The inspiration for this wave is heavy on the classic Lego Space theme, with a strong mix of 2001: A Space Odyssey swirled in. Though I do believe that 2001 (1968) directly influenced the Lego Space (1978) color selections, 2001 may also have been paying a little homage to Mattel's good old Major Matt Mason (1966) as well. Carrying on the time-honored tradition of primary colored spacemen seemed like a natural choice for space geeks like us. Swapping around the colors from this assortment can produce some neat combos, but we wanted you to discover the variety on your own, keeping in line with the great Lego philosophy.
Looking forward into June, we'll all see some amazing new twists from both Spy Monkey and Bio-Masters that should make the fantasy fans go bonkers. We'll be rounding things out at the end of June with our own fantasy themed wave that bookends a special month of medieval madness!
All packages have hit the post as of this writing save just a few orders. Michelle and I tackled this one alone, hence the later than usual post.
In closing, I wanted to personally address a couple of concerns that I've recently seen posted about the direction of things around here.
Some folks really long for the days of detail lines, Passcodes, comics, release lists and massive waves of vinyl. Those options are very limited now or are no longer feasible, but we have continued to push things in different directions, not just with our own line, but with our sister companies as well. It's easy to forget, but Glyos has been in a state of metamorphosis since its inception, with each year producing a different variation and focus. Gradual, yes, but still changing and growing at a steady pace.
Over the last decade, we've seen some intense shifts in our hobby, and just as much on the business side of things. Running an operation like this and being able to survive depends almost solely on your ability to change and evolve under intense pressure. Obstacles arise weekly, as any small business owner can attest to. Cash flow is always tight, especially if you want to keep vital. Decisions have to be made that you know won't please everybody, but you do what's best for the majority of the ship so the mission can continue.
It's never been my intention to shut people out or exclude opinions. I truly value every piece of advice, and though sometimes painful to hear, each and every criticism. We don't live in a vacuum and never have. Some viewpoints are extremely myopic, others are dead on, but at the end of the day, they are all personal perspectives on something we choose to do and are 100% responsible for. For better or for worse.
There are some fairly major things in the works over here (I'm aware that this always seems to be the case in these posts, but it's not without merit). We have some crossover projects that won't surface until later this year, but they are unlike anything we've explored before. Some of you are going to love it, and some will not at all, but it will definitely open up some exciting new worlds.
I believe it's the nature of survival to leave certain things behind, and we will continue to lose and gain for as long as we are allowed to do this.
It's my hope that you continue to evolve with us, and enjoy the journey for everything that it's been so far. Regardless of whatever has been said and done, I couldn't be more thankful for the last 10 years.
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Thank you so much for the well thought out post Matt! As no doubt one of the more vocal people who miss detail lines and vinyl this all really speaks to me directly. I am forever grateful to have had access to these many drops over the years, and I'm not exaggerating when I say that you have produced my absolute favorite toys ever. I've picked up something from almost every drop since I first was lucky enough to stumble across your corner of the universe in late 2010 and plan to continue as long as you do! While not everything these days is my cup of tea, I am still constantly excited for what's next and love seeing the experimentation and new concepts that come forward. Skate Wars immediately became one of my favorite drops ever, so even an old holdover like me is game for new frontiers.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of, the 1000 toys crossover is very exciting! I can't wait to see what the Onell side of that collaboration is as I love their synthetic human figure. On the home front I do hope we continue to see vinyl as much as is possible, as it has always been my favorite piece of the glyos puzzle.
Mostly I hope you are not disenhearted by some of the discussions I've seen (And participated in) over the past few months. Overall I'd say glyos has the best community of toy collectors I've ever encountered, and it is no doubt in my mind that it's in large part because of your kindness and helpful attitude that you've built something so special. There will always be a handful of assholes, but for the rest of us, I'd like to think that even if a particular wave doesn't click with everyone, we are in for the long haul.
As always, keep up the great work!
Thanks for the input, Rez. You've been around for a long time (cue Callgrim animation), and I've always enjoyed when we could speak in person back in the days of the NYCC.
DeleteIt's been a unique experience watching the entire hobby of toy collecting dramatically change since our times attending those conventions. I remember so many companies, ones much larger and far more successful than us, dominating the booths, with lines wrapping around corners. Now, most of those companies are gone, committed to only our memories. I used to wonder if independently run operations like ours, with no popular licenses or major coverage, were destined for a short life.
As each year passed, I treated it as if it would be our last. Not with fear, but simply as a possibility. The drive to explore where we could take Glyos has a lot to do with this line of thinking.
I'll forever be contemplating how we can keep this going, right up until it eventually ends.
Thank you for legitimately caring about all this stuff and for giving it a place in your life. You know I mean it.
