Separate Ways

Next Sunday, September 6th at 9:30PM EDT, Argen and the Gendrones face a major challenge from within...

Bitfoot

Infinite Shores

Mechanical Grin

I was first introduced to the great Palace Playland arcade back in 1978, while our family was living in Buxton, Maine for a few years after Megan was born. To this day, whenever we visit this old gem up in Old Orchard Beach, I feel inspired and connected to my early days of creating little creatures from beyond. If you're ever near the southern coast of Maine, try checking the whole Old Orchard Beach area out for a great classic amusement park throwback experience. It has just the right amount of grittiness.

Also, Lisa's Pizza on the corner of Old Orchard St and 1st is eternally glorious.

Summer Sojourns

Things behind the scenes are starting to ramp back up around here after enjoying a great summer with the family. The various mini trips up to Maine and Gloucester over the last few months really provided some quality time with the girls, as well as a solid flow of creative inspiration.

We are currently working away on the early September release, which focuses on Argen and the splintering Gendrone Forces. Some of you may instantly recognize what the upcoming colors pay tribute to when we roll out the new assortment, especially if you remember the Red Rocker and the Blue Bomber.

Stryker Lock has been in production for a number of months, and Mori is very close to wrapping up the final touches on the Standard White rerun. As soon as the figures come in, we'll give some advanced notice of the sale date, but expect them to appear in the store pretty quickly after that announcement. Both Mori and I are still figuring out the best system of manufacturing these little buggers, specifically due to the higher production numbers. It has been a true prototype phase that I believe will be worth the extra wait in the end.

Sincere thanks from Mori and I for your prolonged patience as we continue to build out this new part of our crossover universe!

The Flying Vipers

New tunes! Today marks the surprise release from Flying Vipers, a new lo-fi dub project my brother and I started as a spin-off from Destroy Babylon. We recorded the whole thing just as we did with our first bands in the 90s... direct to cassette tape. Listen and download here!

One of these tunes has a special connection to a certain Glyos Passcode. It was first released by another moniker of ours, the Arcade Rats, and eventually re-recorded using live instruments. The song has changed slightly, but the core rhythms and progressions are there... can anyone spot which song? For those into chiptunes, the B-side of the cassette has a special treat for you.

A big thanks to Matt for helping out with the art and creating the Viper illustration featured on the cover. He even inspired me to break out my own pens for the first time in quite a while, and I ended up drawing the pad print for the cassettes. And for the record, there are two working tape decks at Onell headquarters that still get played in the barn and the attic!

Hope you guys enjoy the tunes and the remaining weeks of the summer!

Ley Lines

Ruminating

Orkmogg Noboto

Patching Up

We have now shipped almost every order from our recent release, with just a few packages left to bring down to the post on Monday morning. Thanks once again to the maximum efforts of Michelle, Marc, Megan and Pj, we were able to move quickly through the process and right the ship after our little Refundorama with Paypal.

On the subject of those Phanost refunds, we have some developments we wanted to share with you. An order has been placed for another run of Dreadvalken Overlord Phanost, with every intention of the figures looking as close to identical as possible to the first offering. We have kept a record of each person who received a refund over the last few days, and when the new round arrives (hopefully with our early September wave) we will mail out what you missed, with the cost of those specific figures and all related shipping covered 100% by Onell. Hopefully this will rectify the situation and allow for everybody who wanted a Phanost but were affected by the Paypal issues to get one.

As far as the store goes, we've decided to reopen it tomorrow (Sunday July 25th), so we can have one more day to go over the back end.

Now that the dust has settled, we're looking at very low stock on everything from the Glyosar assortment, with a few items completely sold out.  Fingers crossed that the Paypal system is back in order and we don't have any more crud bombs dropped on us!

Thank you for your extended patience while we've been patching up the hull!

UPDATE: The STORE is back in action. Fingers crossed! 

Be sure to empty your cart and REFRESH the store page.

 

Thank You, We'll Be Back Soon!!!

Thank you for what is shaping up to be the most intense release of 2015 for us!

