Sea of Daggers

Our deck mate on the high seas, Jesse DeStasio, has been running a very special fundraiser called the Sea of Daggers, which wraps up today. The core of the project focuses on one of Jesse's favorite childhood characters, Crae Drake. Those of you who have been following Jesse and his Knights of the Slice series over the last 8 years will no doubt be familiar with Crae, but this latest iteration combines the "Diskman" concept of enhanced Glyos compatible articulation that we used for the Gauss Armor project. Once again the Four Horsemen have granted us the use of the disc system so we can push Crae and his crew of characters into more poseable possibilities. 

As an added and deeply connected bonus, Jesse and I have integrated an old character form my pre-Glyos days of creating, which happened to line up very well with the expanding world that is the Sea of Daggers. "The Naval Deep" served as the primary antagonists for an old story I created called Cly Nonan, back in the mid 90s. Cly, much like Crae, was an explorer and solitary orphan, raised by hardened warriors to survive in a dangerous and mysterious world on the high seas. Both of our characters end up meeting "sidekick" nonhuman creatures that then accompany them on their many journeys. The similarities are downright uncanny. Of course, Crae looks a lot like Jesse D, while Cly looks mostly the opposite, being clean shaven, tan and blond. 

The Naval Deep surface as primary adversaries for Cly, as it is eventually revealed that an old war with them claimed the lives of Cly's parents. I spent many years working on the Cly Nonan story, spanning three stages of his life, with his final bonus appearance being in Rechlen and Aves, as an old man protecting his sidekicks from the misguided Space Trappers themselves. I never thought anything from Cly Nonan would make it into the modern Glyos universe, but thanks to Jesse D's campaign and some incredible support, something has.

Please go check out Jesse D's fundraising project and support what you can. Thank you to everybody that has already taken the plunge and made Crae and the Naval Deep possible, as it's an unexpected dream come true.

The Jagged Age

The exciting and ever-expanding Toy Pizza universe once again returns to the Jagged Age, with just the right amount of madness and a brand new Card Slicer expansion deck! 

Prolific as always, our brother and creative architect of all things Knights of the Slice and Toy Pizza, Jesse DeStasio, began his foray into the world of Card Slicers last year and has steadily constructed yet another fresh new way to enjoy the unpredictably magnetic worlds of his now classic characters. With his new Kickstarter project, The Jagged Age: Fantasy Card Combat, Jesse shifts gears to travel back to the land of Nosvera and the latest adventures of relic hunter, Crae Drake. 

Though I've never personally been much of card "player" outside of UNO (thanks to many visits with my maternal grandmother growing up), I still always liked the imagery that was the foundation of any major card system. Starting with old Star Wars and Pac Man card sets back in the late 70s and early 80s, the genre reached its true crescendo for me with Digimon in the early aughts. Even though I never played the Digimon card "game", I was crazy about hunting down the different characters simply to see the artwork. It was a quick, cheap and easy way to explore a pretty vast range of exotic designs with the hope of discovering a hidden treasure buried within any given pull. The original "blind bag" DNA, dating all the way back to the baseball card packs that our fathers would stick in their bike tires while riding down dirt roads to go pick off metal army men with their BB guns. In many ways, the collectible card is a true American classic that went on to influence creators from around the world. 

Fast forward to Jesse D's Card Slicers. Partially due to the pandemic born difficulties that the last few years of action figure manufacturing overseas has brought on, Jesse decided to pivot and not let fate alone decide the future of his ventures. To this end, he constructed, through an ongoing process of trial and error, his own tabletop card game system called Card Slicers. Quite the endeavor to see through, but one that Jesse has proven more than capable of pulling off.   

In support of his Jagged Age expansion, Marcus (who is a legit tabletop gamer and enthusiast) and I have created a few special cards to add to Jesse's campaign, featuring our resident Dungeon Traveler, Skeleden. Of note, Skeleden was actually born through the old Skeleton Warriors Kickstarter campaign, so this marks his second appearance on the platform (with another one coming later this year). We thought it appropriate to send Skeleden into the Jagged Age to assist Crae Drake and maybe finally give Hob a hand. 

