Toy Review: Xodiac by Four Horsemen

June 28, 2012 at 8:16 am | Posted in Reviews, Sci-Fi, Toys & Collectibles | Leave a comment

Back in 1968, Mel Birnkrant designed a line of alien toys for the Colorforms Company called The Outer Space Men. The wire framed, soft vinyl figures were bendable and had the same style as the Major Matt Mason toyline made by Mattel which were introduced in 1966. Unlike the Major Matt Mason figures, The Outer Space Men focused entirely on aliens.

Sadly the toys are hard to come by nowadays, and if you do come across one its generally missing it’s accessories. To see one still in the package is an extremely rare find. Thankfully Four Horsemen Studios acquired the rights to start making the toys again, and with Mel Birnkrant’s help, they’ve developed a new line of Outer Space Men figures. The new toys look very similar to the originals, but with a few differences. First off, they’re smaller. Secondly they are no longer bendable with wire frame skeletons and soft vinyl bodies. Instead they now have articulated joints and hard plastic bodies. It’s a bit of a trade off, but to have the accessories and the vintage looking packaging, it’s worth it.

To start off my review of the toyline, I’m going to begin with Xodiac: The Man From Saturn.

The one I have for review is from the Cosmic Creators Series. This is a limited run of four figures that includes a beautiful 11″x17″ art print.

The figure itself stands about 3 3/4″ in height and actually fits in with my Star Wars figures as they are about the same height (not exact, but very close). The figure has several points of articulation around the wrists, shoulders, ankles, knees, hips, and waist. Note that the elbows and knees do not bend. The figure comes with a reflective, gold colored staff, blaster, and helmet. The paint job on the figure is excellent. Xodiac also comes with an extra set of arms. This means that you get one set of straight arms and one set of bent/angled arms. The arms are very easy to pop on and off, as are the hands. You could theoretically mix and match the figure with the others thus creating a customized alien.

On the back of the figure there is a hole for accessory parts. Xodiac doesn’t come with any, but some of the other figures have wings and flames that will fit here.

Here you can see Xodiac with both of his bent/angled arms. It’s worth noting that the arms are not identical. The angle on the left arm is a little different than the right causing his arm to point sideways slightly. In the pictures you can also see how the feet can be rotated 360 degrees.

Here is Xodiac with his straight arms. Like the feet, both hands can be rotated 360 degrees.

All four of the figures in the Cosmic Creators Series come signed by Mel Birnkrant and the Four Horsemen. The packaging retains the nice retro look of the originals.

Another nice bonus with the packaging is that the back card slides out from the plastic bubble. This makes it super easy to open and offers a guilt free excuse to take them out and play with them.

As a long time collector of the Outer Space Men, I just so happened to have the original Xodiac. Here’s a side by side comparison of the original and the Four Horsemen version. There’s a huge difference in size. The Four Horsemen figures are available in several different color schemes. While the gold version looks pretty cool, you can get one in the original paint scheme if that’s your preference.

Here’s a lineup of the Cosmic Creators Series as well as the Infinity Edition Outer Space Men Waves 3 & 4.

This is the art print that comes with the Cosmic Creators Series. If you’d like to find out more about the Four Horsemen Outer Space Men, you can visit their site here.

Reviewed By: Skuldren for Roqoo Depot.