Hey Matt - There have been some changes but you have always done a great job of maintaining the core elements of Glyos while still growing and evolving with the times. On my first email chain with you back in 2007 you said "I think you will like what's coming down the pike" and you were totally right. That statement was true then and I'm sure it's just as true now. Looking forward to the next 10 years. :)
ReplyDeleteGlyos is about to get medieval on our *sses! That nugget made my jaw drop a bit.
ReplyDeleteI love this line as a building toy. The visual cues are specific enough to read as alien, yet generic enough to fit in with almost any environment and supporting cast of STUFF I have around. They need no specific lore of their own a la MOTU or GIJoe, yet I can't help but be a little more engaged when snippets of lore do come out from time to time like with the Quallerran and Elpherios, who seems like he could teach/learn a few tricks to/from that nasty Viyer (my absolute favorite of all your characters). Enigma Source (and consequently Soul of the Traveler) hooked me hard into this line and it's been a wild ride ever since.
Pass codes and comics, as welcome as they are to most of us, are products of time and passion. The passion can't be doubted. The time, though, as a fellow parent (four daughters)...I know how precious that is.
I could care less about lists or detail lines (the latter of which are prohibitively expensive as I've heard). I've seen enough releases with and without lists to know that there tends to be stuff (good stuff) that throws off the best laid plans of a man's wallet. Others disagree (and strongly). The effect is the same to my eyes.
Can't wait to tangle with this latest wave.
I personally don't need Passcodes, comics, or detail lines. But I would like the lists to return. It would be nice for those of us who can't go all in on a drop to have a general idea of where to focus our funds. Pics helped to some degree, but not so much now that we're not getting most of them until drop day. Also, I would love to see a back to basics drop. No elaborate paint and no tampos. Don't get me wrong. I like those things, but not every figure every drop. Solid colors and clears would be nice to see again for an actual build wave. Heck, I would love to see the Buildstation stocked up again. Pretty sure these are all pipe dreams considering the current direction of the line, but that is my two cents.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the feedback, David.
DeleteWe will be modestly restocking the Buildstation over the coming months, leading into the second half of the year, we'll just be doing it in little sections. This recent wave was nosing into how folks would respond to more basic selections across a few colors. We ordered a healthy amount so that the general stock would last for a bit. I'll be curious to see how it shakes out in the coming weeks.
Nothing is completely off the table, we're just looping in a different part of the line's life cycle as we explore different things. What looks good to some, doesn't look good to others.
It's a much different climate than it was 5 years ago -or even a year ago, but we continue to follow the same creative inspiration that delivered us here from the start. I still personally love doing this and feel it beating in my heart every day and night. Even on the rough days, I know we're lucky as hell that you guys care.
Thanks again for posting.
Yeah, I am cool without the detail lines. I think detail lines work on special characters, if the figures are made to be taken apart and turned into different builds then solid colors works better.
DeleteI'm so happy you acknowledged the 2001:ASO in this post :)
ReplyDeleteThank you Onell team for all of the fantastic times and toys you've dropped to us over the years! Glyos really is one of my favorite things ever and I'm very grateful for all of the creativity and effort you put into making each drop feel like a special event. You have a fan for life here, and I hope you realize how excited myself and many others are to see what will happen next with Glyos.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the detailed response, Matt, and for the hard work you put into the line.
ReplyDeleteI don't know what I could say that wouldn't just repeat what Rez said above, really. A lot has changed over the last ten years, and it's been a ride to see where Glyos has been and where it's going.
There are some things that I miss, admittedly. While I can see possible reasons why they're gone, not having the lists around has changed the dynamic a bit that's made it a little tougher to keep up the hobby. Certain sculpts have come and gone, and though the new stuff always adds something to the playability of the line, it's hard not to miss Exellis in either form, or my old favorite, Sarvos. And let's face it, the year after you guys stopped going to NYCC was my last year going; it's just not the same without everyone there.
For what it's worth, there have been great changes, too. I'm really happy to see Contained Build bundles roll out, and lore posts are still going strong whenever we get a new character in a drop. Paint apps have really pushed the envelope over the last few waves, and the way tampos were handled in this run was superb; even without full runs of Accessory Sets in each color, it's been making building a lot more fun. I'm just as excited to see what's in store for the summer, given the little hints that have been dropped here and there.
I guess what I'm trying to say in all this ramble is this: a lot of things change, but it's good to see the core of what makes Glyos special isn't one of those things. It's just hard not to be nostalgic sometimes, y'know?
I'd just like to say, being a newbie here, it's always fun to see what new homage or inspiration may influence a wave. Also being new means that I do not have a large back catalog of figures in which to fall back on. I love the thrill that the drop provides. In a way I've become a junky, spending sometimes up to two weeks prior to a drop refreshing the blog page at least 3x a day, just in case some little pic or hint surfaces. I can understand that some fans just don't have the time loiter online waiting for the next hint of whats to come.
