Mercenary Alert

Argrim custom revealed at blog.callgrim.com!

Sleepover

Almost finished with the latest project to send over to the factory for production. Time has been warped more than usual on this one. Floor sleeping accommodations remain a comedy situation, although this particular makeshift pillow beats out the old paper towel roll. Proper sneaks coming this week!

Mutations

Some mutations of our favorite "Meatball". More blank editions are definitely a must for this sculpt! With just a few chops and pokes (sounds gross) the Real Nibbler can alter how he rolls.

Alien Argus Custom Show

Tomorrow (February 26th) is the opening for Mark Nagata's Alien Argus Custom show at the Toy Art Gallery out in California. We were very excited to be asked to contribute to this fun event!

Argus is a very intriguing figure to use as custom fodder due to its varied surface sculpting. For some reason the "skin" looked like cooked turkey to me, so I had to follow that line of thinking for the final result (plus a dash of Mother Brain from the end of Super Metroid)! I imagine this Galactic Roaster causing major problems for Glyanauts on deep space exploration missions, blasting them with its Squawker Beam and hitting their equipment with a Dark Meat Kick. I know, this sounds very gross, but you can thank Mark for inspiring such a bogus concept!

The custom itself uses all the parts of the original construction and has been reconfigured using pressure fits. No glue or additional sculpting, just rearranged parts, lots of cutting and a bunch of paint. It adds a good challenge to attempt a custom while limiting the options to execute the piece. I find that I have to think much harder about where to place everything and what to chop. The figure still moves and can actually be disassembled with some twists and pulls.

If you are in the Los Angeles area this weekend make sure to swing by the TAG and check out the show! Big thanks to Mark and Toy Art Gallery for inviting us to participate. Alien Argus is a very cool toy!

The Real X Nibbler

After cooking behind the scenes since the last SDCC, the Nibbler finally debuts his new form- The Real X Nibbler! This vinyl meatball is the product of a triple collaboration between the Tarantulas, Mori and myself. Based on the original Nibbler design and then sent through the Real X Head Genesis Machine, this version is entirely produced in Japan by Real X Head.

Being a part of such a fun project has been very exciting and satisfying. Chris and Mori are both incredibly unique artists with truly original ideas, to see their minds come together and create this new version of the Nibbler is a rare thing to witness. No big egos, just the collective desire to make something fun to share.

I remember on our last trip to Japan, Jesse, Don, Mori and I shared a dinner together and we ended up working on the Nibbler design right at the table (as usual). Through email and the little camera on my iPod, we were able to communicate with Chris and make alterations to the core design as we ate! It was a classic working dinner between a bunch of serious toy geeks.

Chris is releasing the very first style of the Real X Nibbler this Friday over at his Fishtank Castle. From Chris via ToyBot Studios:

"Real x Nibbler is a triple collab between Onell Design, Real x Head & The Tarantulas. The original design by Chris was interpreted into RxH style by Mori and sculpted / manufactured in Japan by Real x Head.

This is the first vinyl version of The Nibbler - the debut release being unpainted with vinyl cut eye decals. Real x Nibbler stands 10.5cm tall (4 1/4") and has articulated Head, Arms & Waist. Colours in this wave are Molten Pink with White eyes (Mutagenesis #1) & Anti-Matter Black with Mirror eyes (Mutagenesis #2). Price will be £25 plus shipping.

This wave will be sold exclusively at The Tarantulas Big Cartel store - 'Fishtank Castle' - thetarantulas.bigcartel.com on Friday 25th February GMT PM - exact time TBC - check www.the-tarantulas.blogspot.com."

My deepest congratulations to Chris for sticking with this and seeing it through, it can be an intense roller coaster getting this stuff made! Thank you for including us in your universe Chris, it is an awesome place that I look forward to exploring even more!

I want to thank Don "Datadub" Kratzer for being the perpetual man behind the scenes. Don is a very generous person with his time, energy and dedication. There would be no Japanese collaborations without his involvement. I bow to The Governor!

