Hades Glyos Drop Details Up at Onell Design

Apparently Onell Design invested in some PVC tooling this season because the swell Hades Force drop includes the first-ever PVC scarf!  And it's an oddly exciting little piece, Matt Doughty shows it off on his Hades Pheyden MK II and Buildman Jorvannic figures.  It looks good and two flavors of Armorvor are included.

The full details are here, (well, mostly full) and the long and short of it is to be ready Wednesday, September 5, at 9:30 Eastern.

This drop is mostly black plastic with some glow-in-the-dark, clear, and of course teal.  Transformers fans may be delighted by the similarity to some of the black-and-teal Nemesis Prime/Scourge figures... I sure am!

Nanite Monstermatic Vinyl Custom Glyos Vehicle

Our pal Nanite has been busy!  The Monstermatic is a big vinyl toy making use of original parts as well as numerous vinyl parts and elements from Spy Monkey Creations.  This nasty-looking fellow is $70 shipped and looks like it might eat your babies.

Custom Crayboth, More from Nanite

Our pal Seth (aka Nanite) posted some pretty awesome customs to his trading post on the October Toys forums.

Jeweltone Crayboth, Ersatz Bubblevein Govrom, and more can be yours if the price is right! And the price is $16 shipped for Monster Kolor Crayboth, and $40 for the travelers assuming they have not yet sold.   At press time, a few of them are spoken for and there are many sparkly, glittery, or otherwise pretty amazing figures to check out.

Ni Stuff Offering Unique Heads, Customs, More on Tuesday

Ni of Ni Stuff and 481 Universe fame has a new drop coming up Tuesday night!  At 5 PM EST, a bunch of new heads are up for grabs including some specially decorated Crayboth figures and a metallic redeco of the Venjorun Armorvor that should knock you on your butt.  Seriously, what will it take to get this kind of crazy shine on a production piece?  That's amazing.

Check it out right here!

Incoming: Glyos Hades Force

The Hades Force is coming!  Isn't that exciting? Well, we don't know yet.  Full details are coming but Onell Design posted that this new batch is coming next week.  Matt updated his post in the comments section with this juicy series of words:

"Some highlights from this wave include a Black Armorvor with some painted accents, a black Armodoc that has a kind of neat look to it and a new release of Hades, for the first time with production scarf! It's a small detail, but I've been waiting literally years to finally get that little head piece into a mold.

"There will also be a compliment of [glow in the dark] Green parts, including the return of Spectre Pheyden."

Banimon Update: Gotta Catch 'Em All This September

The Planet Banimon blog has a short update about their new Glyos-compatible mini figures.

The little guy's head is about the size of a normal Glyos figure, and we are told they should be coming in the back half of September.

I certainly can't wait to see more and availability permitting, we'll be picking up a set of these to review so you know if they're worth it.  Just looking at it, I certainly believe they will be worth picking up.

Armorvor Concepts: Grathans and Granthans

A few days ago, we looked at The GodBeast's Granthan heads, which came from a Matt Doughty design.

Today, Doughty decided to tell us what they're all about!

The Granthans tell us of the origins of the spacefaring dinosaur warriors which, I gotta say, makes me excited all over.  (After all, I grew up obsessing over the Dinosaucers because it seemed like a toy show with no toys too!)  The head concepts are pretty nifty.

The Granthans: Part 2 shows Rechlen and Aves-era art of the warriors, complete with tails.

The Granthans: Part 3 tells their story relating to the Delphi and Armorvor warriors, and will probably make you cry with joy at the prospect of them seeing mass-production soon.  I'm tearing up right now.

Review: Onell Design Glyos Venjorun Armorvor Action Figure

This is in my top 5 of the year... no question about it. It's one of those figures which, had there been no limit, I'd probably have bought about 15 of them to send people come Christmas season as I'm fairly sure most of the people I know do not have one.

