Travels

Jesse and I are off to visit the factory once again!

While we are away, some fun projects will be rolling out from Spy Monkey Creations as well as from Banimon! It should be a stacked month for all new entries into our collective playground.

Marcus will be posting some sneaks from SMC's Weaponeers of Monkaa, leading up to their big reveal at Power Con next Saturday. I can't say enough about how psyched we all are for Jeremy, Brian and Bill. These guys worked like madmen to nail this debut. The figures themselves will alter the landscape of how we all build!

Boris Savic, creator of Banimon, has quietly been working away on his brand new figure for quite some time. The results of all his hard work will finally be available very soon! After playing with them I think you guys will be smiling, as each little soldier is packed with some very interesting build potential wrapped up inside those awesome Boris-born aesthetics!

More details to follow on both of these projects!

Shipping

Before I get into the shipping details for this week, I wanted to once again express my gratitude to everyone who participated in last week's release. Thank you for all the support that you have shown, especially in response to the last post. You guys are just unbelievably generous, and our family is feeling especially lucky to be doing this with all of you.

The shipping starts tomorrow afternoon and should run right up until I leave for China with Jesse at the end of the week. Michelle, Megan and I have been processing everything and are now in the thick of packing. Notices will begin to appear tomorrow.

Speaking of Jesse, he is still alive! The last few months have been very busy for the bearded beast, but the madman is starting to stir once again. We will both be in attendance at NYCC as per usual, and Jesse may even have something to surprise you with at the show (and wait until you see what he has in development for early 2013-it is totally unexpected yet completely Mr. Moore in every way). 

Huge thanks to Gimli for the above illustration of the Hades Force! Jesse can truly make anything look good.

Well, maybe not his beard while he's eating.

Thanks Jesse!

Thank You!

Thank you to everyone who participated in last night's release, we live on to do it again thanks to all of you! It was a wilder ride than normal and I'm well aware that there was some frustration mixed with the fun. I've received a good handful of emails about the fast sell outs and I want to address the issue a bit. So here goes...

Armorvor mania has shaken things up, drawing an all new section of collectors to our site on drop night. Many of these new orders are only for the Armorvor, from names that have never shown up before. This is awesome, but also pretty challenging when it comes like a freight train in the night through your house. Getting the right amount of stock is always a roll of the dice, and the last three Armorvor styles were all actually ordered at the same time. Only the red version made it out for the debut, and the two from last night were pushed to this drop. I knew the amount would go quickly based on the first Armorvor sale, but I could not increase the amount we had ordered, as they had already been completed and shipped. In hindsight I should have made the limit two instead of three.

An assortment is planned months in advance, with the entire year roughly mapped out. Decisions are not made out of left field, and we gamble with each new toy we make. Product sometimes get pushed around due to circumstances beyond our control and we have to scramble to stay on track. I honestly did not expect the Armorvor to be so intense of an item.

The Armorvor is extremely popular right now, and will be for a bit based on the activity that we're all seeing, so the production numbers are being bumped up. The assortment planned for October consists of three all new styles of Armorvor as well as few small surprises and that's it. Late November will see a larger drop which will close out the year, with the next scheduled release taking place sometime in January 2013. We generally do six proper releases per year, with a little thing or two wedged in between. It's been this way for a while and will stay this way for the foreseeable future. We know times are tight, and not really looking like they are going to improve without more bumps, so every time you guys come out and support what we are doing we are truly grateful.

Things will most likely continue to sell out when they are brand new, and then eventually cool down. It's been the pattern for literally every new mold we've put out. In time the Armorvor will find a steadier pace and I will do everything I can within the realm of reason to speed that process along.

To wrap up, October's three new Armorvors will probably go quick, as they are already near completion and the numbers are only slightly higher than last night's tally (I should have boosted them higher). The limit will be dialed down to 2 per customer for October so that the odds are better for everyone to get what they are after. I have already jacked the amount of Armorvors up for November to uncomfortably high levels, with the intention of satisfying the demand. The Travelers will also have increased production numbers in November.

My apologies to all of you who were frustrated last night, I accept full responsibility for the pain and I'm working to remedy the situation.

On a positive note, at least we're still alive! After five years of doing this without a net, I'm just thankful to even have the opportunity to continue making stuff. I hope you each understand how much you have changed my family's lives for the better. Thank you so much for still being there even with the hard turns, and I promise to always give Glyos everything I've got for as long as I'm still ticking.

Hades Force Is LIVE!

Remember to REFRESH the store!

We hope you guys like the new additions and make sure to come back to play a round or two of GLYHUNTER!

More after the mayhem!

Marc Edit: Glyhunter is an endless adventure across planet Volkria. There are no weapons or powerups, and the levels loop forever. Press start and enjoy the ride! Also, the hit detection is not perfect, so keep your distance when possible.

