Rubik's Snake + a Glyanaut = ???

After watching everything unfold over on the Glyos blog with the new "Tri Hub Wedge" vinyl set coming out on Friday, I finally lost it and made a white/blue Glyanaut to hang out inside my Rubik's Snake. Here are some photos to give you all an idea on what you can make with these Tri Hub Wedges or with a rubik's snake if you have one.

Rubik Runner





"Hover platform mode to carry a Glyanaut and a pair of passengers or some cargo over any terrain."

Rubik Shield Generator

"Converting to a Energy Shield generator, the Glyanauts are protected from meteor showers or any hostile aliens located in the Zorennor sector of space."

Rubik Hover'oid



"For a more heavily armored vehicle and with more maneuverability then the Rubik Runner, the Rubik Hover'oid is perfect for 1 Glyanaut to get in an out of a hostile area- and FAST."

Now, keep in mind that the Glyos Tri Hub Wedges have 3 connection points on them, so every large flat area you see on the Rubik's Snake (aka the Rubik's Twist) will be able to have a switch-pin attached or another small-peg vinyl part. So the customize-ability of these wedges is limited only by your imagination. I'm super excited for these things and can't wait to get a bunch of them to build with.

EMD Behemoth

With all the Glyocity talk and teaser images going on over at the Glyos blog, I decided to quit playing it safe with my vinyl Glyos stuff and just go for broke. The EMD Behemoth is the result of this:



"The EMD Behemoth is a variation of the Rig Squadron's 'Big Rig' but is used more as a heavily armored transport vehicle that can carry at least 6 glyans into battle. It can reconfigure itself into a battle outpost and into a Power-Arm Rig that uses it's twin Phase Blockers to knock back enemies 100 feet away. Gorrrg the Hunter serves as the strong-man for the EMD unit and drives the Behemoth when not on his Rig Hopper."




Cane: "Now the Genedrone revolution won't know what hit them."

(Hovering)




(Power-Arm Rig Mode)




(Battle Outpost Mode)




I'm excited about the Glyocity parts coming out, they certainly sound like pieces that can expand what I've built here. Awesome stuff. :-D

Canne'boid + Astro Nautilus = Canne'nautilus!

I had the idea to combine a canne'boid with an Astro Nautilus back in September of this past year. I'd sat on the idea for a very long time until Matt Doughty mentioned to me about the Outer Space Man custom art show that is happening in February at Toy Tokyo. So, having an idea of what to make already, I set to work. I added a custom cardback & bio card to complete the custom and give it a little more character.

For those of you attending the art show, be sure to come say hello. :-D

Spy Monkey Creations Armory Packs = Shnoopin' Awesome

The fine folks over at Spy Monkey Creations were so incredibly generous to send me 2 sets in advance & even those some parts immediately went to upgrade Canne'borg, I was left with alot of extras to work with.

"After using some Venom Armory weapons to combat his armored canne'boid brethren, specifically Canne'borg (who used to be his former rival 'Crunchmouth'), he decided to upgrade his mechanical arm further with the mysterious weaponry. Their dark allure of power proving too tempting not to use, N'ykk's dark side was brought out in full causing him to shed his Glyaxia Command allegiances. His former Neo-Sincroid Commander, Kik'bek, joined the Secticore Tracker Unit to try and see if it's too late to un-corrupt him. The longer N'ykk uses the Venom weapons, the more his body assimilates into itself, so it is unknown if he can be saved, or even if he wants to be..."

I'm having a blast building with these things, I've already upgraded N'ykk like 3 times since I posted the new banner for the blog, and Canne'borg might be due for an upgrade too depending on what parts N'ykk is willing to spare. I can't make N'ykk any larger though, if I do he won't be able to fit in my pocket anymore. O_o I like the male/male zig-zag piece in this set as it is very useful in creating the illusion of N'ykk holding the axe when in reality it's attached to his wrist. His mechanical hand was made from 3 parts that can combine to form a robotic pelvis of sorts and it's also another great addition to this pack.

These things are the perfect addition to any Glyos builder, and I know $20 may sound expensive but you get a TON of parts to build with for that price, at least 42 I think. I'll have to order another set or two in different colors maybe for when (or IF....) N'ykk turns from the "dark side" but still wants to use Armory technology, not sure what color though, maybe the gun metal sets.

Thanks again to Jeremy from Spy Monkey Creations for the advance sets, I hope you guys did great in sales yesterday & can't wait to see what else you guys have coming down the pipe. We may need mechanical snake parts next, I'd love to build a articulated glyos snake or something similiar- plus if you combine a snake body with the hilt parts from the sword you could make some wicked Dr Octopus-like tentacles. O_O

Welcome to February!

It's amazing how the simple act of taking ONE new photograph a month to make into the banner for the blog is so incredibly difficult. Last year I had banner photos for September, October, December, January, but nothing for Novemeber, February or March. Looking at last year's January banner (which has doubled as this years January banner...) I was amazed at how much snow we had then VS this year when there's been relatively little.

For February I wanted to do a new photo banner but couldn't find any Valentine's Day themes I'd like so I went with another theme: Spy Monkey Creations Armory sets! In the above photo we have my own canne'boid "N'ykk" (named as such due to him loosing his right hand while in battle at New York Comic Con last October) locked in deadly combat with Canne'borg, latest creation of the mad scientist canne'boid Baron Ivan Von Boidochevski. Also in the shot is the good Baron's first successful canne'stein and loyal patch-work assistant, Nikoliar Voktor.

