Astro-Nautilus The Man from Neptune Outer Space Men Action Figure Xpress San Diego Comic-Con Exclusives Item No.: n/a Manufacturer: Four Horsemen Includes: Staff, 7 more figures Action Feature: n/a Retail: $115.00 (sold as a set with Inferno, Metamorpho, Xodiac, Alpha 7, Mystron, Commander Comet, and Electron+) Availability: July 2013 Other: The Sparsely Decorated White Plastic One
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While I've been hoping for "blank" or "unpainted" opaque figures like White Star Astro-Nautilus for a while now, I always imagined them cheaper and sold individually. A giant boxed set of 8 figures with practically no paint screams "completeist only," which is no doubt why the 200-set run didn't sell out at Comic-Con and why people aren't exactly screaming to get these. A few samples were being flipped on eBay for $200 per boxed set, but oddly nobody is splitting up the sets to sell singles just yet. Given the increasing prices and decreasing customer base for the line, I hope future, similar sets are sold individually just to encourage less-hardcore fans to jump on board. Were I new to this line, dropping $240 on 14 figures at 1 booth at a show would be pretty terrifying.

But how is this one?

I have no fewer than 8 of this same figure in various colors and this is the first "unpainted" opaque release - it looks great and the statuesque deco really helps the sculpt pop out nicely, but at this stage in the game I'm a little less interested in that. I'd rather have seen this as the first Alpha Phase color, in hindsight. Recent painted versions of the figure are stunning, with rich metallic colors or eye-searingly wonderful bright neon colors. This version is much more subtle, letting you see all those suction cups, spirals, and space curves without too many distractions.

The clear blue trident is similar to the original painted version of the figure, but slightly paler. Unless you compare it to the other weapons, I doubt you'd realize it's a little different.

Using the Glyos system, this figure has just under 20 plastic pieces once disassembled. You can swap his parts with other figures, but you knew that. Assuming they can be sold as one-offs, I wouldn't mind seeing a few more figures similar to this one - maybe cast in red plastic, or an all-new paint job in octopus colors would be great! With 7 more figures in this set to review, I can't say I'm particularly excited to talk them all up or to display them, but it actually is neat to see a uniform color scheme for the series... meaning I'll be suckered in to buying the other 9 guys in white if and when they happen. I would suggest getting a painted Astro-Nautilus to just about anybody. Even the clear color figures are striking, in their own way. This one? Well, if you need more of these, here's one more.

Additional Images

Additional Outer Space Men 2013 White Star SDCC Exclusive Images

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