Axorvor

This build is contained, using all the parts of one Armorvor figure and two complete Axis Joint Sets. I imagine some serious berserker action is in order when an Armorvor steals a double shot of Axis Power!

Make sure to head over to Battlegrip.com to check out Phil Reed's awesome illustration of this beast!

Phil has been running an entire week dedicated to Glyos on his site, featuring loads of reviews, articles and just general Mr. Reed excellence! He has even created coloring and activity book pages!

Thanks for everything you do, Phil! You're the real beast!

Head Shots

A few more pics of the new round. That gray Neo Sincroid is my current Pocket Survivor.

Also been playing with a little Armorvor build (pics incoming), carrying it around in the snow for the past few days while clearing our latest coating.

Mission Details!

Almost time for our first release of 2013! To mix it up, the focus of this wave is concentrated on select figures, as the Gendrones are taking a little break from the action after protecting the Council.

A special "Mini" Blocker Rig marks the return of some vinyl outside of the Syclodoc/Armodoc mold. This Blocker configuration dates all the way back to last year, when I was first building with the Block. Maybe it's the compact look of the parts all tightly packed together, but for some reason I really like the idea of smaller Mini Rigs.

As mentioned before, the old Adventure People line is the main inspiration for this assortment. The simple color schemes, durable figures and fantastic vehicles (like the Firestar 1) have influenced many toy lines over the years, particularly the one we have here.

I could go on about it forever and bore you all to tears, so let's get to the list!

The following are scheduled to be in the store on Friday, February 1st at 9:30PM EST.

There will be purchasing limits on select items: 

-Armorvor (2 limit per customer) 

-Travelers (3 of each style per customer)  

-Syclodoc (2 limit per customer)


Also, due to the particularly unique hue of the yellowish orange parts, they get the nickname Yellorange, because typing creamsicle too many times makes me hungry.



Operation: Sonesidar



Glyan -Sonesidar Rescue Unit (White/Yellorange with Green Visors and Yellorange tampo) $8
Glyan -Sonesidar Excavation Division (Yellorange/White with Green Visors and White tampo) $8
Glyan -Sonesidar Defense Force (Gray with Green Visors and White tampo) $8

Deep Space Glyan -Sonesidar Rescue Unit (White/Yellorange with Green Visors and Yellorange tampos) $12
Deep Space Glyan -Sonesidar Excavation Division (Yellorange/White with Green Visors and White tampos) $12
NOTE- Each Deep Space Glyan is made up of one Glyan and one specially painted Hub Set.

SRU Commander Arclurran Sarvos (White/Yellorange with Green eyes and Yellorange spray masks) $8
SED Commander Lorsailus Pheyden (Yellorange/White with Green eyes and Yellorange scarf) $8
Neo Phase Pheyden MK II (Clear Neon Green with Green eyes) $8
Discovery Exellis (Gray with Green eyes and Gray scarf) $8

Crayboth -Neo Phase (Clear Neon Green with no paint) $3

Armorvor -Sonesidar Mimic (Yellorange/White with Green Visors) $8

Hub Set -Sonesidar Rescue Unit (White with Green Visors and Yellorange tampo) $4
Hub Set -Sonesidar Excavation Division (Yellorange with Green Visors and White tampo) $4
Hub Set -Sonesidar Defense Force (Gray with Green Visors and White tampo) $4
NOTE- Each Hub Set is sold in a specific Drone configuration.

Axis Joint Set  -White $4
Axis Joint Set -Yellorange $4
Axis Joint Set -Gray-$4

Phase Arm/Gobon Blaster Single Set -White with Green accent $2
Phase Arm/Gobon Blaster Single Set -Yellorange with Green accent $2
Phase Arm/Gobon Blaster Single Set -Gray with Green accent $2

Mini Blocker Rig -Sonesidar Defense Force (Gray/painted White with Green accents and multiple Green/White tampos) $20

Syclodoc -????? -$25

Of note is the Neo Phase Pheyden MK II's specific tint. Much like the neon pink from the last wave, this plastic behaves in odd ways depending on the light source it's viewed under. It can look super clear like in the pictures above, or almost frosted by the light of the computer monitor. It also packs that extra neon punch which you really have to see in hand to fully appreciate.

