It wasn’t that long ago that convention exclusives were a rare commodity. These days, collectors have to plan for multiple exclusives from multiple shows. It kinda sucks, but I do enjoy when we get cool toys for our trouble. Case in point: the NYCC 2011 Exclusive Beta Phase Outer Space Men.

You know, I wrote that intro as a general comment on the stress of having to snag SDCC & NYCC exclusives this year, but the truth is that Four Horsemen Design has been one of the better toy companies when it comes to getting their exclusives into the hands of their consumers. In fact, you can still pick up the Beta Phase OSM at Store Horsemen as of this writing. And while we’re plugging the Beta Phase, I’d be remiss if I didn’t point out that the Wave 3 & 4 Infinity Editions will go up for pre-order this Friday, November 11th!

As is my usual tack with these Beta & Alpha reviews, I’m saving a full blown review for the regular, Infinity release. If you’re looking for a height comparison or an accessories breakdown, I suggest you hit up my SDCC Alpha Phase review from earlier in the year. These two releases are identical in sculpt, gear, and packaging, with the colorways being the sole differentiation.

But what a great difference it makes! I enjoyed the Alpha Phase this year, but the colors on the Beta Phase beat out their Alpha counterparts to the man for me. If there’s a Galactic Holiday edition this year (and I really hope there is…), it’s going to be tough to beat these colors. There’s just something natural about these four colors grouped together, but I can’t quite put my finger on it…

Comet is still my favorite sculpt from the set partially because of the higher attention to detail he required (and received) and probably a little bit because he sports a “human” visage. I like the head (I think it plays on my childhood love of Knight Rider…) and it’s a cool piece to play with because you can turn any Glyos human or swap some OSM parts to put together a makeshift “Man from Earth”. Colorwise, though, he’s a little bit boring as the Alpha phase was done in an very similar gold/orange. I still like him though and the pair looks cool together (as you’ll see in the gallery on the next page), and I find myself hoping that, if there’s a GH version, he’ll be in another warm color.

Alpha came out much nicer in traditional “Martian” green and, as you can see, a little headswap again gives you a nice way to display both the Alpha & Beta phase if you want to mix things up (if you had a third eye, you could have the one on the left worshipping “the claw”!). While I like Alpha’s colors, I’m just a bit put off by his design. The 4H did what they could to make this little guy work, but his boots and gloves use smaller non-Glyos compatible plugs to get the job done. I understand why it had to be this way, but I hope they won’t need to change the peg holes on any of the remaining five OSM. The figures just end up being a little less fun without the compatibility.

I wasn’t as hot on Electron+ last round, but I think it was largely because the GITD plastic. I love GITD, but it does obscure some of the work on the figure. With Electron+ being cast in (my favorite OSM Phase Color) a sweet blue that better showed the fine details, it was a double bonus for me. This is a much sharper figure than I originally thought and the blue/orange motif looks fantastic. I especially love the greenish tint the helmet gives the head in his normal configuration. And I do have a tiny admission to make. In my Alpha Phase reviews, I completely missed that two of the pegs on his head were Glyos joints! Massive points to Adam over at 16Bit.Com for bringing that to my attention!

And finally, we get to ye ol’ Mystron. Like Alpha, I love both of this colorways so far. The smoky black was a nice touch in the Alpha Phase, but the red used here just seems more like his color, doesn’t it? And underneath, he’s still one of the best OSM so far. Like his buddy Comet, he comes packaged with the helmet, staff, gun, and wings, but he’s also the first OSM to sport a tail! For some OSM, you can open their baggie and dump the contents, but both times I’ve opened Mystron he’s been packed in tight with his gear; ready to burst that little bag asunder. Nothing makes you feel like your money was well spent like getting a ton of stuff in the package.

Alright, I think I talked more than I meant to there.. best laid plans and all that. In all, this is just another great addition to my ever-growing OSM collection. I admit that I’m sometimes shy going into the Alpha & Beta assortments, but these guys look great as a collection. Vault, who’s collecting only Infinity Editions, was at my house the other night expressing jealous when he sees the whole set together. I couldn’t agree more. It boggles my mind that I didn’t even know who the OSM were when this line started and now they’re one of my favorite lines this year. I may still be a land-locked Midwestern kid that can’t get to cons, but I’m glad that the OSM are getting these cool variants, even if they’re con exclusives. (I did mention they’re still available, right?)

Okay, I’m going to wrap this review up here, but there’s plenty more pictures for you to check out on Page 2! I went a little crazy and snagged some pics of these guys swapping parts with their Alpha Counterparts, other OSM, and even some Glyos proper for good measure! I feel weird tossing the pics into a gallery instead of showing them off proper, so let me know what you think – and let me know which pics you liked best while you’re at it! Continue to the Gallery…