Even if you're not into playing the game itself, you can still catch some really amazing artwork that Jesse has assembled for the card set. It's like an entire figure assortment that you can fit right into your pocket, packed with great art, imagination and originality. 

The Jagged Age Kickstarter
(ends tonight!)

Star Marshall Sincroid Superior Core Aetheric

Star Marshall Sincroid Superior Eidrallim Alloy

Star Marshall: Lost Sincroid Army Advanced

 

Star Marshall: Sincroid Superior Black Core

 

Toy Pizza Cen-5 and CroMega Fundraiser

Our extended family of Jesse D, Nicky and Jack over at Toy Pizza are rounding the corner on their new multi-figure fundraiser which wraps up this Monday, September 28th. The focus of this new project is split between a dynamic duo of 100% original characters, one a mechanical marvel forged from lawless cybernetic experimentation and the other a natural born warlord of entirely primal descent. 

The aforementioned cyborg, Cen-5, has been part of Jesse D's cast of personal creations since he was a kid, and has traveled throughout his sketchbooks for decades. Featuring the signature eclectic design principles that all KOTS figures are now known for, the hulking Cen-5 even comes with a great mini figure D.O.L.S. "pilot" and reconfigurable arm blaster. This particular mecha Frankenstein also has some direct connections to one of our own in-house projects that will be surfacing early next year, so the more parts and styles that are unlocked the more build options we'll all get to build with. 

Counterbalancing the metallic mutant is CroMega, which is easily one of the most unique designs Jesse D and his boys have come up with yet. Decked out in animal furs and bone laden leather armor, this Paleolithic Pariah rules over the dinozone known as Pangea Island, plotting from within the ancient cave of his ancestors against the unsuspecting denizens of the mainland. CroMega in his default form is already a beast to contend with, but his alternate forms are perhaps even more intriguing, particualry when he's wearing the cursed Trilomask (shown below). 

Currently Cen-5 and his accessories have been fully funded, and CroMega is coming within striking distance. If you're into lawless character design, independent storytelling and completely unique action figures, maybe shoot over to the fundraiser, check out the prototypes and support our Glyos brethren at Toy Pizza.

Extra special thanks to the mega talented Ian Ameling for the awesome original illustration at the top of Pheyden meeting some of his new cousins.  

Rift Renegade Construct

Rift Killer Hyper Mordireus

Wave 78 is GO!

Wave 78 is live!
Refresh: https://onell.store

Note: Please place only ONE ORDER WITHIN THE FIRST HOUR TONIGHT. We will lift all limits after the first hour. Thanks for your cooperation. Have Fun!

Old Knight Phantavoss Shadow

Thank You!!!

Thank you and a late Happy Halloween! We've been hustling triple time over the last week to keep up with the flow from this new wave and we're very grateful for that!

Right out of the gates, an extra special thanks on this release goes to our longtime collaborator and brojack, Ralph Niese. The German genius brought everything to another level with his latest batch of drawings, truly delivering some outstanding work. Ralpho, you really detonated the megastick of dynamite and blew us all away!

Our collective love for the holiday made it a real blast to work on the Halkenn arc. With the intense pace of things around here (over the last few years in particular), finding quality time to actually write down some of the stories drifting in between my ears can be tough. However, the stars aligned this time and I feel like we were able to present Halkenn properly.

Moving from spooky to sneaky, our next wave is set to land right near the end of this month, and will see the return of the Satraku Clan. We've had ninjas of all kinds on the mind lately, and so have some of our other Glyos-making friends.

Toy Pizza's great and free thinking Jesse DeStasio, chief architect of the KOTS and upstate New York's municipal menace, has a fun new Kickstarter running right now. Funding has already been met, but there are a bunch of wild stretch goals that are just beginning to open up. One of the first of these goals is perhaps the most horrifying sculpt in all of Glyos to date, that being a tiny version of my head. For reasons beyond understanding, Jesse D had Ant create a mini-me. I suppose folks can use it as a stand in for a variety of vagrants or extended coma patients.