If Matt Doughty of Onell Design was a friend (or at least associate) of yours, you may have seen sketches or sculpts for the Venjorun Armorvor over the last couple of years-- he's had it on his phone, he's teased it on his blog, and he even let us preview it late last year. Since it's been at least a couple of years since I first saw it, I'm not only delighted that it finally made it out, but that it did so cheaply. $8.00? For a low-run figure withabout 14 points of articulation, I'm not complaining. It even has an alternate head-- the only thing it doesn't have is, sadly, a weapon. (Oddly, most of the figures from Onell Design come unarmed... or maybe that speaks volumes about our toys, culturally speaking.) Against the current mini-beast figure revival lines, this seems to be the largest at a hair over 2 1/2-inches tall. If Glyos figures like Pheyden were tributes to toys of the late 1970s and early 1980s, the Armorvor has to be late 1980s and early 1990s with its sharp lines, several V-like structures in the heads, and of course, the Black Core on its chest.
[ READ THE FULL REVIEW ]

The Delphi Oracle: 2012 Release Possible, Armorvor Eyes Too

Over at the Glyos Transmissions Web Log there are many posts, and in those posts are comments, and in comments lie truth!  What kind of truth?  The future!  It turns out there's a few great nuggets in there, not the least of which was this one from Matt Doughty himself:

"The Delphi will make it into production, hopefully before the end of 2012. I'm happy you still like those strange looking creatures!"

Insert giant smile here.

If you don't know who or what a Delphi is, shame on you.  Not just because it's an awesome part of the Glyos legacy, but the figure is pictured to the left.  The figure currently exists as Custom Corps releases (read: very expensive and rare hand-made one-offs, see some here) and a run of metal Delphi heads were also made, so the rest of us cry like little girls thinking we can never get one.  Well, looks like we might be able to get one soon!  Rejoice!

There are also comments about the Armorvor eyes, and here they are:

"The different color eyes on the Armorvor was just to spice things up and make the first production run something special. There are less of the red eyes versions out there, and even a few oddball ones that escaped the barn."

As of yet no other colors have shown up, so if you have some, know that you are bound by Internet Toy Bragging Rights Law to share your finds!

Armorvor Heads: The Lion

Because there are too many heads I'm going to go ahead and do one last post.  There are others, but hey, I wrote these up in advance and need to go to bed soon. The Lion by Jason Frailey went through a process which he, wonderfully, wrote about.  Early on the figure had a sort of a page-boy hairstyle, which morphed into the creation you see here.

The figure's style seems more in line of a hybrid of old Battle Beasts, modern action figures, and the deep sculpted grooves that are the Onell Design signature.   There's also an added chest piece on there, but as far as I can tell you can't get one.  Since the figure's head has a helmet, it really does feel like a descendant of those older action figures from the 1980s.

More on the Lion (and how to buy one) here.

Onell Posts Armorvor Concept Art, History

The Glyos Transmissions Web Log posted a hefty story for us all today with Armorvor: History and Concepts.  This really cool article shows off a number of Armorvor weapons which haven't been produced (yet at least) as well as detail the inspiration for the figure, who was involved in its birth, and even namechecks two other figures which were postponed to get him out first (Delphi, Noboto.)

...as much as I'm looking forward to a Delphi of my own, I think they made the right choice.   But hey, at least we know that a non-Custom Corps Delphi might be in the cards soon, right?

"Armorvor Heads," said the Spider to the Fly

Because we can't get enough of these guys, The GodBeast posted two quick previews of new heads to the October Toys forums.   He describes them thusly:

"2 mysterious black spider and bug heads were a special request of gaga4toyz. Very eerie looking and kewl as heck on Armorvor."

It is widely assumed/confirmed/rumor-that's-not-a-rumor that the next Armorvor release will indeed be a black one, so start saving those pennies for Fall!

Armorvor Heads: Vampire Bat

Stepping away from the house Onell Design concepts and leaping toward classic Battle Beasts, the Vampire Bat design from Jason Frailey is a gritty, mean, and cybernetic monster.

As you can see in Jason's own development blog, the character went through all sorts of design phases which sported features like a giant chin and alternate forms for the technological implants before settling on the speaker-like form you see above.   This little fellow went through quite a bit before turning into the fairly evil figure head to your right.

