Thinking about the many twists and turns on a long journey usually results in what might seem like generic observations, most likely due to the relatable truths that are revealed when human beings really dig their heels into something difficult yet rewarding. We haven't always hit the bullseye with every choice, and we've had our rougher passages while maintaining the balance between artistic inspiration and basic survival, but the whole deal has truly been filled with the very best times of our lives. There aren't enough text mountains to convey how grateful we are to each of you for granting us the ability to keep moving forward, so please just know that you helped us build our family with an authentic freedom to chart our own course.
This wave was born from a lifetime spent visiting and staying on the coast of Gloucester, Massachusetts. I'll spare you most of the corny details, but the gravity of this particular wave is tied to the time shared with members of my family that have since crossed over, leaving those of us who remain to carry on the traditions and connections to a very special place, resting on the shoreline of the beautiful Atlantic Ocean. Wave 94 is dedicated to each of them, especially my father, who loved Gloucester maybe most of all.
Michelle, CC, Marcus and Pj "Bartwood" Bartlett all worked like crazy to push everything out the door as quickly as possible for this round. From fine tuning the store to processing, packing and shipping, they did it all like powerhouse maniacs. Make sure to keep an eye on Pj's site this Friday for some all new Geodraxus action!
Looking ahead, the current plan is to have one more wave ready for sometime in mid-late October, though that might bump into November depending on what's happening globally around that time. If everything lines up right, we should have something new to share, along with a couple extra surprises.
We're also on track to set up at LegionsCon on November 5th and 6th, which celebrates all things related to the absolutely legendary Four Horsemen. Additionally, they have been beyond generous in inviting us to hold a mini "GlyCon" within their own convention, allowing us to gather a healthy roster of active Glyos makers that is sure to be entertaining. Our sincere thanks go out to the 4H, and especially Jeremy Girard and Joe Veteri, who founded and host the event. We'd love to see all of you in person, especially after the last few crazy years.
Deep thanks once again for supporting Glyos on the whole. We promise to continue exploring this strange system, discovering more phasing aliens, living robots and definitely a few mutated monsters -all with each of you!
Thanks again to Sen for another powerhouse illustration! Combined with the all new original music composed by our long time collaborator Glen "Circuits and Brains" Schricker, we feel luckier than ever to be able to work with artists and musicians operating on the same frequency.
Sen and Glen, you are the best!
Edit: All limits have been lifted, thanks!
Please place only ONE ORDER WITHIN THE FIRST HOUR TONIGHT. We will lift all limits after the first hour. Thanks for your cooperation. Have Fun!
Join us for our 15th anniversary
and Wave 94, this Sunday night,
July 24th at 9:30PM EDT!
This new assortment had been in the works (like seemingly everything I mention in these sparse posts) for about a year. It faced multiple delays during the end of 2021 and almost half of 2022. We don't have to wait until the the far flung future to reflect on how wild maintaining any kind of consistent production throughout the pandemic has been. Despite the obstacles, we feel lucky to still be standing, even if only on half a leg.
Seeing the Sincro Armor finally roll out with all its parts has been good, as there are a number of secret functions packed into its weirdo design. The Sincroborg as a whole represents a large part of my personal odd aesthetic, with pronounced asymmetry and stacked shapes piled into that familiar humanoid form. Its new armor components also serve as a massive tribute to the powerhouse artists who guided so many of us with their astounding works. Shotaro Ishinomori, Makoto Kobayashi, Moebius and the very missed Ralph Niese are just four of the masters whose inspiration flowed through my blades and clay as the Sincroborg and its various parts materialized from someplace beyond. I hope you feel something creatively satisfying if you decide to check that mold out.
The current battle plan is to have our next release in late July, timed to coincide with our 15th anniversary. Depending on the twists and turns overseas, we might be able to stick the landing. Either way, expect some more action from us around that time.
