WOO!
I am so excited to say that the survey part has gone by a lot smoother and I have everything ready to go! 

What this is, is nothing more than just a randomly selected handful of backers will be issued their surveys early. This will allow me to ensure that everything is set up correctly, and will allow me a chance to fix any issues that might arise before hitting the full-send to all backers. 

Otherwise, I should hopefully have the full send of surveys issued after Monday!

Wanting the add-ons and extra items in our backerkit store? This is where the chance to add them on is! 

EXCITING!!!

I did not take very many photos, mainly due to my anxiety and being so out of my element in this space, but also in general I have always been notoriously bad at taking pictures.. But the ones I took I think you will love to see!

It's such a crazy feeling to be able to say I was able to discuss the production plans and communicate the necessary revisions in person with Steven! I will have a full break-down on the upcoming adjustments in the coming days. It is primarily size adjustments, and some color adjustments. I also provided Steven with my self-made Egg prototype for him to bring back to China so their pattern designer can replicate it better to my vision. Hoping to see these updates sometime in early March!
   

I cannot express the excitement and the sheer honor it was to be able to participate in this event with them.
I am truly grateful and thankful for our manufacturer and representatives for sponsoring the majority of this trip.

I spent a majority of the trip very congested and under the weather, and Steven and Henry went above and beyond to help to provide medicine to help my symptoms. We shared some very funny moments and I even got to show them Pinball! Something they had never played before until this event!
(I wish I would have gotten a video/picture)

Hello Noop Troop!

I have returned from Toy Fair safely! It was quite the experience, and only slightly terrifying. 😅

I am back home now and ready to give a status update on payments! 

At the time of this update, we have 51 failed payments. This is a staggering amount, significantly more than our projected buffer of 5-8%--This is roughly 15%. I hope backers will do their best to remedy their payment methods within the allotted time frame! If we can resolve at least 40 of those, we should be okay to proceed without any major financial issues! 

We have 26 backers who elected for the pay over time and I wanted to give a reminder (backerkit should have notified you of this when you set it up, but just in case I will reiterate it here) to those backers: Until you pay off your balance, your order cannot be counted or shipped. This includes your backerkit survey. When the surveys are issued to backers, you will not receive one unless your full balance has been paid. You are encouraged to pay the balance off as soon as possible to avoid any confusion. Please do not make a second order, as it will create two separate orders and can cause added confusion. 

If you were interested in the campaign but did not make it in time, please visit our backerkit preorder store.
Important: If you backed the campaign, do NOT go to the store to add additional items. Please wait until you are issued your backerkit survey as you will be able to add-on extra items then!
This is specifically for those who want a chance to preorder the items and missed the campaign deadline.

The store will be open until March 7th.
Payment methods will be charged March 15th.
This will conclude the preorder window for Porter & Parker & Strawberry Noopy. While I do my best to do a left-overs drop for each production we do, I cannot guarantee any will be available later down the road.

Additional note for Pintopia backers, if you add additional items to your order through the backerkit store (such as the kindness token we have added), you will be charged for those items at the same time as preorder backers.
Shipping Fees Will Be Charged Later, around May or June. I will have more information about this closer to that time frame. 

Ahoy Troop! 
This marks the final hours of the campaign and I wanted to run through the next important steps you can anticipate! 

What Time? In my experience, Backerkit begins processing payments throughout the following 24-48 hours once the campaign concludes. 
It is not instantaneous as they are processing hundreds of pledges, but backers should anticipate seeing their cards being charged throughout the next 48 hours. 

One of the perks to crowdfunding is they have what is referred to as a 'grace period'. Unlike Kickstarter, you are not immediately dropped from the campaign, and you will be able to 'remedy' your payment method at any point up until a creator states a deadline. Normally, I have a deadline for backers to remedy their payment methods of 7 days. For this campaign however, I am extending it through the duration of February. I will make an announcement on when failed pledges will be dropped in March.

This is the important part. What is coming in the next couple weeks is what is called a Backerkit Survey. Consider this your official order form, and what is needed in order for me to not only take count on what I need to order with my manu, but is also how I get the information needed to ship your rewards when the time comes. This process is estimated to begin in around 2 weeks or so.

This is where it can get confusing though for backers who are new, so I will try to keep this simple to not overwhelm you.
1. The surveys will go out closer towards the end of the month in sections. For right now, do not worry about missing it. This is primarily for your information.
2. The surveys will have all of your add-ons, but I will be manually adding the freebies to your pledge. This is something you do not need to worry about!
3. VERY IMPORTANT: If you haven't already, I highly encourage you to tie your backerkit pledge to a user account. This will make it so that your pledge is tied to the email you backed under and it will put all of your campaigns you've backed into 1 easy to manage area. Make sure to take note of what email you used to back under, and keep that email consistent with your user account.
4. Shipping fees are NOT being collected at this time. Please keep that in mind. Shipping fees will be collected closer to May/June, and I will have updates along the way to remind folks and give a definitive shipping cost estimate.

So in short: In roughly 2 weeks, your survey will be emailed, make sure you have your email tied to a backerkit account (apple pay/apple relay accounts have a high chance of getting lost as they're not tied to an actual email, which I need to contact you), and fill out the survey once they're issued! 

It sounds confusing but I assure you it's not as scary as it seems, it's just me being thorough with added details to ensure folks don't get worried about what to do next.. Which leads me to the next thing.. 