The mini-game is an addendum to Record of the Delphi, and features a brand new tune, "Cycles," by Disasterpeace featuring Stemage! Now crank up the speakers and go play in Glyos traffic...

Another Phanost

Playing around with some of the parts. I kind of like old brainy head sporting the scarf. He'll be back to stir things up in November.

AE Bulker Suit

Added one Axis Joint Set to the contained GITD Spectre Bulker Suit, bringing the total parts count to:

-2 Hub Sets
-2 Phase Arms
-2 Gobon Blasters
-1 Axis Joint Set

Starting to feel like a familiar floating jelly brain may become this build's enemy.

We are still on track for 9:30 PM, hope to see you then!

Rock Shots

A few more pics from the past weekend.

We're working away here, getting ready for tomorrow night!

Away Game

Took the family back up to Gloucester yesterday and snapped a few shots of the new wave. Managed to get a shot of the Stealth Armorvor right at sunset, which created an interesting effect.

I'll put some more pics up in a bit!

Bulked Out

The Armorvor gains a little more of an alien space wolf vibe with its new fur color. Also, reversing the scarf on the Sarvos creates an interesting variation to add something different to the overall look.

That "Bulker" Suit is a contained build made from 2 Hub Sets, 2 Phase arms and 2 Gobon Blasters. It looks kind of like a beefy Samus/Robby the Robot fusion to me.

Mission Details!

The production scarf is finally a reality! It fits on just about everybody, as the PVC has enough give to allow for some fun options. You can even reverse it or use it as a weird visor (or a loincloth/belt if you are into the barbarian look).

Hades has put together a special team to take on the Armorvors. Above is a look at a scarf wearing Buildman named Jorvannic and a  beefed up Gobon with a name that may be familiar to a few of you, that moniker being Cerberus. The build on the Cerberus is a contained build using one Gobon, two Phase Arms, two Gobon Blasters and one Hub Set. I still love trying to push those contained builds.

Here is the list of what will be in the store next Wednesday, September 5th at 9:30PM EDT:



United Glyan Coalition: Hades Force

-Glyan  Hades Force (Black/aqua green visors and white tampo) $8

-Buildman Jorvannic  Hades Force (Black/aqua green visors and white tampo) $8

-Phaseon  Hades Force (Black/aqua green visors and white tampo) $6

-Gobon Cerberus  Hades Force (Black/aqua green eyes and white tampo) $10


-Hades Pheyden MK II  Hades Force (Black/GITD Green head with painted eyes and scarf) $8

-Classified Pheyden MK III-Traveler Klace  (Solid Black with painted eyes) $8

-Spectre Pheyden MK II  (GITD Green with painted eyes) $8


-Extra Set  Hades Force (Black with aqua green painted eyes -Sarvos head, Phanost head, Scar Pheyden head, Pheyden chest and Sarvos Pelvis) $5

-Extra Set  Spectre (GITD Green with aqua green painted eyes -Sarvos head, Phanost head, Sarvos chest and Sarvos Pelvis) $5


-Crayboth  Hades Force (Black/aqua green eyes and blaster accent) $4
-Crayboth  Spectre (GITD Green/no paint) $4


-Armorvor  Hades Mimic (Black/aqua green visors and aqua green furry head with painted eyes) $8
-Armorvor  Stealth (Clear Colorless/no paint) $8


-Hub Set  Black $4
-Hub Set  GITD Green $4
NOTE-Each Hub Set is sold in a specific Drone configuration.

-Axis Joint  Black $4
-Axis Joint Set  GITD Green $4


-Phase Arm/Gobon Blaster Single Set  Black $2
-Phase Arm/Gobon Blaster Single Set GITD Green (RESTOCK of current store supply) $2


-Armodoc Vardiroth  Hades Force (Black with aqua green accents, painted eyes and white tampo) $25 


This a pretty straight forward release, with maybe one or two small possible surprises when everything goes live next week. Even though it's a simple round, the color combination of the black plastic, the aqua green accents and the white tampos really pop. I particularly like the Hi Phaseon and Axis Buildman (with scarf!) in this color combination.

It's scarf mania over here.

More pics later today!



UPDATE: I tweaked the colors in the photos a bit to enhance the green a bit more. The accent color is another one of those chameleon hues that's tricky to photograph.

Hades Force

Coming next week. Details to follow...

The Granthans: Part 3

This set of images further explores the modern Granthans and their integration into the Armorvor design principles:


After their victory on Planet Volkria, the Armorvors begin to move across the Glyos System, not just on a path of vengeance and destruction, but also on a mission to forge alliances with those that would join them. The first to stand with the powerful Armorvors are the battered and forgotten creatures known as the Granthans.

