Thank You!!!

The past few weeks have been a ride for us like no other, and you guys have been incredible throughout all of it. Thank you for being so patient as we reconfigured everything.

The level of internal turmoil over here reached new heights in June. Everything from hacked email accounts, compromised bank cards, poison ivy and even freaking Lyme Disease took a run at us. It has been almost comedic with all the rotten luck ...almost.
The Paypocalypse was the dark cherry on top.

Even though June has been a cruel month, it was salvaged by the super powered support that all of you sent our way. Michelle and I were very moved by the emails and calls that came in. Just when we were ready to go nuts, an email would pop up, sharing an experience or just sending good thoughts. You guys really made a massive difference while we had our feet to the fire.

To keep the good vibes flowing, we've been working double time since Sunday and as of this writing have shipped out 95% of all the orders that came in after the store went back online. Megan and Pj came in to hyper charge the process, and Michelle has been an invoicing dynamo all week long, processing nearly 600 orders as the kids were climbing the walls. Marcus continues to work with Paypal to make sure the store remains healthy and has made positive progress on strengthening our systems.

Thank you from the whole Doughty/Beaudette clan. Even when we're unlucky, we feel lucky, because we're in this together with each of you.

Take 2

The store is open!
Refresh onelldesign.com/store

Please read carefully before placing an order: We are asking that each customer place ONLY ONE order tonight. If you do not see an order confirmation on screen or via email, please be patient and DO NOT place another order. Due to the high volume of activity, it may take extra time for PayPal to process all transactions. Please also be sure your PayPal cart is EMPTY before you begin shopping.

Each customer will receive 1 FREE Noboto chosen at random while supplies last.

We'll be watching every detail and listening to everything you guys have to say.

Thanks for sticking with us!

****UPDATE 2: We've raised the limits on the Armorvor and solid Travelers to 2 and 3 respectively. Things are still cruising along with no hiccups to speak of so far.

**UPDATE: So far so good. Inventory is operating well and orders seem like they're coming in without any problems or duplications. Once we hit 10pm, everything should be good for you guys to place additional orders if you want to. Thanks again for being incredibly cool tonight. Our hearts have been in our throats all day long.

Shopping Cart Alert

We are on track to re-open the store tonight at 9:30 PM EST. To further help with any issues tonight, we're asking everyone a quick favor BEFORE the launch:

Please head over to the store page now, click the View Cart button and be sure there is nothing currently in your cart. Remove everything if necessary.

All new buttons and item numbers have been created, but we are advising everyone to check that their PayPal shopping carts are 100% EMPTY before starting tonight as an extra precaution (refresh the store if you do not see the View Cart button).

Thanks once again for your cooperation and support!

New Details

I want to start this block of information by first and foremost giving thanks to all of you who have stood by us throughout the past week. The challenges presented on just about every level, both professionally and personally, have been hard to describe. I want to get to the important details about what we are planning to do before anything else, so here goes:

-We want to reopen the store this SUNDAY, JUNE 23RD at 9:30PM EST. 

-There will be NEW LIMITS for certain items.  

The Reydurran Engineer Mimic Armorvor will now be limited to ONE per customer to begin with.

The Solid Pheydens (Source, Source Reverse and Ivorinium) will be limited to TWO EACH per customer.

-Please only order ONE TIME on the first night. If everything is looking good after the first night of sales, additional orders should be OK to place.

-Noboto WILL NOT be for sale. We have decided to pack EACH UNIQUE order that comes in with a random selection of either type (Ivorinium OR Clear Stealth) for FREE.
 We will be running both of these Noboto colors again, so everybody will be able to get whatever version they want in time. I hope that this eases some of the recent pain, though I know it's not much.

We have been continually working with Paypal to discover what exactly went wrong last week. I have spoken personally with over 11 representatives and been in an email thread with the tech support. In almost 7 days there have been no answers that bring any further clarity. I want to state clearly, here and now, that we can not guarantee that there will not be any problems on Sunday night. Paypal can also guarantee nothing, but we are asking for your cooperation to cut down on the chances of another meltdown as we test the ship again.

The biggest thing to be aware of is submitting duplicate orders. If you place an order and are not given the confirmation screen, close the browser and check your account to see if you were charged BEFORE attempting to order again. I can't stress this one enough. If you feel as though something is amiss, don't hesitate to contact us, as we will be watching everything moment to moment.

We have larger amounts of stock than ever before, so you will not have to rush to secure what you are after. Removing Noboto from the equation and lowering the limit on the painted Armorvor should alleviate a great deal of traffic stress.

Our family feels beat down from this experience, and I absolutely despise having to be so rigid about the limits for this "relaunch", but I see it as the only logical way to get things back in operation. Every decision that has been made concerns what's best for all of us, as a group, on both sides of the screen.

Thanks for taking the time to go over all the new rules for what we are attempting this Sunday. Once again, we're so sorry for the wake of negative events that have affected you guys.

Hopefully we can get the show back on the road and get the positive energy moving again.

