The Outer Space Man Conspiracy

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Despite the fact that the toy line ended before I ever gulped oxygen, the Colorforms Outer Space Men are strong childhood memory for me. Not because I ever played with them but quite the contrary, I'm not even sure if I've ever held one.

You see around the time of Star Wars (perhaps you've heard of it) the good folks at Colorforms dusted off images of the OSM for a series of puzzles (pictured here)

These puzzles hit my radar when they showed up at Dominion Playworld in 1978 but the item below completely broke my young brain.


I've mentioned before that I wasn't a super bright child, so it's no surprise that I was convinced that all the figures were in this box. I wasn't sure how but it had to be right? I marched the set to the counter with my mum in tow. My mother mentioned to me " I don't think the figures are in there, it's just some sort of game", I replied "No, i'm sure they're in there" but the clerk deflated my balloon with "that's a colorforms set, there are no figures in there".

This drove me crazy, what kind of company would make these amazing toys then choose to not release them? Were they just torturing us? Don't they realize how awesome they are?

Fortunately as an adult, I got all the answers from the man himself, Mel Birnkrant whose annotated archive of the Outer Space Men is exhaustive and wonderful (and sometimes heart breaking). His website is really worth a visit, see you in a few hours.


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[MegoCapnMike]

Very cool! I had never heard of these before

[Bruce Banner]

This drove me crazy, what kind of company would make these amazing toys then choose to not release them? Were they just torturing us? Don't they realize how awesome they are?

Same here... I had that Colorforms set as a kid, but I'd never even heard of the figures.
I remember looking at the group shot on the box and wondering if such awesome figures had ever been released.
It was only much later that I finally learned the history of the toys.

[Earth 2 Chris]

I learned of the Outer Space Men via Tomart's Guide to Action Figures, and the Colorforms set from Mr. Birnkrant's website, thanks to you. Don't feel bad, I would have thought the same thing. Makes you wonder why they just didn't reissue the figures at this time.

Similarly, the 3D sculptures used in some View Master sets had me convinced there was a series of Rankin-Bass-esque specials featuring characters ranging from Bugs Bunny to the Wolfman!!!

Chris

[MIB41]

I learned something new today. I had never heard of this. Or at least if I had seen it as a kid, my memory did not retain it. That's very neat. I liked Colorforms in general as a kid. It was typically a fun thing to do if I ever got down sick.

[enyawd72]

I had the same set and never realized those were pictures of toys on the box. I thought they were stop-motion figures or real people in costumes or something. I was fascinated with them though.

[CrimsonGhost]

I had the Colorforms set too and was COMPLETELY obsessed with the characters on the box. I still am, actually. I really thought the figures would be coming out soon when I was a kid...

[toysrus]

A great toy line from my past. And I'm happy that they have returned. Scroll down thru this site. You will see the original OSM and the new ones that were released

http://www.theouterspacemen.com/

[ctc]

>These puzzles hit my radar when they showed up at Dominion Playworld in 1978 but the item below completely broke my young brain.

That sounds REALLY familiar. I can remember thinking these were gonna come out soon, and looking for them for years.

Don C.

[sprytel]

These figures are very cool. And Mel Birnkrant's website is definitely a must read.

[enyawd72]

This set is why I can't recommend the Four Horsemen figures enough. Yeah, they may be smaller, but they're also making ALL of the characters including the ones Colorforms didn't and ones Birnkrant had only in development.

[Red Hulk]

My cousin had the guy with the wings and bubble helmet when we were kids.