Enter the Glyoverse

After over a decade, one of our favorites spots on the web, the October Toys Forum, will be shutting down at the end of this month.

Throughout the years our great friends George and Ayleen have generously donated endless amounts of their personal time and effort into maintaining the boards for all of us to peruse and enjoy, fostering an incredible community along the way. The wealth of information that has been amassed in the Glyos section alone is beyond measure. Spending time checking out what everybody is up to has been an invaluable resource on so many levels. The OTF will be fondly remembered and truly missed by all of us here at Onell.

For all the glorious years of true partnership, open communication and good times, we salute our extended family over at October Toys with a full heart. Thank you for everything.

For all of you that have participated in the OTF community, whether posting or just lurking, please know that you have absolutely influenced and assisted in building the very foundation of what we do here. We are forever grateful.

Though we are definitely feeling melancholy about the end of the OTF era, we are also looking forward to what the future holds.

Year after year, Marcus and I have continually been engaged in an ongoing discussion concerning the ever growing world of social media. As evidenced by our complete lack of it, we have consistently kept everything we do contained within this little blog. Being the caveman that I am, this method has served our modest system fairly well, but now with the end of the OTF pending and the loss of an official place for everyone to openly share, the time has finally come to shuffle the deck.

Behind the scenes Marcus has been readying some countermeasures in the event we lost the forum, or simply decided to venture into the universe of modern communications (I am a relic, Marc is not).

Below you will be introduced to something we probably should have activated many moons ago. My sincere thanks to my always technologically savvy brother Marcus for dragging us through a necessary threshold into the future.  -Matt


With the closing of the OTF chapter, we begin the next phase with not one but two new online realms for the Glyos System.

The Glyoverse is a community powered tumblelog where anyone can upload photos, artwork and all types of Glyos related content. Our goal with this site is to cultivate inspiration and excitement for the Glyos System Series, but most importantly to allow the artists, fans, collectors and friends of the line an equal chance to contribute to the community. Matt, Michelle and I can never stop thanking you guys for the incredible support over the years, and we hope this site becomes a tribute to what we have all built together.

We set up a few guidelines for submissions to the Glyoverse. Please read them through before submitting, and also take some time to review the tagging system. The tags will become the filing structure for the Gallery section, coming in the weeks ahead.

The Glyos Tumblr will serve as a fun companion to the Onell blog. The current Blogger site will remain the primary source for all things Onell, whereas the Tumblr will be more of an anything-goes stream of Glyos images and content. We'll be exploring things from the past, present and even the future, including unreleased sketches, scraps, and other oddities.

If you have any questions or feedback, please comment here or email web@glyos.com.

Also, we are looking into various options for a new forum, as well as potentially exploring other social media platforms. The caveman has to get comfortable around a fire before we board any spaceships...

Thanks again for continuing to build this unique and enduring community with us. -Marc

Monsterforge Unleashes Pheyjira!

I recently received something crazy in the mail. Meet "Pheyjira", a one of a kind, hand sculpted beauty from Charles "Monsterforge" Marsh. This is part of his brand new Kawaiiju series, an absolutely amazing set of 30 totally unique mini sculptures that combine a little bit of cute with a whole lot of cool. According to his blog, Charles will be releasing Pheyjira's kin blind bag style very soon. Keep checking in over there to stay updated on all the wild projects Charles has cooking. He may even have something in the works that might "enhance" some of the usual suspects around here.... Thank you Charles! I love this figure!

The GodBeast Cometh

Recently our friend and fellow creature creator, The GodBeast, sculpted up some very cool custom heads for the Glyos figures. Not content with just simply bringing these all new aliens into existence, The GodBeast made some of his legendary molds and put together a custom run of 21 sets (3 hand cast urethane heads per set) that go on sale tonight (May 21st) ! To see some shots of this limited edition insanity, check out godbeast.com. To add extra goodness to this event our friend Tengu, the freelance writing machine and editor of glyan-stories.blogspot.com, has drafted some excellent backstories to accompany the Godbeast's fantastic new characters. Make sure to take a look at Tengu's spin on the Glyos universe and read about his original character Edyne's expanding adventures in the Glyos System. Huge thanks to The GodBeast for continuing to inspire with his attention to detail and dedication to his many fans. Go get those heads!

Instant Sarvos

Big thanks go out to our friend and super talented artist Vince Chui for creating this cool rendition of Sarvos. Vince recorded his process and put together a very cool video of it. It reminds us of a sci-fi Bob Ross... with less afro. Awesome work Vince!

The Nibbler

Check out this insane custom sent over to us by the infamous Tarantulas of the UK. With 6 access points and a nasty appetite, "The Nibbler" has come to take a chunk out of the Glyos System! Take a look at what The Tarantulas has to say about his latest creation below.

Facts & Illustration Backstory

The Nibbler
Age - Approx 7000
Physical Strength - 3
Special Powers - 9
Weapons - 7

In the abstraction of galactic consciousness the diminutive, gnawing Nibbler increases his physical size a million fold to snack on spicy planetary systems.

Exploiting the infinite potential of thought, mysterious cosmic traveller Pheyden uses the same trick but instead duplicates his material form a million times. Bloated by over indulgence, the Nibbler is overwhelmed by the swarming collective of Pheyden and shrivels to normal size...

Nibbler Rational

If I was to create one new piece for the Glyos system I wanted it to be versatile & have more than one use.. Plus I was into torso-head type characters like Modok and Arnim Zola. I'd noticed that the features of a torso - chest & abdominal muscles could easily represent a face - this was the starting point. The sculpt hopefully works both as the Nibblers head & also as a beefy torso for any Glyos figure, hence double arm holes and a hole in the top of his head. As a companion to the figure I created an artwork showing Pheyden battling the Nibbler.. Since Jack Kirby is both creator of aforementioned 'torso-heads' and a continuing inspiration, I aped his style for the piece.