The traffic was extra high on the site, store and blog since we announced this 8th anniversary assortment, culminating in a deceptive internal meltdown of Paypal's inventory matrix during the actual sale. We managed to catch the issue earlier today while processing orders and running our usual numbers analysis, which we always do after the main sale. The bad news is that we ended up overselling the new Phanost edition by a bit, which means some of you who ordered that specific figure earlier today will be receiving an email about the situation and a refund on that particular item. All the other items remain unaffected in your orders and will be shipped out minus the Phanost, with packing starting tomorrow morning.

The Paypal inventory control should have alerted us to the low stock situation much sooner, but the actual number Paypal was showing on the back end was not correct, which we then discovered was happening across the boards on all the new entries (almost everything should have been low stocked earlier). We shut the store down immediately the minute we put everything together. Luckily, we caught the majority of the problem, and only a small percentage of the overall orders will be affected by this unfortunate Paypal snafu. We are discussing re-running the Dreadvalken Overlord Phanost again for inclusion in our early September release, and would love to read any feedback about your interest in this possibility.

Issues with Paypal have arisen before, with the worst one being the horrifying Master Reset of June 2013, which truly almost wiped us out. Ever since that fateful release, we watch Paypal very carefully, and it was that extra attention that saved this current situation from turning into a monster problem.  It's tough being tied so closely into the Paypal system when things take a turn, but the choices for alternative payment methods don't cover everything we require to successfully run things. We looked into other systems hardcore after the 2013 mess, but there was always one thing missing with each set up. Paypal is most definitely a complicated beast.

Our sincere apologies for the bumpiness in an otherwise very positive new release. We'll be ready to answer any questions through the email link located up in the navigation bar, or right here on the blog.

For those of you that will be receiving refunds on the Phanost figure, be on the lookout for an email tomorrow morning from us. If you don't receive a direct email,  it means your order is unaffected and will ship precisely as you placed it.

The Store will remain closed until all current orders have shipped out, which should be by this Friday afternoon. All final order processing has now been completed by Michelle and I. Once the packages have left and we've done another hand count inventory, the remaining stock will be reloaded in the store. When this does occur, the numbers will already be at low stock, as there's not really much left now that the dust has settled. By the numbers, this was an extremely strong launch.

Deep thanks to all of you for such a powerful turn out last night. You actually busted Paypal again with your collective might!

Updates on shipping will be posted tomorrow evening.

Glyosar Party

The new store is LIVE!

REFRESH: onelldesign.com/store

Huge thanks to the resident Van Gogh from Under The Mountain, Jesse Moore for the amazing painting shown above, and to longtime friend and all around musical cyborg Glen Schricker (aka Circuits and Brains) for the awesome tune! We'll have a little story to tell as the week rolls on, and the creative combination of Jesse and Glen gets us off to a great start.

Note: Please place only ONE ORDER WITHIN THE FIRST HOUR tonight. We usually see an increased volume of traffic during a new release and need everyone's cooperation to ensure things operate smoothly. After the initial dust settles, we will lift all limits. Thanks for your understanding and support. Have fun!

Craypaint

Mission Details

This wave has been a long time in the making! Marc and I have been discussing an AD&D/ Frazetta/ Golden Axe inspired round for years, and since the introduction of Skeleden we've been chomping at the bit to finally roll something out.

You'll notice that the prices on the majority of the special painted figures are higher than usual, which is due to the extensive spray masks combined with full detail lines (and in some cases additional paint washes/ wipes on the Skeledens armor parts and possibly something else).

In general, the larger price tags shy us away from running assortments like this anniversary selection, as the risks run much higher all across the charts. With that being said, we felt like there was no better occasion to attempt a deluxe wave than in celebration of our 8th year of manufacturing these little buggers!

Regardless of what shakes out, it's been a extremely satisfying group of figures to work on, and a lot of fun finally seeing deluxe painted versions of the Skeleden and Noboto/Protoclone molds. We have never produced figures with this much decoration! They actually feel a little heavier from the loads of paint and lines. Plus, since we are running a special edition of the Kabuto Mushi we had to make sure that we hit the high bar our favorite Paint Warlord, Marty "VITAS" Hansen, continues to set with his great figure line. Thank you Marty for letting us give the old beast a spin!

But before I get into some of the specifics of how we landed on the colors you see above, let's cut to the list!


We are on track for tomorrow night, July 21st at 9:30PM EDT. 