Master Reset

The last 24 hours have been the biggest challenge that Onell has faced since our first day on the web.

What started out as a great release, quickly transformed into a near mind breaking disaster. The depth of the duplicate Paypal order issues that occurred last night completely crushed our long trusted internal operation.

Every single system we have been employing through Paypal for years imploded all at once, with even our inventory count becoming paralyzed, resulting in massive discrepancies with our available stock and what was actually sold.

After trying to reconcile the seemingly endless problems that have been caused by the meltdown, we decided after speaking with Paypal on three separate calls, that a master refund had to be activated.

An extreme series of events had to be met with an extreme response, and we made this painful decision for the benefit of all of us. Michelle had even gone as far as to invoice over 350 orders, after I had already issued over 160 refunds, and discovered that nothing was lining up with our stock, due to the automatic Paypal inventory freezing just after the store went live.

I so deeply apologize for what occurred with this release. We are working with the Paypal techs to figure out why their system imploded on us this particular time, when all other signs had been pointing to more efficient and easy launches.

We are hoping to "relaunch" later this coming week, but only if we are 100% satisfied that this level of pain cannot occur again.

I'm sorry for the mess, but we will clean it up. I promise each of you that.

Please consider sticking with us while we navigate this negative zone. Your support keeps us from literally going mad with bloody knuckle frustration over what transpired last night.

More details the minute we get them.


EDIT: ALL ORDERS PLACED SINCE LAST NIGHT HAVE BEEN COMPLETELY REFUNDED.


UPDATE:  We are still working with Paypal to discover what caused the problems last Friday night, but have nothing solid to report at this time. All the feedback from the release that has been sent in by you guys has also been turned over to the Paypal techs, so we really appreciate the information.

Once again, I truly apologize for the depth of what's occurred. Your support in the comments below and through personal emails have kept all of us over here from going into some very dark places.

Another Visitor

**ATTENTION**
 We have temporarily closed down the shop as we figure out what exactly is going on with Paypal. We greatly apologize for the inconvenience and will let you know as soon as we sort things out. Thanks to everyone for your support and patience. 

We are very excited to finally welcome Noboto into full production!

It's been tough not sharing the process with you guys, but we wanted to be 100% sure that we could deliver the goods. Noboto comes packed with an alternate head and removable belt, scarf and backpack. It's been a long time in the making, and it seems surreal to see the little guy in production PVC.

Another point of interest concerns the Armorvor in the pic above. It is what we consider an error piece, as the crimson paint actually matches the Venjorun hue, not the Reydurran PVC from the last wave. Usually something like this would be locked away or destroyed, but after discussing it over here, we decided to pull the curtain back on this one.

The applications are tight, just not the precise red we had wanted. Hopefully you'll get a kick out of seeing something that would normally never even make the trip over here.

Tonight's release is dedicated to Michelle, Noboto's true mama!

Insert Coin

Atlas Argen

This contained build is what I imagine Argen evolving into under the training of Phanost.

The recipe is:

- 1 Buildman 
- 1 Phaseon
- 1 Axis Joint Set
- 1 Phase Arm
- 1 Gobon Blaster
- 2 Swing Joint Sets
- 1 Scarf

Gigantic flight packs and massive blasters, designed for long range adventures, have always been a fun aesthetic to play around with. This pile of PVC was inspired by the original Sentinel Gundam designs created by Katoki Hajime back in 1987.

Pushing Argen into more complex forms has been a bit of an ongoing challenge over here, and the introduction of the Swing Joints has added a little extra fun to the process. I also kind of like the scarf as a visor in this build. If you reverse it, the head looks a lot like an Acroyear from Microman.

Endless homages!

EDIT: Back view added.

Task Major and Task Minor

I've really missed the Phaseons over the last few releases, even more so recently since the the Swing Joints rolled out. It has been a blast having them back again!

The above builds are contained, save for two renegade Switch Pins on the Task Major construction (top one) and the option for less Switch Pin "spikes" on the Roundfacer Task Minor form (bottom one).

Using the Switch Pins as little spikes give these Phaseon builds a little medieval armor/Alien Xenomorph look. I imagine that as the Phaseons evolve, they start employing more aggressive forms, a reflection of their darker purpose in the Glyos System.

My focus on the Phaseon might seem odd, but I think the challenge of pushing what was once a Beanbot into something else is always running in the back of my mind. A funny fact is that the Beanbot was actually a character from Michelle's Monsters VS Robots stories first, which also featured Gobon and Noboto. Being that Michelle and I are always blending everything together, the development of a particular character can take some bizarre turns, and the Phaseon's life cycle has been no exception.

Mission Details

Got busy over here today! I'll skip my top of the post ramble and cut to the chase (new ramble can be found below the list):

The following items are scheduled to be in the store on Friday, June14th at 9:30PM EST.