Baron Boidochevski was the only surviving member of his pack after a bomb was accidentily detonated nearby. The bomb's radiation rapidly increased his intellectual capabilities to mad scientist levels, as well as allowing his body to emit low levels of radiation (i.e. he glows in the dark). Seeing as his pack was blown to bits he used his new-found genius to re-assemble them piece by piece....just not in the correct order.

Nikoliar's body may be put back together, but his mind is a little sketchy; he's a compulsive liar and it's virtually impossible for him to tell the truth much to the Baron's annoyance. Building him was alot of fun, and if you look you can see how he's been cobbled together from canne'boids of different sizes as well as colors; he has about 20 stitches in his head that I baked in the oven like tiny clay staples & then pushed them into his head one by one. Tedious yes, but very rewarding.

Canne'borg used to be the canne'boid known as Crunchmouth before being blown away by the ruthless armored canne'boid Gutshot. Baron Boidochevski proceeded to step 2 of his plan and utilized bionic implants to re-animate Crunchmouth, who now serves him as a loyal robot.

The names for the baron & his assistant were thought up with my good friend Nate Levy of the Average Intelligence podcast. We were texting back & forth about the custom glow in the dark canne'boid (who later became the baron) I'd just made for him. He commented on how it looks like a mad scientist and the what followed was a LOT of awesomeness. As he inspired the concept of a Frankenstein canne'boid and as the baron will need an assistant, the two 'boids will be leaving for Nate's glyos shelf within the week.

Thanks again buddy, it was a awesome time to make these. Now,what's next? ;-)

Stay tuned for some pictures of Spy Monkey weapon builds, probably within today give or take an hour or so.

Iyce'lasher, the taskmaster & 1st mate aboard the Dragon's Maw!

This was another character I created back in the 90's as a teenager for my 'Creature World' series of stories & artwork. Back then, he was just a green monster who found a pair of rare magical ice-themed artifacts. With a crack of his whip he could freeze enemies in their paths. He was a bad guy back then, and in all honesty his character had almost ZERO development put into it. I can't even remember WHY I created him or for what reason ice & whips seemed like a good pairing for a magical weapon. Plus, if the whip itself emits ice..why does he have a stone of the same color on his chest?? These are the questions I ask myself as I go through my old drawing books & try to figure out just what the hell my teenage brain was thinking.

Below is the original Creature World drawing of the character. He's from a time before my drawing style got a bit more polished so there's not alot of depth in here aside from a large green monster with an ice whip.


Next I sat down & did a quickie concept study sketch of what this character would look like as a canne'boid. I gave him a cross-bite where his top & bottom jaws over lap one another and a little goatee because, well his face didn't have much else going on. The more difficult part of this figure was going to be the frost whip; I had no clue how to sculpt a whip with those teeny-tiny little ends on them. I put him on the back-burner for a few weeks to mull over how to do this and finish some of the earlier canne'pirates instead.


Eventually, this Tuesday to be precise, I sat down & began sculpting the figure. Having already assembled the build a few days prior, that would have made the entire process fast & easy....how wrong I was. Due to the softer nature of the mixed color green I made, I spent the better part of 2 hours trying to get his head sculpt just right. It took a few dozen tries but I eventually got it to a level I'd be happy with. Check him out:

Iyce'lasher "Taskmaster & 1st Mate to Captain Jahroh"


"There be quite a bit o' work in runnin' a ship smoothly, and even though I be a tough and fearlful captain...sometimes I need assistance gettin' the crew in line. This is where Iyce'lasher comes in. This 'boid has a vicious bite and is quick with his whip for anyone not followin' orders. Most o' the crew doesn't give him trouble, as they know as dangerous he is- I'm worse. I rely on him to keep Shark-Hook in check when he enters a feedin' frenzy as he can eat the whole crew if not taken down quickly. For some reason, he and me ship's cook don't see eye-ta-eye and constantly get into disputes over some such nonsense, I can't be bothered to figure out why.
"A number o' years ago, we stumbled upon a tribe of Frrr'ohst and did battle with them ta steal their riches. Iyce'lasher found nothin' of too much value but took the heart of one of the ice people as a trophy. When wearing it around his neck he be shocked ta see it enables him to emit freezing cold temperatures and aiming werever he be choosin'. Later he embedded it in his forehead, and doin' this allowed him to channel freezing temperatures through his whip and freeze anything it touched. In battle he be one o' me best fighters and the Glyans run for the hills when his frost whip rains frozen death down upon them."- Excerpt from Captain Spakk Jahroh's Log Book

As a nod to the original drawing, he was originally going to have a pair of green gloves for hands...but I really wasn't happy with how they looked so I gave him one regular hand and his whipping hand is wearing a torn, finger-less glove. Instead of giving him twin boots, I had his toes "burst" through one of his boots- this was something I saw with old TMNT figures alot & I always liked that look on characters. The more I sculpted him, the more he came across as that crusty/tough type of character who can put anybody in their place easily. I think my subconscious mind might have been channeling the orc captain from the Rankin/Bass "Return of the King" animated movie ("where there's a whip there's a way!"), just the face reminds me of them a bit. Below are more pictures to look over.





















I have another canne'pirate ready to make his debut, but I just need to alter his build colors a little bit before his un-veiling. Stay tuned for more!