And da winna is...

Let me say this first before anything else: This was a HARD decision. Every entry was astoundingly original and brilliant. Although I wasn't judging on the basis of artwork, each entry was superbly rendered-- I couldn't have asked for better entries!

That said... I had to pick a winner. This is always the toughest part of a contest, but that's the whole point. To me the entry with the most interesting and most thought-out design and story was the key to winning.

We have 2 armless characters-- one who uses his head as a weapon and the other who uses his torso-- the similarity in concept just shows me that great minds think alike. We have a cross-over from the Glyos universe, something I never would have thought of-- such a great idea! We have a saucy bachelor with an impressive... weapon-- Ralph, you always crack me up! We have a rotting corpse driven by bitter anger-- a kind of zombie juggernaut of destruction. Fantastic ideas all! I'd buy each and every one of those toys if Mattel would have put them out!

Ultimately I had to go with the characters of Hip-Nor and Octor by Jason Milsteed and Brian Lowe for the win.



The back story on these guys is just a perfect tie-in with the character of Brawlor and the gladiatorum and makes perfect sense in the scheme of things. I love the fact that Skeletor gave Hip-Nor his amplified powers and that He-Man and Brawlor took them away. As far as the figure design goes the idea of a big figure carrying a smaller figure on his back just makes me all kinds of happy! It would be easy to think of them as two characters, but the two depend on each other and function better as a whole. Congratulations, Jason and Brian! (email me your address, and I'll get the figure off to you ASAP)

________________________________________

Excellent work EVERYONE! I have enjoyed this contest so much, and I thank all of you for the hard work and great ideas! If you didn't win this contest don't fret... I am planning on having a contest regularly on here for customs and other stuff. Be sure to keep an eye on the blog for more chances to win my stuff!

The Six Sinister Foes of Brawlor!

As promised, here is the gallery of foes that you guys created for the Brawlin' With Brawlor Contest. 6 entries... 6 horrific threats to the mighty four-armed grappler. I'll pick a winner later on this evening, but I wanted to give everyone a treat by posting the entries here. This has been a very rewarding contest for me; I love seeing original creations from great artists. It is going to be so hard to pick a winner, because each entry has its own special charm. Some are creepy... some are funny... some are just downright scary! I can say with 100% honesty that I would buy each and every one of these guys if Mattel were to make them! Thank you so much for entering and giving it your best!

Tune back in tonight for the winner!

Now... enjoy the entries!

Note: some entries have been edited for size and clarity. Some pieces are works in progress, but I accepted them on the strength of the concept. All images can be seen in their full glory by clicking the thumbnails and enlarging them.



Bytor the Mighty Mangler of Men
by Spencer Morrison

In the darkest places of the land he waits. He waits for that
rare moment in your life when you are unwise and decide to
travel his black territory. After you've exhausted yourself from
pushing past knots of wild plants and traversing the slippery
mounds of mud you finally see the edge of this cursed land
and that's when . . . . . HE BITES!!!

BYTOR, the mighty mangler of men was a gladiator by choice
on the Dark Side of Eternia. During a battle with BRAWLOR
he bit off the enslaved gladiator's lower face, but lost his
arms when BRAWLOR removed them with a crystal axe.
Using dark magic BRAWLOR was able to attach BYTOR's
arms to his own body and since then there has not been
a hold that BRAWLOR could not free himself from. BYTOR
teamed up with SKELETOR's forces to have his body fitted
for the return of his arms and since then has been planning
revenge...revenge with a BITE!



Ches-Tor - Evil Master of Unarmed Combat
by Tom Freak

Although he was a normal human in Eternia Ed-Gar Torsus
was born without arms. All the other kids taunted him for
being different and Ed-Gar soon turned bitter. He started
training his body (what he had, anyway) and after nearly
killing one of his classmates he was spotted by one of the
Talent Seekers (evil little robots commissioned to
Tri-Klops) of the Gladiatorium. There Ed-Gar soon realized
that he just wasn't powerful enough to fight with the
greatest and decided to trade his loyalty in exchange for
a cursed living armor. With the aid of his armor (it has a
name but only Ed-Gar knows it) he climbed to the top among
the deadliest fighters in Eternia, when he reached his goal,
he changed his name to Ches-Tor. He then met Brawlor, a
being that had too many arms for his taste, fighting was
too easy for him so, in his mind, he was a fighter without
honor. When He-Man destroyed the Gladiatorium, and Brawlor
joined forces with the Heroic Masters, Ches-Tor found his
way to Snake Mountain and joined the evil ranks of Skeletor,
he doesn't always agree with his new master but he vowed to
beat Brawlor and that's everything that matters to him.



