WE DID IT!

 

It's taken me a couple of days to get my thoughts together on Club Zeton...but the important thing is WE DID IT!
Club Zeton is a go! We needed a minimum of 100 people to make the club go forward, and there were some hairy times along the way, but in the end, a surge in the last two days pushed us well over the 100 member mark. There was no number fakery along the way - no mysterious meters popping up nebulous "progress" which means nothing. I had no reason to - it was you guys and girls who held the fate of the club in your hands.

I feel a lot like I have after past San Diego Comic Cons or an NYCC - the adrenalin rush when the outcome is unclear is something I wouldn't recommend to everyone.

I want to send a thank you out to everyone who decided to join the club (including those of you who bought multiples), everyone who helped promote it, and all of you who put up with my promotion of the club along the way.
I truly appreciate the feedback received during the membership period. To those that suggested Kickstarter, I'm taking that under careful consideration for future projects.

I want to reclaim the concept of a club being a fun thing and not just a pre-order system/pain to deal with.
It's why Club Zeton is structured as it is - there has to be some MYSTERY in the mix!
If you love Robo Force or Glyos, you are going to have a fantastic time over the next year as the full scope of Club Zeton is revealed - Imperious Maxx and his Demonslither cronies, the stickers, an all-new Zeton figure later this year, Mystery Maxx...and that's just what you know about right now!
We have many aspects of the club planned out to give you an enriched experience over the next year or so - and I'm sure there will be things I haven't even thought of yet that will add excitement along the way.
(Club Members, look for an email in the next two weeks to talk about some changes in the way I communicate with all of you directly that I think will streamline some of the issues I've had with Club Mordle.)

This week I nailing down a few of the production aspects, and will pass along an eta of when you can expect the club assets as I have the timeframes solidified.
I want to especially thank everyone in the Glyos creator family for their support and assistance with the process. The kindness that everyone shows as we continue to create a universe together is always a surprising revelation to me that humanity doesn't always have to be about "me" - and for this I am grateful and humbled.
To my brothers Matt Doughty and Jesse Moore, I can only hope to someday live up to your examples of family support. Your generosity will not be forgotten.
So, once again, thank you.
I promise to give everything I can to make this the best club you've ever been in.

We take a break from our regularly scheduled CLUB ZETON push to show...MANGLORS.

A taste of things to come?

Glyos drop tonight!

NEW GLYOS RELEASE TONIGHT!
You will want some of these guys - they are in "Maxx Grey" colors!
Great for a team-up shelf between your Maxxes and the Glyos universe.

Imperious Maxx...is not alone.

This just in - Onell Design will be contributing a Glyos item to the Club Zeton package!

With a retail value of $12, this new addition to the package will remain a mystery for now, but joins Imperious Maxx, the lenticular stickers, the test shot, the Mystery Modules, and everything else to make Club Zeton an unbelievable value for your money!
And that's saying something in 2015- Toyfinity and Onell Design care about the fans, and want to give you something fantastic!

What will it be? What effect will it have on the world of the Robo Force - and beyond?
Stay tuned!

(this doesn't have anything to do with the above, but my all-time favorite Onell teaser was on this page)

Club MORDLE packet update!

You should begin to see shipping confirmations for the Club Mordle packet this week!
I have to figure out a way to make shipments that go beyond the 45 day limit on PayPal easier - been taking all of the info from my e-mail into PayPal and it is slooooooow going.

Let me know what you think when you get them!
And enjoy the "sneak peek" of the next Mordle edition - they'll be on sale next month.

Prototypes - what are they and why are they important?

In my brainstorming for Club Zeton - and my desire to make it something actually CLUB-LIKE and not just "give me money so you can maybe sorta buy everything unless it sells out!" like some other clubs - I thought about things that would actually give you a good experience for your bucks. Of course, it had to be something I could ACTUALLY provide to you. It sounds fun to own a chunk of a steel tool, until you realize they are hundreds of pounds and it would be impossible to get a good, recognizable part.
"Chuck, why do you have a shard of metal in your display case?"
But that was a good line of thinking - what can I get people from the production process that would normally cost them big bucks, without going through a secret underground network of dealers and friends? Not that I know anything about all that... #shiftyeyes
After checking in with HQ, one thing became apparant that we could get to you - a "test shot."

