Finally ... L'isola di Gorm completed!

 At last, I have a 100 percent complete and fully functional L'isola di Gorm!! And in perfect condition. Got the last three bits yesterday - Lucas (in his boy shape), the totem pole and the last catapult.

Not much more to say ... I'll let the pictures speak (and well ... a few captions). And remember to read my long blog about L'isola di Gorm if you didn't catch it. You'll find it right here.

My grail! My grail! Complete down to the last little bit, with every mechanical feature - lights, sounds movement - functional.  

Finally got a hold of Lucas, he had been evading me for some time. All four friends assembled now!

The Totem Pole. You can press a little button on the back and the face changes. It has four different expressions. I was really happy to find the totem but can't help feel that the look of it is a little childish - it sort of stands out in the landscape in a wrong way.

And a catapult for the people of the sea ... last little bit I needed. 

The mysteries of the Final Evolution series, part 2: To pose ... or NOT to pose?

Finally, here is my follow up to the first part of 'The mysteries of the final evolution series'. And as promised posted in this very same millennium (it's better not to promise too much). 

Let's talk about ... posing. Or maybe rather ... no posing? 

Let me explain: In the Final Evolution brochure, the magic egg characters are all depicted in some quite dramatic poses, but the end result, the sculpts that ended up on the commercial market, have no posing at all, just plain dull "arms-down-the-sides-I'm-sick-of-my-life" boredom.  

But why? What exactly happened? The characters depicted in the brochure are definetely pictures of real sculpted figures, not just drawings, so logic would dictate that at least prototypes were made and photographed. But it seems that somewhere in the process Giochi decided to dull it down a bit. To save money? Maybe. Who knows! But let's have a look at the seven magic egg characters, how they were originally envisioned AND how they ended up. A sad story, actually, a tale of woe 😭

Here we have Storming Sand from the People of the Diamond! He wants to blast your face with a deadly sand storm ... or maybe not? In his final sculpt on the right it looks more like he needs to go to the potty. To shit diamond shards, perhaps?

Prepare to meet your fiery doom at the hands of THE MIGHTY OAKBEAST!! No, wait ... he changed his mind, he won't bother you ... as long as you leave him alone. He's having a private comtemplative moment.

Crushark, a really cool character, with or without the posing, I'll say. But still, on the left he looks like he's about to unleash some lethal tidal wave, crush you with bursts of water, but no ... he's apparently just waiting for the bus or something.

The "mystic" Mystic Moth. The difference is not that big here, but, still, on the left he looks like he's about to take off and on the right he looks more like he's resting. Here you could get the suspicion that Giochi were trying to make the characters smaller? A lot of the Magic egg characters are quite small, but since the magic egg itself is GIGANTIC I can't really imagine why. 

Forgius! This one is interesting. If you were THAT heavily armed, with a blaster on one arm and a spinning sawblade on the other, WHY on earth would you stand like that? Comatose, just waiting for some one to come and tip your sorry metallic bulk over.

Only a minor difference with Comet. His right arm is sligthly raised in the brochure and for some reason both arms are fused with the legs in the final sculpt.

Pretty much the same as with Comet. Arms a bit more down the sides in the final version. Like with all the others, a more dull, less dynamic, non-threatening look, basically. 

So there you have it. All seven of them dulled down. For some years I was keeping an eye out for the posing versions but now I seriously doubt they exist outside of the Final Evolution brochure. But well, who knows ... Just imagine the shock and excitement if one of them should turn up some day - as they were originally envisioned - posing, threatening ... bad-ass!

The mysteries of the Final Evolution series, part 1: The People of the Earth

There are a few irregularities, oddities, curiosities - call them what you will! - sorrounding the Final Evolution series. One of them is the mystery that is 'The People of the Earth'. 

It was clear from the get go that there was some kind of trouble with these quite awesome looking black/grey/fluorescent green versions of the Energhia sculpts - for one, they werent pictured in the Final Evolution brochure (neither the newsstand brochure nor the one for normal retail). Only grey silhuets of the characters were shown along with an odd message.

From the Final Evolution brochure. Only greyish silhouets for the People of the Earth??

Close up of that odd little text box. Translates to: "The new heroes will be coming soon!" But ... ehh? Why not like NOW? Considering the series HAD already been released.

Definetely something fishy with these People of the Earth. Maybe they werent ready for release who knows? In my home country, Denmark, the People of the Earth were never released. The Final Evolution series consisted of only 11 different tribes instead of 13 tribes in the Italian release (see blind bag comparion below)

In Denmark, and I'm guessing a lot of other countries outside of Italy, we got only 11 tribes. People of the Earth and People of the Lava were forbidden fruit.

But back to those ghostly grey silhuettes ... Were the People of the Earth ever sold? Did they even EXIST??? Yes, definetely, just relax. If you look at where they pop up on ebay from time to time, they were sold in Italy, Spain, probably Greece and definetely the US. But, oddly (and now it gets even more confusing), it's mostly the characters Gheos, Talps, Gravitus and Trematerra that surface. The remaining three (Schienacciaio, Lo Scovanascondigli and Furiacieca) seem a lot scarcer.

