Metamorpho and Astro Nautilus certainly struck me standouts, but what I loved then, and still love now, is that they capture that “space age” feel and one of the biggest compliments I can pay these figures is that they make me wish I could have been around during that time and place of the 1960s to be at the height of the wonder that is outer space, and the possibility that these guys could be making their way from the beyond. So, when I first saw the prototypes for the first two series, I was able to take them completely on their own merits. Naturally, as the original line was released in the 1960s it was well before my time, but the release of the ColorForms of the 1980s squeaked under my radar as well. I have readily admitted that, prior to the 4H getting their hands on this license, I had never head of the OSM. The Outer Space Men offer that in galactic-sized doses.
That is something that transcends all of the talk, the sculpt, the paint (both of which are, of course, great), and everything else because when you have a action figure in your hand, it is supposed to inspire imagination and creativity. They have been adding their fantastic updates to the original toys/concepts developed by the great Mel Birnkrant for a few years now, and with every single release, you get more opportunity for imagination than some entire properties can muster. Well, when they are not busy working on those lines, or a myriad of lines for Mattel, they are keeping themselves busy churning out figures that hold the same spirit of original toy lines - The Outer Space Men.
Original toy properties are almost unheard of these days when some other media is not already present, but, man, if the Four Horsemen aren’t making a go of it with their 7th Kingdom and Gothitropolis lines. You know, there is something so cool about a toy line where the action figures come first.