Ultimate thanks as always to the true Master - Mori Katsura. It can never be said enough times, they do not make better men than Mori.

I hope you guys have fun tracking down the first release of the Real X Nibbler this Friday, and get ready for more teeth crunching craziness in late March!

The Knight of Darkness is also proud of his nephew...

Thank You!

Last night's launch was super solid thanks to all of you guys! Each time we put out new stuff, there is never a guarantee that it will be met with a positive response, so I am deeply grateful for the strong turn out for this wave. I must apologize for not having more Silver parts available. All the supply numbers across the board were even, Silver just went faster (followed closely by the Infection Clear Red). Silver will return in the next round for certain, and not only in the styles you have seen, but in all new figures as well (from all new molds).

We'll continue to keep the most popular colors in full rotation with each launch and whenever restock arrives from overseas. After doing this for a number of years there are definite colors that always seem to move at a steady clip. Black, Clear Colorless, Silver, Gray and GITD Green have always performed really well with White gaining in popularity over the past year.

I'm personally psyched for the upcoming months because of the different plans in the works, especially getting to work with Ralph again on more comics (sneak above)!

March should be fun for those of you who dig the RXH crossover project. Pheyaos will return in a couple of different ways, and we will also see the appearance of a chompy overlord from across the pond.

I know that Jesse has a killer Callgrim Custom Corps cooking and almost ready to go that really showcases his painting and building skills. I can't wait for him to roll them out! Thanks again to all of you for allowing us to keep this going for a little longer, I'm thankful for all the things you each share with us every single day.

Henshin Wave 2 is Live!

REFRESH THE STORE!

Thanks for the extended patience tonight! At least it wasn't an extra day this time. Honestly, Marcus and I still have nightmares about the Glyaxia launch at least once a month. I can hear the sounds of 8-bit doom looming before my slumber each time I think we are moving ahead! Ha! Times like those keep you on the straight and narrow, believe me.

We are psyched to bring you guys Henshin Wave Part II, filled with clear colors that hopefully strike a few nerves of happiness for our little community.

On a special note, Ralph has resumed the Gendrone Chronicles art assault and we should have new pages early next week.

Friday Roll Out

We are on track to release a new round of stuff this Friday, February 18th at 9PM EST. This is a follow up to the Henshin Wave, featuring some clear color styles that fill in a few more spaces of the rainbow! Here is the list of what's dropping:

-Clear Red Buildman Gendrone
-Clear Red Echo Morph w/Phase Arm and Gobon Blaster
-Clear Red Axis Joints
-Clear Blue Exellis w/Govurom head
-Clear Blue Axis Joints
-Clear Orange Pheyden w/Govurom head
-Clear Orange Axis Joints
-GITD Green Pheyden w/Govurom head
-Argen MK II
-Silver Axis Joints
-Silver Phase Arm Set SINGLES (one Phase Arm and one Gobon Blaster per package instead of two -trying something new with the method of release)
-GITD Green Rig

This is the whole assortment for Henshin Wave 2!

On the horizon we have 3 upcoming releases for the RXH crossover series with Mori, featuring some new Pheyaos action and a very special triple joint project that has some bite (ha!).

Some brand new parts are also being made that should open up even more building potential. I can safely say that my eyes have nearly fallen out from sculpting this new batch of stuff. Without Ron to keep the balance I would literally be running around the frozen woods in pure madness! Thank you Yoda! I hope you guys are ready to meet the all new Glyanauts around April...

On one last note, The Beanbot will be returning to its roots here at Onell and will be renamed in the process. Next assortment will see the debut of the Phaseon Gendrones! It's good to have the little guy back where he belongs.

Glip Tint

Tried to match this orange to the old Gliporian hue from back in the Rechlen and Aves days. Pretty close! This color and the Neo Phase green stand as two of my favorite clear tints from over the years (and the clear smoke as well).

Looks like the end of next week for the new drop!

Shinto Gangu On-demand

Mori continues to rock the boat with fresh ideas. Head over to the RXH USA blog and read about his new method to meet the growing demand for his Japanese micro releases. He is now offering the chance to literally have your selection from the store made to order. That green Chaosman #1 is particularly glorious!

