OMFG! Series 3

If you know me, you know that I’m not the biggest fan of “designer” toys. I don’t care for the exclusivity or pretense that surrounds about eighty percent of that “scene”. But the other 20 percent consists of some really down to earth, honest-to-god legitimate cool toymakers.

Many of these guys stem from or are inspired by Matt Doughty and his company, Onell Design. Matt is the great enabler who has this ability to help foster people who want to start their own lines. He simultaneously infects them with with a positive attitude and a culture of inclusion that really resonates with me.

The first time I heard of October Toys was through Matt. He was helping these guys make some army men style zombie figures which I thought were pretty cool. It was this association that caused October Toys to start a forum to help fans of not only their lines but also Glyos and associated toymakers, big and small.

The OMFG (Outlandish Mini Figure Guys) are a tribute to the old M.U.S.C.L.E. figures from the 80s. M.U.S.C.L.E. were little rubber wrestling guys that were imported from Japan where they began their life as Kinnikuman. Their spin was to take different artists to design original figures in the spirit of those original M.U.S.C.L.E. figures.

I came across Series 1 at Newbury Comics. I was out at lunch from work and I was surprised to see this thing at retail. Initially, I only bought it just to support these independent toymakers, but as they became my desk pets I really got to enjoy them. I’d pick one up while on a conference call, exploring the tactile sensations while talking to a group of strangers in another time zone. I won’t lie, on occasion the ended up in my mouth. I have no explanation.

So I became a fan of the OMFG line. I never got around to reviewing series 1 or 2 because they lived at my desk at work. But Series 3, which was funded over Kickstarter, would ship to my house and I no longer worked at that office, so now I finally had a chance to do a proper review of the line.

Behold, OMFG Series 3.

The regular set contains 5 figures:

1. Pugnacious designed by Bill MacKay and sculpted by George Gaspar
2. Barbarianaut designed and sculpted by Charles Marsh
3. Dr. Decay designed by Jonathan Wojcik and sculpted by George Gaspar
4. Fruit Punch designed by Scott Tolleson and sculpted by George Gaspar
5. TenCan concept by Richard Brown, designed by Nikolos Sardos, and sculpted by Bryan Fulk

A sixth figure, Zombie Pheyden (designed by L’amour Supreme sculpted by George Gaspar) was offered as a Kickstarter exclusive.

The figures are sold on a nice blister card that would not have been out of place on the pegs of Toys R Us in the 80s. These look like professional, mass-market retail packaging. The back has illustrations of al the characters.

Pugnacious
designed by Bill MacKay and sculpted by George Gaspar

Pugnacious is the most like the traditional M.U.S.C.L.E. figure in both pose and design. It’s essentially a barbarian with a pug head and extremely well sculpted nipples.

Barbarianaut
designed and sculpted by Charles Marsh (aka Monsterforge)

This one takes the barbarian theme and now makes it an astronaut. It works. It looks like it would be at home in the Masters of the Universe line.

Fruit Punch
designed by Scott Tolleson and sculpted by George Gaspar

Essentially a pun in toy form, Fruit Punch is a Juice Box that has boxing gloves. It’s the smallest figure in the set, and it looks like a Garbage Pail Kid come to life.

TenCan
concept by Richard Brown, designed by Nikolos Sardos, and sculpted by Bryan Fulk

Another play on words, this is a tentacled monster breaking out of a trash can. This one is a cool design but really hard to stand up due to the peg leg.

Dr. Decay
designed by Jonathan Wojcik and sculpted by George Gaspar

Dr. Decay is a rather cool and gruesome warrior. He’s a mix of rotted skeleton and fungus, with what looks like a mushroom cap for a head.

Zombie Pheyden
designed by L’amour Supreme sculpted by George Gaspar

This design is near and dear to me as it is similar to an illustration I did to promote the Wraith Pheyden I did years ago. There is a common belief that underneath Pheyden’s armored shell is a flesh body, with a skeletal structure not unlike our own. L’amour Supreme has created a highly detailed design that shows Pheyden in a half rotting state.

It’s when you amass all three series together do you see the one major flaw of series 3. While they are all molded in a flesh color, Series 3 uses a darker, pinker color than the earlier sets. Thus, series 3 stands out when displayed with the others.

Despite the color difference, nothing beats an army of these displayed together.

With my Kickstarter donation, I qualified for an additional set of OMFG figures cast in black. October Toys would go on and mold this set in numerous additional colors (gotta make the most of those molds you know), but for me flesh is the only way to go.

Since OMFG was first released, there has become a small trend of making little rubber guys with acronyms for names. I can understand why – they are affordable to make and the public seems to have an endless appetite for them. But I think I will just stick to this one line, in hopes that it will continue for a good while to come.