Review – TheGodBeast’s Glyos Aliens

“Phoenoid of the Fire Planet. Aquoid of the Water Planet. Centoid of the Wood Planet. Together, these three mysterious mercenaries will stop at nothing in their quest for power. But will their fragile alliance survive? Or will their ages old conflict threaten to destroy the Glyos System? Only time will tell.”
— from the back of the card

One week ago today I was sitting at the computer just before 9pm waiting for my chance to send TheGodBeast an e-mail in an attempt to be one of the twenty-one people lucky enough to purchase his Glyos Aliens, a set of new hand-cast heads for use with Onell Design’s Glyos System figures. Promptly at nine I sent my e-mail and then went to bed, not knowing if I was fast enough to get in or if I was too late.

Well, even though I sent the e-mail at 9pm exactly there were still 12 people ahead of me, but I did manage to get #13 or 21, so I’ve now got four heads from this series. Why four? We’ll get to that soon enough.

Packaging

Using the same sort of black bag with header card that we saw with the Glyos System Custom Corps (reviewed here), the Glyos Aliens presentation is a step up from TheGodBeastBoys’ Gloops resin toy (reviewed here). It’s nice to see TheGodBeast increasing the overall quality of his products, and I hope to see him get to custom, hand-crafted boxes for some special release in the future.

The header, designed by Nathan Newell of Dork Dimension, is quite attractive, featuring line drawings of the three heads superimposed over a space scene. It’s clean, functional, and even includes a bit of flavor text on the back of the header card. Overall, a class act and every bit as nice as the other Glyos System header cards that I’ve seen.

But that’s just a piece of cardboard and a black bag. What’s inside?

Aquoid

The first head is the Aquoid, a fish-like head cast in translucent red. Now something important to note is that not all of the 21 Aquoid heads that were produced are translucent red. No, TheGodBeast had some fun when he created this set and randomly mixed bags so that, as the official web page says:

“Each set comes blind bagged w/ a limited edition header card (signed & #’d) and guaranteed to contain 1 crystal clear head, 1 gitd head, and 1 solid head (1 Phoenoid head, 1 Aquoid head, & 1 Centoid head in each set)!!!”

The Aquoid head is my least favorite of the three designs, but that’s only because there has to be a least favorite. It’s got a silly mouth, huge eyes, and even has gills . . . none of which show up very well in the poor photos that I took. Translucent and clear toys really give my camera a hard time.

Centoid

You know, the more I play with these heads the more I love the Centoid head. His single eye, the folds in his skin, and the way the head is shaped all add up to a cute, bizarre alien design that — for reasons I can’t explain — capture my heart. My Centoid head is a kinda sparkly gray/green color that was really tough to pair up with an existing Glyos System body. I guess that means I’ll just have to dig into my Junk Pile supply and build Centoid a custom body and then paint the head and body. That should be fun!

Of course, my body construction won’t be anywhere near as cool as the design Matt Doughty posted over at the Glyos Transmission Web Log. But then, I don’t have his experience with the bits — or access to the stockpile of bits he owns — so I’ll just have to do the best I can with what I’ve got. Still, you should hop over and take a peek at what he built for his Centoid head.

Phoenoid

The final head, the Phoenoid is an avian-like creature that, for me, came in glow-in-the-dark plastic. With his sharp, dangerous beak, sharp angles, and beautifully-sculpted headcrest, the Phoenoid may very well been my favorite head if he had come in anything other than glow-in-the-dark. Which is weird, since I love gitd stuff. Unfortunately, the head loses all detail in this plastic and the beauty of the sculpt — which is obvious when you look at the photos at TheGodBeast’s Glyos page — is lost. I’m thinking a simple black wash may bring the details out. I’ll have to try that.

Closing Thoughts

A short review for three small heads. These are no doubt especially cool for Battle Beast fans (there’s the whole water, fire, wood thing going on here) who also love the Glyos System toys, and for those who are only Glyos fans they can be excited about new heads for their toys. The heads fit nicely into the Glyos sockets, bring a unique feel to the line, and are perfectly cast without any mold lines or air bubbles.

$20 for three heads is a little expensive, yes, but these are custom-cast heads and not the sort of stuff you buy in any store. That, and the limited nature of the heads, makes this a fantastic set for any Glyos fan and I fully expect these to become a highly-desired item as the Glyos System continues to attract new fans.

A great set of heads for a fun toy line.

Hey, What About That Fourth Head?

Oh yeah, that. Well, I have an extra Aquoid head so let’s have some fun with it. On June 5th, at the end of the day, I’m going to randomly select one name from everyone who comments on this review. The randomly selected person will be mailed my extra Aquoid head. I’m not sure if the winner will get the green head or the red translucent head, but the winner will get an Aquoid head.

So what have you got to say, guys?

Philip Reed must admit to chatting with TheGodBeast a few times now, and even getting some advice and encouragement in resin casting, so this review isn’t entirely fair and balanced. In fact, combine the chats with the creator and Philip’s love of the Glyos System and you get a review that just cannot be trusted. Sorry.