Hip-Nor and Octor
By Jason Milsteed and Brian Lowe

Hip-Nor the maniacal manipulator of minds

Hip-Nor is a Trollan the same race as Orko. His main
ability is to hypnotize subjects and bend them to his
will. He did this for a long time in the Gladiatorum,
running it's day to day functions and keeping the
slaves ready to do constant battle with one another.
This was all purely for his and Skeletor's benefit,
Skeletor in particular had come to appreciate the extra
income to keep his armies well supplied. Long ago
Skeletor had found Hip-Nor on the streets of the dark
side of Eternia running small street scams and hustles
usually involving some sort of street fight. Skeletor
saw the opportunity to bring in unrivaled income from
the small time hustler by building him a giant colosseum
which amplified his natural hypnotizing abilities.
Hip-Nor with his new found power quickly established a
fighting/gambling world unrivaled on all of Eternia. He
would use his only truly loyal slave (Octor) to help
keep the slaves in line. Any sign of resistance would
instantly entail a sound lashing from the beast before
Hip-Nor turned his gaze upon his helpless slaves. While
in power over the gladiatorum he lived a life of leisure
and comfort with many gaudy proclamations of his riches
about. With the gladiatorum destruction by He-Man,
Hip-Nor lost his ability to hold so many creatures to
his will or effect the moods of the audiences that had
surged to his brutal games. Skeletor angry and disgusted
with the loathsome self serving creature refused him any
help until he struck a major victory in the friendship
of He-Man and Brawlor.

Octor the eight tentacles of doom

Octor was a loyal soldier in one of Eternia's many
under sea kingdoms. Trained from birth on to be loyal
to only one commanding officer he enjoyed life among a
small group of his people all serving in a centuries old
war. It was during one of the many conflicts that Octor
was separated from his people and his homeland by a
terrible tropical storm. Washing ashore on the dark side
of Eternia he began to wander the area, lost and in a
daze. With no direction or real concept of the strange
culture around him he eventually found himself fighting
in an illegal tournament as a means for survival and some
purpose. During this time he ran into Hip-nor with his
hypnotized slaves who were fighting in the tournament.
Hip-nor meanwhile swindling bets his way saw a huge money
making scheme in the powerful Octor. Octor smashed through
the contestants ranks in quick order grabbing them with
his powerful tentacles and pulling them into his suction
cups where he held them prisoner as he beat them without
mercy. Hip-nor while watching realized Octor's needs for
a leader and direction and started putting suggestions
into his brain to take that place. As a team they started
making lots of money, none of which Octor felt a need for,
he was Hip-nor's perfect ally. The money making scheme
being so successful drew the attention of Skeletor and his
devious schemes. He quickly put the Gladiatorum into place
which boosted Hip-Nors natural abilities. Octor was put
into service as the main enforcer. He kept peace at the
Arena, made sure the other slaves stayed in line and helped
gather new participants. He had a clear mission with a
purpose and clear order. As He-Man and the escaped slave
Brawlor brought everything smashing around his head he
desired a new mission. A mission Skeletor and his beloved
Hip-Nor barely needed to seethe out of their mouths, the
destruction of He-Man and Brawlor.



MUTANOST: Traveler from the Otherverse
By Kevin Dufrene

Mutanost is a Traveler from another dimension known as the
Glyoverse to his people. In that place, he was known as
Phanost and was a great and mighty warrior. Upon escaping
the tyrannical rule of his former home, Metran, he crossed
over to Eternia’s dimension seeking power and a new life
with his personal bodyguard, Vixxorag, who is also known
as Brawlor now on Eternia. While Phanost was battling the
interdimensional being known only as the “Star Child,”
Brawlor set to work sabotaging Phanost’s ship. After
absorbing the Star Child and his powers, the new Phanost,
now calling himself Mutanost, after absorbing his foe,
faced a usurping and mutinous bodyguard. Battle ensued and
they crashed on the planet of Eternia with Brawlor escaping.
Having found his ship’s dimensional drive and engine
irreparably sabotaged and himself doomed to this planet, he
has vowed to seek out and destroy his old comrade, Brawlor.



