The CONPANION

Hey guys! I have another update for you. My manufacturer just told me that they have nearly their whole production team working on the backpacks, but because they're a very complicated product and this is their first time making them (plus the fact that I'm making nearly 1400 backpacks), it's going to take a little longer than they anticipated. She originally gave me the date of June 9th, but when I asked her about it this evening she said they're going to need more time. I don't know if this means a week, a month, or what, but it sounds like they're doing their best and I don't want to rush them and deliver an inferior product to you. I'm still hoping to get them sometime in July, but I will let you know the moment I know more details.

Thanks again for your patience, and if you have any questions or concerns, please email me! 

Hey guys! Thank you everyone for commenting on my last update and letting me know that you're OK with helping me with the cost of shipping the conpanions to you sooner. I have added an add-on in the survey for $8 that tells me you're opting in to have your Conpanion shipped ASAP and your smaller items (plush) sent at a later date when they're finished.

If you have already completed your survey, it's very easy to edit your completed survey by selecting the shipping add-on.
1. Locate your unique survey link from your original BackerKit confirmation email, or log in directly to your BackerKit Account.
2. If you are on a computer, click the Edit your order button at the top of the page. If you are on a mobile device, tap the drop-down menu in the top right corner and select view confirmation.
3. Make the necessary changes to your survey questions, add-ons, or shipping address. The split shipping option is all the way at the bottom. 
4. Click Next and make sure to click Place My Order or Submit Address to finalize your changes. 

As for bringing stock to my shows, after consulting with my pintopia peers they helped me come to a decision that I will be bringing very limited stock to Metrocon and Otakon after the initial shipment of conpanions is sent out to you. For those who opted for split shipping, you will get your smaller items (most likely plush since those are delayed) when they arrive to me. For those who would rather wait, your backpacks will most likely be sent out sometime in August once the plush arrive to me. 

If you guys have any questions, please let me know! Thank you for your support and thank you for helping me out with shipping costs! 

So here's the thing. After I published my last update a few hours ago, I started thinking about ways I could get shipments out faster. As it is, it costs me about $15-18 to ship out each backpack, and about $5-8 to ship out each smaller item. There's over 900 backers I need to send rewards to--not all have backpacks and not all have smaller items. 

What I'm thinking is, what if I just quickly shipped out every backpack FIRST, and then later when I get in the plush/pins, I can ship those out separate? But I would be eating an extra $5-8 per shipment to do that to several hundred people. Would you guys want me to split shipments, or would you prefer to wait for the entire shipment to come together? I have several large conventions at the end of July and into August that I would like to bring the Conpanions to (Metrocon, Otakon, Fan Expo Boston), but I won't be able to if I haven't shipped out all rewards yet. So I'm thinking it might just be worth splitting up shipments and getting all the backpacks out as soon as possible, so that y'all have your backpacks for con season AND I can bring them with me to my cons. It would cost me an extra $1.5-2k in shipping fees, but... 

What do you guys think??? 

Hey guys! I have another update, I've been told the backpacks will finish around the 9th of June! They'll take about 30 days to ship to me, so this means I'll be getting them first or second week of July. After quality control I'll start sending everything out by the end of July! 

I also have an update on the other items--enamel pins are still in production, jet tags are finished and will be coming in with the backpacks, and plush are also still in production. There's actually been a delay with the plush and my rep is telling me they won't have them done til the end of June. I asked about air freight to get them in faster, but it's about $3000 to ship via air so I opted for sea shipping instead 😭. So they will hopefully be coming in by the end of July. This means Conpanion collections will start shipping out first week of August if things go well.

Thank you everyone for your amazing patience and thank you for helping me bring the Conpanion to life! As always, let me know if you have any questions and I will send more updates as I have them! 

Production is still ongoing, slow but steady! There are no real updates to give, I have some progress photos for you though!






And then I also have a photo of the tentacle plush for those that wanted one!

That's all for now, we're still on track for a late June/mid July delivery, but I will keep you posted if that changes!

As always, let me know if you have any questions! And thank you all for your patience!