AKA Brian Heiler author of "Rack Toys: Cheap, Crazed Playthings" and co-editor of "Toy-Ventures Magazine". Co-Host of the "Pod Stallions" podcast. Host of the Brick Mantooth Youtube channel, painter, designer, writer, mental health advocate, toy collector, Mego, and Mego Knock-Off enthusiast. I have large feet, ADHD and I live in Canada. Talk toys, not others. 
@brickmantooth
Official Tura Satana Action Figure Now Available
PlaidStallions Action Figure Archive
5 Awesome Things on eBay this week
Knock-Off Book
I had the Message From Space model of the main ship and the two fighters that would attach to the wings. It was a weird kit but I loved it, I had no clue what it was from until years later when I saw the movie on late night.
I got the kit of the undersea headquarters, and it was pretty great… 4 or 5 color of plastic, lots of clear parts, and it even came with the tiny little dried-up tube of glue common to Japanese model kits. I’d love to be able to take another crack a it today with my more developed modeling skills.
I have the Phoenix kit that actually looked like the one from the tv show we all saw as kids… well except for the ginormous rubber wheels on the back end of it. (Those who have the model will know what I mean.)
As for 'Message from Space,' those kits were awesome, too. Saw that movie first run in the cinema with my dad. We both knew it was a 'Star Wars' "rip-off" but both enjoyed it anyway… still a guilty pleasure of mine to watch the special edition DVD once in a while!
By the way, my friends and I, back in the day, thought that 'Message' really ripped off 'Star Wars' with its version of the Death Star trench run, but at least acknowledged that they tried to change it up a little by having the heroes fly INSIDE the enemy base. A few years later when 'Return of the Jedi' actually did the same thing (including the split-up-to-draw-away-the-enemy-fighters move), I realized that 'Star Wars' was now ripping off the rip off. "The circuit is now complete!"
Craig R