matt Mason. That may be good enough?

        1. I’d still love to get a true Matt Mason, but adding a human character to the line could sooth that pain.

          1. That would be an awesome touch to get a Matt Mason-esque character at some point! 🙂

      2. I think Tom has the right idea here. The 4H are a growing company that are a perfect for smaller licenses like these. There’s real potential for success here, both for the franchise and for the 4H.

        And with enough of these kinds of successes under the belt, I think they can work their way up to more “worthwhile” properties. 😉

    3. *rolls eyes*

      It would be awesome to hear your recommended list of properties the 4H should’ve done instead.

      And don’t say stuff like Thundercats, which is unavailable.

    4. What have the 4H “done again”?
      Acquired a license? Nope, this is the first licensed work they’ve done.

      What toys have they made that no one is interested in? MOTU? DCUC? Their own 7th Kingdom stuff? Nope, those are all popular.

      So what are you talking about?

      Bad grammar isn’t really relevant, is it? -Mr. Rant

      1. well, it’s not as if everything they’ve made has flown out the doors. despite support from a fanatic fanbase, and decent prices for the original m7 on ebay, other products have been met w/ considerably cooler responses.

        that said, while these aren’t a must have for me, or apparently, mark, i do think there’s enough features here to lure in WAY more popular support than fan ex has pulled to date, and a line compatible w/ a several other commercial lines right now, which will also help. i foresee good things on the horizon for this project… though i’m wondering how the boys intend to juggle fan ex, 7th k, motuc, dcuc, and OSM? that seems like an awfully big platter for a five and 1/2 man crew.(i count o-dawg as half a horsemen)

      2. dayraven, how is having “a fantatic fanbase,” as you put it, the same as putting out “another worthless property no one will be interested in,” as Mark put it. All of the Four Horsemen products may not be huge and instantaneous sellouts, but clearly there are some people who are interested in them, as you pointed out. Certainly more people than “no one.”

        1. I edited his grammar, Domu, so that we could discuss his opinion and not focus on trolling him for how it was conveyed. Nitpicking grammar is a pet peeve of mine. I’d rather stick to discussing the opinion and not resort to that kind of attack.

          And, yes, I will edit out all personal attacks on other commenters out of yours or anyones posts every time I see them. That’s the way I run my site.

          If you find Mark’s opinion offensive, that’s understandable. But you’ll have to respond to him without nitpicking his grammar or namecalling. If you have a problem with that drop me or Mr. Rant an e-mail, any more comments on the policy will be deleted.

          1. How do you discuss an opinion based on nothing, or worse, that which is factually incorrect?
            Nothing Mark wrote is of any merit. It is the same trolling that you are accusing me.
            He’s not stating an opinion. He’s stating untrue things. There’s nothing wrong with confronting things which are not true, in my opinion. But your site, your rules, your interpretation, in the end.

            If Mark isn’t interested in these, if he hates them, then that would be his opinion. Telling everyone that no one is interested in these and that they are of no worth is not an opinion. It is an untrue statement. Stating that this is part of some larger pattern of failure by the 4H is way more mean spirited than anything I wrote.

            Words matter, right? That’s why you are cleaning up after me. So why don’t you think that Mark’s words matter? They are negative and corrosive. You are clearly not at all afraid to edit people’s posts, so why not do some real cleaning?

            And I have no problem with you deleting this too. I’m just too lazy to send an email.

            Btw, you probably have some clean up to do down at the end.

            1. This is an excellent post.

              I do see your point about his comments. I disagree with him myself. And I also see that nitpicking grammar is a landmine that you inadvertantly stepped into when Mr. Rant made his call. I still back that call. It was probably wrong of me to edit the grammar into his post, but I didn’t mind the open discussion of his opinion and wanted to avoid any further distraction from that.

              I’m for confronting untruths, but I think it’s important to do so respectably. I can’t abide folks leaving comments with antagonizing screen names and namecalling. This is the first time since the site opened that I’ve been put in this position and I know it won’t be the last, so I feel the need to stop it swiftly anytime I see it. I have to accept that I will likely fail miserably as a moderator in the eyes of some because we all draw lines in different ways. His post, for whatever reason, simply doesn’t trip my need to moderate. I thought it was unfortunate when I read it, but it didn’t occur to me that it needed to be moderated.

              These rules may seem unfair to some, because they probably are, but like you said, our site, our rules, our interpretation. We’ll learn as we go.

