Thank you for an excellent start to 2023! The Manglors Madness that began over at Toyfinity mutated right into Wave 96 throughout the last few weeks, and we've had a great time celebrating the long-awaited return of the classic series with all of you!
As Toyfinity's main man, John Kent, detailed over on his blog, the road to bringing the Manglors line back to life started over a decade ago, transforming repeatedly during its development. We explored some wild concepts together, with multiple artists lending their abilities as things took shape. I still remember very clearly talking to Ralph Niese about the early Toyfinity plans and then waking up days later to a barrage of amazing concept art that he'd whipped up, based on just some early sketches I'd shared with him. That wicked artwork Ralph created became part of the foundation of the project, providing an awesome "what if" visual companion as we continued to reimagine a bunch of crazy old toy lines.
Many years and many drawings later, when the time finally came to actually bring the Manglors project into the process of full production, we sadly found ourselves living in a world without Ralph in it. Luckily for all of us, we were able to welcome another mega level talent to the mayhem, in the form of Erwin Papa.
I'd met and worked with Erwin on multiple Toy Pizza/KOTS projects thanks to our favorite raconteur and super creative, Jesse DeStasio, so the timing seemed perfect. It's truly due to the infusion of Erwin's wildly original and creative style that the new Manglors initiative finally reached the right level to reemerge with purpose. We can't thank Erwin enough for his incredible contributions and steadfast dedication to resurrecting the Manglors series with Toyfinity and all of us over here. There's even more wild Erwin-Powered creature action on the horizon!
We also want to send out an extra special and massive thank you to the Cosmic Class artist that is Nate Baertsch! Nate's extraordinary digital painting for the Toyfinity Manglors launch was an absolute showstopper, continuing to fuel his meteoric rise to the ultimate levels of Frank Frazetta and Ken Kelly. No small statement, but absolutely true to the last word. Thank you, Nate!
Last but not least, thank you to our own Cady Doughty for putting together the new Manglors theme music! Cady really delivered on the challenge to come up with something "brief, spooky and cool", capturing the vibes flowing through Nate's art and Erwin's sculpting. Coupled with the supremely skilled Marcus working the animation in perfect timing as usual, we were all able to enjoy something really special.
As of this writing, all the orders since the new release (except a few from today) have been shipped out and should have already started landing. Michelle and I worked together at triple speed to try and push everything out the door as quickly as possible, though a nice ice and snow mini front decided to give the old shovel muscles a mid-packing workout. Music in the barn once again leaned into the Interstellar soundtrack peppered with a little GI Joe: The Movie "listening" as the tape gun was flying. Seemed appropriate to channel some Cobra-La, seeing how that and Inhumanoids lent some serious DNA to the new Manglors aesthetics.
Looking ahead, the current plan is to return in early April with Wave 97 if momentum continues to pick up at the factory. Expect some more monstrous action within a decent sized assortment. For 2023 in general, we're going to try an alternating schedule between mini and medium scaled offerings about every other month, barring any slowdowns.
Thanks once again for being part of this ongoing project we call Glyos. It's because of all of you that we're able to keep on making unique and strange things to share with true authenticity. You allow us to pursue our creativity without interference, and for that our entire family couldn't be more grateful.
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