Michelle and I were on solo duty for the processing and shipping, and with the extra large turnout and beefy assortment, we were put to the test old school style. Thankfully, Michelle still runs on a super charged engine, and was able to hammer through and keep the orders and box stacks on track. Cady and CC stepped in for some greatly appreciated label stickering assistance in shifts as well. I think my hardened hands turned to hamburger on about day 8 of papering and taping, and I was smiling the whole time.
Wrapping up, our whole family thanks you more than ever for your interest in all things Glyos. Your continued support of not only what we do here, but our partner companies as well, has allowed all of us to defy the odds and stay authentic and intact. We look forward to crossing into even more creative dimensions together, with you.
EDIT: All limits have been lifted. Thanks!
Please place only ONE ORDER WITHIN THE FIRST HOUR TONIGHT. We will lift all limits after the first hour. Thanks for your cooperation. Have Fun!
Psychic circuits meet sinister cells.
Wave 93 launches Sunday, May 15th at 9:30PM EDT.
A special part of this mini wave comes in the form of a preview for something new we call the Sincro Armor Set. Though it's not a full reveal of everything in this set, each Glyan provides a little sneak playtime with some of what's in store. The parts were designed and sculpted to work with most of our standard figures (Travelers, Glyans, Sincroborgs), not to mention a few figures from our partner makers as well. Just some more weird stuff to customize and mess around with!
Michelle and I ran solo for all processing and packing this time, and tried to move as quickly as possible. The barn was filled with the sounds of K-Pop (STAYC), the Metroid soundtrack and Pale Waves. Definitely an eclectic mix of noise to keep the pace cooking. All orders outside of those that were placed today have gone out.
As I mentioned in some of the comments last week, we are aiming to have a fairly good sized wave roll out in mid-late March if everything stays on track overseas. As has been the new normal, predictably unexpected stoppages continue to come up on a nearly weekly basis. 2021 was easily harder to navigate than 2020, but thanks to the supercharged support from each of you we were able to make it through with only two sales last year. The combination of higher production runs and some new mold action seemed to also help keep the lights on. We have a good batch of new projects currently in various stages of production, with some being in house and some being crossovers. It would seem that a number of makers have monsters on the mind this year.
Thank you for recharging us over and over with your continued dedication. We'll always work diligently to earn that privilege and will never take your interest for granted. It's pretty crazy to still be sharing new creations with you, here in year 15!
Please place only ONE ORDER WITHIN THE FIRST HOUR TONIGHT. We will lift all limits after the first hour. Thanks for your cooperation. Have Fun!
A big component of this round came in the form of the the short animation that Marc, Cady and I put together. Making any kind of new art since the loss of Ralph has been tough on a number of levels, and I've personally struggled with getting back into doing something more expansive than the sneak animations that usually accompany a new wave, without him. So I stuck an old picture of Ralph that Michelle had on the mantle in front of me as inspiration and did my best to learn how to draw some finished art on the iPad. Come hell or high-water, each day I dedicated serious time into that black mirror, and slowly started to feel more in tune with it. Cady was super patient with her old man, and imparted all her digital tricks to boost my understanding and get me up to speed. Ralph is an irreplaceable piece of the puzzle here, but I know he'd want the art to continue, so as a family we'll forge ahead and see what we can make, here in the new frontier.
We had a few shifts in the way we ship things here, mainly being that we're giving the Shopify shipping interface a shot. So far it's seemed pretty good. Michelle was the eternal champ, learning the ropes of the new interface with only moderate levels of insanity between us. Marcus tackled the taping duties with me so Pj (The Paper Palace King) could have a break from the boxing trenches. Music was kept to a minimum during the first stage of packing, but near the end Marcus unleashed another great playlist, with many highlights including Little Dragon (my favorite), D Train, Cobra Man, Tuxedo, and Mndsgn. Music absolutely keeps us alive.
