Skeleden Xenoglow

Hallowden King

Swirling Influences

The above pics are of Test Shot Number Five, which sealed the deal after repeatedly striking out on four earlier versions of the Skeleden armor.

The major changes that occurred to the sculpt for Number Five focused mainly on the following:

-Revised size and shape of the torso armor, with newly added sculpting around the front and back edges to achieve a tighter grip on the base body. I tried to hide a bunch of strange visual elements across the back area, with some Lovecraftian inspired creepiness in the form of a little Cthulhu half face hanging onto Skeleden's upper left side. The "back" area is patterned after old school gladiator armor design concepts, fused with a little Bio-Boosted punch.

-Revised size and shape of both leg armors. Skeleden's right leg armor was extended downwards and the skeletal creature on the knee area was tweaked, as well as some redefining of the "ribbing" that curves around to the back. The left leg armor was also extended downwards and given some extra detail and a tighter fit.

-Revised interface of the two part head connection. After George completed his killer master sculpt of Skeleden's noggin, I sent a copy to our team in China to create the first tooling pattern. They then sent back the tooling pattern with our requested 2 part separation, which not only allowed for more interchangeability, but eliminated the need for glue that would have compromised production runs with clear PVC. Since the head was originally sculpted as one part, I went in and added details to the areas that previously would have remained unseen. If you flip Skeleden's head upside down and reverse it, then replug the skullcap on, you can create a "Skeledrone" head configuration, to do Skeleden's dirty work.

When the fifth test shot finally hit the mark (and completely passed my "shake" test) I had to scream for a little bit.

The good kind of scream.

Some pics of the "Battle Skeleden" configuration are on deck for tomorrow!

Tests of Patience

Skeleden currently holds the record over here for the most revisions and rounds of test shots (five total) of any project in our almost 8 years of production. The major challenges surfaced in the form of the actual armor fittings. Originally, the torso armor was smaller and more compact (shown above), but the fit kept coming in on the loose side, which was unacceptable. The two leg armor parts also had too much play, and eventually had to have some pretty major changes made to achieve the optimal fit.

Due to the hidden functions of the leg armor parts in particular, nailing their precise dimensions was critical to more than just holding them correctly in place on Pheyden's lower legs. These parts also had to work with the hands, shoulders and thighs, representing a multipurpose angle design that could operate across most of our other molds as well.

Skeleden's armor is compatible with all the Travelers, Buildman, Noboto, the Glyan and Jesse's Callgrim. The torso armor is reversible, with a "bio-gladiator" type cuirass vibe on one side and the Phanosty looking skull sculpt on the other. Consideration was also put into making the torso piece effectively seat upside down on the head, to create a heavy armored look (pretty strange in concept but sort of neat when in place).

The extra time and slightly maddening process of tweaking the armor were both definitely worth pushing through!

More details about the development of Skeleden coming up soon.

Also, shipping starts tomorrow morning!

Thank You!!!

Thank you for the great turnout on Sunday night! With all the intense winter activity around these parts, it was really uplifting to see the latest wave find a rhythm amidst the surrounding landscape of chaos here in the Northeast.

Skeleden has been a work in progress for exactly one year, with the original design sketches being drafted in early February 2014. What started out as a small option for a basic Traveler turned into something much more involved, becoming a significant part of our 2015 plan along the way.

The core design of Skeleden was intended to be a mix of Villser, Pheyaos, Mori's classic Chaos, Inhumanoids, Manglors and of course Skeleton Warriors -with a dash of 90's era Spawn stirred in. Pushing the more biological narrative to the sculpted parts was the central aesthetic focus, and proved to be a trip to explore with the always great George Gaspar of October Toys. The dual duties on the sculpting brought something unique to the final look, and I'm very thankful for George's willingness to deal with my eccentricities during the process.

The actual slide on armor concept used on Skeleden actually came from another project that I had been working on in late 2013, which was a more "Glyos Space" looking set of armor parts that were to be used as an upgrade for the Traveler, Glyan, Buildman, Noboto and Callgrim molds. The basic dimensions of most of our stuff is lined up by design, and I spent an unholy amount of time trying to devise a simple optional armor set that could augment our already exiting figures at a low cost to purchase. Kind of like the idea behind the Armored Valkyries from Macross, or the beefed up armor parts from Spiral Zone. The majority of the sculpting for that "Glyarmor" project was actually completed, and then the Skeleden factor came into play. Things just rolled into a giant bone armored beast from that point, spawning something even more bizarre than our usual oddities from space! Maybe we'll still see that original Glyarmor Set surface before long.

There are many hidden aspects to the Skeleden Armor, and successfully adjusting the measurements and tolerances to get everything to work just right was a true challenge. Over the next few days we'll pop up a few pics showing the little "tricks" that you can pull off with multiple sets, as well as some behind the scenes looks at the development of Skeleden.

Thank you again for checking out the new wave, and for reading this Labyrinth of Letters!

The Secret Beneath the Ice

The store is LIVE!

Refresh: onelldesign.com/store

Edit: All limits have been lifted. Thank you!

You may place ONE ORDER WITHIN THE FIRST HOUR tonight. We are seeing a high volume of traffic and need everyone's cooperation to make this as smooth as possible. After the initial dust settles, we will lift all limits. Thanks for your understanding and support. Have fun!

Dungeon Traveler

We are thrilled to debut our new game, Dungeon Traveler!

This flash game is part of a new series we've been chipping away at for a while now, but it was October Toys' Skeleton Warriors project that really fueled the fire. The Glyventure series will travel across all parts of the Glyos System and beyond, and it seemed strangely appropriate to kick things off in a living space dungeon!

Matt and I almost never stop pulling inspiration from our pasts. Bits of Zelda, Pac Man, and Golden Axe certainly went into the mix this time, along with some new elements. Getting my brother JBo involved was great- we've been making music together our whole lives, but never created and scored an entire game like this. It's a trip to hear his distinct melodies while playing around with these characters. Arcade Rats have a lot more in store, so we hope you dig the new vibes.

Thanks again to all of you guys, the amazing community that keeps Glyos thriving! Special thanks also go out to George and Ayleen Gaspar for letting us rattle their bones!

Ok, 'nuff yak... GO HACK. After completing the Story Mode, try The Duel, a never ending arcade mode that we'll be expanding upon in the near future. Post your high scores here! Who should we unlock next?