Good evening, gang! If you're me, and you work the hours, I do, typing this 20 minutes to midnight is still 'evening.' Cool it.
That's all, folks - CHALLENGE COIN CRITTERS wrapped up on Thursday at 4 PM.
Overall, while we didn't unlock everything, we had a pretty successful run. It was a difficult year for Pintopia projects in general, but I'm satisfied with where we're at. I know we wanna get to the meat of things, so...
Here's some quick numbers.
C3 wrapped up at $14,441. We went, in our last 48 hours, from being KPH's second-worst performing crowdfund, to being the second best, behind last year's CRITTER CRIMES in the $15k ballbark.
C3's got 359 backers. This is second to BIRD CRIMES, at 469.
140 of you are returning backers. That's 140 of you who will be getting the silver Loyal Akita pin. Thank you for coming back and sticking with it through it all this year.
194 of you also backed Henrieke's THE HYENA FAMILY. That's a free 1.75" BIG hyena pin for you. Awesome!
We're finishing up with 79 total pin designs for backers to pick from. This is the highest, with GOLDEN AGE PARROTS our runner up.
We are 22 of 22 funded projects in the PIN SAFARI group! Thanks for supporting my animal artist buddies this year.
As mentioned, we have 79 total pin designs. Our two final 1.5" designs are the Duck Toller and the Werewolf!
The Duck Toller is our last-minute sponsor, from a very passionate breed enthusiast. These aren't the most common canines around, but they're an unmistakable working dog. Thank my buddy Fieldpup for this one, dog collectors!
Our Werewolf, ever popular (for better or... for, uh, rabid), will also be available.
You guys don't understand. I have already been paid unspeakable amounts of money to draw this character in compromising situations. Was the halal plate worth it? Who knows, man. But that fish fry got me through vectors, so, thanks, I guess.
We need to have a quick, downer, type of talk about the rest of the MONSTERS tier. I've tried to be pretty open about fraudulent, cancelled, or heavily downgraded pledges being an issue this Pintopia, and, lo and behold, it is going to bite us in the ass a bit here.
Our last-minute $600 pledge I was worried about did end up paying. However, we are out a startling amount due to failed charges right now. Cards just started charging today, so this is recoverable. But, due to an exceptionally high number of failed payments on my last campaign, and the extremely high rate of cancellations already, I am going to be erring on the side of caution.
Go make sure your card is up to date - mine wasn't! I was that guy, too. Sorry, everyone!
I may make the other MONSTERS pins available as cards successfully charge. However, it is a risky move to self-fund 4 more pins with the net amount we're looking at right now. I'm looking for total charges, plus after-campaign numbers, to reach about $16.5k to get here. I'll keep you posted. I'm sorry to disappoint, but, there are other options for now!
There are still preorders, too, to make up that number, so we'll see where we go.
As of right now, these 4 BIG pins, 75 1.5" pins, and all of their corresponding stickers are available to you!
So, what's next?
For me, it's custom pins. I have two of you, one with a good email rapport and references, and one who needs to send me some more information. I'm headed downstate for Chinese new year, so realistically, you're gonna be hearing from me the 20th or 21st. Not too late to send me additional refs or ideas, though!
We're on schedule for surveys, if not a little ahead of time. I've been getting pledge manager stuff set, getting giveaway and promotional backers smacked with some extra credits, and getting pin renders cleaned up. Late February, early March, is a good time to start expecting your survey.
Preorder store's probably coming then, or earlier! If you missed the campaign, you still have a chance to get pins at the $9 a head rate. While discount tiers are gone, and there won't be any more freebies, you can purchase most stuff at the campaign price, and you'll get it when our backers do in the spring.
I have some catch up work to do, too. There's still a few stragglers from CC who need custom work done. If this is you, please reach out to me.
If you purchased a CUSTOM CRIME for CRITTER CRIMES, you were subjected to unfair delays due to circumstances outside of your control. You are entitled to a $10 campaign credit on your C3 pledge. Contact me either in our work thread, or in a new email, to apply this to your campaign. This is even if you got your CUSTOM CRIME pledge already.
What's next next?
This is a hard one, and I will say, outright, I may lose a lot of you on my next project.
Let's stay vague: I am workshopping a mid-sized group event with several other creators for November. It's not golden age-styled animals, but it's something that became very dear to me this past year.
If this project is for you, it will really be for you. But, if it's not, there might be something else from another one of the wonderful, talented illustrators who have agreed to take the plunge with me.
That's all I can share for now, until we all have more done and we're given the green light by BackerKit. I'm hoping I have something to show you all soon.
As of right now, I'm OK with how C3 turned out. Things could have gone better, but in terms of everything I had in my reach, I did what I could. I turned out better than a lot of other Pintopia artists this year. Frankly, there's not really anything that made that difference except my audience. You turned out in droves for this, and for a project I was wary of taking a risk on.
Thank you for being here for these past couple weeks.
Hi everyone, Doodle here! Thank you for making my project a reality! For those who unpledged but want the Early Bird and weren't sure if they'd get it if they came back, the Worm has returned! Just comment on this update and I will include the early bird on your order as a thank you for your pledges :) You still have time to also add anything onto your orders, with the main line unlocked and steady progress into unlocking the next pin!
To both celebrate 350 followers and the success of this project, there is a live giveaway pinned on my Instagram that will close on 1/4/2026 at 11:59 pm AEDT!