On an additional note, we also tried something different with the bonus item for this wave, which may or may not float with everybody. The idea behind it was to switch things up and promote some easy building action beyond the usual figure selections. That being said, it's not a permanent thing, and we will continue to experiment here and there. Additionally, we've been discussing a possible Buildstation for 2022, and what molds to revisit if we open the gates again. Speaking of molds, expect some interesting items to debut in the next wave, which is currently scheduled for December or January, depending on the ongoing global mayhem.
As always, thank you once again from the whole family for continuing to check out the things that we create. There may be longer spaces in between our time together on the blog during these extreme years, but I assure you, our hearts and minds are clear and still full of life over here. We absolutely love what we get to do and are endlessly grateful for the creative freedoms we've been allowed to enjoy, through the incredible support that comes from each of you.
EDIT: All limits lifted. Thanks!
Please place only ONE ORDER WITHIN THE FIRST HOUR TONIGHT. We will lift all limits after the first hour. Thanks for your cooperation. Have Fun!
LAUNCH BUMPED TO 10:30 PM EDT
Since we're channeling the old days here... we've of course ran into a hiccup and need an extra hour to power through. The small assortment of figures will be revealed inside the store at 10:30pm. Apologies for the delay!
It's been more than a bit since checking in, but after some heavy recharging and refocusing, I think we're feeling ready to dip back into the public pool a little.
My apologies to those that felt frustrated with our absence here on the blog, your criticisms are not without merit. That being said, I assure you that even though it might have seemed like we'd faded into the beyond, it's not the case. Just needed to spend some quality extra time fine tuning and powering up the old soul for whatever this new world decides to dish out next.
We'll have something kind of neat to share this coming week in conjunction with our much delayed 14th anniversary Wave 91, which we're shooting to have available on *(UPDATED) Saturday, October 23rd at 9:30PM EDT. It's not a big round, but it contains an assortment that really channels the early days of Onell.
Thank you for the continued patience as we navigate these bizarre times.
*We've bumped to Saturday for a little extra time to tighten all the hatches. Thanks again for bearing with us and for all the great comments down below.
Thank you for warmly welcoming us back from our long winter (and spring) hibernation. The turnout for the new wave was really something special, and Michelle, Marc and I are forever grateful that your genuine interest and positive energy still flow through this entire project. We deeply, deeply appreciate that you all kept the door cracked open for when we finally wandered back in from the cold.
By now many of your packages have arrived or are in transit to their various destinations, and as of this writing, everything except what came in overnight has been sent out. Michelle and Pj really went to town for this release, processing and sorting the largest amount of orders we've ever had like a pair of cyborgs. Or maybe more like a a pair of Sincroborgs. Massive thanks to Pj for making yet another critical assist. The Paper Palace was even reinforced for the event! TBS, Saosin and Tuxedo were all on loop.
Speaking of Sincroborgs, I hope that the new build on the block sparks some fresh creativity and brings a little fun into the mix for those that picked it up. I tried to pour an extra level of custom potential and secret discovery everywhere I could into the sculpt. That bugger now holds the record for the longest amount of hours I've ever logged into a figure project, with its actual starting point dating back to 2019 (if you nose around the blog you'll find that Sincroborg action was slowly forming in the background). The late, great Ralph and I had even worked previews of the basic design into the illustrations he did for Wave 84 and 87. He was excited to draw the new character, and enjoyed busting my chops because I had "finally sculpted some new humanoid faces". So it's only fitting that we dedicate the release of the figure (and its two humanoid faces - and some more to come) to him. I like to think that part of Ralph will live on in the Sincroborg, and at some point maybe we'll show a few of the raw drawings we sent back and forth when we were hiding bits of it in his launch work.
Looking ahead, we do have plans to do a smaller release in late July to mark our 14th year, and then hopefully another round in the fall. It feels good to hear the engine running again, and the whole family thanks you for jump-starting our batteries and giving us a push to get back on the road.
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