I won't bury the lead - we are not going to make our July timeline. What's happened?
We made the difficult decision to switch manufacturers. I believe they've had some heavy turnover in staff, and I am not working with the same people who helped make Bria's Mythical Menagerie special. The quality of our Plushies is very important to Heidi and I, and because of that we have to essentially start this process over.
Searching for a new manufacturer has been.... Interesting. We aren't sure if we should laugh, or cry. Both, I suppose.
Behold:
A picture is worth 1000 words
Because we are switching manufacturers, we need to do some more of the work ourselves. Including prototyping. This has essentially caused us to start over.
We also hired a new overseer. She watches.
So, what does that mean? Well two things:
Firstly, I am not confident we'll have these out until early next year. I hate that, truly, but being honest, in my experience, it takes about 6-8 months to get a plushie from concept to mass-manufactured, and I'm considering this a do-over.
Secondly, I am opening refunds up, no questions asked, if you would like out. I totally get it. Just email [email protected], and we will get you fixed up.
Production on all other items is rolling and proceeding as expected.
I appreciate your support and understanding while we work to get you the best possible plushies!
A smoke test sends the survey to about 5% of backers in each pledge level. It's a final check to make sure everything works as expected before surveys go out to everyone.
If everything looks good, we'll roll surveys out to the rest of the backers shortly after.
If you don't get a survey today, that's totally normal - just means you're not in the 5%. You will get yours soon.
Your survey is where you enter any shipping information, payment information, and can add-on any last minute items. It's important you fill this out!
Important note: Shipping costs will be collected later. We will communicate when that step is coming! Once we’re closer to fulfillment, we’ll confirm your shipping addresses and collect the shipping fees then.
Need Help?
If you have any questions or run into any issues with your order, please reach out to us!
We want to thank all of you for 265 Backers for Pintopia 2026! That is almost 200 more than we had during Pintopia 2025! 🤯
Quick update: Production is beginning on pins & plush now, because if you're anything like us, you're a freak for the creek and you need your aquatic friends asap! 🐢🐍🦆
Surveys will be going out in mid-March, so be on the lookout! 👀
Our team is proud of the cute critters we created this year, and we can't wait to share them with all of you. Again, thank you for making our 2nd Pintopia a huge success! ✨🎆
3 Mini Pins with your pledge, just for backing early! This ends at 1 PM EST. Remember that your card is NOT charged until the end of the campaign in 19 days
You all have made us the #1 followed Pintopia campaign for 2026... WOWEEE!!!! We feel super special, and as soon as it started taking off, we went to work to make this campaign extra special, right back at you.
Today, we're pleased to reveal:
This year's Pins
This years Incentives
This year's Plushies
This year's Collab with Parable Games
Marsh Core Lake Life: Collection 2
We set out to capture the magic of our pale blue dot's freshwater wonders with TWObrand-new Cuddle Core plush and a fresh collection of enamel pins featuring some of our favorite fluvial friends.
Mark your calendars for Thursday!!! ALL returning backers from ANY QuasiReal Publishing or CuddleCore project will get a FREE caked-up capybara pin, and everyone who backs in the first 48 hours gets these ultra cute gosling pins that literally made Heidi cry (If you look at Mama Goose closely, you'll see their gifts are in her bonnet)
Two brand new plush from CuddleCore Toys! We're excited to introduce you to Xochi the Axolotl and Alexander the Salamander. These super soft new friends are about 14" long with embroidered details.
We've teamed up with Parable Games as Cross-Collab partners — this means that if you back BOTH projects in the pair (for a physical reward), you will get a limited FREE pin from us, and a cool patch from our partners! There will be a link right in the campaign when we launch on Thursday, making it super easy to earn these sweet rewards
That's all for now, folks! Thank you again and we'll see you on THURSDAY -Grant, Heidi, and the whole Vala, QuasiReal, and CuddleCore crews.
I won't bury the lead - we are not going to make our July timeline. What's happened?
We made the difficult decision to switch manufacturers. I believe they've had some heavy turnover in staff, and I am not working with the same people who helped make Bria's Mythical Menagerie special. The quality of our Plushies is very important to Heidi and I, and because of that we have to essentially start this process over.
Searching for a new manufacturer has been.... Interesting. We aren't sure if we should laugh, or cry. Both, I suppose.
Behold:
A picture is worth 1000 words
Because we are switching manufacturers, we need to do some more of the work ourselves. Including prototyping. This has essentially caused us to start over.
We also hired a new overseer. She watches.
So, what does that mean? Well two things:
Firstly, I am not confident we'll have these out until early next year. I hate that, truly, but being honest, in my experience, it takes about 6-8 months to get a plushie from concept to mass-manufactured, and I'm considering this a do-over.
Secondly, I am opening refunds up, no questions asked, if you would like out. I totally get it. Just email [email protected], and we will get you fixed up.
Production on all other items is rolling and proceeding as expected.
I appreciate your support and understanding while we work to get you the best possible plushies!
A smoke test sends the survey to about 5% of backers in each pledge level. It's a final check to make sure everything works as expected before surveys go out to everyone.
If everything looks good, we'll roll surveys out to the rest of the backers shortly after.
If you don't get a survey today, that's totally normal - just means you're not in the 5%. You will get yours soon.
Your survey is where you enter any shipping information, payment information, and can add-on any last minute items. It's important you fill this out!
Important note: Shipping costs will be collected later. We will communicate when that step is coming! Once we’re closer to fulfillment, we’ll confirm your shipping addresses and collect the shipping fees then.
Need Help?
If you have any questions or run into any issues with your order, please reach out to us!
We want to thank all of you for 265 Backers for Pintopia 2026! That is almost 200 more than we had during Pintopia 2025! 🤯
Quick update: Production is beginning on pins & plush now, because if you're anything like us, you're a freak for the creek and you need your aquatic friends asap! 🐢🐍🦆
Surveys will be going out in mid-March, so be on the lookout! 👀
Our team is proud of the cute critters we created this year, and we can't wait to share them with all of you. Again, thank you for making our 2nd Pintopia a huge success! ✨🎆
3 Mini Pins with your pledge, just for backing early! This ends at 1 PM EST. Remember that your card is NOT charged until the end of the campaign in 19 days