Then a little bit about a future project, mainly to let people vote while this is still active! It will probably take a few months to a year to organize something a bit more formal for this project (this one took 3 months to build, whew!), the art is not finalized at all but I would love to see what people think and vote for to see if any particular birds capture people's whimsy
(also for wallet reasons this will be way down the line but ambition got to me and I already made the launching page-)
And then a few other things: A few things need to happen before we can commence production and fulfillment:
1. Backerlit needs to transfer over the funds so we have the money to make the rewards (this can take up to two weeks).
2. An earlier update around affordable shipping was posted recently, at the point of funds being collected, a survey will be sent out to everyone to start planning with FleaCircus the most affordable way to fulfil everyone's orders! Estimates were calculated in that update, but note that these are ESTIMATES and variations due to duties, taxes and tariffs may still unexpectedly influence the final cost of shipment. 3. I'll give you a heads-up before sending the survey so that you can watch for it. You don’t need to create a BackerKit account to answer your survey. The invitation email contains a link to your personal survey. It is important to submit your responses as quickly as you can since we need this information to process your rewards. 4. If you need to change your survey responses, purchase add-on items, or update your shipping information, you can click the link in your survey email again or request your survey link under "Lost your survey?" on the BackerKit project page. (This page will only start working after we send the surveys out.) 5. Answering your survey help us get your rewards out to you faster. BackerKit helps us save lots of time by streamlining the survey process, automating data organization, and providing us with pledge management software to make it easy to process your pledge reward shipments. 6. If you used your Facebook credentials to log in to your crowdfunding account, the BackerKit survey link is sent to the email address you use for your Facebook account. If you have another email address that you prefer to use, please contact me at [email protected]
Again, thanks for all your support. I'm excited to share these silly brids with the world!
Click the link to join the community and chat! It's free and gives all backers a free roll of washi tape themed with the Brids of Australia in their pledge! The more you chat, the more points you accumulate
Goal: 5,000 reached! — We did it! This project reached this goal!
A project where you can take a bird into your everyday life! This plush has each wing designed to fit one standard credit card, one on the bottom of the body, a sensory popping toy inside the front and (potentially) a slot for spare coins and notes at the back of the body! Simply place your preferred card(s) in each slot, tap on payment terminals for a bit of everyday whimsy
A way better image can be seen in the update!
I figure this is a great place for people to share their favourites, as I'm assuming most people here are excited about showing their love for our Aussie birds through their pins and keychains!
For me it's a difficult choice, as I love pretty much all Australian birds, but I might have to go with the Superb Fairywren. Very close contenders are the Budgerigar, Rainbow Bee Eater, and Regent Honeyeater. 💕
... and the Superb Parrot, and the White-Bellied Sea Eagle... and the Red-Browed Finch...
At the moment, the Jurassic Peck logo pin is in a few pledge levels and is available as an add-on. Should I make an additional stretch goal to include this as an additional pin option across all tiers?
Click the link to join the community and chat! It's free and gives all backers a free roll of washi tape themed with the Brids of Australia in their pledge! The more you chat, the more points you accumulate
Goal: 5,000 reached! — We did it! This project reached this goal!
A quick text-only one, with what's going on behind the scenes.
One, we have A-grade Lioness and Axolotl pins in. Opt-in/hold back backers will be receiving theirs in their pledge, even if they got full refunds or opted for another resolution.
I've been getting smacked behind the scenes (as usual) but I have a small set of C3-only packages that will also be going out this weekend with corrected critters. Unexpected resolution, but, glad I can get you guys your pins after all.
Two - we're in the home stretch for combined HYENA FAMILY shipping. Most of it, at least.
Me and Henrieke are figuring out the final logistics, costs, box sizes, and time windows we'll need to get stuff going. I am preparing European C3 orders to get out there in the next week. I don't have an exact timeframe for when Henrieke's pins will cross the Atlantic yet, and will update you guys when I have more info. Remember: not all designs are fulfilling yet, and if your order includes a delayed design, you may need to wait slightly longer.
Three - if you are in the combined bracket, and want to add more items, now is a good time. All CHALLENGE COINS designs and stickers are up on the HUSTLE store, sans A-grade Lioness and Axolotl which should be up this weekend. If you want those, or anything else included in your package, place an order and request combined shipping - I'll refund your fee on the site.
I'm off to go get a little work done on ARCHETYPES. I have to crunch some pins still - most of my focus will be going here. If you'd like to see some cool-ass video game tribute pins this November, check out TRIBUTES! We're launching November 7th. We have something for everyone.
There's photos of DOG CRIMES pins I'll be sharing in an update tomorrow. We're doing well, but, I'm saving the meaty update for when you guys are actually awake.
Hi! I'm back from two pretty exhausting weeks away! I have good news and (somewhat) bad news--
The manufacturer has finished re-plating the aardwolf pins, and they are en route to me, without having to wait for the next large batch of designs to finish. That means I can include all the orders where everything but the aardwolves is ready.
Now the somewhat bad news: I had slightly altered the screen print in shape and color after seeing the sample. Much to my rep's dismay, all these fixed up pins used the earlier version by mistake. They will get replaced, however, if you're part of this group there's now the choice of whether you're happy with the current version and get your order sooner, or if you prefer to wait for the second round of shipments. To be clear, they don't look bad! I'm just nitpicky and sometimes change details most people don't even notice. I will email those who this concerns, please let me know if you think these look fine and you'd like to have your order shipped ASAP! If I hear nothing, the order gets postponed until the next round. I'd love to hear from you either way.
I only have these photos for now, I have not seen them in person yet myself. Pins are small, and details look much larger on photos. The little aardwolf's head is the same size as the spotted hyena's paws and fits inside the tip of a pencil!
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