BigBurty from the October Toys forums wrote up a little article explaining how he got into the Glyos System, and the reasoning for his love of Onell Design's Armorvor. Enjoy!
A quick backstory... I started re-collecting in the early part of 2012, after finding a giant bag of Monster In My Pocket (MIMP) figures from my childhood, hidden away at my parents' house. I'd intended to sell them or give them away (as my mom had done with most of my other vintage toys), but I found myself struggling to do so due to the memories that were attached to them. A quick Internet search led me to a mini figure forum called LittleRubberGuys.com, where, after joining up, I found myself buying more MIMP (and other vintage figures like M.U.S.C.L.E) rather than selling anything!
 Monster In My Pocket |  M.U.S.C.L.E. figures  |
Roll forward to November 2012, where thanks to a new interest in buying more modern mini figures as well as vintage ones, I was directed towards another toy forum - OctoberToys.com - which was more Indi figure orientated. They had a section called 'Onell Design/Glyos' and browsing that thread ended up leading me to the Onell Design blog, where I caught my first Glimpse of the Armorvor! The blog announced that there was an upcoming 'drop' and that three new Armorvors were coming. I knew I wanted them, but as Onell Design is an America-based business and I'm in England, it threw a couple of problems my way. Not only did I have to set my alarm to wake me up at 3am for the drop, but I also had to enlist an American friend (thanks Eric S) to take the Armorvors in for me and then ship them on at cost, as (understandably) the standard cost of tracked shipping from Onell Design to England would cost me more than the three Armorvor figures combined. Needless to say, all the hassle and waiting was well worth it, as it was obvious as soon as I ripped open the package that the Armorvors were awesome and I knew I wanted more.
The three heads that you get with the Armorvor, showing off its modular builds
As I got more and more interested in Armorvors, I realised I'd missed two drops prior to the drop I'd joined in with. Hunting down those particular Armorvors wasn't easy (or cheap), but the feeling once I had them in hand was great! It was at that point I decided to continue my collection and attempt to own one of each production Armorvor that was produced - something that as of writing this I'm still managing to do. Furthermore, through chatting to other collectors and custom figure painters (thanks again Eric S) I ended up starting to custom paint a variety of figures, including Armorvors, featuring a range of custom animal heads cast by TheGodBeast. This Armorovor 'obsession' also lead me to purchasing the most prized piece in my collection - a metallic blue prototype Armorvor, a one of a kind figure in that particular colour scheme, from the original prototype batch. It's a great feeling to know that you own a figure that no one else anywhere has! I then decided to share my Armorvor obsession with others by setting up 'The Armorvor Archive' Facebook page, featuring picture galleries, facts and information on all things Vor.
Armorvor art by Nathan Newell
So why Armorvors? I'd never really collected Battle Beasts, and Armorvors look similar to Battle Beasts, but with one major difference - the Glyos system! Not only are the Armorvors articulated, but thanks to the Glyos system of building, you can swap around their parts and combine them with other Glyos compatible figures. When it comes to my collection, I keep the Armorvors in a standard pose, but my customs show how they can be adapted to any style or combination you can imagine. If you've never owned an Armovor then head over to Onell Design and check them out, and hopefully you'll start to see why I think they're one of the best modern figures out there!
 | Al Sharpe (BigBurty) runs the Armorvor Archive on facebook, showing off the best of the wolf-headed warrior. He can also be found making customs on the October Toys forums, over at the Little Rubber Guys site, and on Instagram as _BigBurty_. Also, This picture is how he actually looks..... |
