October Toys Outlandish Mini Figure Guys (OMFG) Series 2 Glow in the Dark Minifigures October Toys, 2012
Day #1,142: March 20, 2015
Outlandish Mini Figure Guys Series 2 Cuddlehard, Cry-Borg, Puke Knight, Shirtle, Grimm Gourd
Outlandish Mini Figure Guys (OMFG) Series 2
Item No.: n/a Manufacturer:October Toys Includes:5 figures Action Feature:n/a Retail:$10.00 Availability: December 2013 Other: Available in multiple colors, including Rotofugi's exclusive blue, UofMuscle's yellow, Little Rubber Guys' green, Kickstarter exclusive black, and Luke's Toy Store Gold
I'm a big fan of this line, but I sat on Outlandish Mini Figure Guys Series 2 Glow in the Dark Minifigures without opening them for quite some time. One of the dangers in this category is that it gets really easy to not feel a strong urge to open figures when you already have the molds in other colors, and are basically just jonesing for more glowing toys in your collection. The glow plastic used for this kind of figure seems to be changing and getting better with each new series, resulting in brighter figures as time goes on. We're already on series 3, and other figures like S.U.C.K.L.E. have made good use of the material to create compelling, weird, and bright figures to keep on your desk or toy shelves.
The series did not sell out when it debuted in 2013, but that's good for you - you can still get these at their original price while series 1 seems to be long gone. I'd suggest getting them all if you are into this kind of thing, mostly because glow in the dark toys are best bought in large groups and installed in dark rooms.
A perfect fit for glowing plastic, Grimm Gourd brings you the glowing jack-o-lantern you crave. Many figures lose detail and texture and visual detail when cast in translucent glow plastic, but this one seems just fine. The various lines still show through, and if he's brightly lit he looks like some kind of a mutant onion. It's really quite remarkable, and it shows that you can do some pretty amazing things with glow plastic if you sculpt it right.
In a dimly lit room, the teeth sort of fade away but the eyes and general form of the gourd come across quite nicely. They did a good job with the sculpt, and this is a figure that really does succeed beyond the limitations of the plastic.
Next up: Cuddlehard, another fine figure which exceeds the mandate of the form. The big wrist cuffs and large feet are easy to see without squinting, and although some of the finer details like the teeth are hard to see unless you have it catch the light just right, you can still see sculpted warts and other elements.
Nothing particularly astonishing happens after exposure to light and the glowing begins, as the silhouette isn't as obvious to read as some of the other figures in this line. Still, the design has aged pretty well and the gross-out giant tongue mascot figure works well in these sickly colors. I bet it could look even sicker, but that's tough to do with mono-colored figures until we start getting into the green speckled jellybean-type coloring. And I bet that'd be pretty cool.
Thanks to his two-part construction Puke Knight is the perfect thing for collectors of this line. The knight looks good, but even if you don't like that part you still get a glowing stream of vomit which can connect with your other Puke Knight figures, and that's sort of a big win of the tallest order. The gloopy, lumpy man of vomit stands on his hands and the various curves and gross parts are easy to see in this sculp. The face recedes a bit, but you don't need to squint to make it out in this ghostly, ghastly figure.
The knight itself is appropriately ghostly, with smooth, almost metallic plate armor and a nice deformed presence. It's almost a shame that the only glow color we see these days is green, because a red or blue knight with glowing green puke would have been the most exciting thing of the season. As it is, the knight is a great throwback to classic 1980s collectible figures and the glowing part makes it even better. The openings in the visor are a little tough to see, but the gloves, feathers, and other bits and pieces are quite visible thanks to the exaggerated proportions. It really works well here.
The multi-part chimera that is a Shirtle has a shark fin and head with a turtle's limbs and proportions, plus a t-shirt. You can do no wrong here. This is another figure where more colors of glowing plastic could have made for a real gem, but it's still great as it is. The smooth head stands apart from the limbs or shirt, plus the long arms are easy to see without fading into the curves of the body.
The glow in the dark plastic absorbs some of the subtle elements of the sculpt. His bandage is almost invisible in most lighting conditions, and his teeny eyes and teeth are now quite difficult to see. At least you've got the fin though. I'd suggest snagging a non-glow, non-clear Shirtle just so you can see all of the detail work on this one. October Toys often sells individual figures at conventions, so if you get the glow set be sure to get another Shirtle to go with it.
Rounding out the glow group is the robotic toddler Cry-Borg, which you may recall as the #1 vote-getter from round 2. The figure still balances just as well in glow, and the sculpt catches the light nicely. The open mouth, tiny eyes, giant head, and other bits and pieces really shine through the limitations of glowing plastic almost as well as the Grimm Gourd.
The sculptors and designers did a great job here, as he can stand with one foot on my desk and seemingly not wobble and fall over. There aren't many mini-figures with a glow in the dark diaper - heck, maybe this is the only one - and surely that's enough of a reason to pick up this set.
As much as I love this line, it does feel that the variety and release schedule has been a little sluggish. The desire for new sculpts can go up against the economic reality of needing multiple recolors to recoup the investment on tooling and development, and at times it does seem excessive to collect all the colors. Thankfully, glow in the dark minifigures never seem excessive and I'm pretty pleased we're still getting them every year or two. It's great to see the sculpting transcend the materials, and I'm always happy to add new glowing figures to the increasingly large clan of glowing toys in my closet. (Everybody should have a glowing toy closet.)
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