The Black Bridge of Glyosar

 
Dungeon Traveler Skeleden -Ullcroth Mutation (Brown PVC/ Bone PVC/ Flesh paint/ Ceramic Brown accents/ Red accents/ Black accents and Ochre Detail Lines) $18 -Features the debut of full Detail Lines and paint wash application on a Skeleden edition 

Dungeon Traveler Skeleden -Orkmogg Horde Mutation (Dark Brown PVC/ Pale Green paint/ Ceramic Gray accents/ Red accents and Muddy Green Detail Lines) $18 -Features the debut of full Detail Lines and paint wash application on a Skeleden edition 

Kabuto Mushi -Sabaku Mage (Ochre PVC/ Light Blue Gray Paint/ Light Tan accents/ Black accents and Dark Gray Detail Lines/ comes packed with unpainted Ochre PVC Mini Mushi) $20 -Special Crossover with The Godbeast

XXX $15

XXX $10

Axis Buildman Argen MK XVII -Electric Revenant (Clear Dark Teal w/ Aqua visors) -Includes new two part head and scarf) $12   
NOTE- Each Axis Buildman is made up of one Buildman and one Axis Joint Set.

Protoclone -Orkmogg Horde (Dark Brown PVC/ Pale Green paint/ Ceramic Gray accents/ Red accents/ Muddy Green Detail Lines and bonus fully painted Noboto head) $14 -Features 13 all new paint applications and the debut of full Detail Lines on a Noboto edition

Crayboth -Orkmogg Horde (Dark Brown PVC/ Pale Green paint/ Ceramic Gray accents/ Red accents/ Muddy Green Detail Lines  $6 -Features 5 all new paint applications   
Crayboth -Dreadvalken Watcher (Red PVC/ Dark Maroon paint/ Yellow accents/ Dark Brown Detail Lines)  $5

Swing Joint Set -Clear Dark Teal $4

Axis Joint Set -Clear Dark Teal $4

Phase Arm/Gobon Blaster Single Set -Clear Dark Teal $2 

Super Crayboth -Dreadvalken Watcher (Red Vinyl/ Dark Maroon paint/ Yellow accents/ Dark Brown Detail Lines) $26 -Features 13 all new paint applications

Armodoc -Orkmogg Horde (Dark Brown vinyl/ Pale Green vinyl/ Ceramic Gray accents/ Red accents/ Black accents Muddy Green Detail Lines -includes Bonus Syclodoc head) $25


The Orkmogg color pattern pays tribute directly to the classic hues our friend Eric Treadaway put together for the 4H's Mythic Legion Orcs, which were originally going to be a Glyos compatible line. Though the 4H ultimately chose to bump up to a larger scale, we wanted to honor the years of solid discussions and good times (we're still having them!) we all had planning out potential battles between our respective toylines. Our guys will just have to ride on each others shoulders when the lines finally meet!

My apologies for the list being posted on the day of the release, but all the parts of the machine had to be in just the right places to nail our actual anniversary date (and the wedding anniversary of Michelle and I). July 21st is a pretty big day around here.

Thanks for your patience! I hope the wait was worth it!

PS -There will be some surprises...

Through The Citadel

The bold, the brave and the broken. Such are those doomed to travel through the endless dungeons of the Black Citadel Dreadvalken. 

But what secret world spawned this dark keep? Where and when did the Dreadvalken come from? The answers lurk even beyond the Edge of Space ...in a place called Glyosar.


Our 8th anniversary release is on track for this coming Tuesday, July 21st at 9:30PM EDT.

List and details coming soon!

Another Origin

A Bit Lurking

Manglocore

Bio Hunter

Peach Clipper

Spotted this little one while walking this morning.

After it buzzed by my head a few times it eventually landed on a leaf right in front of me, just in time for a close up.

Shipping Update

We have processed and shipped almost every order placed since last Sunday night's release.

Huge thanks as always to Megan and Pj, the dynamic packing duo that keep Michelle, Marcus and I from losing our minds while trapped inside the Cardboard Labyrinth that is the barn.

We had some help from a few chickens, who were a lot quicker than the turtles (Marcus has supplied the above proof).

Thank you again for a great June release!

Thank You!!!

Thank you for an exciting and positive release last Sunday night!

The increase in production numbers for this assortment seemed to cut down on the frustrations that folks felt when we rolled out the Ultra Bronze wave a couple months ago. Our goal for this round was to make enough stuff that the store would remain stocked for at least a week, so anybody who wanted to check something out would have an extended amount of time to do so. The risk level definitely rises when we do this, but this time things worked out pretty well.