Shlongdor: Evil Eternian Bachelor
by Ralph Niese

Shlongdor is an evil Bachelor commanding a league of
firewater drinking madmen but one helping hand he still
seeks to put a hand on something...something that has to
be dealt with a reckless abandonment like only Shlongdor
himself would do it. But having an eye on Brawlor he wants
this abandonment felt on his..something... FOUR TIMES!
Also with a striking similarity in looking like He-Man he might
achieve what he wants...



Thrax the Foul Scented
by Steven Patt

A gladiator on the dark side of Eternia, he was a ruthless
killer and fought for his glory. In a battle with Brawlor he
was slain with a piece of his own horn. Thrax was stripped of
his glory, laying dead beneath the crowd's cheers at his
mortality. Thrax's soul did not leave his corpse's side
awaiting a manner in which to return. Evilyn sent by Skeletor
to bring him the great warrior cast his soul back into his
rotting flesh.

Thrax is back-- dead, rotting, and bloodthirsty, with a vow to
regain his glory and slaughter the man who slew him.

And there you have it! Check back in later tonight when I announce the winner!

The Argentinean Beastman Appears...

I mentioned a while back a contest to win a Fuerza-T figure on the Freak Studios blog. I wound up winning the contest with my Brawlor figure entry. Well, today I got this awesome package in the mail with my prize inside! WOO HOO! Tom, the guy who runs the blog asked that the winner take some pics of the figure with his collection, so here are some shots I took as soon as I opened the shipping box:



Here's Pantano with all his bootleg brethren.



Here he is with Beastman and Brawlor.




Say "CHEESE!"




Just wanted to give you some shots of the package, front...



... and back.



And here he is on the wall with the rest of my figures of questionable origin. I normally open my toys, but this one is staying in the package... bootlegs are so much more fun in the package-- the art is always just he best! I love bootlegs!

Thanks, Tom! You're the man, man! I will always treasure my funky Beast-Brother.

_________________________________

I was taking pics of the Fuerza T figure and decided to snap some shots of the rest of my collection as it stands now:



Kaiju crazy times! I'm running out of room on top of my drawers.



THEY'RE TAKING OVER!!!



I snagged this DVD case at the flea market for 5 bucks. I think it's a snazzy place to display my Glyos collection.



Top Shelf: Real Head stuff and Real Head x Onell stuff.
5th shelf: Pheydens and the Glyos Guides



4th shelf: Exellis figures and others
3rd shelf: My silver and glow in the dark figures



2nd shelf: Armodocs
Bottom shelf: Buildmen



Assorted superheroes, aliens, movie characters, and G.I. Joes



My art toys and "weird" toys



Superheroes!



All kinda stuff!



Star Wars and Optimus Primes



Transformers



And still... Christopher Walken watches over everything... EVERYTHING.

It's official: I have too much stuff. But I love it all! :D

The Brawlin' with Brawlor Contest!!!

A few weeks back I posted about Freak Studios' Fuerza T contest. To win you had to make an original Masters of the Universe character and come up with a back story for it. If anyone knows me they know I LOVE Masters of the Universe, so I jumped on the contest like a buzzard on a gut wagon. Since the contest is now over I thought I'd share my entry... in more than one way (stay tuned after the pics, and I'll explain):





BRAWLOR
Four Armed Master of Combat

Brawlor was an enslaved gladiator on the Dark
Side of Eternia until He-Man broke him free
from the gladiatorum and gave him the choice
to join the evil forces of Skeletor or to become
a heroic defender of Grayskull. Brawlor chose
to join He-Man and has become one of the most
loyal allies that He-Man has ever known. He is
a master of armed and unarmed combat. His four
arms allow him to break any hold and take down
any foe!
__________________________________


So... to expound upon my earlier statement: I won the contest that Freak Studios hosted, and I wanted to pass along my good fortune. I'm going to give you guys a chance to win Brawlor and add him to your collection-- FREE!

"But, Charles... how do we do this???"

I'll explain:

I want you guys to be CREATIVE! That doesn't necessarily mean that you have to be the best artist in the world... I have seen stick men that have made me laugh out loud or contemplate the nature of life-- artistic talent is nice, but creative expression is priceless.



