Thank You!!!

Thank you for making our 50th wave a good one!

It was really neat to finally run some of the molds in the classic M.U.S.C.L.E. flesh, and the timing seemed right to mark the occasion of our 50th release. I have very fond memories of discovering M.U.S.C.L.E. at our local Zayre department store as a kid, and being crazy about the Robin Mask figure in particular (though I called him "Northern Knight"). I still have my original! To be able to come full circle and produce Pheyden in the iconic flesh hue has been a trip! Some other characters from the ranks may get the flesh treatment in 2016, maybe even some that have never been seen before.

Speaking of trips, we will be attending Designer Con out in Pasadena this weekend, thanks to the dynamic duo at October Toys -the great George and Ayleen Gaspar! This looks to be the most jammed packed DCon yet, with folks traveling from all over the world to showcase what they've been creating throughout the year. We will be set up at Booth 1000, with new stuff available from Jesse (Callgrim), Marcus (Onell/ Bit Figs), Pj (Spaced Out Design), Dominic (Nemo's Factory) and possibly a few surprises as well. A small assortment from Sunday's release will be available at our table, as well as a few random things from the barn.

Fellow Glyos makers Marty (The GodBeast), Mark (Mystical Warriors of the Ring) and Jeremy and Brian (Spy Monkey Creations) will be set up right across from us, featuring some great special releases debuting at the show.

Make sure you check out the amazing array of Japanese Sofubi makers that made the journey from Japan! RealxHead, Studio Uamou, Skull Toys, Punk Drunkers and Goccodo will all be attendance again this year, armed with some excellent new stuff to share.

Of special note, remember to enter the Mecha Zone at booth 813 if you make the show. Incredible left handed illustrator/designer David White will stun you with the figures he's been creating using his 3D printer.

If you're in the Pasadena area or attending the convention, please swing by the booth and say hello! We had an incredibly fun time last year, and getting the chance to catch up with some of you in person was the best.

Thanks again for being part of our 50th wave! We are forever grateful to have the opportunity to continue doing this, and we're always working away behind the scenes to push things into new dimensions -even if we're a little quiet around here sometimes. Multiple projects are right at the threshold of being rolled out that we've been working on for over a year, and we can't wait to share them with you.

Hope to see you in Pasadena!

Toy Break and the Dunder Chief

Last month when we were out visiting George and Ayleen, we ended up on the famous Toy Break couch, and then proceeded to go headlong into a mind bomb tangent attack that I will now apologize for in advance (ha!).

Huge thanks to the dynamic duo of October Toys for enduring the verbal hurricane that landed in their fantastic home right before DCon.

BIG BOOTS.

October Toys Skeleton Warriors Kickstarter

Our great friends George and Ayleen Gaspar of October Toys have just launched an all new Kickstarter campaign for the classic 90's property, Skeleton Warriors! This resurrected rollout features 100% Glyos compatibility, but also employs the "Glybrid" insert molded traditional joint articulation that was pioneered with the Four Horsemen's fantastic Power Lords series.

Michelle, Marcus and I have been watching Kickstarter for some time now, observing the way it has changed the paradigm of how independent projects get funded. Our own operating systems are designed to allow for only a certain amount of tooling dollars per year, with no real wiggle room. There are negatives and positives to this approach, but it has proven pretty reliable for nearly 7 years, albeit sometimes frustrating. That being said, with the rising costs of manufacturing, I believe that using Kickstarter type funding programs will eventually (if not now) become the only way for a small business to make any significant progress in regards to new products actually seeing the light of day. This in conjunction with clubs, subscriptions and straight pre-orders will most likely be how the majority of direct to consumer collector based toy companies operate in the very near future, with very few exceptions.

The risk of rolling the dice on full runs without any kind of guaranteed commitment is becoming extremely risky, again due to the intense price increases overseas. My personal goal is to keep things open as far as Onell Design goes, following the path that we have been traveling since we started, with specific release nights, unannounced projects, surprise products and the like. However, the choices of how we run things here cannot be expected to work for our sister companies. You will be seeing more Glyos based Kickstarters this year, ranging from smaller projects to fairly large ones.

I personally hope you guys enjoy the expanding Glyos compatible universe, and continue to foster your own creativity and imagination as you travel through it!

Thank you to George and Ayleen for being truly open and honest with all the aspects of this project. We spent a lot of time working on the details together and it was always done with clear communication and a positive attitude.

We're also super excited to see another Traveler come to life, in the form of Skeleden. George and I each sculpted parts for this strange twist on the Traveler design, with George making all the best looking parts! He truly is a damn talented artist and was a blast to work with.

Marcus and I have some neat crossover posts coming this week, expanding a bit on who Skeleden is and his connections to the Skeleton Warriors universe. Skeleden represents a number of homages for me personally, and we'll explore some of them in the coming days.

Sega's classic video game Golden Axe is a major one of them.



Here's the full scoop on the project specifics from October Toys:

We are super excited to announce the launch of our latest project – Skeleton Warriors! We are redesigning and updating one of our favorite brands starting with the bad to the bone Baron Dark on Kickstarter now!

These new, Glyos compatible action figures were designed with collectors in mind while drawing inspiration from both the 90′s Skeleton Warriors cartoon characters as well as original concept art provided by the awesome team at Goddard Film Group, LLC.

There are three main figures you can pledge for on Kickstarter now including:

Baron Dark
• 5″ fully painted PVC action figure
• 17 modular official Glyos compatible pieces
• 26 points of articulation
• Comes with removable sword, cape, loin cloth, and arm guards (for a total of 21 pieces)
• Packaged in full color collectors window box

Skeleton
• 5″ fully articulated unpainted PVC action figure
• 17 modular official Glyos compatible pieces
• 26 points of articulation
• Available in bone and glow-in-the-dark

Traveler Skeleden
• 2.75″ PVC official Glyos action figure
• 13 interchangeable parts
• 12 points of articulation
• New axe accessory (first melee weapon for Pheyden)
• Exclusive version available exclusively through this Kickstarter!

For more details, incentives, and stretch goals, please check out the project on Kickstarter at https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/georgegaspar/skeleton-warriors-glyos-compatible-action-figures

Stowaway

This little guy and his buddies managed to sneak into all of the packages from our latest drop.

The Nonillia Crayboth were a special run, made specifically as a bonus for all of you who participated in the recent release. We love to add little bits to your orders, and will always do everything we can to keep that as a tradition with each package that ships.

A big shout out goes to George and Ayleen of October Toys and Toy Break for the sparkle inspiration, as I saw one of their special Z.O.M.B.I.E. assortments that used a very similar shiny flake while I was in Japan last year. It looked much cooler than the previous style glitter that I'd tried some years ago (I actually still have a few "lost run" samples from our original secret experiment that attempted to use glitter).

Thanks again to all of you for keeping us alive!