The gray PVC is a bit lighter and a different hue than the grays we have done before. Yet another color that can shift pretty drastically based on the lighting. Personally, I think it may be my favorite gray tone yet.

The new Syclodoc will be revealed over at the great Phil Reed's Battlegrip.com this coming week, as he inspired its color combo!

Thanks for reading yet another text pile up, and we hope you find something you like in those pics up there.


PS -Michelle refers to Exellis with the reversed scarf on (a nod to Aves) as "Lips Exellis", which I now cannot unsee. Thanks lady!

Old Feelings

Playing with these new colors brings me right back to the late 70's, having tiny adventures under the beds of our old house in Maine.

I love when the detail lines are on everything, but I've come to equally love the pure toy look that happens when the molds are just run with some minimal spray applications and a few tampos.

The Adventure People vibe I get when handling these is kind of crazy, particularly on the DSGs. They've hijacked my Alpha Probe for multiple unauthorized missions since arriving.

More pics coming up!

New Wave

Back to the world after a week spent at the shop! Wrapped up some long standing projects and had a great time working with the master, Ron Daley.

When I returned home, the samples from our new February wave were waiting for inspection. After looking everything over, I'm feeling pretty psyched to share what's cooking with you guys!

These particular color selections pay homage to some of my all time favorite figures from the classic Fisher Price Adventure People line. Can you guess which ones? The detail lines were left off of this run to try and capture that pure "toy" feeling from the old days. Man does that golden orange pop on the pure white! The hue is a close cousin to Glyaxia yellow, with a dash more orange. Some other colors will also be in the mix, with a selection of only certain molds available this time. A full list with specific details will be posted this week.

The current target date for this launch is Friday, February 1st at 9:30PM EST.

Carving The Comics

Sometimes you get to witness something incredible that seemingly comes out of nowhere, but has in fact existed in the shadows for far longer than you could have ever imagined. Such is the case with wood carving virtuoso, Charles Ponstingl.

Last year I had the honor of visiting toy design legend Mel Birnkrant, and among the secret treasures within his beautiful home were a series of stunning wood carvings hanging on his walls. On many of his walls.

Upon further inspection, it became clear that these were not only the works of a true master, but also the works of a person with a deep love for what they do. I was absolutely blown away by the art I was looking at. Exquisite renderings, all completely created from wood, of classic comic characters. Everything from Mickey Mouse to Little Nemo to Popeye adorned Mel's walls, all windows into each icon's world.

Mel explained that the carvings were all created by his great friend, Charles Ponstingl. I spent a long time staring at the various pieces, trying to understand how Charles put everything together. Having Mel as the guide, explaining each piece's history made the experience one of the best in my life.

Of course I took a multitude of pictures on my tiny iPod, none of which did the originals any justice, but I just wanted some kind of record to remember the occasion. I kept thinking how crazy it was that so few people would ever know about these wood carvings, as each piece was one of a kind and there was no real documentation of this rather large body of work, most of which Mel owned.

Well, Mel has once again shown how unbelievably focused and vital he is, even in his mid seventies! He has created an all new dedicated website, called Carving The Comics, which chronicles almost ALL of the wood carvings that Charles has made since he picked up a block of wood and a pen knife at the age of 38!

If you get the chance, head over to the site and curl up for an astonishing tale of creativity, comics history and most of all friendship.

Mercenary Alert

New stuff in the Callgrim STORE is live right now!

There are some crossover colors that match up pretty good with a few of our recent releases from 2012, including Urballim metallic gold, a slightly darker clear Neo Voss and Hades Force! A brand new silver vinyl WARP bike is also waiting for your figures to take a ride on.