ReplyDeleteI also appreciate that the majority figures are sticking around at least a week or so before they are completely sold out. This should relieve someone like me who gets so worked up about if the drop will fall on a night I'm not able to login and empty my wallet.
There's been a spectacular variety of releases since January, this last one in particular has me excited for more DSG's and Glyans and my first Rig bought from an actual drop (not off ebay for double the price). And that Neo Granthan and Quallerran in the Xulturri trans yellow, wowzers!
Thanks Matt and Michelle, Marcus and the rest of the Onell Team, please keep it up! I'll be here, and though it goes against everything I just said, please feel free to take a break so that I'm not totally broke all summer!!! Or maybe just make something that I don't like so that I don't feel the need to pick it up. Come on guys and gals cut a geek a break, I got a mortgage to pay!!!
That being said if there's the potential of a pinball homage involving the actual Medieval Madness game, I'm gonna flip! Ha, get it?!
Thank you for the words and acknowledging some of the concerns and rumblings in the fandom. I do admit to elements of the past I miss; Sarvos, drop lists, Echo Morphs, panel lines, drops using many figures in a single color. But I also appreciate the attempts at new things, mystery figures and the first DX release for instance and new builds of old favorites. A toyline of almost 10 years needs to do that, you can't make blue and gray travelers every time after all.
ReplyDeleteI think because it's so connected to the artist that a Glyos line tends to feel less like a toy business and more like buying artwork that's been mass produced, there's a closeness that doesn't exist when I buy an Optimus Prime at Walmart. Things like that mean the fans have more concern and stronger feelings than your standard toyline. In the end though we tend to forget that this IS a business and it must change with the times. That Optimus is double it's original price from 10 years ago, but a Traveler only goes from 8 to 10 and that includes a better paintjob. Clearly even if we're not privy to the inner workings, correct decisions were made.
I haven't been around too long, Rig Crew 2 was my first real jump in the deep end, but what I've witnessed is Glyos has always been a constantly changing entity, which is highly appropriate. Glyos is a Ship of Theseus, where many parts have changed over the years and will continue to do so. It may have few of it's original parts left, but the crew still helms it, it still floats, and it still sails on.
To that crew, thank you for all of this. Ultimately as I said, Glyos lines give me a sense of connection to their creators, and it's seeing their passion and creativity that makes me come back every drop. I have made friends in this fandom, learned a great deal about toy making, and found a rare toyline that captures my imagination when many others I've followed struggle to keep my attention. I look forward to the future and many more nights of sore thumbs to come.
If you're happy with the line, Matt, and it's keeping your family afloat, who are any of us to argue?
ReplyDeletePlease keep up the great work!
I have been buying these toys since February of 2008 and my play patterns with them has evolved with the line.
ReplyDeleteIn the very beginning, I would just assemble and reconfigure different Pheydens and Exellis figures but as my wife Beth and friend Doctor Kent started pushing me to try sculpting, a whole new world of possibilities opened to me with Glyos.
In February of 2009 I met you for the first time at the New York Toy Fair and was able to show you some of the Glyos heads I made. I brought them wrapped in paper towels and inside a small eye glass case. I remember you being impressed with them and mentioned your dream would be for people to use Glyos to make and trade their own creations. Seeing all the different Glyos properties out there now, I see that dream of yours came true.
After that the big Buildman wave of Spring 2009 happened and my creativity and sculpting abilities jumped up a lot. Then, I bought Glyos for the colors and as a medium to create on sculpting heads and hands for creatures and then using Glyos to connect the dots. As my sculpting ability improved I began using less of your parts for their colors and more as pieces I could sculpt over.
As the years continued, I had a few custom resin figure releases, and began sculpting more and more and using only the bare minimum of your parts to make my creations come to life.
Even though I have not done a release in a while, I still create the same way and find myself buying 1 or 2 figures occasionally and needing more Hubsets, Axis Joints & Swing Joints to bridge the gap between sculpted and production parts.
You and your company have been nothing short of an amazing chapter of my life and I am always here to see where your journeys take you.
The only things I would like to see change is the return of Onell Design to a smaller convention near the East Coast. After the Super Robots, Giant Monsters show in March of 2014 I have missed the yearly Glyos Family Reunions between all of us. I felt it was a rejuvenating experience and have sincerely missed it these past 2+ years. I felt more apart of the Glyos Family then, now it feels like we are all drifting apart and I would advocate for it's return more then that of detail lines.
Even when there are drops Im not crazy about, I try to at least pick up one or two figures, to help keep it going for cooler things down the line.
ReplyDeleteI'll admit to missing the custom corps, vinyl, and detail lines, but we've gotten a lot of cool new molds and paint applications in the last few years.
Thanks again