"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 ]