There will be purchasing limits on select items: 

-Armorvors (2 limit per customer) 

-Travelers (4 of each special SOLID style per customer)  

-Stealth Pheyden/Standard Pheyden/Reverse Pheyden (6 per customer)




Buildstation: Stealth (Clear Colorless/No Paint)

Traveler -Stealth Pheyden MK III (with painted eyes and scarf) $8

Glyan -Stealth MK II $6

Buildman -Stealth MK II $6

Phaseon -Stealth MK II $4

Crayboth -Stealth  MK II $3

Armorvor  -Stealth MK III $8

Swing Joint Set -Stealth $3
  
Hub Set -Stealth $4

Axis Joint Set -Stealth $3

Phase Arm/Gobon Blaster Single Set -Stealth $2


Standard Pheyden MK IV (Light Blue/Grey with Grey eyes and Grey detail lines) $8
Reverse Pheyden MK II (Grey/Light Blue with Pink eyes and Grey detail lines) $8


Source Pheyden (Light Blue with Grey eyes) $8
Source Reverse Pheyden (Grey with Pink eyes) $8
Ivorinium Pheyden (White Pearlescent with Blue eyes) $8

Armorvor -????? $8

Crayboth -Standard MK II (Light Orange with painted Pink accents and Pink detail lines) $4
Crayboth -Traveler Hybrid (Light Blue with painted Grey accents and Grey detail lines) $4

?????
????? 


We have reduced the prices on the majority of the Buildstation items, so that you guys can build more things for a little less dough.

The Armorvors will stay at their current price of $8, as we've already pushed that item as low as we can go, even with higher volumes. The Travelers will also remain at $8, as the same holds true for Pheyden.

The Source Travelers are designed for those of you who may want a detail line free version of the Standard and Reverse Pheydens. Swap the parts and you can have the option for something more Fisher Price styled.

Ivorinium Pheyden uses a pearlescent additive in the PVC, which gives the figure a kind of "cosmic ivory" look. Tough to photograph, but very interesting when in hand.

As mentioned before, a few surprises are on deck for Friday night, one of which has an interesting history that we will share before the launch. The other surprise (two styles) should add something unique yet familiar to the Glyos equation. Hopefully you guys will like what you see.

I'll be posting some new Contained Builds starting tomorrow and leading up to Friday night.

Buildstation Express

The Buildstation will come back to life this Friday, June 14th at 9:30PM EST. This release will be a little different than usual, as the majority of the items popping up in the store have been ordered in high amounts, the highest since the original Founders many years ago. All the Clear Colorless (Stealth) figures and parts will appear in the resurrected Buildstation section on Friday night, and hopefully remain there for some time to come. This is an experiment, and hopefully it makes getting stuff for building easier on a regular basis.

There will be some special releases as well, with order limits in place like in the past.

The thing we're most excited to see finally return on Friday is Standard Pheyden! This will be the MK IV version, with a slightly brighter blue and lighter grey PVC. Of course you can't have Standard Pheyden without Reverse Pheyden (literally), so one of my personal old favorites is also back, now as a MK II edition. Both of these figures have been run in higher amounts and should stick around for a while.

A list will be up tomorrow afternoon, detailing what's in store for the store. There will be some surprises on Friday.

Possibly some big surprises.

More pics (featuring a couple new builds) and information coming tomorrow!

A Visitor

While exploring outside for a good spot to shoot some pics, this little critter wandered into the scene!

The Mordle seemed to fascinate our new friend, as a major stare down went into full effect, lasting for way longer than it should have.

Eventually the turtle took off towards the woods, maybe to find a computer to join Club Mordle.

Club Mordle!

John Kent and his partners Charlie Parry and Mike Hart over at Toyfinity.com have released the details on their new Club Mordle promotion, which grants collectors of the upcoming Mordles line a chance to purchase some new toys ahead of the crowd.

From John's blog:

UPDATED JUNE 1st.

CLUB MORDLE is now open over at Toyfinity.com!

Head on over there and you'll have the chance to join Club Mordle, which guarantees you the chance to order any upcoming Mordles product. Remember, you don't have to join Club Mordle to purchase product - but product available on release days to the general public will be available in limited quantities. You can see the full details in a previous post on this blog.

Today, I'm happy to finally give you some details about the very first product releases that Club Mordle members will have access to! 

Mordles love to arrive in groupings called waves. The first wave will consist of SIX colorways, released over the next three months (one release in June, one in July, and one in August).

The first two products, available to Club Mordle members starting on Monday June 17th through Sunday June 23rd (and release to the general public on June 28th) include:

Mordles - Standard Edition TEN PACK with special bonus item! The price for this pack will be $16.

Mordles - Crawler Edition TEN PACK. The price for this pack will be $12.

Product photos will follow this week.

The countdown to the return of the Mordles is on!

Link directly to their store HERE

Marcus and I have been working with John on the Mordle project since its inception, and we are both really excited to finally see the little buggers come back to life after all these years. The figures have been manufactured at our Glyos factory and the production process has been looked after carefully from start to finish, just like our own line.

The Toyfinty boys have some really fun things lined up for the Mordles that will make diving into their mysterious little world well worth the price of admission.