Like other heads in the Armorvor family, it is not scheduled for mass production at this time and your main way of getting one is through The Godbeast directly as he does the castings for these things.  (See below for one such custom example.)  For more on  how to get one, get yourself $15 and check out this thread on October Toys.

Much like classic Battle Beasts, he has elements inspired from real-world Earthy bats before grafting in the freakish robotic eye.

If you really want to see what you can do with these things-- and I mean you, a talented person who understands how paint works properly, there's a pretty slick custom on the October Toys Glyos Custom thread that I thought was worth sharing.  User Talyn took the head and applied some paint, numerous parts from Onell Design Glyos releases, and the wings from the smokey Outer Space Men Mystron action figure to create something I think I'd totally buy if it ever saw mass production.  Check it out!

Armorvor Head: Cobra

Not to be confused with the evil organization or the other cobra-inspired head, The Godbeast created the Cobra Head as a result of a collector request.  The snakey head has his hood on display and two versions were crafted, one (this one) with an angrier look on his face.

At this time, it doesn't look like he's taking requests for more of this one.  It's neat, though!

New Glyos-Compatible Figures, Weapons from Banimon?

If you already know about this, just keep reading.  Figures known as the Revolutionary and the Banigoth Warrior are shown and look pretty fantastic.  The blog has no information about the wheres and the whens and the how muches, but I will ask Banimon (despite the fact he hasn't announced it) to see if there's anything to talk.  Anyway, until we know more, just read the Planet Banimon Blog.

Video Review: Glyos Venjorun Armorvor

It's a quickie, and a normal review is, as always, on the way but I wanted to get this out there early.

Armovor Artwork: Nathan Newell Illustrations

Your pal and mine Nathan Newell of Dork Dimension whipped up a whole mess of Armorvor artwork for the limited run castings of the figure over the last year.  Above, check the Armorvor Cobra, Armorvor Shark, Armorvor FlyBee, and Armorvor Wolf in their illustration forms!   Nathan's page (click) also has a bunch of castings of these figures, which are all pretty swell and show the heads on other Glyos figure bodies other than just the Armorvor.  The Godbeast also posted more of the card artwork.

Glyos Freebie: Metallic Blue Versirran Crayboth

I'm just guessing at the name, but Onell Design included a free metallic blue Crayboth figure in with orders arriving in homes over the last couple of days.  It comes bagged and unpainted, although the plastic brings out a wonderful amount of detail to the point where you might be left realizing you just plain don't need paint.  I'm assuming it's called Versirran Crayboth, as the matching blue Pheyden was the Versirran Pheyden.

In addition to a pink Nonilla Crayboth and, I think, a gold Govorum head-- which for all I know was an extra with an older figure-- these are three notable, seemingly wider distributed freebies.

Did I miss any?  Is there an opaque orange Crayboth out there?  Let me know!

Venjorun Armorvor Variant Discovered

UPDATE: At least three other people on the October Toys forums got a red eye variant, so they're out there!

My order of Glyos came today from Onell Design and while I was taking pictures for an upcoming feature, I noticed this interesting difference on my Armorvor figures.

 
Two of the figures have blue eyes, and one has seemingly painted red eyes.  The red doesn't quite match the plastic, so this one is definitely different.  I have no idea if it's a variant, or if Matt is reading this blog and decided to do this to see if I noticed, but it is interesting to say the least.

As many of you know (and can confirm) I am a talentless hack that cannot paint his way out of a paper bag, I can assure you this is not a custom nor a hoax-- this is exactly what I got in the mail.

I would place a poll on the blog, but the Blogger poll widget appears to  be broken and has been for over 10 days.  So if you received red eyes, or another color entirely, please leave a comment.

In Case You Missed It: Massive Onell Design Article Dump at Kaiju Korner

The magnificent folks at Kaiju Korner posted several articles jam-packed with concept art, sculpted prototypes, packaging art, and previews of things to come over the last several months.  It's a Glyos feast if you've never seen it, and if you missed it like I did there's no better time to go look.

Click here to see all their Onell Design articles, as it's probably a good idea for you to do so.  If you aren't convinced, here's a video interview they did with the Matt himself, which you probably want to see.

