Manglors (Species)

Manglors
Crack the Egg and Unleash a Monster
Vital statistics
Name	Manglors
Species	Manglors
Origin	Uzalek

Character History

Matt Doughty

Line Studies

Manglors character study line art

"The original Manglors figures are quite unique, both physically and conceptually.

I was recently able to do some deep drawing studies on a full Manglor set, thanks to having access to the extraordinary toy collections of John and Jesse, combined with my own beat up specimens.

One of the things that's a bit hard to see on the original figures due to the sorbathane material is the level of actual detail packed into the sculpts. It's rumored that the great Ken Kelly himself designed the series, but I do wonder who sculpted them. The designs on the packaging are more streamlined, looking like they could double as Creepy magazine covers without missing a beat. Whoever did the sculpting had a more rugged approach, weaving some serious texture into the skin and scales that cover most of the 6 classic Manglor characters, save for the Manglord, who sports a much clearer, albeit puke green, complexion.

Pixel Style Artwork

Drawing off of the boxes would have been the easiest way to come up with some clean representations of the characters, but I really wanted to get to the heart of actual toys, to see what was hidden behind their oddball mess of stickiness and twisted limbs.

The above line studies show where I landed after staring at the original vintage figures for extended sittings. There is definitely a very cool cohesive aesthetic running across the line, with repeated texture patterns and related proportions culminating in a unique style and delivery.

Stretchy dino monsters battling swampy cavemen on an alien planet in space.

These are a few of my favorite things."

40 Years in the Making

Teaser

"First released 40 years ago by the Ideal Toy Company, the original Manglors were "made of the strangest stuff on earth" and promised kids across the country an action figure that you could "tear apart and stick back together again". Suffice to say, the stuff that they were made of turned out to be less than cooperative once you attempted to "mangle your action alien figure" into new forms. Even the incredible artwork by the legendary Ken Kelly on the boxes couldn't hide the fact that the figures simply didn't work.

After being notoriously maligned by parent groups of the 80s for failing to deliver on the basic tagline of their property, Ideal put the Manglors back in their eggs after just a couple years at retail, marching forward instead with their all new Robo Force rollout. Thanks to Toyfinity, Manglors finally gets another chance to shine! Now fully Glyos compatible and redeveloped behind the scenes for over 10 years, Manglors emerges from the Toyfinity family of regenerated Ideal properties, finally ready to deliver on that 40-year-old promise to "create your own creatures"!"

John Kent

Second Life

A mangled Manglord

"As of today, all packages (except those for my friends in Canada) have shipped! We've been burning the morning and midnight oils over here to get the Manglors out to you as quickly as possible.

Obviously, a massive THANK YOU to everyone who is here for the "second life" of Toyfinity. One of the sole benefits of the last few years being impacted by the pandemic was gaining some time away from the everyday grind of life. That time was used to really evaluate the Toyfinity portfolio and determine the future direction here.

It was in the very early days of Toyfinity that Matt Doughty showed me the concept work for the new Manglord. We were very close to producing him back in 2014. As has happened so many times, life occurred and the Manglors remained confined to the sketchbooks of secret Onell designs. So many versions...there were versions with tons of parts, ultra classic versions, versions in Kenner style, even one which would have incorporated Nazgar in human form! For a number of reasons, it just never came to fruition.

Now, we have the incredible reimagining of the Manglord from the combined minds of Matt Doughty and Erwin Papa, with further visualization of the Manglors universe through the paintings of Nathan Baertsch. It's been a true pleasure to work with these masters in creating a new vision of the concepts that Ken Kelly had made for Ideal way back in the 80s. The release would not have been possible without Marc Beaudette of the Onell team, bringing his technical expertise to our new, modernized store and reworked overall site. It is hard to thank them enough for all of their work on this project.

I would also be remiss if I didn't thank my extended family and friends for their support throughout this process, as well as all the past contributors to "Toyfinity" over the years. If anything, this has never been a one-man show (except in the shipping department) - I could not have done it without all of you.

2023 promises to be a very fun year from Toyfinity - keep your eyes peeled for more! P.S. don't forget to warm up the figures if you are in a cold zone!"

Story

Made of the Strangest Stuff on Earth

Vintage Manglord box ('80s Manglors toy line)

MANGLORS: the Earth-word to describe the amazing creatures that arose long ago on a harsh volcanic planet circling distant Betelgeuse, the red giant star. To survive on their inhospitable homeworld, Manglors developed SUPER-ELASTIC bodies, able to stretch their limbs to fantastic proportions, to reach safety in an instant. With their HYPER-ADHESIVE properties, Manglors could stick to the trunks of the mammoth trees of their homeworld. There they hid motionless, ambushing the huge creatures who stalked them. After the fierce combat that followed, Manglors torn to pieces by the monsters used amazing powers to RE-ATTACH SEVERED LIMBS. Manglors mastered the power to RESHAPE their bodies at will - into rocks or logs - to disguise themselves as they slept. Awakening, "MEMORY" allowed them to unravel once again into their normal forms.

Manglor Mountain is a volcanic fortress developed by generations of Manglor wizards and magicians. After sinking into the icky "MANG-LAVA" inside, they slowly bubble and gurgle up again to the surface in the "Iron Maiden" cage, regenerating their bodies outside the hot, fiery environment of their home planet. Manglor Mountain made it possible for Manglors to leave their home planet in search of a new world to conquer - YOURS! (Vintage Toy Line insert instructions)

Research Station Damascus

The scientists aboard the Research Station Damascus have been tasked with a difficult proposition -- extracting the unique factor of the Mordles that allows them to mutate into larger monstrous forms, known in some circles as the Manglors. Contracts for scientific research do not come without strings -- the mysterious entity requesting this information expects results, and his arrival at the station is scheduled for the next solar cycle. Luckily, the Krilophytes are among the best at science, and have made significant progress. A purified line of Mordles have been cultivated, and the Krilophytes are preparing for their hatching, unaware of trouble on the horizon... (Toyfinity Collector Trading Card)

Characters

Manglord

Leader of a man-like race of tribal hunters. A ferocious warrior chieftain and master of survival.

• Dungeon Traveler Skeleden - Manglor Mutation
• Neo Granthan - Manglor Mimic
• Crayboth

Manglosaurus

A terrible dinosaur-like creature. Mortal enemy of the warriors.

• Dungeon Traveler Skeleden - Club Zeton Exclusive Demonslither (Sauruzard Mutation Reverse)

Manglodactyl

A feared winged hunter whose name means "terror from the sky".

Manglodemon

Born of the fires at the center of the universe.

• Dungeon Traveler Skeleden - Cosmodemon Mutation
• Crayboth
• Moredemons

Manglizard

Believed to be an early reptile ancestor of the Manglor race.

• Dungeon Traveler Skeleden - Sauruzard Mutation
• Crayboth

Manglodragon

Legendary protector of the sacred flame on planet Centauri II.

• Dungeon Traveler Skeleden - Dragotauri Mutation
• Super Crayboth - Dragotauri Hybrid

Accessories

Manglor Egg

A White Manglor Egg was first offered with the Mini Mordles Standard Edition ten pack (yellow with blue highlights). $16 each. An empty White Manglor Egg was made available for $4 each. Released June 28th, 2013.

An empty Glow-in-the-Dark Manglor Egg was first offered during the second wave of Mordles. $4 each. Released July 26th, 2013.

White Manglor Egg

Glow-in-the-Dark Manglor Egg

White Manglor Egg

Glow-in-the-Dark Manglor Egg

"Prototype modern eggs. The factory was using these as "easter eggs" for the Latin American region, supposedly."