Your task is to create the ultimate arch enemy of Brawlor! Brawlor's an ex-gladiator and slave, so this dude or dudette has GOT to be tough. You can create your entry using ANYTHING. You can make a custom figure using parts of other figures, sculpt it out of clay, glue macaroni to construction paper, draw it on notebook paper, make it out of your own poop and dead skin cells-- WHATEVER!!! If you draw like a monkey on acid you can still come up with the elements of a cool character-- this isn't being judged on artistic skill-- it's all about creating a cool original character (of course, if you have great skills I want to see them!!!).

Along with your creation I want to know why he or she is Brawlor's enemy! It can be serious, weird, or funny, as long as there's a valid reason why your character would hate Brawlor's guts!

Also, you'll need to come up with a Masters of the Universe-style name and descriptive phrase like on the old packages (IE: He-Man: The Most Powerful Man in the Universe or Skeletor: Evil Lord of Destruction).

I'm giving you a little bit over a month... Sunday, July 11th at midnight is the deadline for entries. You can email pics of your entry along with the character's name and bio (and your website information so people can see your other work!) to me at monsterforge@yahoo.com. The main restriction is that there can be only one entry per person (to keep things nice and fair). When all the entries are in, I'll post them on the blog for everyone to see, and on the evening of Monday, July 12th I'll announce the winner!

I'll cover the shipping to WHEREVER the winner lives, so don't worry about anything but coming up with the coolest, most original bad-guy EVER!

Tell your friends, your family, your enemies, your goldfish-- you don't have to be a regular here to enter. What have you got to lose? It's a great way to get a free custom action figure and a chance to get your work out in the public!

Get to work on those entries, guys! I'm counting on all my online friends and you folks I don't even know yet to make this the bestest contest ever! I cannot wait to see what all you guys and gals come up with!!!

Win a Bootleg Beastie!

I stumbled upon this Freak Studio contest on Reis O'Brien's Geek Orthodox blog, and decided to check it out. I'm going to enter this one!

You can win a Fuerza-T Pantano figure from the good folks at Freak Studios! Just make an original Masters of the Universe character (custom figure or drawing) and a bio and send a pic of it in! Click the pic of the Pantano figure below to go to the contest page! While you're there, look around-- it's a great blog with lots of fun stuff to see!

Cardboard Creation

One of the best sites ever, Toy Break, is running a contest for the Large Martin toy from 3A toys, and all they require you do is submit an original robot made out of cardboard. I just turned in my entry and figured I'd post it here as well:







He stands a bit over 2 inches tall and has articulation in the shoulders, elbows, hips and knees. I named him CBHG-5.5. Enjoy!

Talent?

It seems like every year the talent pool that America's Got Talent draws from gets thinner and thinner. I've come up with a simple set of rules that will make sure you win a million bucks on that show:

1) Sing. I'm serious... every act so far that has won has been a singing act. The producers must have noticed that NBC didn't have an amateur singing show and decided to shoehorn one into a talent show. It's pretty sad that they had to ruin a perfectly good talent show by forcing it to be a wanna be American Idol.

2) Have a sob story. With the exception of one winner, everyone who has won on that show has had some kind of horrible death in the family, has lost his job, or had a pet explode in the microwave. Think up the worst possible plot for a Lifetime movie, sing, and go on stage... you WILL win.

3) Sing R&B. Again... the judges on this show are nothing if not predictable. Every singer who has made it to the end (again... with the exception of one) has warbled out horrible versions of Afrocentric music. There's nothing cooler than a black guy with a rich voice singing songs about living and loving and dealing with the hardships dealt out by the Man. On the other hand, there's nothing as annoying as seeing a 12 year old white girl sing about how her man done did her wrong. But most annoying of all is the fact that this impresses the washed-up cretins that judge this show.

4) Cry. A LOT. The amount of tears you shed is directly proportionate to the amount of respect the judges of the show have for you as a contestant.

Follow all of these simple rules and you too can become a million dollar winner on America's Got Talent.

Something for free? Free? FREE?????

So just recently Matt Doughty of Onell Design showed me just what a generous person he truly is. I decided that it would only be right to pass that kindness along-- to "pay it forward", if you will.

Over on the October Toys discussion board, I have posted The Glyos Cut-Throat Custom Contest for anyone who is a registered member to enter. All that you have to do is go to the site, register as a member on the board, and post in the contest thread. The details for the contest are on the post there, so go register and enter to win! The site has a great toy collecting community, and it's a great place to waste a few hours daily talking with great people about plastic crack.

Here are a few pics of the loot that's up for grabs.







So head on over, register, and enter the contest... if you're not careful, you just might have fun while you're there!