(That's him in the beard.)

While this is an older video, he does namecheck a long-in-development PVC release which could be pretty exciting when it makes it out.

Again, more can be found at Kaiju Korner.  Including vehicle concepts... yes, vehicle concepts.

Venjorun Armorvor with Custom Heads

On the October Toys forums, where all Glyos discussion pretty much takes place, user Ghost Lion posted several shots of the new Venjorun Armovor body with TGB custom heads.  They look pretty great! 

Many orders for the Armorvor have shipped with people starting to receive their boxes yesterday, and for those of you waiting still: it's worth noting that it seems all of the orders have at least 1 metallic blue Crayboth as a swell freebie!  Now if you'll excuse me, I need to sit by my front door and glare at the mailbox until the mailman shows up.

Armovor Heads: The Granthan

One of the more legendary aspects of the Japanese Battle Beasts line was that they had dinosaurs.  In America?  No dinosaurs.  The Granthan walks the reptilian (or bird-like, whatever) line with a toothy, scaly creature design from Onell Design and sculpted (and molded) by The Godbeast.  You can find a few more shots of this one over here.

Review: Onell Design Glyos Zorennor Exploration Division Commander Sullkren Action Figure

Onell Design knows how to name toys so nobody could possibly have an existing trademark on them. Zorennor Exploration Division Commander Sullkren a simple repaint with a complicated name. Well, to call it "simple" is unfair-- it's pretty excellent, and the drop reminds me a lot of some old space toys. The figure was shipped in a clear plastic baggie with no labels or lettering, so no photo was included. The figure is cast in a white-ish plastic with primarily black and grey markings, plus some blue in the eyes. It never ceases to amaze me how well these guys turn out given we're dealing with maybe the 30th redeco of the same mold.
[ READ THE FULL REVIEW ]

Armorvor Heads: Armorvor Infected Insect Creature

Infected sounds vaguely like insected, which, while not a word, describes The Godbeast's Armorvor Infected concept nicely.  The insect-like head has some details that are like a fly, some that are like a bee, and if you get in too close to the pictures it's all pretty creepy.

The version on the left doesn't have much going on in the way of antenna.   On the right an alternate sculpt has more pronounced appendages, and there's more to see on his site.

Armorvor Heads: The Sharkavor!

 Given the similarity to Battle Beasts in form, the Armorvor was augmented with alternate heads.  After all, Glyos figures are born of a love of customizing figures, so it's no surprise The Godbeast designed and molded the super-cool Sharkavor!

Molded to look like a hammerhead shark, the figure has a fairly wide field of vision and some nice teeth on display.   The entire Armorvor customization concept really started to take off with this one, plus it reminds me a lot of the bad guys, the Rulons, from Dino-Riders.  You might recall those guys also mostly shared the same body, but featured heads similar to ants, the hammerhead shark, and other creatures.

As always, check the October Toys forums to see if the Godbeast is taking orders for new ones. These are hand-molded and are not mass-produced creations, so you're going to need to custom-order and paint your own, and if you do I pray you have some sort of skill as I feel I could only ruin it.  It just looks fantastic, and the head is about $15.

Custom: Callgrim Painted as Boba Fett

Late at night over the weekend I was asking myself "Gee, has anyone done a Boba Fett-deco Callgrim?" and sure enough, the answer was yes.  The great Monsterforge posted a gallery on Flickr of his creation and dang if it doesn't look fantastic.  The backpack, rangefinder, and gun are all excellent added touches, too!

Armorvor Heads: The Cobrillius

After the pretty swell Wyverillian, another multi-collaboration between The Godbeast, Onell Design, and Jason Frailey is the Cobrillius!  It's similar to a previously-seen snake design, but with that special house style you only get from Matt Doughty.

The stylized design unmistakably resembles one of the more feared reptiles on the planet Earth, while modifying the design to look like it would fit in the Glyos system and stylzing it so a customizer should be able to do some interesting things with it, were they so inclined.

As always, you can pick up a casting of this head from The Godbeast via his October Toys thread to the tune of $15 a whack.