Long ago, The Granthans escaped from a dark empire somewhere beyond the Edge of Space, creating a new home in the Glyos System and eventually settling on a lonely planet they named Granthan, in honor of their new found independence.

In time, however,  their freedom was challenged by the First Travelers, a race known as the Delphi. Acting on orders from their Masters, the Delphi forced the Granthans into the deep caverns of the planet, crippling their technology and throwing them into a primitive existence below the surface. 
This action doomed the Granthans to live only within the planet's shimmering underworld, away from the promise of a brighter tomorrow.

Until now. 

With the aid of the Armorvors, the Granthans finally rise up to reclaim their world after so many oppressed generations.


I imagine that the Armorvors and the Granthans share an extreme distaste for the Delphi and anything Traveler related. This common enemy bonds the two races, as they exchange technology and tactics in an effort to fortify their newly forged alliance.

Dogs and Dinos unite!


PS- The armored heads shown above are currently being mulled over by Marty, Jason and I for possible sculpting. Hopefully you guys enjoy some of the designs. They were fun to work on!

The Granthans: Part Two

The above images are circa 2004-2005, and show what the original "Grathan" looked like. I was obsessed with space dinosaurs (I still am) and wanted to build up a new set of characters for Rechlen and Aves to face. I imagined the dimension that these creatures escaped from was called Grath.

More in a bit!

The Granthans

The Granthans first came about back in 2004, while I was working on our old series, Rechlen and Aves. Set up as a space fairing race of feather covered dino-astronauts, the Granthans were actually first called the Grathans. The additional "n" slipped in there as the years passed by. The core design pays homage to the little dinosaurs I played with at my Grandparents' house when I was a kid (they were stored in a red bucket that also had a beaten Colossus Rex in it).

I imagined that these tough customers escaped from another dimension (shades of  the Armorvors), discovered a planet in the Glyos System and then settled there. They named the planet Granthan, after their race.

While working on the Armorvor project, Marty, Jason and I collaborated on a number of head designs. One character that I really wanted to see realized as a sculpt was a Granthan. For the specific look, we went with the non feathered style (there are variations within the Granthan species), representing instead a more classic "dino" aesthetic. The Armorvor body type was a great match (even though the original "Grathans" has tails), and Marty did not hold back on the jumbo sized noggin's dimensions! The final result is one my favorite sculpts that Marty has ever created.

The above sketches detail the conceptual process, showing the direction that we ended up taking for the overall vibe of the final piece.

More Granthan action later today!

Armorvor: History and Concepts

The idea behind the Armorvor (or Neo Beast as we used to call it), began many years ago, but it only started to become a reality after combining forces with Marty "The GodBeast" Hansen and Jason Frailey.

Marty and I had discussed a Battle Beast inspired figure all the way back in our first communications together,  as we had both wished that the classic line would make some kind of return, whether as repros or as a completely new series (which arrives this September from Takara Tomy!). I had added some small joints to a few of the vintage figures, imagining that a new line might resemble something of that nature and shared the images with Marty, who seemed to get a kick out of them. Even though it was just a passing conversation, the seeds were sown for what would eventually become the Armorvor.

Fast forward to the spring of last year, when the subject of making a beast inspired figure popped up again. I was preparing for our next figure, which was looking like the Delphi or Noboto, when a change of plans occurred. Marty had mentioned that he knew an extremely talented sculptor named Jason Frailey, and that he thought Jason would be the perfect artist to build the "Neo Beast" that we had been discussing for so many years. I was a little hesitant at first, because we had never produced another sculptor's work under our own banner in PVC before. Would Jason understand the multiple properties each part would need to have? Would the figure look too out of place when completed? Even with some reservations, we moved forward.

Once I had my first conversation with Jason, I knew we would be more than alright. Jason Frailey, as it turns out, is not only a world class sculptor, but he is also an gifted designer. I think this is a little known fact even amongst his peers at his job with NECA. After supplying Jason with the initial conceptual drawings, he started in on roughing out the core proportions. I was thinking about making the overall figure a little leaner, so that it would fit in with our standard range of figures, but Jason wanted to give the little guy a bit more heft, evoking a deeper BB connection. Initially I was concerned that we were getting too close to the core BB property, but with a few tweaks and many late night talks, the right balance came into focus.

Jason stayed very true to the first drawing with the early sculpt, but then started to add some of his own twists and details into the design, which made the figure really come to life. The entire shoulder structure was improved, as was just about every single piece of the Armorvor thanks to the intuitive process that Jason employed. He even came up with and designed the backpack/phaser/drone head without missing a beat. I realized fairly early on to trust in his abilities as a designer, as well as a sculptor. The Armorvor became something more than it would have if it were only developed in our shop. It became a true collaboration between all of us. Marty would weigh in on the creative direction, using his BB expertise to assist in the visual cues that we all eventually settled on.

