I have been doing a lot of waiting on my end for the pins and plushies. As of today, the plush are all done and being packed to ship to me! Which is super exciting. I did end up getting the collab pins, but frankly I was disappointed with the coloration of the annodizing so I've asked for new ones and for the final version to be sure to get multiple colors on them.
The edge of the pins have the multicolor rainbow we want, but the fronts are pretty uniformly green/blue. They've promised it was because the samples were rushed, and I will say that otherwise the pins look pretty good. The rushed samples also had some missing enamel in some of them, but the quality I've received from this manu in the past has always been really good, so I have faith it will be fixed.
I was disappointed in the pins we got because the lines were SO THIN. Their artist thinned my artist's lines, which I knew, but then the pins had even THINNER lines than their artist's lines. And then the lines were chipped all over-- they should have been clean gold lines, but they had a 'sparkle' look to them, like glitter, which meant the lines weren't fine. So on the left is the pins they did, and the right is the new casting from a new mold. This was almost perfect except for the eyes overlapping the glasses on the Sun/Whale Goblin pin again. They are fixing that then getting me proper samples to okay.
The rough timeline should be me receiving and okaying the pin samples in another 2 weeks, then placing the order for the pins as the plushies arrive to me. Ironically those will be in hand first. After another 3 weeks, the pins should be complete, then we can begin shipping 2 weeks after that when they arrive. This means roughly that we're looking at around mid May that I should be shipping these out. I can also of course ship out the plushies for people who only ordered those early.
That is definitely later than I'd intended, but I've never had these pin issues with this manufacturer. That said, I know it will be worth it when these gorgeous pins gleam on your jackets and bags! So thank you for your patience.
So while we wait....
The Goblin's Tarot, which our pin set was based on, has its full Major Arcana illustrated already! Right now, Sam is finishing flat colors for the minor suits, and will be back to me when those start to finish up. Above you can see The Sun, The Magician, Justice, and The Tower. They each show the Goblin in different forms on their journey, seeing and experiencing different parts of the world of Ajurea-- the very Goblin's Journey our project is named for.
The Sun takes place at the Sky Whale Festival up in Motley Coast City. The Magician down in the twilit, bioluminescent forests of Riqlem. Justice looks on at a rally for equal rights for those abandoned by other parts of the world deep in the Mflzmth Jungle. The Tower takes place among the Koukyla, the stone peoples from my game New Avernus, as they recount their history of constant upheaval and destruction by a cruel god who pushed their faith to the limit.
