We’re wrapping up our Four Horsemen theme week with a look at a much anticipated edition to the 4H’s Outer Space Men line: The Man from Earth! When the Colorforms Company debuted the OSM in 1968, Mattel’s Major Matt Mason was flying high. So, basically, Earth was well represented in the “action figure” aisle.
In modern times, the good astronaut hasn’t made an appearance in quite some time, so once the 4H & Mel Birnkrant started adding characters to the classic property, it was only natural to add a human (or two) into the mix. After over forty years, we finally have the true Man from Earth, Captain Jack Asteroid.
Let me get one thing out of the way before I dig in. I hate his name. I will happily file this opinion under my usual fuddy-duddiness. It just comes across as trying to be clever instead of actually being clever. It’s like someone wants to giggle every time his name is said aloud. Maybe it’s just my Kindergarten-teachin’ wife rubbing off on me. She saw the packaged figure in the shipping box, shouted “cool!” and then immediately dropped her chin, looked at me and said, “really?” Yep, really. Anyway, I’m not going to harp on it.* I’m just going to call him Jack, but the name has given me the impression that he’s kind of a jerk and you may notice that in the photos. Just puttin’ that out there.
* – The Jack/Terra bio even takes a dig at folks like me by pointing out that the world could use more levity. Levity is something I usually try to provide here at IAT, but just not on this particular point!
Name aside, the figure itself is awesome. Sure, it’s mostly smart reuse. We’ve got the Metamorpho/Inferno body with its basic OSM spacesuit in human proportions and only a new head doing the heavy lifting, but that’s exactly all Jack needed to be. The new head sculpt is great – I’m not sure if the 4H were going for a specific likeness (how cool would young Mel have been here?), but he does look familiar to me somehow? Even if he’s just a scratch head, he definitely looks like a cocky, space jockey/adventurer.
The articulation is still fine for the line. The Power Lords Soldiers and their injected ball-joint Glyos ports almost take away from the OSM, but the Glyos swivels can get a lot of jobs done just fine. The basic figure has 13 swivel joints thanks to the parts and 10 of those (neck, shoulders, wrists, waist, hips, and ankles) are useful for posing. Continue to Page 2…
Great review, pics, and comics. Wish I could’ve picked these OSM figures up, but money, space, and limited numbers made that impossible.
The fully-painted Infinities are usually easy to come by; that doesn’t do much for the first two problems though. 🙂
His dad is Kick Asteroid. lol This is why I love IAT!
Subtlety is my thing. 🙂
The name, the cockyness, all that stuff is 100 percent Mel Birnkrant. I think we’re all just jealous that Jack gets to hang out with Terra Firma and we don’t. 😉
I also like the fact that a senior citizen names his character Jack Asteroid and a taht much younger reviewer waves his finger at him and shouts “Tut! Tut!”
I hope I retain my capacity to alienate youngsters when I’m that old! 😉
I have little doubt that you will capably alienate people well into your golden years. 😉
I think you kinda hit the nail on the head in terms of them being 100% Mel. Having poured over his site like a kid in a candy store many times, so much of what he talks about in regards to the OSM is about him getting out of their way. The newer figures just don’t feel like they came from the same place as the others to me, but everyone’s mileage will vary.
I was going to ask about the dolphin. You can kinda see NA, but for SA, you have to look at it at the right angle to see it.
and you missed out on some Duran Duran jokes. 😉
Do share any missed jokes. 😉
I don’t mind the artistic Earth there really, but that Jupiter on Rex is soooo cool.
It just comes across as trying to be clever instead of actually being clever. It’s like someone wants to giggle every time his name is said aloud.
You just need to use longer dramatic pauses between the two words.
I do talk really fast, so I’d fall for this hook, line, & sinker every time.
Also, I just tried your slowing down suggest five or six times. I think it’s worse. 🙂
Though not as bad as doing the “Bond”: Asteroid. Jack Asteroid. lol
The newer figures come from exactly the same place (Mel) just 40 plus years later. Mel loves puns and he has a delightfully naughty sense of humor.
If you’re ever been in Mel’s living room and seen an incredible vintage Marionette of a burlesque dancer you would know where the inspiration for Terra Firma’s proportions come from.,
Sadly, the most Jack Asteroid does for me is wish with all my heart for a Major Matt Mason revival from Mattel. Oh, sure, they’d COMPLETELY screw it up, overprice it, focus on the wrong figures and other ‘internet outrage’ worthy atrocities, but dammit, at least TRY, ya know?
Here, I’ll lay out what I would want done: Figures would be scaled and 100% compatible with the vintage figures. Solid plastic with lots of points of articulation hidden by the joints of the space suit. Female astronauts would join the team, at least one. There would be versions of the figures in non-spacesuit style. There would be at least one new vehicle styled in the same way as the vintage toys. If the tooling could be found, vintage vehicles/accessories would be remade.
Yeah, that’s completely insane, I know. If Mattel can’t make house-owned property MOTU a sustainable evergreen product line, what chance, in this ‘turn our backs on Space’ world we currently live in, would Major Matt Mason have?