❗If you backed the campaign, PLEASE DO NOT order anything on the backerkit store.❗
This post-campaign 'store' is a second-chance opportunity for folks who missed out on the campaign only.
When surveys go out, you will have a chance to add-on any last minute items, or extras we've added to the store along the way.
Placing a backerkit store order will result in a duplicate order placed.
If you see items you want, just sit tight and you'll be able to add more goodies once your surveys are issued.

Important Note for Post-Campaign Orders: The freebie items are only for Pintopia campaign backers.

Giveaway Winners: If you backed the campaign, I will be manually adding your giveaway winnings to your pledge once your surveys are issued. If you did not back the campaign, you will be issued a survey so I can collect your shipping details. 

Even though we did not hit our goal of 500 backers, I am still tremendously grateful for the support we did reach. We have had a lot of inquiries asking about the tokens being available as an add-on, and I just want to reassure folks that they will be added to the backerkit store. You'll be able to add those onto your pledge once your surveys go out! 
Kindness Token's will be $5/each, and I will be offering trinket bundles which includes 1 token and 5 coins for $15. If enough interest is met, I will be including a special zipper pouch to keep them in! Stay tuned for more updates in regards to that!

These are very fun fidget items and make great little mementos or placeholders for card games/DND or chips for poker/blackjack/etc!

If anyone has any questions further please let me know in the comments and I will do my best to answer asap!

Thank you to everyone who's backed so far.
This is only just the beginning, and I cannot wait to get things rocking and rolling!

Production is estimated to begin as early as March 15th! Our current estimate fulfillment is looking to be late June assuming there are not hiccups along the way (which, I have to be honest.. has kind of been happening, so please forgive me in advance if we get pushed out to July!)

Ahoy Troop!

I received our Parker sample the other day and am happy to share him with you.
Before I do so, some things to keep in mind!
  
1. His nose color is being revised for the mass production. Right now, the photos I am sharing of him are photoshopped to reflect our anticipated adjustments. Please bare that in mind! To my understanding, if we reach a certain amount of orders, we can get his nose color custom-dyed, and I will be aiming to do a mixture of a burnt-orange color. Not a rich chocolate brown as you may see in other photos of him. This isn't guaranteed, however, but we should be able to figure something out.

2. His Egg hat is still in prototype stages, and the one he is wearing is the one I personally made, and we are going to try to get our manufacturer to re-create the egg hat as close to it as we possibly can with some adjustments to the material for better conforming to his noggin. 
Those notes aside, I hope you will love him! He is very handsome and the colors are very charming for his personality type. The breakfast-lovin' boy who loves to cook his friends the best meals of their lives! 

One of our last freebie goals that I am hopeful we can hit (but it's okay if we don't! It's a really ambitious goal to reach for a Noopy campaign!) is if we can reach 500 backers by the end of the campaign, I'd be including a free Kindness Token with every backer order that contains at least one Porter or Parker Noopy plush.
This makes up for about 98% of our backers, so it would be a fantastic finale freebie item that I would love to bestow with everyone for their incredible support.
I mentioned previously that the design was still in progress and I spent an entire day working on it, getting renders made, and then getting a sample produced and finished. Here is how it turned out!
I asked our manufacturer to do a plating sample so I can get a visual demonstration for how the coin will look on each style of plating. I am leaning towards the antiqued gold, as originally planned, but wanted to share the other plating styles too!

Once they are here in hand, I will make a video showing how they look in the sunlight!

You might be wondering, "What's the purpose of these?".
At their core, they're just fun little mementos. Collectible coins that you can take with you anywhere, and they make a really good fidget trinket when you're on the go. They are also good chip markers and other creative uses within the card game community (where allowed).
The overall goal for these however, is to start a trade/barter system within the KityCrylics community and our in person events. I am working on producing a variety of coins that will be sold in bundles, and should you decide down the road you want to trade them back in at our in-person shows, you can get rewards and credits towards our wares! This is still a work in progress, however, but I am very excited at the prospect of what it could be if it takes off! 

I am excited to share that I will be attending Toy Fair in New York this month!
What makes this more exciting however is that I will be meeting my representative, Steven, and his colleagues for the first time! I have been working with Steven since 2020 and owe a great amount of our success to his continued efforts and dedication to our productions. I was invited to attend Toy Fair with his team and will be participating in Market Research with his team.
I will be out of town February 13th through the 16th-- So during that time, I will not be very active on here. However, I imagine I will probably be posting plenty over on Instagram! Don't forget to follow me there if you aren't already!
I will be discussing the production plan and going over samples and revisions with Steven in real time, which is really exciting to think about.
I do not plan on having any of my Noopy's at their booth, but they did give me permission to bring some for them to showcase and share with clients, which I am happy to do!

The next campaign update should contain important information about what to expect as we approach the last days of the campaign! Please be sure to keep an eye out for those updates!

Before I sign off: I highly recommend anyone who hasn't already, to please make a backerkit account. Make sure to tie it with the email you used to back this campaign. This is important for the post-campaign survey that will be going out at the end of the month.
Also, if you are worried about finances or any payments failing, do not worry. You will be able to remedy your payment methods and I am offering a grace period for the duration of the month through March 5th to fix them!  I am always willing to accommodate where I can to help make sure all of our backers can get their Noops, so please do not be afraid to reach out and ask for an extension! All I ask is that you do not drop from the campaign, as I cannot access your pledge information if you do!

Talk to you all soon!
- Kity