The GodBeast Customs Outer Space Men Dark Purple Crab Head Glyos Accessory The GodBeast Customs, 2011
Day #512: October 18, 2012
Crab Head By The GodBeast Customs
The GodBeast Customs New York Comic Con 2011 Item
Item No.: n/a Manufacturer:The GodBeast Customs Includes:head Action Feature:Glows in the dark Retail:$15 Availability: purchased October 2011 Other: Crab Exoskeleton donated and frequently cusotmized by Ericso
Announced in a posting called "Glyos Got Crabs!", this custom-run Glyos Crab Head is an oddity in that it's one of the most exquisitely detailed Glyos pieces money can buy, and it's based on the exoskeleton of a real dead (but not killed, just found dead) sea creature. I don't know how much of it is morbidity and how much of it is a sort of genuine gee-whiz cool factor, but ever since seeing the head I wanted one. I kept waffling, a lot, until I stopped by the shared Onell Design and friends booth at New York Comic Con and wouldn't ya know it, the guy who made these just happened to have a set-up full of things I wanted. Given the budget, I walked away with three really cool TGB heads and this was one of them.
Cast in a very hard material, the head retains the points of its former host. You'll notice a ton of spines, and those suckers are sharp. Like with the kind of toys I don't review, insertion may be painful if you aren't careful-- I suggest using a t-shirt or some other material to put between your hand and the head, just so you don't get spikes in your fist. Safety is important!
Since getting this head home, I was faced with a problem I still have-- where does it go? I don't have a lot of spare Glyos bodies, and I'm pretty anal about displaying figures with the proper parts with which they were issued. I would say it looks best with the Armorvor or Astro-Nautillus figure bodies, although red doesn't seem quite right for this dark purple head, and I don't have a spare Astro-Nautilus just yet. I may have to track one down, though.
The biggest surprise was that this dark purple head glows in the dark. I didn't believe it, either. I believe Marty (The GodBeast's Nom de Reality) told me it glows when I bought it, but I sure as heck didn't see it in the convention center and I didn't notice it until I actually took some pictures over the summer. In the right conditions, the glowing features on the crab head are nothing short of beautiful... it looks like some sort of deep sea bioluminescent creature, with the spikes and ridges creating lighter and darker glowing spaces that look like stars in the sky. I don't know what he does to make this kind of glow happen, although I assume it has to do with selling one's soul to the devil or the acquisition of radioactive goods. It looks really, really, really impressive in person.
If you have real skill-- which I do not-- you can customize this thing and paint it up into something that looks like it should cost more money than you should ever consider spending on a toy. The aforementioned Ericso posted someamazingcustoms that look like a cross between high art and something you'd find in a seaside tourist trap. Some of his paint jobs are so good I can't fathom them not being real, but then again, anyone who can draw something better than a stick figure qualifies as a sort of wizard to me... it's a skill to be admired.
I don't know if he's selling any of these online right now, but I've seen them in his convention table spreads so you might be able to get one. The only caveats I would have about these pieces is that they are totally not safe for kids, they're not exactly cheap, and you'll want to have one (or several) bodies to test out with the head to sacrifice as a display host. Pieces like this make me a little frustrated that most Glyos toys are relegated to a sort of a boutique, online-only, hand-crafted toy line because some of the parts and pieces are so nifty, it's a shame you can't just go to the store and buy them. Of course if you could, they wouldn't be as special, and may shame other toymakers given how bizarre and fantastic they can be. I don't advise you get this sort of a head-- or any customized head, really-- as an entry-level purchase, but keep this in mind if you are considering experimenting with Glyos figures. This is the kind of thing that really stands out in a collection, and given its limited run (dozens? hundreds?) it's not like your buddies are going to have one.
--Adam Pawlus
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