Extra special holiday thanks from Michelle, Marcus and I for making our last wave of the year a really exciting one! Even though we've been at this for a bit, we never completely know how a new release is going to land, so we're all the more grateful when we're granted the chance to do it again.
Bringing the different elements together for wave 95 was a lot of fun, even though it was a challenging process. The slowdowns that have plagued the supply chain throughout the pandemic seemed to really reach new levels over the last year, with long delays and every kind of rising cost almost comedically stacking up. Despite the resistance of lady luck to shoulder the show, our intrepid circle of makers found a way to continuously produce and present new things. I wonder how, or even if, generations to come will look back at this specific passage of time.
Speaking of new things, the main attraction of this new assortment was our latest crossover with RealxHead Japan, coming in the form of the Alien Aberration Kaisyriax. Of course, it's our usual mouthful of a name. Mori and I started work on this project during a visit to Japan back in 2015. Leading up to that trip, we'd discussed creating a successor to Pheyaos that could serve as a shared villain to taunt the protagonists in each of our separate, yet interconnected, worlds- in PVC and sofubi alike.
Starting with the name "Bio Kaiser" as the theme, we went back and forth with paper and pen, as we would customarily do while eating a meal together. Lots of great discussion about what a "big bad" represented to each of us was shared and then worked into the core design. Strangely, we both had a funny fixation on the character having a distinct "eye" visor in whatever form it would take, no doubt due to the continued influence of Yoshiki Takaya and Yasushi Nirasawa on the both of us. Though the final version that we presented to you last week has evolved quite a bit from the original sketches we did, the main elements found their way through (especially the visor and "face"). If you spend some time exploring this new plastic parasite, you'll most likely start to uncover a number of fun in-jokes that pay tribute to all the weird bad guys we played with growing up, both here and in Japan.
Turning towards the process of shipping all these new creatures out, as of this writing all but a few packages have been delivered to the post office. Michelle and I tried to work around the clock to get things out the door as fast as possible, which was a decent challenge considering the magnitude of the orders for this round. It was good, solid, New England work and we were both filled with happiness as we hammered through those cardboard castles! At the critical packing point, Pj rolled into the barn and made all the difference in crossing the finish line. Despite his own heavy work schedule, he made the trip and proved once again how dedicated to family he is. Thank you Peej!
Additional massive thanks go to Cady, Sen and Glen for their incredible contributions to the wave. Being able to work with each of these supercharged creatives is a perpetual dream come true, on every level. Things feel truly complete when we have all new art and music opening up our imaginations, bringing all these abstract concepts to life.
Looking to next year, we're approaching the releases in a slightly different way, with the initial focus being on some smaller assortments that will hopefully surface a little more frequently, as opposed to longer intervals. We're always trying to tweak how we operate, just in little bits at a time. For new projects, there are some very special crossovers that are now just on the horizon, one of which connects directly into our most recent reveal.
I feel more and more excited with each passing year that we still get to create all this stuff. As always, Onell owes its continued existence and viability directly to each one of you and your astonishing dedication to a very small company with a very full heart.
Happy Holidays and thank you for an excellent year!
PS -Don't forget to warm the figures up before you start assembling and building!
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