Infection

Continuing our recent crossover collaboration with The GodBeast, AKA the super talented Marty Hansen, we will be releasing a special clear red Infection colored Echo Morph with the upcoming new wave of figures. This color matches up with with the Infection Pheydens Marty released a while back and marks the first time we have rolled out a clear red in our own assortments.

Marty really knocked it out of the park with his Kabuto Mushi project, and I really enjoyed working with him and Nate (of Dork Dimension fame) on its development. These are some extremely talented guys who keep pushing the envelope on what they create, inspiring those they work with to try and do the same.

This colorway is dedicated to the work that Marty has put into all of our crossovers together. I hope to remain his friend for another 10 years and beyond.

Reborn

New colors are around the corner...

Fishing Around

That little Glyanaut got something rolling while I was building some stuff, resulting in a full spectrum of Adventure People inspired creations. As I was working on the designs, it became more and more clear that having fully interchangeable "human" proportioned characters is a welcome addition to the ranks and has me analyzing the 2" scale a little harder.

One of the goals from this series of constructions was to "nail the scale" with the Glyans, and I think the look presented above is the most in line for what would work, in aesthetics and functionality. I also really like the mysterious "helmeted" vibe these guys have, like it could be anyone under the hood. It reminds me of all the neat characters who would never show their actual face, their masks ironically being what defines them. That being said, I've been working on some human heads and they actually fit proportionally very well with the size and form factor of these new body constructions. I hope you guys get a kick out of these builds, and hopefully they get the juices flowing for a full scale Glyan invasion.

PS- The Fisher Price Adventure People line was one of the greatest damn piles of plastic that ever went into production. It still inspires me to this day with almost everything I do regarding toy development. What a play pattern those toys had.

Apocalypse Saturday

Boris Savic, the brainiac behind Banimon and chief operator of Rocket North, will be releasing his special edition Apocalypse Buildman over at banimon.com tomorrow night, February 5th at 8PM EST. This is the second time Boris has run his black with red detail lines color scheme on a Glyos figure and this particular version is also a first in two special ways. For starters, this is the first time that the "drone" head has had its large circular areas fully painted, and the second and most exciting detail is the first use of tampo printing on any Glyos figure yet! The small rocket logo on Buildman's left chest area is a fully pad printed deco and is a sign of things to come later this year. Come to think of it, this is also the first fully painted edition of crusty old Govurom's noggin as well! It's a triple attack!

I wanted to personally thank Boris for being such a cool person to work with over the years and for taking the time to roll things out right. This is one very talented man who never settles for the average approach to doing anything. Thanks B, and good luck tomorrow night!

Space Glyoid Scorpikoma

A little story has been starting to form involving these "Glyoid" characters. I imagine that at one point this mean looking red and black Glyoid was partnered with the white Glyoid from earlier posts. That they actually shared a form together and became separated during a mission, each thinking the other had perished. In time they each evolved, one becoming more aggressive and the other continuing to follow its primary programming, that being the exploration of alien worlds and the preservation of peace in Glyos..

I also wanted to see if I could combine a little Shirow with some Zeroid aesthetics and see what happened. The end result is an evil Robot from Lost in Space fused with a Tachikoma from Ghost in the Shell. Those Axis Joints make transformations a lot more interesting than before, at least from a building perspective.

Glyanaut

This one is very simple, but has a real NASA vibe going on. I like the idea of a basic astronaut that can journey around and stay safe within the confines of his spacesuit. There are probably tons of snacks in his gigantic backpack (and maybe a little bit of oxygen as well).

Cosmic Waves

We are getting ready to release a small round of new stuff towards the middle of this month and this blue Exellis and his matching Axis Joints are part of the new assortment. The hue is very close to the original blue from the Cosmic Wave Pheyden that came out a few years ago. It also matches up pretty well to the recently released clear blue stuff from the Four Horsemen's Phase Series of OSM. These two configurations were assembled out of one Exellis and four sets of Axis Joints.