The Outer Space Men, LLC Outer Space Men Bluestar Gamma-X Action Figure The Outer Space Men, LLC, 2022
Day #2,635: September 15, 2023
Bluestar Gamma-X The Man from the 4th Dimension
Outer Space Men Bluestar Figures
Item No.: n/a Manufacturer:The Outer Space Men Includes:2-piece armor, 2 blasters Action Feature:Glows blue in the dark, pops apart Retail:$30.00 Availability: ca. January 2022 Other: That's at least 4 production Gamma-X figures
As one of the second year prototypes from the 1960s, most people didn't get any flavor of the figure that would becomeBluestar Gamma-X until about 10 years ago. He's neat! Peak midcentury design with nifty b-movie antennae, clamp-on armor, and a couple of blasters make for a notable figure. You can get him in green, a painted version, or a white version - but the blue one is pretty spectacular. The blue back armor is glow plastic with a painted blue interior! It's striking, to say the least.
The 3 3/4-inch scale figure is a tall one - so he'll tower over your Kenner and Hasbro figures. With the blaster on his head, he stands around 5-inches tall and has no real problems standing or holding his gear. The armor has a roughly 3mm hole in top where you can insert an accessory that's held in by friction - if it's a little loose, it will spin around or fall out, so be careful there. A clear cone is also included that is held on by friction, so take care to not lose it if/when the figure nosedives off your shelves.
For the blue release, the toymakers kept the same basic color layout as his glow green cousin. The hands, thighs, and boots are painted blue this time, with openings to let the light shine on the plastic so it can glow several hours if properly charged. (I would have loved to invert where the paint goes on the legs and arms, so more of the figure would glow.) The blue paint does a good job showing the detail that was harder to see in white or silver, so the structures that look like they'd be right at home at "It's a Small World" on opening day are all here with circles, curves, and lines to give it a richer presence if you're the kind of person to get right up to it and squint.
The clip-on armor does prevent his legs from letting him sit, so if you intend on playing with this figure or letting him pilot some toy vehicle, you'll want to take it off first. If you do, you'll get to see a head that looks ahead of its time with something that looks like a crystal alien or polygon man got hit with Dr. Frankenstein's lab equipment. The accordion joints are always visible, but the "ears" are really striking. I also love the goggles painted on the crystal armor - it gives it a sense of some sort of functionality.
It's a fun deco, and I'd say this or Cosmic Radiation Green are the two to get first. (The Infinity Edition is acceptable, but glows poorly.) Bluestar Gamma-X shines brightly - it was impressive when I took him out of the photo studio, and sunlight can leave him glowing hours later. It gets dim as time goes on, but don't we all? I wouldn't recommend this figure for $30 to everybody, but if it's on sale I'd strongly recommend it. At $30 it's a worthwhile purchase if you don't already have a version of this figure, if you can place value on low-run, high-quality obscure sci-fi toys from over 50 years ago. And if you're reading this, that probably describes you pretty well.
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