Make sure to check the Callgrim blog, where Jesse has whipped up some excellent new paintings that are looking glorious as always!

Mercenary Alert

Callgrim returns this Friday night, January 11th at 9 PM EST!

Quick Suit

Another contained build from December. This "Quick Suit" was bumped from the store by the Phase Defender.

The recipe is:

-1 Axis Joint Set

-2 Hub Sets

-2 Gobon Blaster

-2 Phase Arms

I think of an Advanced DSG when I play with this one.

Knight Out

The above Neo Sincroid is sporting some Axis Joints (1 full set) and a scarf, which makes that helmet look kind of knight-ish.

This build has seen a lot of action since last month. With the beefier head, it reminds me of an old toy helmet I used to play with as a kid, which was some sort of Stormtrooper knock off. It also glowed if I remember right.

Searcher Phaseon

The Searcher Phaseon shown above is a variation of the Advanced Phaseon, using 1 Hub Set and 1 Phaseon in its construction. I keep swapping the 3 way connectors from the mid section to the backpack, as I kind of like both options. The painted Hub Set definitely adds some needed spice to the mix -Tampo Mania style!

Cady's Guide to Glyos

Our daughter Cady, who is now 8 years old, made a special illustration for her little sister Cirie. The above drawing is supposed to be a character guide, to help Cirie understand who you can find in Glyos.

I love how kids think.

Happy New Year!

Thank you from everyone here at Onell for sticking with us through 2012. It was a crazier year than usual, I think all over the world.

Here's to a great 2013!

Lost Projects: Noboto

The character called Noboto has a pretty significant role in our stories Monsters VS Robots (Michelle) and Rechlen and Aves (me).  We created each plot to crossover at certain points, but in our usual strange ways.

In MvR, Noboto is the leader of the Monster hunting Robots, chasing a renegade group of creatures across Glyos, but all told in the form of a comic that Michelle's character Sidrick loves to read. So a comic within a comic -MvR appears inside the Sidrick stories.

In Rechlen and Aves, Noboto is a prototype Sincroid that is dispatched by the Lost Sincroid Army to find a way through the Edge of Space -with the hope of locating their missing leader, Exellis.

The RA version of Noboto sets out on this mission piloting a special Sarvonic Gendrone (Gobon), which helps regulate Noboto's unstable prototype body.  Due to his ability to manifest something called the "Phanost Effect", Noboto is able to reach into the Edge of Space, but only through a tethered phantom version of himself. Believe it or not this weirdness was all laid out back in 2004!

Both Michelle and I have wanted to bring Noboto into the production mix for a pretty long time.

Maybe 2013 will be the little guy's year!

Journey to Articulation

Once Michelle decided on the basic shape and feel of Gobon, I took her core design and did a parts breakdown, pushing the construction a bit. After some minor tweaks, it was off to the shop where Ron and I built the prototype. A few aspects of Gobon were then modified once we had the first urethane version in hand.

Michelle's sketch shown above also has what would be the near final look of Gobon's partner, Noboto. We worked on that little guy together quite a bit, maybe even more so than Gobon. The Noboto prototype currently sits at about 90% completion on my desk, waiting to make it into full production. A little more on that shortly.

Robo Genesis

These are some early sketches of Gobon. The initial colors were to be gray and red (like Robocon), and then later we changed it to white (arms and legs) and yellow. The little guy standing next to Gobon is Noboto, the leader of the Robots in the MvR comic that Sidrick reads. -Michelle

Color Mechanicals: Gobon

The Gobon mechanical was a fun one to make. Because of its more geometric and symmetrical design, I worked off a photo this time around, as opposed to vectorizing Matt's line art. Included below is the hi-res template to create your own sets of Sarvonic Gendrones.

We are working on a download page that will compile all of these mechanicals and more- stay tuned!

GlyosMechanical-Gobon.pdf

Mini Catalog Gobon

This illustration first appeared in the small "mini catalog" that came with all our original boxed figures from way back in 2007. I really loved working on those packages with Marcus, and definitely miss that extra element being part of our current work.