Just calm down... they are right here, all seven of them. They DO exist.

 

These 'rare three' mostly pop up in the US, where they (and the three others, except Gheos) were sold in packages of two (with one Final Evolution character and one Energheia), but not with the correct cards, instead they had the normal Energheia Cards, showing the character in its boring ole yellow war paint.   

A Picture of the American two pack. If you look close you can see the 'incorrect' Energheia card behind Gravitus.

Picture borrowed from an American ebay seller. Energheia Cards were apparently included for ALL the Final Evolution Gormitis on the US market. Why ...? Who knows. All part of the mystery.

I aquired all seven characters a couple of years ago, but only the cards for Gheos, Talps, Gravitus and Trematerra. If the 'rare three' are ... eh, rare ... the cards even more so. For a long time I didn't beleive they existed but then one day, bam! Found 'em on ebay, from an Italian seller.

Let me proudly present the magnificent seven ... 

So, both the characters and the cards exist, but they are not that easy to come by. 

Stay tuned for "The mysteries of the Final Evolution series ... part 2!" Sometime in this millenium. 

The newsstand collections!

With most of the Gormiti series’ original Italian releases, a limited assortment was offered at the newsstands. Typically, 12 selected characters with two or more being sold exclusively at the newsstands. The contents of the blind bag differed slightly from the ones sold at toy stores, meaning that not only did you get a Gormiti character and a card but also a small brochure, the so called ‘fanbuk’, describing the character.

With many of the series the exclusive-to-newsstands characters were simply two of the cooler figures, but other series offered exiting color variants of characters from the regular assortment, entirely new sculpts or characters with special accessories only to be found at the newsstands.

Newstand blindbag (l), normal one (r). Notice how they only advertise with 12 new characters on the newsstand blind bag opposed to 37 (full series) on the normal blind bag.

Morphogenesis newsstand brochure (l) with only 12 characters, normal brochure (r). Note how the characters Trappon and Porfidius are marked 'Esclusivi edicola' - newsstand exclusives!

The newsstand blind bags also included this instruction on how to send a mail order for additional newsstand figures. These were delivered not in a blind bag but a see-through baggie as pictured below.

A couple of mail away gormitis from my personal collection. Includes character card and fanbuk.

Here we have the newsstand brochure for the Titanium series.

  

And the back side. Solardrill and Ipnoticon are the exclusive-to-newsstand figures. 

Luxion series newsstand brochure ... For some reason the exclusive-to-newsstand figures are not marked here. 

And the backside. Beautiful multicolored madness!

To find any mention of the exclusive-to-newsstand figures, you have to look at the regular Luxion brochure. It's Cingolo and Electrowatt! Really cool figures.

Neorganic newsstand brochure.

Rubbery accesories or "super powers" only available at the newsstands!

Newsstand brochure from the Final Evolution series. In this series two entire people were sold exclusively at the newsstands. People of the Ice and the Lava People. In Denmark, where I reside, the Lava People were never released and the People of the Ice could be found in regular blindbags. This is just one of many many regional differences in the Gormiti series.

From the Nature Unleashed series. Contents of the newsstand blind bag (left) and the normal blind bag (r). A notable difference here is that the character card in the newsstand assortment is a regular card, not the 3D holographic card that was included in the full assortment.

Newsstand figures from the Elemental Fusion series. Variations, one from each tribe, with see-through parts. Love these! The sandguy, Sandis, to the right, is one of my favourite Gormitis.

Also part of the elemental fusion series: The four kids, Nick, Jessica, Lucas and Toby, were available at the newsstands.

Newsstand figures from the Supreme Eclipse series. Here we have all new sculpts of the four heroes. And at least Toby and Jessica are WAY cooler than the regular figures. So much posing, so much action!

Without a doubt the rarest and most expensive newsstand exclusives. From the Luxion series (to my knowledge not released outside of Italy) Electrowatt (l) and Cingolo (r). Cingolo is extremly difficult to find with an unbroken gun turret. The combination of the blind bag concept and that thin bit sticking out like that was a match made in hell! 

Regarding this fanbuk I mentioned all the way at the top of this post – whats up with that, really? It only has a few pictures of the character and very little text. Hardly any content worth mentioning so why even bother producing something like that?

Inside the fanbuk ... Not all that exciting.

A while ago I talked to a friend of mine who owns a record store specializing in metal music. He’s a big Iron Maiden fan, has bought shitloads of special Maiden releases from all over the world and knows a lot about how the newsstand sale works (or at least he says he does).

Apparently, the Italian newsstands have to pay some kind of tax if they sell products outside of what would be considered a normal newsstand assortment. But a way to get around this is to sell the product alongside a magazine. Then it’s not a cd with a magazine, it’s a magazine with a cd, right? And the same thing obviously goes for toys. So that tiny little brochure – the fanbuk – hidden inside the Gormiti blind bag is actually a magazine with a toy. Smart, right? Even though the fanbuk is basically pro forma crap with close to zero content. I always wondered about the fanbuk, but I think my friend's explanation is pretty plausible.