Beyond the small Beardlord, there are a slew of awesome unlocks, my favorite being the Device Ninja. I've been watching the development of this figure and it's loaded with cool parts. Depending on where things land, there could also end up being an upgrade kit available with even more optional limbs and heads. The Device Ninja has some neat connections to the Satraku Clan that we hope to explore in 2019.

As of this writing all packages have been shipped out, including all international orders. Michelle and Pj both hammered through a larger than normal stack of invoices and never missed a beat.

Barn tunes revolved around the soundtrack from Interstellar, some Little Dragon and early Eagles (sorry Marcus).

Wrapping up the latest wordwall, we hope to see some of you this month at DCon. We'll be at booth 2629! More details to come.

Massive thanks from the whole crew for an awesome Halloween release!

Vector Jump TFV Operative

Vector Jump Gendrone Alliance Operative

Vector Jump Skaterriun

Operation: Cold Slice

Toy Pizza will be activating a special Knights of the Slice division Friday (today), August 5th at a time TBD over in the Toy Pizza Shop!  Check out the latest Toy Pizza episode for more details here!

Grand Lord of the Knights, Jesse DeStasio, sent over some fun bios to share for the "Real Type" inspired selection of KOTS Wave 2 shown above:


NAME: Medic Knight
NICKNAME: Boyo, Male Knurse Knight 
SECRET IDENTITY: Daz Briton 
POWERS: Can create force fields around injured comrades for a limited time. The longer it's held for, the more strain it puts on Daz. 
WEAKNESSES: Is secretly afraid of guns. 
BIO: Daz is the first British Knight of the Slice, appointed due to his emergency medicine and first aid knowledge. Although part of the ancillary team, Daz has is no less important, having saved the day many times over. 
--------------

NAME: Orange Knight 
NICKNAME: Knightmare 
SECRET IDENTITY: Unknown
POWERS: Not yet discovered
WEAKNESSES: Uncertain 
BIO: The Orange Knight is an odd spectre that only appears in the dreams of Brick. The dreams seem to have started the first time Brick transformed into his Integer Mode. though it has not yet been determined if the Orange is a direct result. Most recently, the Orange Knight has appeared to Brick dressed in a formal tuxedo, in a setting not unlike a wedding. The significance and meaning of these visions are still a mystery. 
--------------

NAME: Combat Type 01 & 02 
NICKNAME: The Twins  
SECRET IDENTITY: Jer & Josh Pollen 
POWERS: Higher than average durability and the ability to quickly dash in a way that appears to the untrained eye to be teleportation. The dashes are only capable of being executed for a few seconds at a time and over distances no greater than a football field. 
WEAKNESSES: The twins are hot-headed adrenaline junkies,  so they can very easily dive into battle without taking the time to think about their actions. They have also been known to get into fistfights amongst themselves in the middle of a mission. 
BIO: Growing up idolizing ancient 80s action movies, the Pollen brothers joined the army as a way to finance the independent films they wanted to make. Finding their aversion to authority put them at constant odds with their commanding officer,  the twins were discharged and started working security for Fred Foods. During the night shifts they would continue to make their lo-fi films while no one else was around. Eventually, they were caught trying to swipe one of the Knights of the Slice uniforms (in order to film the climax to their story) and ended up in Fred's office. Rather than fire the twins, Fred took notice of their military backgrounds and made them official Knights of the Slice. They are currently assigned to humanitarian missions in foreign conflict zones, where they provide security for food convoys. 
--------------

NAME: Death Knight
NICKNAME: None known 
SECRET IDENTITY: Unknown 
POWERS: Death Knight can become intangible with a mere thought. His weightless is so great, he can travel great distances with the slightest gust of wind. He also seems to be able to conjure grey mists that can obfuscate.
WEAKNESSES: Bright lights, loud noises, highly saturated colors. 
BIO: Little is known of the one who calls himself the "Death Knight", though he appears to have an extreme hatred for the Knights of the Slice. It's rumored he may have been an ex-employee or a trainee who failed to make the cut into the order of the KOTS. Several times he has shown up to trap the Knights or make their missions more treacherous, although he never engages in a direct fight. While he is currently classified as a nuisance, the concern is with a little help, Death Knight could become a formidable threat.  