Maybe someday we'll do a special edition version that revisits the old style.

A funny bit of info: Gobon's "Standard" color was supposed to be this yellow/white combo.

Mother Of Gobon

Hello Glyos Community!

Happy (almost) New Year! This is Michelle, the behind-the-scenes invoicing and processing part of the Onell team. On behalf of myself and the rest of the crew, I would like to extend warm holiday greetings and a hearty thank you to everyone who places orders and takes an interest in what we do. Since I do all of the invoicing, I know many of you by name even if I have never met or spoken with you in person. Your consistent orders and patience with our mistakes are never taken for granted, I can assure you!

As 2012 draws to a close, I find myself contemplating my role in the future of Glyos more and more. When Matt and I started working together over 15 years ago, our dream was to be a husband and wife creative team. Rechlen and Aves was his baby, and Sidrick was mine. As the years passed, our creativity took us in different directions; Pheyden was born, and not long after were the (actual) births of our kids Cady and Cirie. Needless to say, my quiet evenings spent drawing with Matt were replaced with sleepless nights and wiping butts! (Wow, that sounds like a bad country song.) Anyway, with our little one entering kindergarten in the fall, I see those dreams beginning to reemerge for me personally. It will be a slow reentry, but I will try and have more of a presence on here in 2013 and beyond.

So with that being said, the next couple of blog posts will focus on a character that is near and dear to my heart: Gobon. This outer space relic has appeared in many of the Glyos Passcodes as well as in Sidrick's favorite comic Monsters vs Robots. Matt and I co-created this guy while we were sitting in the lobby of a Saturn dealership buying our first car together - not sure what that says about our taste in cars, but hopefully our collaborative efforts make up for it!

Phase Arm/Gobon Blaster Concepts

These were the first Phase Arm and Gobon Blaster sketches that really started to define the look and functionality of what would become the final versions. You can see little differences in certain areas, but for the most part things remained pretty close to these designs.

However, a very important addition came later in the production process, when the two holes on the sides of the Gobon Blaster base disc were added. This decision was made after getting the initial test shots and messing around for a bit. Very quickly it became clear that having greater options was more important than preserving a smoother aesthetic.

Amazing what two simple little fit functions opened up!

Fact #1: It took from mid 2007 until mid 2009 to get the proper Phase Arm/Gobon Blaster Sets finally into full production.

Fact #2: The bottom drawing was the very first attempt at a Phase Arm, and was influenced heavily by the  Crayboth's Arm Blaster design.

Cookies!

Michelle and I continue our friendly competition to see who can make the more powerful sugar cookie on Christmas Eve.

I have lost for 4 years straight.

The judges apparently don't like Glyos, just lots of icing.

We hope you are all having a great night! 

The Illustrated Man

The above image first showed up on the old "one sheets" that Marc and I used to make. Some of you may still have a few of the printed versions that we would sneak into outgoing orders.

It was a tradition to create an illustration like this for each new character that we would introduce. Sometimes I would put an upcoming design in the background, as a little hint at things to come. In this case it was the Armodoc.

Buildman Concepts

As we close out 2012, Marcus and I will be posting a fairly steady stream of conceptual artwork, forgotten finished illustrations and a bit of random Glyos related imagery, along with a few more color mechanicals.

Since we just popped up the Buildman color mechanicals yesterday, we'll keep the ball rolling with a look back at where that weirdo first began to really surface. The above set of drawings represent the original designs for what would eventually become the full production Buildman Gendrone.

Originally I was thinking about making the "drone" head look just like an old character from the Microshow days that I called Microdroid Ranic. As I developed the sculpt, the drone head changed, and gained the more prominent vertical ridge that exists today. Buildman Ranic was very close to coming with an early Phase Arm attachment to go along with the backpack. These drawings were completed towards the end of 2007.

Looking at these again, I kind of want to make that first Ranic head. Though I think the new one I've been working on might be a little more fun.