In the picture above, you see seven different things. From left to right:

- a "pre-paint" sample of the Geihoza Mordle. This is from the actual production run, just without any paint applied.

- orange Maxx bits. These are scraps from what is called a "first shot." the tooling is created, and then a small sample run (less than five) created to make sure everything works properly. You'll note this orange was from something else being made at the time - a stronger Glyos historian than I could tell you specifically what it was from. Now, first shots are important because they aren't always reflective of the final product. At times, a product makes it all the way through the process of being sculpted and parts make it into the intial tooling, but some issue is found with the parts and they are removed from the final product. Or it may be that the details change a bit - there is actually a small series of differences on the first shot Maxx in the tread area where some of the sculpt detail was changed.
Additionally, in some circumstances, products are canceled at the first shot stage, so these are the only way to ever get these figures. One example that comes to mind is the Napoleon from Kenner's Bill and Ted line which was floating around on eBay for years at a ridiculous, near $1000 price.

- Gi Joe Extreme test shots. As I don't own Kenner, I can't say 100% what stage these figures are from. I know they are very similar to the final production figures, just without paint and in strange colors. One thing to note: the tooling may have had multiple limb sets in one block, as the arms on Stone and Metalhead as shown are the exact same color. This can be done efficiently if the limbs are all needed in the same color; otherwise you'd be throwing away parts.

- green and red test shot Mordles. The green Mordle is a pre-paint sample from the normal run, where the red Mordle is a first-shot. Fun fact - we tightened up some detail on the Mordles from first-shot to the finals, so the red Mordle is a little softer in detail.

- pink Manglor egg. The Manglor eggs are actually created from the original 1980s tooling!
They may have been used as easter eggs for children south of the border, but I have not been able to confirm this for sure yet. So, the pink egg - I asked the factory for a sample run, and they ASSUMED I wanted them for easter eggs. I have a bunch of never-to-be-made eggs in blue, yellow, pink...a full pic is on the Toyfinity Instagram for those interested.

The process is an interesting one. This was one potential Maxx Zero from the drawing phase...

...before we arrived at the Maxx you all know and love.

There are hidden modes in Maxx that we considered building more pieces to accentuate...

...but were perhaps too "out there" for Robo Force.

Concept work is done just to see if things will work in a variety of directions...

....that never come to fruition in those forms.


With all of this in mind, what Toyfinity will provide as part of the Club Zeton membership fee is a "first shot" to every club member for the figure we intend to create this year. Potentially the figure will never be released beyond the first shot - if I get hit by a cement mixer, for example. There's a chance that parts seen in the test shot won't make it to the final figure without changes, if not outright deleted.
 As it is still in development (and based on the information I've shared above), there isn't something concrete to show you right now...but I can tell you that it is from the Zeton franchise that includes Robo Force, Zeroids, and S.T.A.R. Team and is not a "head pack" for the existing Robo Force figure.

Thank you for your indulgence. I'm really hoping the Club goes forward so I can provide you with the experience of the first shot. I've been lucky - my figures so far have come out very close to what was sent to China. But you never know what you might get back...imagine you went through the whole process and THIS is what you received back:

More on the Mystery Modules this week.

IMPERIOUS MAXX Mock up! And a club member number update!

Enjoy this mock-up of IMPERIOUS MAXX kindly provided by the Toyfinity graphics department i.e. my buddy Joe.
Not shown in the tampo which will be on the chest of IMPERIOUS MAXX.
Keep in mind, this is only a photographic mock-up of the figure. Color of actual figure may vary a bit.

To update everyone, we are at sixty-one members! 39 more to go and we are a club!
Thanks to everyone who has signed up so far.
Check back later today for info on the test shot process and why test shots are important.

Ah, one last thing - there is a broken link to the store from the main Toyfinity page - use THIS link for the current Toyfinity store. Thanks to everyone who pointed this out!