Xenophilia

My recent Major Matt Mason renaissance spurred me on to look at the two main alien figures in the line, which although they are very special figures in their own way, did not really have the same exposure as the astronauts. Callisto is probably th most recognisable, with his transparent green head and striking outfit. The back pack with Space Sensor device, had a bellows and airline attached to it, which could shoot a line of yellow cord out, to look like it was sampling the atmosphere.

I got my first Callisto for my birthday, back in 1968, way before I got Matt and was immediately smitten with his green and purple outfit. Since then I have acquired two others, including a long and short boot variation. The tops of his boots have a slightly taller cuff on later versions. His original card was pretty beaten up, so I attempted to restore it in Photoshop, but the two photographs on the right, were a little too dilapidated to reproduce cleanly.

Having given all three figures a bit of a clean, I set about adding some new equipment. I found a sort of laser cannon in the spares box, added the front of a biro and painted the resulting device with some Tamiya X-15 Purple paint. The Tamiya range have the perfect purple and lime green in the range for touching up the figure.

Next up, I turned my attention to the wonderful Scorpio figure, a slightly larger toy, who again has a bellows powered vest, which shoots polystyrene balls from the side tube.

 Scorpio was rewarded with a new space phaser weapon, made from an old Marvel figure disc launcher. A strap fits over the shoulder, allowing Scorpio to carry it on his hip.