Hey all,
I just pushed the button to lockdown orders (it does a 48 hr notice before locking), so that we can move to charge cards and finalize the counts and volumes. This is especially important as I look to our international inventory counts.
If you havent gotten to it, here is the link to your survey/pre-order
https://owlbear-accessories.backerkit.com/

Production on keychains and plushes has started, I should be getting final production versions of the accessories and the purple owlbear pretty soon now, as things are rolling (and have been fully paid for). Ill update when I get that news in. Same with an update on timing. 

We're going to be at GenCon! If you're there, please stop by our booth at #2238 and say hi! As much as I was hoping to have fulfillment done and everything ready for GenCon, timing just wasnt on our side. We will be shipping in a few Pheonix plushes (not the keychains) to have for gencon , and we'll also have the pins for you to see as well.
If you want to pick up some of your rewards/pre-order, let me know by filling out this survey. We'll only have owlbear plushes (all but purple), phoenix plush and pins]. 


Ill post more updates as things become available.
Andreas

Hey Caretakers,
Thank you for your patience. I seem to have bad luck when it comes to manufacturers becuase its always just another thing....
Anyways as you know, we've moved to a new manufacturer (the ones doing our keychain plushes), in an effort to save costs (even before tariffs but even more importantly so now).
That was going alright, and I thought things were shaping up to the point where payment for production was submitted and was switching teams to coordinating with production staff. Turns out, person I was coordinating with, is no longer with them, and there were a few things that we've gone back and forth on emails that just never made it to the production staff — like confusion on the dragon turtles green, and the need to produce purple owlbears -_-.
Ideally, I was hoping to have all this product fulfilled and by or before GenCon, but it's likely it'll only begin its freight journey in July/August.
Im currently working the missing/issue items with my new rep, esp since ive already put down payment for production, and manufacturing has begun on our other items (which are all shipping together).
----------
New Items in Backerkit,
I've added everything that is being produced in this project's backerkit (which was a little bit of a pain, since i changed my pin numbering since, and so i had to check every single item to make sure they were updated and correct and didnt accidentally delete anything). 
But now we have the Keychain Plushes, new Dragon Turtle and Phoenix plushes, and all of the pins that were shown off.
(for those who just backed for a non-purple owlbear and/or just pins, after we collect shipping we'll start fulfilling these ASAP, since the product is on-hand and you're not waiting for anything.

Shipping added
When we first invited you to backerkit, we turned off shipping, as at the time we had no idea what costs might have evolved into at the time. It has now since been added.

SURVEY /ADDON LOCK will happen June 30th
And CARDS WILL BE CHARGED JULY 12th!

You can get to your survey/addons using this link
https://owlbear-accessories.backerkit.com/backer/survey

If you have any questions id be happy to answer, and also I apologize for not getting to your comments. I wish backerkit would send me an email right as they happen so I can see them more visibly, but for some reason (as compared to Kickstarter) they are just harder to find/have visibility on and i apologize for now responding to any remarks as soon as possible.

I really did not expect this project to run as long as it currently has, but at least the finish line is in sight (assuming the Trump administration doesn't do anything else stupid).
Thanks for bearing with me,

Andreas


Also, since I have you, we have begun work on the 2026 calendar (illustrated by Koit Paales, who did soo many of our pin artwork), which will be themed on video game nostalgia (each year we feature a new artist and explore a fun theme. We will probably be launching this campaign in August, so production can begin in October and allow early fulfillment in November.
You can follow the campaign here!

Hey all,
Sorry for the delay, its been quite the crazy month, especially with the whole tariff situation.

Accessories Status
I've recieved updated quotes from our new manufacturer (which provided costs at 3-4x below our prior manufacturer, for instance old manufacturer estimated ~$10/set, while our new one ~$3/set.), Which makes a ton of difference when we're ordering for inventory and trying to maintain sustainability.
Ive also gone ahead and given the green light to start production.

Purple Owlbear
As they're new, they are also included with the accessory production order. In addition, we are getting additional colors of the other types as well.

Pins
Using the counts from the your surveys, we found we needed to order quite a few more pins. This order includes some new designs that we have.
They are already en-route to the US (and have fortunately avoided tariffs).

Next Steps
I am hoping to get a timeline of the production now that things are approved and starting to move with this new manufacturer. (i expect things will arrive in about August/September 2025)

That leaves the whole tariff situation. As of this point, things are crazy and we're monitoring to see how and where things are going...

As for the pledge manager, what I will be doing in the coming weeks, is adding our newly produced items to the pledge manager, so that you can get everything in one package. (and will update you on that as well).
I dont expect to be charging for shipping and locking down addons until June (I will post more updates as we go).

Thanks for your patience, I didn't expect to be changing manufacturer as part of this project, but as much disruption it as caused, its for the better for our long term sustainability.
All the best, 
Andreas

Hey All, wanted to provide a brief update thats also a bit behind the hood on the business end of things (as i do like to share about this stuff to anybody whos interested)

Essentially we got quantity quotes for the accessory packs and they're way more expensive than i was expecting (still doable, they're about $10 per pack), but that puts it about the same cost as producing an owlbear from this manufacturer.

Ive mentioned this in a few other places, but as we've been selling more owlbears over the years, we've come to notice that our owlbear plush costs are quite high.  We picked a reputable (pass-through) manufacturer and got good service...problem is, it comes at the cost of them having to make money as well. Which essentially double to tripled our manufacturing costs.

Over the past months Ive been shopping around our owlbear to see what direct manufacturing would charge us to produce the plush and ultimately, it comes at around $2-3/plush (as opposed to the $10 i was paying).
This is something that we're increasingly sensitive to as a large volume of our orders are increasingly retail (and so selling a $35 plush for 17.5 into retail, after freight, shipping and manufacturing, we're only getting about $5/plush.), which is a positive number yes, but we're also trying to recover from $85k that was stolen from us back in 2021.)

I am getting the accessories cost estimated as we speak with the current keychain plush manufacturer. I am hoping to get a better sense of our way forward this month.

Also I put in a bulk order for our pins! so we'll be showcasing them as they're being produced 

All the best, 
Andreas