Also as always, there are no known plans to mass-produce any of these heads in PVC at this time.  But hey, who knows what the right bribe or financial incentive can do in the world of small-run toy production, right?

Glyos Vinyl Starcraft Battlecruiser Custom Build Will Astound

There are countless custom figures built off of Glyos, but once in a while you see a build that really makes good on the promise of the Onell Design products being inspired by the likes of LEGO sets.

While browsing the October Toys forums-- which is where pretty much all Glyos life comes from other than Volkria-- is this astonishing creation.  You can see it here and mentally total up  how much this nifty thing costs.

To the creator Rez: you do good work, sir.

Armorvor Heads: Meet the Wyverillians!

It's no secret, I'm pretty jazzed about the whole Armorvor concept.  Since going on sale in late July, and selling out in less time than it took for me to get lunch today, the figure has raised a lot of eyebrows by both being neat in and of itself, and being the first all-new PVC figure from Onell Design in a while.

Prior to this release, dozens of hand-cast figures and unique heads were made by The Godbeast in low runs, including the Wyverillian.  The Wyverillian male (above) is one of several concepts sculpted and molded by The Godbeast after being designed by Onell's Matt Doughty.  However, part of what makes it particularly interesting is Matt's ability to get some extra mileage out of the design by making a female version-- women being somewhat uncommon in the Glyosphere-- with what amounts to an alternate design for the back of the head.

The flipside of the Wyverellian Female head is almost as interesting as the front, sculpted with a design that looks like a back of a dragon head or, with a little paint, could be some sort of quasi-tiki mask or insectoid alien creature.  A gallery can be found here.

If you want one of these fine creations, your option is basically to ask The Godbeast to make you one.  Each head is $15 and traditionally is requested on the October Toys forums. While The Godbeast can (and does) cast bodies of the Armorvor, you may be best-served financially to just wait for Onell Design to crank out more units, and word on the street one or two may be coming up in the next month or so.   These unique heads, though, are

So there are two heads-- we've got a bunch more to go!  Or you could just look at the pictures already on The Godbeast's site, just remember there are no known plans to mass-produce these as of yet, and I assume any such plans will require a ton of whining, pleading, and money.

Armorvor Cyber-Gator Head Painted, Even Better

A pre-order list for the Cyber-Gator went up on Saturday and filled up fast.  At this point, if you want one, check the October Toys forums.  The list was capped at 15 but I just noticed it got extended... and my name is on it, which, really, works well for me.

Jason Frailey showed the figure's head last week, and last night The Godbeast posted two different paint jobs showing that the head looks even better when you paint it.  Assuming of course you can paint, which, well, some of us can't-- but geez, look at it!  If this isn't the best thing you've seen this week, I don't know what is.  (But feel free to post in the comments what you think is, because if you've seen something cooler I want to know about it.)

Armorvor: Meet Jason Frailey's Cyber-Gator Head

You've seen the Armorvor, but did you know there are several existing and upcoming heads produced by the very men who created the Venjorun Armorvor!  Let's look at the newest one before looking at all the amazing work being done out there.

This version is the Cyber-Alligator Head, currently a hand-sculpted noggin by Jason Frailey Studio! The figure was listed as having a Masters of the Universe Trap Jaw-inspired head with opening jaws (and you can see the pictures!) as well as a great sculpt.  There are no plans for a "mass" release, but he says that The Godbeast will be casting it soon... meaning you'll have a way to get one.  Keep watching this space for info on how to sign up to get one to plug in your Glyos figure bodies, which are as always available from Onell Design and the awesome cast Armorvor bodies from The Godbeast on his site.  (If you're cheap like me, Onell Design has confirmed more Armorvors will  be available in the next drop.)

Jason sculpted the Armorvor figure, which sold out last weekend.  More are coming.  The Armorvor was designed by Matt Doughty (Onell Design), prototyped by The Godbeast, and lovingly illustrated by Nathan Newell (Dork Dimension.)

We'll be looking at the other heads here soon, but if you can't wait-- and you shouldn't wait-- go check out The Godbeast's site right now for more on what he does, and check out Jason Frailey Studio for his amazing work and bat head!