[Glyapaedia] When Rigs Fly

I suppose it's not much of a surprise anymore, but the piece that I bought at Toxic Catalyst was none other than the "Old Rig" contributed by Onell Design.

Matt Doughty perhaps explains best just how special this item is in his post on the Onell blog. In action figure lingo, this is essentially a hardcopy prototype of the Rig. Hardcopies and mock-ups are some of the most coveted items for vintage toy collectors since they provide key insight into the development process and are very rarely seen in public circulation (more commonly, you will pre-production test shots). When sold, these items can go for hundreds or thousands of dollars depending on production differences and condition. Granted the Old Rig is a prototype from a relatively new toy line, but it was pretty awesome to be able to just throw down some cash/plastic and buy it. Not something you would expect to see at an art show.

I have to say that the temptation to play with this thing is incredible, and I must remind myself over and over that I need to be a little careful with it. The resin joints are silky smooth, which enhances the Rubik's-Cube-like nature of the toy. I am a little curious as to how the limbs and waist are jointed, since they could not use the vinyl plugs. Post and hole perhaps? At any rate, I am now very keen on getting my hands on the production Rig to do a comparison.

Up close, it is abundantly clear that this is an engineering model and not some shmancy art toy. Paint is rubbed off on the bottom of the feet, revealing whitish urethane beneath. I can even see bits of fuzz embedded in the paint (I have fuzz from Matt's house!!!). Paintbrush swipes are evident on the green eyes and details. All of this makes me extremely giddy.

To hold something that is the end result of untold hours of labor and artistic consideration is, to say the least, humbling. In the immortal words of Wayne Campbell and Garth Algar: We're not worthy, we're not worthy.

[Super7] Toxic Catalyst

Last night, Super7 (still located at Post St., btw) held a 'resin invitational' show, Toxic Catalyst. The resin hater ventured back to San Francisco's Japantown to check out the show.

Unlike the high pressure coordination of the Gargamel show earlier this year, Toxic Catalyst was almost casual in its presentation. Visitors arriving early could walk in, grab a beer and peruse the pieces- comfortably placed on a low-slung side table- at their leisure. Although they had to deal with those two jerks who insisted on shooting every piece in the show. The nerve!

On the farthest left were the submissions from Godbeast. The lighting in that spot really did not do them any favors. My favorite was the Gloop robot... who doesn't love slime blobs with googly eyes?

Paul Kaiju sent in a few of his hand-cast Mockbats and a set of the Bad Trees. The Bad Trees seem like they would make a nice backdrop to a Halloween toy diorama.

I think these are made by Velocitron? They don't seem to have been for sale.

This set of 3 small mini-figures was a surprise find at the show. Detailing and sculpt are excellent, particularly given their small size. Made by Monstrehero? I feel like I have seen them somewhere before.

Rich aka LASH aka Mutant Vinyl Hardcore brought in a custom Doji-san for Toxic Catalyst. The paint really sparkles on this one.

A custom Baby Huey from Lamour Supreme made an appearance at the show. Again, great paint work and a very polished sculpt.

Japan toymaker, Nerd One, mailed some very special items to Super7 for Toxic Catalyst. The first was a custom version of their brand-new resin kit of the Soutou no Miira Youkai [双頭のミイラ妖怪] (Two-headed Mummy Creature), which I understand to be a Shigeru Mizuki creation. This item was previously sold as an unbuilt (?) kit at Wonderfestival earlier this summer. The custom Two-head Mummy at the show has a clever reference to Nerd One's Stereogon character built into its dual heads. Someone said it is also a Star Wars reference. Is it? The second Nerd One submission was a custom version of the original resin of Stereogon　[ステレオゴン]. Some might not remember, but Stereogon was first conceptualized as this resin toy after Nerd One had produced several resin accessory kits for Cronic. Development of Stereogon took place over several years, and I was frankly shocked to see it emerge as a giant vinyl toy. I am not sure if this was one of the original casts for the Stereogon prototype (or a special cast for this show), but it is the first time that I have seen this item for sale. Whoever bought this has a fantastic piece of history in their collection.

Ilanena was another big surprise at Toxic Catalyst, as he sent over a bevy of his older resin figures (circa early 2000s). Most were for display only, but Vahine was for sale. Each was blister carded with appropriately eerie backing card art. It is hard to believe that the toymaker behind the popular and colorful Daikaiju 3-packs used to produce these delicate, grotesque resin works.

And finally, the primary objective of my trek into the city: paying tribute to an original urethane hand-cast, hand-painted version of Onell Design's Rig. Take a moment to drink in its painstakingly weathered splendor. Yes. As described on their blog, this is not so much a resin art toy, but one of two hardcopy prototypes and the only paint master for the Glyos Rig (which will be sold very soon in vinyl form).

It was interesting to see the split of items sold before me (I was 8th in line). Some of the resins by GUF (?) went first from the far right of the table. Those of the Skullbrain crowd bought more from the traditional Paul Kaiju, Uamou, etc. pool. And then there was me. What did I buy? You'll have to wait until next time...

And then we ate Korean food next door. Pretty good. Needs more red stuff.

[Glyapaedia] Voss up?

In the Glyos universe, the Voss are an alien race that travel the cosmos in a living biovessel. Not to be confused with the tasty Earthen brand of bottled water. A Voss color scheme- clear aqua and colorless clear- was adapted for production Glyos figures. Exellis, officially sold in October 2008, was the only normal release to receive Voss coloration. Voss Exellis was previously sold at SDCC in July 2008, packed with one or more production level Sarvos, Scar Pheyden and/or Phanost heads in 'Voss' aqua PVC (clear red PVC heads were also available). The set I picked up happened to have both a Sarvos and Scar head in the bag!

Who are these mysterious Sincroids and Travelers and why do they resemble the alien Voss? Could they be clones created from imprints stored by the shapeshifting biovessels?