Once the final sculpt was a lock, Marty began the casting process to bring the early prototypes out to all of you guys, with him and Jason continuing to design new heads all the while (I squeaked a few out with Marty as well). Nate from the Dork Dimension then brought his illustrative arsenal to the party and made some incredible works of packaging art, rounding out the urethane release in proper form.
The first phase of the Armrovor's life had begun.

The basic storyline for the Armorvor has been in place for some time, so having Jason sculpt it also played right into the "alternate tech" idea, representing a slightly different aesthetic for this particular race of characters. I really can't say enough about Jason's contributions to the final piece, it's as much his design as it is mine, maybe even more so.

Our goal was to get this little bugger into full production, and thanks to our man Paul over at our factory, we have been able to finally do it, after an entire year of development!

Thank you Jason, Marty, Nate and Paul for working so hard with us to bring this new creation to life. Hopefully, we can do it again real soon.

The Trio

We have a couple little surprises left to wrap up our 5th anniversary launch, starting with the second half of Ralph's primitive comic that we debuted on the night of the drop.

It was really fun teaming up with Ralph again for this odd little tale. We wanted to explore a little more of Volkria, back before things got... "complicated". Ralph brought everything together with his rhythmic pacing, and was very patient in dealing with my nitpicking ways.

This launch generated more artwork across our ranks than any previous drop in our 5 year history. I must have drawn at least 70 drawings alone of conceptual junk. Thankfully Ralph, Jesse, Phil, Pappy and good old Marcus turned those demented scribblings into a stack of finely crafted content, thanks 100% to their individual talents. Thank you guys, for making these strange stories come to life.

Without further ado, let's go Far Away....

Shipping Details

We are in the process of getting the shipping done, with the first wave of boxes on track to head out tomorrow. There was a healthy variety in this drop, so it took a few extra days to line everything up. Expect the shipping notices to start flying late tomorrow afternoon.

I hope you guys dig the colors when they arrive in hand. The toys truly do have some interesting properties under different lighting, which can scramble your brain when trying to photograph them. I took the above shots under a few fluorescent lights, which seemed to pop the yellow a little and turned the greens in the vinyl a tiny bit brown. While taking the shots it was cool to finally be able to have the United Glyan Coalition mix it up with the new kid in town.
I think the UGC may need some back up....

The Armorvor utilize Delphi designed Black Core Survival Suits, which function like a second skin and keep the user protected from virtually any environment, as well as  the effects of Phase Dimensional travel. 

The firepower of one Survival Suit, used by a skilled operator, can rival that of a Heavy Armored Rig. Though the Rigs also use Black Core in their construction, the Armorvor were able to master the use of this mysterious substance over many cycles during their exile in Zorennor, achieving another level of technological symbiosis with their hardware as they evolved over time.

Combined, these facts effectively make a single Armorvor the equivalent of a one man army.

Thank You!!!

Thanks to all of you for bringing us through to the other side once again! My apologies for the hiccups on drop night. There were a lot of angles to cover and Marcus and I were like crazy men over here. In the end it turned out to be pretty fun, after the tears of course. Ha! 

The Armorvors will be back in September. A small launch is planned, with only the Armodoc representing the vinyl side of things (and that may get bumped). The September release will consist of an all black PVC wave, with some painted accents and tampos. There will also be some GITD restock on some items as well.  Two styles of Armorvors should be available, with a higher volume of each. This first surprise launch took things right to the wire at the factory, so that was part of the "under wraps" reasoning. A ton of time has been poured into bringing this new part of the Glyos family into production, and I didn't want to let anybody down after all the beautiful and talented work Marty, Jason and Nate have put into this project. We all worked together to bring this beast to life, and I want to honor that with something that will last.

I've been reviewing the past 5 years quite a bit recently, even more more than usual (which is still a lot), and I continue to be astonished by how lucky we have been. To try and explain the way things string together, by chance and occasionally as planned, is nearly impossible without sounding like a made up tale.
I truly am surprised each time we make it through to another round, as I know how tight capital has become. The fact that each of you throws down every time we do this is beyond anything I could have imagined.
We without a doubt  have the brightest and most dedicated group of people supporting what we do, in each one of you out there.

Thank you so much for bringing this to the 5 year mark. Our small crew will remain focused on pushing the boundaries and hopefully making it half interesting as we attempt to keep Glyos something worth being part of.

This creation belongs to all of us, as we did this together. Right from the beginning and right until the end.

Together.

Completion

Finally! Now with stop, rewind, and full screen options. Thanks again to the talented Glen Schricker for helping get this out there properly.

Suggestion: Upgrade video to HD (click the gear symbol and select 720p).