The Tarantulas

Toward the end of a decade plus at Hasbro I started working as The Tarantulas - now like many others I'm balancing art projects with corporate freelance work. Its a familiar situation but the projects I'm working on currently - from commercial toy work to TV formats to sculpture - are so diverse I feel like I need to focus ! Since leaving Hasbro I've tended to prefer working in 2D - a reaction to designing 3D for so long..but I've recently started playing around with sculpting (thanks to Matt ) so I'm having fun with that. My work is influenced by a lot of the same stuff as everyone else.. Star Wars, Jack Kirby, EC Comics and so many people around today. I think a lot of us are trying to find our own style & shrug off the influence of the 80's. Next for the Tarantulas? More sculpting - hopefully more toy releases & some cash so I can move out again!

Huge thanks to The Tarantulas for sending over such a cool character with so much thought put into the design and execution. We're humbled to have this little guy sitting on our desk.

Cypser Greetings

Big thanks to Will Cypser for this great Holiday Card.

In the Air and On the Road

Our friend, JediCreeper, recently took a trip out to Disneyland in California and then Hawaii. While on this great excursion he managed to take some very cool pictures of Dimension Pheyden and Spirico Exellis! We have all been looking at these shots for the past week and wanted to share them with you guys. The Hawaii shots in particular are really wild looking. It actually looks like some of the sets we build over here. Great job on these Mr. Creeper, we really appreciate you taking the time to do this!

Stannic Insanity

Our new contributor, William Cypser, has sent over an incredible rendition of Stannic from Gear's Edge. This drawing is completely freaking insane. Amazing, ridiculous detail and a great stance. Will, you're crazy and we love it.

The Art of William Cypser

We met illustrator/designer William Cypser about a year ago at Toy Fair in 2007 where we got to take a look at some of his super detailed and refined illustration work. Needless to say, the stuff was pro. Over the last year we have been lucky enough to receive the occasional crazy drawing from Will, as he puts his spin on various characters hiding out in the Glyos end of the universe. These recent entries are glorious. Seeing Audie and Pheyden drawn with fresh eyes is really interesting and pushes the core designs to new places. We love it. Big thanks to Will for taking the time to humble us with his wicked skills. Keep 'em coming!

Ciaran Moore's Creations

We have been a big fan of 9 year old Ciaran Moore's work since way back when he was all of 5. This little (actually not so little anymore) guy knocked out the first drawing of Callgrim (Skullface) with his dad Jesse when he was just getting rolling as an artist. These 2 new creations are proof positive that Ciaran can do some amazing sculpting as well! I think he makes better hands than I do! Pretty cool designs and imagination, no matter what age. Amazing work Ciaran, everyone here at Onell is proud of you! Keep it up!

Art Assault

Well, whenever we get any kind of illustration or painting of the Glyos characters we get excited, but when we get them from our close friends we are humbled by the original approach and care put into the resulting artwork. These 3 pieces are particularly cool. Good old Chris B. comes back again with a very unique take on Michelle's character Gobon. I personally love the gelatinous looking stomach and fluid feel applied to this chunky gendrone. Chris, we want more! Putting his wares out here for the first time is our good friend and resident left-handed braniac Sanjeev! Sanjeev explained that this guy is an "Anti Pheyden" that brings some much needed cold hearted villainy to the Glyos system. The spell book on the left shoulder is a great touch and the almost royal detailing is very convincing. Sanjeev, I think it's time for that limited edition figure now. Yes, it will be glowie. Rounding out the trio of talent is Josh B. of the famed and exploding CollectionDX.com. Not only does Josh run an addictive and insanely informative website, but he also can throw down when it's time to get drawing. This Callgrim picture has a real confidence to it that I know Jesse Moore( Callgrim's creator) will be proud of. Josh's inking abilities are like a mutant power that he needs to use more often, the results are always superb. All in all, these three artists and their contributions to our ever expanding Glyos System makes us thankful, and me in particular, to be around such unique and talented people that we're also lucky enough to call our friends.

Lost Sincroid Army

Here is Chris B's latest take on some Glyos System characters, the Lost Sincroid Army. These are the descendants of Prototype Sincroid Exellis who have dedicated their lives to finding their lost commander. With relentless tenacity, they search for Exellis, determined to complete their ultimate goal of ushering in a New Sincroid Age. Space Trappers Rechlen and Aves have narrowly escaped these hardened soldiers on many an occasion. The Lost Sincroid Army seem to have a particular interest in Aves. Big thanks to Chris for another inspiring illustration! On another note, any interest out there on seeing these guys mass produced?

Surrounded

Chris B sends us another great illustration of Scar Pheyden and Pheyden surrounded by some crazy Eidrallim looking for lunch. That Scar Pheyden looks really cool in this pic, and it's great to see the Eidrallim making their 2D debut. Hey Chris, who's next?

Christopher Boivin's Artwork

Here is another round of art from our friend and artist Chris Boivin. He has taken a shine to the Gear's Edge characters and sent over these great illustrations. Seeing his take on this stuff is very satisfying and the fact that he took the time to render our goofball cowboy Sincroids like this is an honor. Love that One With No Name pic! Thanks again Chris, send more!

Callgrim Fan Art

When I saw these drawings pop up in my email I made a bee line over here to get them posted. These are some shots of Callgrim from Gear's Edge as seen through the eyes of artist Christopher Boivin. Chris has a great creative mind and a very steady hand and I know that Jesse and Ciaran will especially like this version of Callgrim. Thanks Chris, this looks awesome- keep them coming!