Hey, I hope you all had a merry Christmas and a happy New Year! (edit, i thought this would be a quick update, but i was very wrong.., just wanted to include the big picture on whats going on)
Owlbear Accessories Project
I should be getting updated costs today from the manufacturer, which helps finalize our counts,
They say that updated samples are on their way (including fishing kit), that will arrive next week.
Purple Owlbear sample is going to arrive before Chinese New Year (end of the month),
This unfortunately means that timing-wise wise we won't have production of the accessories done until March-April, which means they won't arrive at warehouses until June-Aug(which is way later than I want).
One thing to note is that I am getting a little annoyed at how long updates are taking without communication from this manufacturer (technically, it's a middleman, not direct to manufacturer. They do some creative work on their own, like translating accessory drawings into plushes, and they also led to the innovation of the toe beans and such.) I know it goes through a process, but the lack of hearing updates and timing is a bit frustrating, as I have to wait longer and I am unable to update you for the updates either. They're also seemingly more expensive than other manufacturers out there (part of the nature of being a passthrough), but it's gotten us to start looking around now that we've gotten our feet wet in plush production.
Plush Keychains
I am in talks with another manufacturer that has been courting us for awhile. Instead of doing a production replacement with them (esp since so much work has already been done with this current manufacturer, and we cant really move over innovations they've done). We're looking to start with a wholly new product. So, for Backerkit's 2025 Pintopia|Pins and Plushes, which will launch onJan 23rd 2025, we'll be launching a mini plush campaign, forBaby Bestiary Keychains, we've gone through prototyping already with the new manufacturer, and this prototype was actually their design (they showed off to us at GenCon 2024).
Follow the KeyChain project here *currently working through prototypes with the new manufacturer, but we should also potentially get dragon turtle and phoenix keychains to include as goals for the campaign, more on them below.. Keychain owlbear next to snowy owlbear
Pheonix and Dragon Turtle
Phoenix Plush design prototype
Dragon Turtle design prototype So I was originally anticipating on launching thePheonixandDragon Turtleas a single Owlbear and Friends campaign in Feb/March 2025, thinking that this accessories project would be further along. Since we don't know which manufacturer we're using, we actually have both manufacturers working on their own production prototype for the Pheonix and Dragon Turtle. Since those prototypes are still being refined, we're gonna hold off launching the campaign for these two potentially later in the year (depending on when fulfillment of the keychains and accessories go). Also, we're working on getting prototypes of keychain versions of the dragon turtle and phoenix, since we can introduce those plushes before the their larger friends join the fray, which might help drum up excitement for them as we get closer to their eventual launch.
Owlbear Plush Inventory
During the holiday season we ran out of Owlbear Plushes in the US. We have a bigger restock that will come with the Owlbear Accessories project, but we do have a small production run of Brown and Snowy owlbears that should be arriving sometime this month, which should keep us in stock at least until the Accessories inventory comes in.
Our initial goal was to do a local print run, and doing a simple SpotUV (shiny bits) for the Hardcover specical edition of the book. However, after searching the US printing market, Spot UV or even Foil was not really possible with a hardcover print..which suprised us. Fortunatly, we had an offshore print already in progress, so we were able to piggback on their production and freight to get these books beautifully printed and upgrated with a few bits of extra foil as well :D.
As you can see with the sample, we had some spacing issues we are working out, and these should be shipping out from the manufacturer to our warehouses before the end of the month (before Lunar New Year begins).
2025 Calendar
If you dont already have one, we have a few copies left of our beloved 2025 Baby Bestiary Calendar!!
Since we've got our hands on a filament 3d printer, we're experimenting around with what we can do to use our adorable 3d designs...so far we have color minis, but we're also experimenting with lamps! Stay tuned for more experiments.
Thank You
Anyways...I know that was a lot, there's a lot going on, as aways. I try my best to make myself available to answer questions to the best of my ability and happy to further discuss as we try to make more cute companions. Hope everyone had a good holiday season, Caretaker Andreas
