Thanks for your input.
My contact with the Outer Space Men was not with the originals, but the mini bendies of the late 60s. I remember getting them at a local convenience store "Shop-A-Minit" hanging on 1 of those racks by the door. Oh, how I loved the "pink & purple man with the red helmet" & the yellow martian! I remember playing with them, breaking their little wires & going to buy some more! I remember how irritated I was because their feet were sideways. I was especially fond of Xodiac. I took him everywhere. I remember my Mom helping me make tiny equipment for him. Now, I have the originals, proudly displayed with my MMM & Zeroids. But only Xodiac & Alpha-7: the 2 that their minis brought me so much enjoyment! - Frank May - 09/18/98
My earliest toy memory was of being at a Zayre store in 1969 with my
dear ,late, Godmother and my fantastic mother. As we were ending our
shopping day, the store was closing and turning off the lights, I ran
back for a last look at the toy dept. In an instant, I saw Alpha 7
staring off the peg at me! This, to a kid weened on the ORIGINAL AND
BEST OUTER LIMITS was just the thing. Add to my space-mania the Apollo
Missions being a very real thing and I had to have NOT ONE BUT TWO ALPHA
7's (a pilot and a co-pilot!) I recall pushing past the Electron+ and
the equally tempting Colossus Rex...but I had to have a Martian!
Those two spacemen , who within the first month, lost their helmets
became a staple of many a space adventure with my ZOBOR ZEROID AND MATT
MASON'S ENEMY CALLISTO! I was let down to the extreme when I realized
that they would not be re-released or a second series finally released
in the late 70's when the STARWARRIORS puzzles appeared. I searched in
vain and harangued many a toy store employee.
Unfortunately, the original 2 Alpha 7's survived only until the early
80's when they got lost in a box that did'nt make it when I moved into
my own place! But these amazing characters complete with detailed card
dioramas and imaginative stories! They were a rarity in that they were a
toy that deserved a much better fate. Fortunately, today I have all but
Commander Comet!
I have contacted Colorform's and , while they are quite graciuos, have
explained there are no plans for a re-release or 2nd series release. I
really think they could be viable , especially since the Star Wars
revival is so strong. Maybe a petition to PLAYING MANTIS would get these
figures brought back from the great beyond! COME ON LET'S DO IT!
"I can recall seeing a Colossus Rex hanging on some dime store shelf back in the early seventies thinking that he was the biggest meanest looking monster I had ever encountered. I was very young, barely old enough to know that I loved monsters, but knew that I had to have this creature. Several sessions of begging, first with my parents and then more successfully with my grandfather, netted me the treasure. Serving his time, Colossus was eventually destroyed or lost in a great space battle with Major Matt and his gang, and took his place in my memory as a mythical toy, which lingered on the fringes of dream and reality."
"Years later, after stepping up my toy collecting, I began to search for the mythical beast, for whom I no longer had a name. With the drought of information on these aliens, I began to believe that I had dreamed up the creature. But finally stumbling across a black and white picture of Colossus in a toy mag, I recognized him despite the practically microscopic size of the photo. I could make out the name "COLOSSUS REX" and at that moment it all came rushing back knowing that he was that giant king of aliens that I sought like the holy grail of monsterdom!"
Used with permission from the article "Seven Holy Grails of the Rubber
Space Race (Twentieth Anniversary of the Colorforms Aliens)" from the
soon to be published toy magazine, "PLASTIC MARTIAN".
- Lyle Steadham copyright 1998
"Some of my earliest toy memories are of theColorforms aliens. I used
Astro-Nautilus as my teething toy. I would chew on his bulbous head all
day. I also loved his rubbery smell. He was the perfect baby toy for a
little monster tot like me. I don't know what became of him.
Some of him may have ended up in my stomach."
"I also had some of the miniature, unlicensed Colorforms aliens from Toy House.
These were two-inch bendies, pantographed from the same sculptures as the
original Colorforms Outer Space Men. They were sold two to a card. Each card
included Alpha 7, plus either Xodiac or Electron +. There may have been other
pairings, but those are the two I'm sure of. I remember chewing on those, as
well."