The Outer Space Men, LLC Outer Space Men Bluestar Colossus Rex Action Figure The Outer Space Men, LLC, 2022
Day #2,615: August 11, 2023
Bluestar Colossus Rex The Man from Jupiter
Outer Space Men Bluestar Figures
Item No.: n/a Manufacturer:The Outer Space Men Includes:Armor, shield, axe, mace, alternate hands Action Feature:Glows blue in the dark, pops apart Retail:$30.00 Availability: ca. January 2022 Other: That's at least 8 production Colossus Rex figures
I swore off completism until a 40% off sale hit the same week I got a little something extra in a paycheck. I'm not made of stone. The Bluestar Colossus Rex normally goes for $30, which was too much for me to pounce on in early 2022. But $18? With the rest of the line, also mostly 40% off? I can do that. At this point I recognize that what I'm paying for is a big wall of glowing blue plastic more than an action figure I'm going to cherish in and of itself, but I was surprised to see that this guy delivered more than Cosmic Radiation Colossus Rex [FOTD #1,546] in new colors.
The 3 3/4-inch scale figure with Glyos joints stands about 5-inches tall at the top of his big fin, and has no copyright markings whatsoever. That's something that has concerned me a bit for future generations trying to figure out what Glyos figures are - there aren't a lot of reviews out there, and with few to no markings you have to know what you're looking at. In this case, it's a blue glow plastic figure with a painted blue belly, claws, joints, and fins.
If you collect Glyos figures, you probably know what to expect. Colossus Rex was sculpted by the Four Horsemen and his original release was about 10 years ago. He's got little beady eyes in his large triangular sockets, tons of fishy scales, fins on his ears and forehead, a big underbite, and spikes coming out of his knees. It's pretty impressive in that it's both modern and also right out of the late 1960s. The ridged accordion joints are there to remind you of the original Colorforms figures, which were bendable rubbery figures with a wire skeleton. It's hard to not appreciate the work that went involved with this figure, and it makes me feel very old that I got the first one - a clear green Alpha Phase Colossus Rex [FOTD #709] - at SDCC just a couple of weeks over ten years ago.
He's cast in the Glyos factory blue glow in the dark plastic, which is genuinely excellent. It charges pretty quickly under normal room lights, but what you want to do is expose it to sunlight for a few minutes. It glows for a good long time, decaying more slowly than the green glow plastic. Other glowing blue figures from the Glyos factories can still light up eight or more hours later. Sure it's dim by then, but it's completely bonkers to me that glow plastic can hold any light charge for an hour, let alone overnight.
I'm particularly glad the Glyos factory people (I'm guessing Matt Doughty of Onell Design) updated the paint masks. For starters, his shield has a hole in it to let some more blue glow light shine through. The axe and mace have unpainted hilts, which is a nice change - because that's even more glow for us. The figure covered up a little glow in the name of a more exciting action figure, adding painted fingers, a painted chest, and painted fins to the already painted spikes, toes, and joints. Even the belt it painted a tiny bit differently, this time letting the light from the three buckles shine through. Considering that the team could have just changed the plastic color and the paint colors and called it a day, I'm impressed they actually made significant, obvious alterations to the color layouts in order to bring a more dynamic design to the table. Unfortunately it's also a little more expensive.
As a newish figure, $30 is a lot for this guy - he's awesome, but after 10 years and minimal paint complexity I would hope he'd be a smidgen cheaper. But the Alpha Phase figures were in $60 3-packs, so it's not that far off the mark from what they cost a decade ago. Odds are you don't need everybody in blue glow, but it does make for a stunning sight in a dark room. If you don't have any Colossus Rex figures, I'd steer you to one of the fully-painted ones first. They're really impressive, and while this one is very good it's not as gee-whiz golly gosh wow when it comes to the paint. But when it comes to the glow? He's big, he's blue, and I'm not not willing to get rid of him any time soon.
16bit.com is best not viewed in Apple's Safari browser, we don't know why. All material on this site copyright their respective copyright holders. All materials appear hear for informative and entertainment purposes. 16bit.com is not to be held responsible for anything, ever. Photos taken by the 16bit.com staff. Site design, graphics, writing, and whatnot credited on the credits page. Be cool-- don't steal. We know where you live and we'll break your friggin' legs.
RSS 
