Technology is far from the antithesis of the natural world. We look to nature for design, fashioning aircraft in accordance with the dynamics of birds and solar panels after the scales on a butterfly’s wings. The aesthetic of Short Circuit carries on in this tradition, illustrating animals and other elements of the natural world in the style of Printed Circuit Boards (PCB) and bringing them into your lives as comforting robot companions!

The series is called Short Circuit as these little robots don't quite function as intended, but they put their whole electronic hearts into their tasks regardless. Conceptually, the bot-board pins function as personality chips for the robots!

Short Circuit 1.0 saw to the production of bot-boards in four Unit Lines: Earth, Fire, Water, and Air featuring ambassador robots Byte, Hex, Torrent, and Python along with additional units Malware and Mozzy.

Short Circuit 1.1 (Spooky Circuit) added Unit Line: Void featuring ambassador robot Remnant and additional robot units Defrag and Decomm.

Which brings us to the aim of this campaign: Short Circuit 1.2 (Soft Circuit) will seek to add Unit Line: Light featuring ambassador robots Hash and Heap - along with the first plush incarnations of the ambassador robots, beginning with Byte!

Softwere is a 2" gold plated, hybrid enamel pin in the colorway of Unit Line: Earth. Miss the first 48 hour window? Don't fret! This dashing bot-board is also available to purchase through pledges and campaign add-ons.

Returning backers will receive a FREE 4" selective holographic vinyl sticker of Softwere, as a thank you for continuing to show up for these lil friends. <3

Back both this campaign and Pods & Pots at a physical pin tier or higher, and you will receive two freebie pins - one by myself and one by Kage Davies!

Also back 3+ campaigns from the Animal Akademia banner at a physical pin tier or higher to receive free mini-pins from each! The reward from Soft Circuit is an exclusive miniature version of Pause.

Interested in customizing your pledge? In the Add-On section you'll find all the Soft Circuit items available to purchase one by one, so you can adjust your order as the campaign progresses while still taking advantage of pledge tier discounts. For Add-Ons with multiple choices, selection of which designs you'd like to claim will occur post-campaign via backer survey.

The following full project timeline is an estimate based on the process of my previous projects, observing other small artists working with plush, and quotations offered by my suppliers. This is a thoroughly padded estimate: plush are a lot more involved to prototype than pins, and I will take whatever time is necessary to make sure your new friends are absolutely perfect!!

Pin and sticker only orders will fulfill sooner than this (estimated August-September 2026).

Any deviations from this projection will be communicated via updates in the Community tab and emails sent out to backers!

Hey there! My name is Anya, also known to various fandom and online spaces as "Chinny" and "CZGoldEdition". I'm a full-time freelance illustrator, concept artist, and merch designer raised in Appalachia and living in the Netherlands. Restarting my business across the ocean has been daunting, but backers like you made it possible! I made this move because the love of my life is Dutch, and of our two countries it's currently safer to establish our queer little family here.

This is my third Backerkit campaign, with my first completely fulfilled and the second currently in bulk production. My visa is based on my small business, and I'm extremely grateful to have the opportunity to design little guys and have them produced for you all to enjoy, especially in these uncertain times. I hope they bring you as much joy as I experience creating them, and with your support we can continue to explore this concept and beyond! <3

Backerkit is a crowdfunding platform that empowers you to help make ideas into reality! It functions as a sort of pre-order, allowing creators to gather the funds needed to produce items that are in turn sent along to the backers of their campaigns.

You won't be charged until the campaign ends. Take advantage of that to claim your early bot rewards! If you need to lower or cancel your pledge later, you can do so any time before pledges are processed to avoid being charged.

Designs will be unlocked as stretch goals are hit, meaning they have been fully funded and will be put into production at the conclusion of the campaign! Pledge with whatever designs you’d like in mind to increase its odds of being unlocked, and then check back before the campaign ends to adjust if a design you wanted was not reached.

Surveys will be sent out after the campaign’s conclusion for you to pick which designs you would like. Once finalized you can continue to edit your order via Backerkit until orders are locked.

Updates on production and fulfillment will be sent to your Backerkit email and posted in the Community tab on the campaign page.