It should not surprise you that I have a lot of Glyos figures old and new left un-showcased. For January, I'm going to try to show one off every Monday. Can I stick to it for the year? Maybe! Can you kick in $1 a month to my Patreon to offset my hosting costs? Give me an excuse to write more!
I missed out on the clear pink guy - all I got were legs so far - but I did get Infinite Anti-Pheyden Phrangoss. It's really nice. Sarvos was $18, Pheyden was $20, and Phrangoss was $22 - each figure has escalating paint applications. It's also worth noting each figure has unique paint masks with some shared elements. Silver Sarvos has the fewest, with all-red eyes and some other red markings. Blue Pheyden has more, with painted soles, fingers, thighs, belt, chest, and other odds and ends. Purplish Anti-Pheyden Phrangoss adds pink shoulders and knees (but not the same spots as Sarvos) as well as boot jets and lights on his back, just to name a few. Assuming Onell Design is marking these up at a consistent rate, it's really interesting to see what two dollars worth of paint and labor gets you. Does it look better? No question. Is it worth the extra cash? I'd say so.
It's kind of frustrating that the first drop had three figures with unique paint and distinctive heads plus unique limb configurations so I had no good reason to say "I'll just buy one to try out." I picked up all three, and all three are good. This one is arguably the best, especially if you have cool old parts around to swap in. I immediately grabbed an old Phanost head to try out, and hopefully we'll get an official Phanost Infinite down the road. The Phanost Aberration DX from a few years ago is a much better match - and sadly I do not have that one.
Creator Matt Doughty had a bunch of stories about these guys, little bits of which were doles out with the occasional comic, game, or short form animation. We don't get as many of those lately, so I don't really know what's up with Anti-Pheyden, or Phrangoss, other than it looks cool. The Four Horsemen worked on the sculpt, and one of their signatures tends to be a bone skull somewhere - their logos, their mascots, alternate heads, that sort of thing. The default head for this guy is a pink painted skull, corrupted by evil power, or the elements, or some sort of osteological nightmare. It has the deep grooves and general form to match a normal Onell Design Pheyden, with added fissures, lumps, and signs of abuse. The paint is even and clean, glossy with black lines under his lighter pink eyes. It's still weird to see a Pheyden-like head that's not fully smooth, but they're usually pretty great. Remember Govurom, or Phanost? I love those heads.
Also included in this set (and molded in color) are a Pheyden and Sarvos melon. Pheyden's detail pops nicely in purple, with the grooves showing up nicely. The neck is painted darker purple, with eyes sporting multiple colors. The dome is separately glued on - I assume it would be nearly impossible to paint the eyes otherwise. The Sarvos head adds pink eyes and a unique mask, making this the most detailed of the three Sarvos heads.
This body continues to impress with the same level of detail as the other figures to share the mold. I love how the pink shoulders change the vibe. While I appreciate the painted pink circles on the back and feet, I would not have minded if the deco hits went somewhere more visible. Painting the soles of the feet purple looks great, but the four painted jets under the boots are something most fans aren't going to see once this guy gets shelved. It's a choice - everything you do costs money at the factory, so it's plain to see that this is your most deluxe figure of that first wave. (Or 109th wave, to be more precise.) I do enjoy the dots above his belt being painted, that really does make the figure look better.
This figure is filled with fun little details that may not be obvious at first glance, like ribbing inside the neck of the suit that you can't see until you remove the head. Remove the foot, and you'll see sculpted line detail on the leg and foot parts that serve no real function beyond you noticing it only when you're building with the parts. I really do like most of the detail. My sample had one weird flaw - pink from the head rubbed off on the paint of the body. You only see it when you pop off the head, but it's rare to see this sort of thing on new Onell Design figures. The other figures with this mold don't have opportunities for paint to rub on paint, so it's worth noting if this sort of thing might drive you nuts.
I really like this figure and these colors. The unique paint apps show sculpted detail that might not be as obvious. In some light, Pheyden's blue shoulders just look round - so the added pink marks on Anti-Pheyden show that no, there are additional bits of work here. I might regret saying this, but I think I would like to see a "DX" paint job on this mold - perhaps for the 20th anniversary - even at a price lift. I really like what the Horsemen are doing for their Phanost, so I'd love something like that at this size - once or twice. There are so many new releases lately that I'd be very much in favor of spreading the goodness out, even when they're good figures at good prices like these.
If it isn't obvious, I'd recommend anyone interested in the idea of indie figures, or sci-fi figures, or 3 3/4-inch scale figures to give some form of this mold a try. These guys had two runs and are supposedly long sold out. If you happen on them, grab one. I expect many recolors will be made in the coming years, and I'm sure they're also going to be excellent. Keep your eye on Onell Design for drop info.
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