When Marc and I were working on the color mechanical studies for this wave we spent a lot of time combing through the archives of the internet for Manglors information and imagery. Thanks to John Kent and Jesse Moore, we were able to secure a complete set of vintage Manglors, boxes and all (my personal specimens were in pretty rough shape). By combining the color theory that Ken Kelly put together for the box art (vivid) with the actual hues of the classic figures (muted), we attempted to connect the dots and nail down a color pattern that could eventually be used for Toyfinty's intended resurrection of the characters down the road. Looking at the figures in hand, I think we hit a decent balance.

As the year progresses (half way through it already!) we will continue to work with Toyfinity on developing the Manglors relaunch (among other projects), and hopefully have some neat things to show you before the end of 2015.

Thank you once again for continuing to inspire our creativity, and for supporting not only what we do here, but for looking out for all our partner companies as well.

You guys are the very best!

The Manglor Mutation

The new store is LIVE!

Refresh: onelldesign.com/store

Please place only ONE ORDER WITHIN THE FIRST HOUR tonight. We usually see an increased volume of traffic during a new release and need everyone's cooperation to ensure things operate smoothly. After the initial dust settles, we will lift all limits. Thanks for your understanding and support. Have fun!

Manglofied

Last Hope of Betelgeuse

Cady's Manglosaurus

Even Cady has been swept up in the household Manglosanity! She created the above drawing of Manglosaurus (the dinosaur-like mortal enemy of the green skinned Manglor warriors) last night. I'm trying to get her to draw a battle next!

Great work, kiddo!

Manglors Character Studies

The original Manglors figures are quite unique, both physically and conceptually.

I was recently able to do some deep drawing studies on a full Manglor set, thanks to having access to the extraordinary toy collections of John and Jesse, combined with my own beat up specimens.

One of the things that's a bit hard to see on the original figures due to the sorbathane material is the level of actual detail packed into the sculpts. It's rumored that the great Ken Kelly himself designed the series, but I do wonder who sculpted them. The designs on the packaging are more streamlined, looking like they could double as Creepy magazine covers without missing a beat. Whoever did the sculpting had a more rugged approach, weaving some serious texture into the skin and scales that cover most of the 6 classic Manglor characters, save for the Manglord, who sports a much clearer, albeit puke green, complexion.

Drawing off of the boxes would have been the easiest way to come up with some clean representations of the characters, but I really wanted to get to the heart of actual toys, to see what was hidden behind their oddball mess of stickiness and twisted limbs.

The above line studies show where I landed after staring at the original vintage figures for extended sittings. There is definitely a very cool cohesive aesthetic running across the line, with repeated texture patterns and related proportions culminating in a unique style and delivery.

Stretchy dino monsters battling swampy cavemen on an alien planet in space.

These are a few of my favorite things.

Manglobits 2

Manglobits 1

Mission Details

The latest assortment from the factory has arrived and everything is ready to go!

When we were first putting this selection together months ago, the internal craze around here was the vintage Manglors toy line. Originally developed by Ideal back in 1984, the Manglors still stand as one of the stranger creations in the history of toys. "Made of the strangest stuff on Earth", a funky material called Sorbothane, the driving play mechanic of the line was based around actually tearing the figures apart and putting them back together again. The "memory" of the material was supposed to then "heal" the body back into its original form and position once the pieces were pushed back together. Sort of like a bio-fit function. Well, as many of us who had the toys discovered, they really didn't work like the TV ads and packaging claimed. I recall staring at my Manglord in silence after I had torn him limb from limb and attempted to reassemble his dull green body to no avail. Suffice it to say, old Manglord lived the rest of his shortened life held together by medical tape and a fair amount of childhood malice.

Due to the major flaws in its play pattern and some seriously intense competition on the toy shelves at the time, the Manglors only lasted for two waves. Manglors eventually faded into obscurity as the renamed "Vulcalors", destined to languish in the toy shops of Italy as the American market careened towards the Age of Mario.  

I've always wanted to see the Manglors resurface, so when our friend and collaborator John Kent over at Toyfinity secured the rights to regenerate the property, I went a little nuts at the thought of bringing the characters back to life -and this time with no medical tape!

