This week I paid for some pin samples that I'm super stoked to share with you. First up we have our subscriber freebie, the mini monster lover pin (you can still qualify for this one by subscribing to our mailing list here!)
And next up we have our early bird reward, the TAKEN pin. If you know me, you know I'm a bit of a maximalist and something this simple is kinda unusual for me, but honestly? I love it. I may even go so far as to say it's my favorite thing I've designed in awhile, and I hope you guys dig it too!
Because this pin is so simple, I plan to offer a few different colorways (that you will get to pick from as a backer) and y'all get to help me decide which ones. The top two contenders here will go on to be options during the survey portion of the campaign!
Thanks for your help, critters! As always I look forward to your feedback and hope to see you all on the 23rd! 💖
So here's the plan. We got everything loaded in. There's a freeze happening here in Houston which no one can handle because apparently Texans don't know that the world gets this cold sometimes, so no one has tires that handle anything other than sweltering melt your tires and fry an egg on the dash hot, so pretty much everything is shutting down for a few days here. which works out nicely since I need to start the Address Lock process here in a minute.
You officially have 48 hours to update your address and ensure your pledge is processed and accounted for.
Please ensure you update your address during this time. An email will go out shortly.
~~THIS IS THE DEADLINE~~
After this point, any unprocessed pledges without filled out surveys might not receive their pledge. We will do what we can, but any pledge that does not have a survey filled out is risking not getting their pledged items.
I repeat: We will do what we can to accommodate late processing, but if we are sold out of items because you waited to fill out your survey till after the deadline, that is something you have been warned about multiple times in advance even before pledging for the campaign.
Next Step
After the freeze our warehouse team will start the process of arranging and prepping for fulfillment. So most likely you will start to see things being processed as soon as the end of this week, or next Monday at the latest!
It's Happening!
So for now, cozy up by the fire, roll some dice, play some games, and wait till your critters arrive!!
Thank you again for all of your patience and we hope you're as excited about seeing these, as we are to get them to you!
~John, Raena, Ronni, and Trinity~ The Tentacle Kitty Team
This is a short and sweet update to let everyone know that OUR NOOPS HAVE LANDED!
Some of you may have already received tracking numbers, and your eyes do not deceive you!! I am full speed ahead on processing and packing all backerkit orders!! ✨ This is not a drill, YOUR ORDERS ARE BEING PROCESSED AND SHIPPED!! ✨
⚠ At the time of this update, there are 12 backers who's payment methods have failed for their shipping fees. Please know I cannot ship your order until those fees are paid! Please remedy those payments as soon as possible, as once I finish fulfillment I will be considering this campaign finished and will move onto the next one! Orders who's payment methods have not been remedied after 30 days will be marked as 'cancelled', and you will be issued 'store credit' to the email address you backed under to use on my website. (You will receive an email notification telling you your payment method has failed, so if you did not receive one of those notifications you're fine!)
If you are needing to change the card on file but are having difficulties with doing so, please email me or DM me on instagram and I will help you arrange this. Please note you will need to create a backerkit account using the same email address you backed the campaign with!
Otherwise: It's time to PARTY!!🎉
I am so excited for you all to receive your little lads!
I estimate fulfillment to take me the next 1-2 weeks pending my energy levels and overall schedule. I'm in the 'peak' of my SAD, and because of it I tend to run on empty earlier than normal. I may have help once or twice to speed things along!
Thank you all for your tremendous patience and for being so understanding. I hope you will find these little guys worth the wait!!
If you placed preorders for FRANKLY / HOSHI, I will be doing my best to combine orders where I can. Please keep an eye out for any email notifications from me! :)
Finally, after ages, they managed to achieve a sample closest to our initial vision. It still misses the pattern-ed interior, but it looks so beautiful now! /ᐠ ˵◕ ヮ ◕˵マᯓᡣ𐭩
For some reasons they really couldn't make it right and it took months and months of corrections and wait /ᐠ ╹ ㅅ ╹マ
FIRST SAMPLE
Wrong fabric (not canvas). Even if, aside from the colors, we'd actually like to make a plush bag one day!
OUR ADJUSTMENTS for manufacturer
SECOND SAMPLE
They tried to follow our adjustments instructions, but failed at it quite a lote. This time the canvas fabric was right, but the colors not yet. And don't let us talk of the awful colors for Bin xD
As we have entered the production period, there are less updates to share overall, but I wanted to share where we are with everything. While some things are made here in the US, some items must be sourced overseas and thus have longer production/arrival times. Their Lunar New Years holidays are also coming up, and my production partners take 2-4 weeks off at that time. Here are the current production updates and time estimates as of now (they may change in the future).
Latt-ray plush sample. I am so sorry for the disappointing news once again that the sample is not completed. I have been routinely asking my contact for more info, and as of a few days ago, her exact words were: "Sorry for waiting, everything goes slower than before because of the holidays" and also I believe their company was especially busy toward the end of 2024. Since they only have one designer, I am pretty they prioritized 100% confirming my other plush bags (more on that below) before they went into full production for the nearly 1000 plush overall. I really appreciate your patience and understanding on this as this will be my 4th year working with them, and they've always come through with quality. But to be completely honest, I'm bummed, too!! I want to see the creature, haha. Because of this delay, I believe the earlier the bulk order could get to me is May.
The 4 other plush bags. Initially, we had hoped they'd be completed before the Lunar New Year, but they will continue production once they return from their holiday. My current estimate is that they'll arrive to me by April as planned.
Lanyards and (collab-exclusive) pouches. I estimate these arriving to me in March.
Enamel pins. I estimate these to arrive March-April.
Sticker sheets and magnets. These will arrive to me this month. I'll show pictures then!
Now for some photos! First, I wanted to share the final pattern for the inside lining of the Latt-ray bag as well as the pattern for the collab-exclusive pouches. I had never showed the final pattern so here it is (with some watermarks on it ^^"). And as mentioned above, I wanted to share what my production partner and I solidified from the 4 original plush bags. While all the samples were done before the campaign, I had to go through the process of verifying each, one last time, especially for Matcha and Rye-sopod. There's no change to any of the overall design, but before a manufacturer produces 100s of an item, it's important to go through and make sure you're on the same page. For Rye-sopod, I had to verify that the card slot held cards securely since my sample was loose. And it's probably hard to tell from the photo, but they resolved this! And same for the Matcha sample - they ended up adding a reinforced edge (that nearly matches the color of matcha's cheek on the other side) to the card holder on the back side so ensure cards were a little more secure, while still being loose enough to fit a couple in there. This was actually a feature of my first Matcha sample, so I had them add it back to the final one. Thank you all so much for your support, and I'll be back soon with pics of the magnets and sticker sheets (and fingers crossed for the latt-ray <3).
Hope you're staying safe and doing okay at the start of this year!! Nicole
