The Outer Space Men, LLC Outer Space Men Galactic Holiday Cebbriac of the Voidrillion Command Orbitron Action Figure The Outer Space Men, LLC, 2022
Day #2,505: January 26, 2023
Cebbriac of the Voidrillion Command Orbitron The Man from Uranus
Outer Space Men Action Figures
Item No.: n/a Manufacturer:The Outer Space Men Includes:Ray gun, star accessory Action Feature:Pops apart Retail:$25.00 Availability: December 2022 Other: And It Begins with U
I feel kind of silly that I still get really excited for new The Outer Space Men figures. If I'm getting a new head or an all-new paint job, it's difficult for me to be cynical. When the quartet that includes Galactic Holiday Cebbriac of the Voidrillion Command Orbitron dropped in December I went from "Well I skipped wave 2 and beyond for Bluestar" to "Get my wallet" in about 4 seconds. They're weird magical beings. I shouldn't spend too much time being concerned about this, I'm just going to throw on a Les Baxter record and write about the silly space man. Also worth noting, the name changed from after when I ordered the figures and before this review went live - the four-pack just called him "Voidrillion Command Orbitron," and the single figure was later renamed "Cebbriac of the Voidrillion Command." I think giving them new names is a good idea.
For those unfamiliar, the original The Outer Space Men action figures were released by Colorforms and were the brainchild of Mel Birnkrant. He has design notes up, and the originals were bendy action figures like Gumby or Major Matt Mason. The 2022 Orbitron is a redeco of a 2012 mold, and it exists as a perfect "plays with" figure for your Adventure People, Star Wars, G.I. Joe, or other 3 3/4-inch scale action figures.
The set was sold as having a "special gift" inside, and sure enough it did include sacks of clear pink accessories from the ABS parts sprue - so you get bonus helmets and blasters and other goodies. Sadly there aren't any figures to go with them - I would love to see more of these unique people from the stars. Just not a ton of them, it can get overwhelming.
I love this guy - sure, it's a riff on the Metaluna Mutant from This Island Earth, but I love that guy too. The original bendy figure from the 1960s was red and pink, and this 2022 release showed up in my house just three weeks ago and I couldn't wait to write the black repaint with a brainy color brain up. The figure comes from the same mold as his 4 1/2-inch siblings. (For those keeping track at home, there are at least eight additional flavors.)
As with before, the head is in to parts so you can pop off the brain. This time around, his gray matter is pink with subtle darker pink painted grooves. The eyes seem to be painted black and pink, instead of just pink with unpainted eyes, giving them a more lifelike shine. Given the $25 price (up from $18 for its last painted release, basically adjusted up for inflation) I appreciate that. At the right angles, the shine of the eyes look particularly creepy.
The claws on his hands and feet are painted purple to match his star on his belly region and his faux joint bands. There's also a pink dot in the middle. The overall coloring brings to mind - but does not perfectly match - Onell Design's Alien Aberration Kaisyriax [FOTD #2,499] which went up for sale around the exact same time.
The figure has pointy clear pink accessories that fit in his hand claws nicely. The figure functions as well as ever, although the neck joint on mine has a little more "give" to it than previous releases. It's still a wonderful figure, and he's jointed like an old Kenner Star Wars figure but better. Not only can he pop apart at every joint, but they have bonus ankle, knee, and bicep swivels. It's not as plush as a modern super-articulated figure from Hasbro, but I genuinely appreciate the figure's stability and the easy way he can just stand or sit without a fight.
The design aesthetic for the wave is pure Onell Design - there's no "red and green and white and blue" or anything like that, this stuff looks like it belongs with other Onell Design-decorated "crossover" figures. (I also asked Matt, and I'm on the right track here.) What surprised me, though, is that my eye for color seems to be improving - the figures almost seem like photo negatives of previous releases. Blue Colossus Rex' opposite is orange, Orbitron is white and blue (like his Whitestar figure), the brown on Luna Eclipse's negative image looks a lot like her original release, and the negative of Cthulhu Nautilus is flipped to green - a very close match to Cthulhu-Nautilus Rlyehzoth. Is it a coincidence?
Orbitron figures are usually the ones I grab when I want to fuss around with The Outer Space Men, and this one will be competing with the others for photo shoots and playset populating. There's absolutely no reason anyone needs to make a new color of an alien figure from over 50 years ago in a tiny edition size, but for those who really adore this kind of thing I can't think of a better way to drop $25. If you don't love the weird alien looks, or if you don't adore 3 3/4-inch scale figures, you won't need it. But if that's the intersection of where your toy collecting lives, go get it.
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