The Outer Space Men, LLC Outer Space Men Astrodite Action Figure The Outer Space Men, LLC, 2018
Day #2,025: September 25, 2018
Astrodite The Woman from Venus
Outer Space Men Action Figures
Item No.: n/a Manufacturer:The Outer Space Men Includes:Wings, staff, helmet, crossbow, alternate bent limbs Action Feature:Pops apart, gives other toys inferiority complex Retail:$35.00 Availability: ca. June 2018 - Five Points Festival Debut Other: Big Blue Hair from Venus
Figures like the long-awaited Astrodite make me wish the Four Horsemen's "Hopper Block" figure stands came out - she could benefit from a display stand. The exquisitely-sculpted figure made her debut at a Toy Fair-adjacent Four Horsemen-run party and exhibition where toy nerds ran rampant in 2013. We were waiting for this one for five years, continuing the proud tradition of making fans wait for The Outer Space Men. The figure finally shipped to American fans in 2018, with some mail orders taking a little while, but the important thing is she landed. Effectively a female Commander Comet [FOTD #330], Astrodite takes the same Glyos-based construction and gives you a new character whose ankles touch and make her hard to balance. It's still awesome.
Debuting fully painted rather than a clear figure, the golden figure is much brighter than my archival Comet figure with similar, almost matching accessories. The colors are a smidgen off (expected, run six years later) but she's right at home on Venus.
Our 3 3/4-inch hero stands a smidgen shorter than Comet, fitting in nicely with your other space figures of this scale and towering over recent Princess Leia figures. I see these aliens as larger-than-life and more than human, which means she will fit right in with super heroes and other slightly larger figures of a 1:18 scale nature.
Articulation is standard. Astrodite has about 12 moving parts, plus the wings and rotating torso triangle. Let movement is good, but hardly perfect - she can't sit at a standard right angle, preventing full compatibility with appropriately sized vehicles. Standing is tricky since the feet meet in the center, so balancing her correctly or investing in a small doll stand may be wise until the day someone manufactures Glyos stands. Given the size of the hobby, it's probably not good business to do that.
While the figure's body is consistent with previous figures, the head is really good. The metallic blue hair practically foreshadows the teal, turquoise, and blue locks which have become increasingly popular in the past year while the body looks like it came from a cartoon in Playboy magazine fifty years ago. Her head is designed to recall that of ancient Greek statuary, with a strong nose and chin. The hair has a golden halo inside it, with perfectly painted eyes and lips. A sculpted smirk can be seen in the corner of her mouth, making this a particularly expressive figure and another truly fine example of just how good a 3 3/4-inch figure can look. Of course, you're paying accordingly.
The figure's armaments include a winged staff and a golden crossbow, more or less the same things Commander Comet came with. The colors are close. She seems like another person from the same planet, with the same government-issued Venus suit complete with, uh, boob tubes and a bubblegum pink helmet. It's worth noting that the figure itself is cast in white plastic, like a lot of the later releases from this line.
At $35.00, I'm cringing at the price a bit because her sisters and brothers debuted at about $10 per a few years ago. The economic realities of inflation and rising costs in China are probably only going to get worse as we press on, plus the new tooling for this figure was not amortized over a trio of clear releases first. (Having said that - Gary, if you're reading, I'd like a clear pink Astrodite or a "marble" one. Or glow.) If this is the one and only release of the tooling, $35 is reasonable for a low-run high-quality figure and I'm happy to pay it. Given that $20 can get your 6-inch mega-articulated figures with printed-on likenesses at your local store, you may bristle at $35 for an indie. I get it. But as 3 3/4-inch, low-run, stunning figures go? You probably can't do better for the money this year. (Luna Eclipse is pretty amazing, though.)
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