Seeing the Knight mold run in these particular colors pushes the core aesthetic in a different direction, and gives a great "Special Missions" vibe to this new assortment. I've been carrying around the Death Knight since the first sample arrived, marveling at the clear smoke armor's effects against the pure black body. Definitely a great combination!

Jesse D and Onell have also been working behind the scenes on a secret "tangent" project which further blurs the lines between our two plastic worlds. More on that as we crawl into the fall.

Extra large congratulations to the entire Toy Pizza crew for continuing to expand the KOTS universe!

Knights of the Slice: Stealth Phasing Mode

Toy Pizza mastermind and Knights of the Slice creator, Jesse DeStasio, is offering for a limited time a Clear Colorless Stealth "Phasing Mode" Knight of the Slice over at the Toy Pizza Shop for a specially priced $10 USD.

This version matches up with our current Buildstation selection and also follows the tradition of a reduced price on select clear colorless runs to allow for more building and customizing options. Standing at roughly 4" tall, the Knight design works quite well as a larger humanoid base body for building, particularly with the Axis, Swing, Phase Arm and Hub accessory sets.

Jesse also has some limited edition, one of a kind customized Series 3 "Goldbag" Knights available for preorder as well in the Toy Pizza Shop. These special versions explore a wide range of painting techniques that are applied directly by Jesse (a long time toy customizer) himself. Very unique, and a great window into Jesse's creative vision and style.

If you are looking to find the main release for the Knights of the Slice figures, be sure to check out the full assortment of blind bagged figures available over at Hastings, both online and in their actual stores.

When I first met Jesse, I was walking around SDCC in 2004 with a backpack full of Microshow books and custom figures (the very same event where I met Spy Monkey's awesome Jeremy Sung!). We clicked right away and have been friends ever since that first meeting.

I've personally had lot of fun finally working on a full production figure together after all these years, and it's hard not to crack a smile each time I look at the toy shelf/pile and see those weirdo Knights staring back at me.

Now, we need to make Rex.

Looking forward to the next stage, Jesse!

Toy Pizza

Our old friend Jesse DeStasio and his two partners in crime, Nicky Fung and Cade Hiser, have been steadily cranking out episodes of their popular web program Toy Pizza since February 2014. I personally met Jesse D well over a decade ago, and have watched him maneuver through the world of professional like a fox.

After all these years, Jesse D and Onell are finally working on an actual project together, that being Toy Pizza's brand new Knights of the Slice Glyos compatible figures, with their campaign currently running over on Kickstarter.

The Toy Pizza crew recently popped up a new episode that covers a little bit about Glyos in general, including some alternate reality factoids about the early days of our existence (ha!).

It's been a lot of fun assisting Toy Pizza with their Knights of the Slice project, and we're really excited to welcome an all new addition to the Glyos family!

Crossed Over and Wrapped Up

SDCC was really fun this year. The Crossover theme brought many creative minds together and some wild work popped out as a result. Getting a chance to meet some of you highlighted the craziness that is the Con. It was great to talk in person and share some time discussing all kinds of topics, especially with the super creative people who keep us going through their dedicated support. I hope my grizzly looks didn't scare you guys too much!

The biggest draw of the Con, for us anyway, is the opportunity to spend time with our friends and customers (who usually also become our friends). Between the crews from Japan, the UK, Canada and all over the USA we had a regular United Nations of toy nuts. I personally feel luckier than ever to be allowed to break bread with such awesome people -on both sides of the table.

Thanks to everyone who made SDCC 2010 such a memorable experience, and Jesse didn't even get arrested!