              1. Noisy, I truly do respect you. And I know I am caustic as often as not. I appreciate your patience. And I apologize for the screen name thing. After the first time, it was not intentional, but inattentiveness on my part to my browser auto-filling that in.

                I do disagree that grammar doesn’t matter. I do think it can show a sloppiness in the thought put behind a post. English can be used to be incredibly precise in expressing one’s thoughts. It can also be used poorly and have the opposite effect.

                I’d guess that Mark really meant to say something along the lines of, “I don’t like these. They are a disappointment to me, as are some of the other choices made by the 4H. I wish the 4H would make such and such instead.”

                That being the case, I think ridicule can be a good teacher at times. But it’s not my website, so it’s not my call. I apologize to you for not following your rules.

                I like what I like, and I don’t like what I don’t like. And I tend to just let it out. Again, your house, so I’ll better monitor myself while here.

                And if I’ve been keeping you up with this silliness, I’m sorry about that too.

                1. You haven’t been keeping me up. I’m working on an article about the original Outer Space Men that, perhaps ironically, will hopefully increase some folks appreciation of this announcement. I wasn’t sure what to think myself at first, but as I’ve been delving into the original line as research, I’m more excited by what I’m finding out. Hopefully, I can convey some of that excitement in my article.

                  Frankly, this has been an interesting experience. As I said, it’s my first real challenge moderating the comments section. In a way, it’s good that it’s the “devil I know” …so to speak. 😉

                  You’ve definitely raised some interesting points and I’ll have to sit down with everybody and decide how we can better handle certain situations going forward.

                  1. Then I’ll stop distracting you 😉

                    You’ve earned your quick rise to the top of toy blogs with some really solid content. Keep up the good work. I look forward to the article.

                    (I wouldn’t give my points much attention. What do I know about running a website? That I disagree with some things is probably a good sign that you’re doing things right. =)

                  2. I am sorry my post caused so many comments, if it is such a bother and offence to certain people, please delete it.

                    Thank you very much for editing my post, I should have checked it more, it was just done quickly and I should have made my point clearer.

      3. Apologies for th bad grammer, I guess I should have went into more detail so you could possibly have understood my point better.

  4. YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES!

    As I said it the forums 1:18 scale, Interchangeability, Sci-Fi, 4HM, Onell Design –

    This line has EVERYTHING a collector of Microman / Micronauts could want outside of the Original line. These will be a must buy line and probably by the case. If there is a down side its that two figures at a time might be to slow for me. Hopefully sales will be strong enough on series 1 & 2 that 3 will be 4 figures.

  5. These look like Matt Mason type figures. That’s cool. Will there be a regular dude?

      1. I wonder what the possibility of *new* characters would be. Hopefully, the 4H are prepared to answer a lot of questions. 😀

  8. Never heard of these guys before, but they look AMAZING! I’ll be buying them all for certain.

    1. I hadn’t until one of our forum members brought it up just a few days ago. The more I read about it, the cooler they get.

  10. Pingback: Tweets that mention Four Horsemen acquire their first licensed property… « It'sAllTrue.Net -- Topsy.com

  11. that’s the nice thing about the 1:18th scale (cue tek’s theme music) w/ some many properties moving to that scale recently, you literally have a very in depth world now to display these guys w/… they can plague the BPRD, tango w/ the MU, assault a joe PIT ala mars attacks, dry hump wonder woman in the dcih line, etc… lots of possibility. now, if someone creates a dr who 1:18th line, w/ in scale accessories… he will make his nut and pass out.

    can’t wait to read that excellent and proactive article, BTW… thank the maker we have the noisy mojo working full steam ahead!!

    1. Hey dayraven, can you try to keep the inappropriate content out of your otherwise thoughtful posts, please?
      Noisy has a PG-13 thing going here, but you seem to push that with a lot of your comments.
      “dry hump wonder woman”
      “he was caught sniffing marlena’s soiled undergarments by the royal guard…”
      “matty did me this month, hard and fast, and not even a towel thrown at me afterwards”
      I realize you are attempting humor, but usually it comes across as just gross.
      Thanks =)

  12. I don’t know anything about the property really, but I do like the designs and would be interested depending on how often they’ll come out and cost. I do really like the look of them though.

    1. I’m glad I don’t have to import much stuff. I see the imports that Vault picks up and I’m jealous, but I’m not jealous of the money spent.

Comments are closed.