Back in September 2010, Jesse and I were preparing for our usual trip to China when we were told that an opportunity to make polystone statues had come up. This was due to a particular customer deciding at the last minute not to move forward on a certain project at the time. This left our factory with a lot of raw material and labor that was set to be used for said project. In general I'm personally not really big into statues, as it's just about as far removed from Glyos as possible, but after talking about it, Jesse and I decided to give it a try.
The idea was to travel to the factory, add some extra days to our stay and sculpt stuff while we were there. When we arrived we got settled and then went to meet the "Polystone Master", as each arm of the operation had a designated boss. This guy was a little different though, in that he had a kind of Tony Soprano feel to him, with a "you WILL complete the polystone project before you leave OR ELSE" type tone. Jesse referred to him as "Mister Christmas" because his showroom was absolutely filled with cutesy Christmas themed polystone products. How ironic.
When we returned to the hotel room we looked at each other and then immediately broke out the sculpting gear. We both worked like panicked, sweat drenched prisoners for three full days, only leaving the room to grab food and stop by our factory a few times. I had initially thought about sculpting a crazy version of Scar Pheyden or even Blue Eye from Gear's Edge, but the Villser reared its bulbous head instead. Jesse sculpted away on an alien steed for Callgrim.
In the end, we both realized that doing the polystone thing was ill conceived from the beginning, and finally came clean that it was not for us, even at the risk of facing the wrath of the nefarious Mister Christmas. After some raw fear and absolutely exquisite agita, Jesse and I were relieved to get back to our regular operations.
During the construction of what was to be the polystone Villser, I was secretly hoping for it to eventually become a vinyl piece, hence the very neutral pose. Originally it had one arm sculpted, but that was lost somewhere along the way to its final destination, which is a spot right under my desk.
There is more story to the Polystone Saga, which may pop up before the launch next week.
Thank you, Mister Christmas, wherever you may be.
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Kinda funny how some of these sketches show the Villser with similar arm structures to the Aulders. Coincidence?
ReplyDeleteAlso: this guy would look beastly as a vinyl. It almost looks like it should have a button, though, to make tentacles shoot out of its mouth!
That would be an amazing action feature! Though it could also be done with the Bendirions idea. A bunch of wireframed rubber tongues that could be unfurled from its mouth.
DeleteMy little brother, obssessed with Villsers, was ecstatic to see what might have been in these last couple posts. It's understandable that statues are pretty far from what Glyos stands for, but we both agree that a vinyl Villser would be amazing!
ReplyDeleteAs for myself, as a fan of Lovecraftian, tentacled (or tongued, in this case) cosmic entities, the Villser and Aulder's designs hold a special place in my heart.
Polystone is SUCH a different direction! Villser as a vinyl would be super cool(though I can't help but hope we'll see King Crayboth first).
ReplyDeleteThe idea of a steed or even a vehicle (maybe something like the old Rechlen and Aves stuff) is interesting.
Parts could be connected with production PVC parts...not that I know enough about poly, it just seems like it could be used like resin.
Also I'm guessing that it is cheaper to mass produce? I'm probably wrong but the Dollar Store seems to always have a ton.
That's an amazing sculpt. Looks like a Hulk from Marathon. I would love to see it in vinyl.
ReplyDeleteWANT WANT WANT WANT WANT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This looks fricking awesome. Now to read the post...
ReplyDeleteThat's an awesome beefcake! And Nibbler in the background!
ReplyDeleteI always liked that thing since I saw it almost a year ago when Beth & I visited with you guys. Such a cool, beefy, chunky sculpt that I really really love. He's got a lot of power in his legs too, I can totally see him towering over victims, just lording over them. In vinyl I could totally see it with a regular arm & an arm with a hand open to capture victims.
ReplyDeleteAlso nice to see the Canne'snowman ornament again, glad you guys liked it. Maybe I should make a Ston'emm Santa Claus for you guys this year. ;-D
Interesting backer card he's standing on! :)
ReplyDeleteGood eye George, I spotted that too. ;) Loving the look of the Villser!
DeleteThis has absolutely nothing to do with what I thought it was going to mean. I am looking for a transmission company located near Lethbridge. I won't lie though, once I found this article, I had to see what it was about. Very cool!
ReplyDeleteJust wow. I never envisioned the Villser as beefy, but that chunky power sculpt is great. Really solid, yet creepy. Needless to say, I'd vote for this in vinyl (after King Crayboth, of course).
ReplyDeleteI would buy this in vinyl. Great work!!
ReplyDeleteWow! I'm a sucker for big, beefy figures, and this thing is awesome!
ReplyDeleteI know I am commenting on this late and you probably won't see it but after your new story about the villser, voss, and crayboth I think it would be awesome if this or the villser soldier got made in vinyl form.
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