There is a lot of fanbuks floating around on ebay, but I don’t really collect them. On the other hand, I don’t really don’t collect them 😉 At least, I have over 50. And they are kind of neat to have, I guess, just to document the whats, the whys and the hows of the ole Gormiti craze. 

Oh blasted ¤&%¤!*# gold coin ... where art thou ...?

In case you read the previous post and wondered exactly why I have a full display of Titanium blind bags placed on top of a display cabinet ... here comes the explanation!

I have been looking for that blasted elusive gold coin that (supposedly) can be found inside a Titanium figure if you are really really lucky. And I have been buying A LOT of blind bags to make just that happen. I bought a complete (well, almost complete ...) Titanium collection some years back, but it missed a few of the little bits inside and, of course, the rare coin. Later, I bought a job lot of - I think - 45 blind bags. Still no coin. But I'm a patient and persistent guy, so ... a couple of months later I bought an entire sealed display of 50 blind bags (the one you see on top of my cabinet). So now I must certainly get the coin, right? After all, the display is sealed and NATURALLY Giochi put at least ONE mystery coin inside every batch of 50 blind bags, right ...? RIGHT??

Of course not! More like one in every thousand or something. 

Still. No. Coin. 

But at least I have a very pretty collection of Titanium figures :-)

I have, by the way, heard rumours that the coin is to be found inside the character 'Exiron'. At least, I read about two people who found the coin inside him. If this is always the case, I am not sure. And I can guarantee you that the Exiron figure doesn't always hold the coin. I have opened three or four blind bags with Exiron in them and I always get the same part of a stupid weapon. 

Blast you, Exiron! I hate you and your stupid part of a red weapon!

I have tried to reach out to the beforementioned people ,who actually found the coin, to learn more about it. Basic stuff like: how big is the coin? (picture next to a Gormiti for size comparison, please), is it actually packed inside the compartment of the figure? (coz that would make the coin really really small) or bagged on the side? This could be nice to know, mainly to get a hint of the sound it would make when shaking the bag. Would this sound be different than with the other gadgets? Like more metallic sounding, more noisy? Or is the coin wedged in so tight that it would make no sound at all? 

None of these people have answered my inquiries, probably because they were into gormiti many years ago and dont frequent these Gormiti boards any more. Other people (like experienced Gormiti sellers on ebay) haven't even understood what I spoke about when I mentioned the coin. Huh, what coin?? So, obviously, we're talking about a pretty rare thing. 

See! It's true. The coin exists - it says so right here on the bag

I still hope to find the coin some day. I imagine I will feel like Charlie when he found that golden ticket that gave admittance to the chocolate factory :-) 

If you have any info on the coin, or have the coin, please let me now. I want photos! I want info! But just to be clear: I don't want to buy the coin - I want to find it myself!  

 

 

    

 

My collection!

It has been very quiet on the blog for some time and I apologize for that. My day job has been a “bit” demanding (that means a lot ;-) and it has been hard to find the time for all the funny stuff – like blogging about Gormiti. Furthermore, I had a big and important post planned (for months, actually …), an interview, and it could have been SO great, but for reasons I can’t go into here it didn’t work out and it kind of disrupted my Gormiti-mojo (if that is an actual word!), a disturbance in the Gormiti force, so to speak, that made me concentrate on some other stuff. 

But I have to get in gear again and what better way than to start with something easy, something manageable – by simply taking some photos of my very own collection and showing them to you.

Without further ado – here we gooooo!!!

Welcome to my basement or "Gormiti heaven" :-) First, an overview of my display cabinets

And on the opposite wall

Here we have the first series ... complete

Mystica ... sadly, not complete, but "only" eight more to go ...

Titanium, complete with all the little parts inside (except that blasted%¤¤# gold coin! Will I ever find it??)

Morphogenesis - took me a while to get the guys in the back complete with all their little wings

Rarities ... US variants and Hong Kong variants

Luxion complete ... took me a while to find Cingolo with a nice unbroken turret

Magazine specials ... Magmion is missing but I have him in a sealed magazine

De agostini collection, Nintendo DS Nick, some Snap-X specials and Boom notebook exclusives

Good ole series 3 complete

Mythos complete

Silver and gold ... not at all complete. I don't even know how many of these there are

Supreme Eclipse (almost complete - for some reason I only have newsstand Lucas and not the regular one)

In case you were wondering what is on top of the cabinets ...

A mix of Skylanders, Gormiti and other stuff ...

Some Mini Gormiti and a full set of Slime Orbs new in package

More slime orbs ...

And these are some of the other series I don't have space for in the cabinets. I'll get two more soon.

That's about it. I have some sealed magazines and the De agostini landscape but I documented that thoroughly in an earlier post. My collection of the 2 inch Gormitis is pretty close to complete - I only need 11 figures (8 of them the very hard to find Mystica) - if you don't include silver/gold. But then again, there is an unknown number of the semi-official Hong Kong variants and I just recently discovered the Boom notebook exclusives - transparent articulated versions of the 2 inch Cartoon series (I have no idea how many of these are in existence) so I don't think my Gormiti collecting days will be over anytime soon :-)