As we steadily work behind the scenes between our two companies on resurrecting the Manglors, the creative influence of these bizarre beasts slowly finds its way into our regular operations. The strange muted color hues that Skeleden is now sporting are directly inspired by the original Manglors character toys as well as the stunning Ken Kelly paintings that graced the Manglor boxes.

Accompanying the vintage toy vibe this Sunday will be Argen and the Gendrone Bio Hunters (including the return of the reconfigured Robo Force kit Gendrone Force Defender), now forged in the new Gunmetal Silver PVC that we have been experimenting with recently. The factory really nailed the metallic look with this production run, with just enough of that cool but hard to capture light and dark balance that shifts so drastically in different environments. Argen and Manglor Skeleden have not left my pocket since I received them.

Good grief, that was a Manglor download. I suppose it's time for the list!

We are on track for this Sunday, June 14th at 9:30PM EDT. 


The Manglor Mutation


Dungeon Traveler Skeleden -Manglor Mutation (Green/ Purple w/ painted eyes, Green Skeleden head/ armor/ upper arms/ thighs/ axe, Purple Traveler base body/ upper arms/ thighs/ Pheyden head) $12 (Manglord Homage)
Dungeon Traveler Skeleden -Cosmodemon Mutation (Pale Orange/ Butterscotch w/ painted eyes, Pale Orange Skeleden head/ armor/ upper arms/ thighs/ axe and Butterscotch Traveler base body/ upper arms/ thighs/ Pheyden head) $12 (Manglodemon Homage)
Dungeon Traveler Skeleden - Dragotauri Mutation (Light Blue/ Blue w/ painted eyes, Light Blue Skeleden head/ armor/ upper arms/ thighs/ axe and Blue Traveler base body/ upper arms/ thighs/ Pheyden head) $12 (Manglodragon Homage)
Dungeon Traveler Skeleden -Sauruzard Mutation (Tomato Red/ Plum w/ painted eyes, Tomato Red Skeleden head/ armor/ upper arms/ thighs/ axe and Plum Traveler base body/ upper arms/ thighs/ Pheyden head) $12 (Manglizard/ Manglosaurus Homage)

Elder Exellis -Bio Hunters (Gunmetal Silver w/ painted eyes, removable belt, LSA head, Dark Traveler head/ scarf/ inner scarf) $8

Axis Buildman Argen MK XVI -Bio Hunters (Gunmetal Silver w/ Red visors and White tampos -Includes new two part head and scarf) $12
NOTE- Each Axis Buildman is made up of one Buildman and one Axis Joint Set.

Advanced Phaseon Enyriun MK V -Bio Hunters (Gunmetal Silver w/ Red visors and White tampos) $10
NOTE- Each Advanced Phaseon is made up of one Phaseon and one painted Hub Set

Gendrone Force Defender -Bio Hunters (Gunmetal Silver w/ Red/ Black accents and White tampo) $16
(Special Reconfigured Edition of Toyfinity's Robo Force Maxx Zero)

Neo Sincroid -Bio Hunters (Gunmetal Silver w/ Red visors/ White tampos and bonus Glyan head) $8

Noboto -Bio Hunters (Gunmetal Silver w/ painted eyes, White tampos and bonus Protoclone head ) $8 

Gobon -Bio Hunters (Gunmetal Silver w/ Red eyes and White tampo) $8

Armorvor  -Neo Granthan Manglor Mimic (Purple/ Green Paint with Black visors and bonus head/ backpack) $10 -Features all new Neo Granthan head

Crayboth -Manglor  $4
Crayboth -Cosmodemon  $4
Crayboth -Gunmetal  $4

Swing Joint Set -Gunmetal Silver $4

Hub Set -Gunmetal Silver w/ Red accent and White tampo $4
NOTE- Each Hub Set is sold in a specific Drone configuration.

Axis Joint Set -Gunmetal Silver $4

Phase Arm/Gobon Blaster Single Set -Gunmetal Silver w/ Red accent $2 

Super Crayboth -Dragotauri Hybrid (Light Blue Vinyl/ Blue paint/ Red accents) $25
-Features some all new paint applications


Thank you for reading this tale from under Manglor Mountain!

Special thanks to John and the Toyfinity team for letting us have some fun with their properties!