Welcome to the first issue of What the Duck? News! It's a bit of a bumper issue, so get a coffee and take a seat! We've got a lot to cover!
What the Duck happened to the "Monthly Progress Reports"?
In short - nothing! They're just getting renamed to "What the Duck? News!" You'll still get last month's events wrapped up in one place, so you can keep up to to date with everything that's going on!
What the Duck? News is a more light-hearted way for us to present that information to you, and we want the title to resemble the nature of its contents!
Furthermore, if you're not interested in the recap of last month's events, we have a FAQ at the very end of the article.
Battle of the Bruh
First of all, we opened August with the long-awaited Battle of the Bruh!
If you aren't up to date yet, Battle of the Bruh has its own blog post that you can look at here: >HERE<
The results can be seen below:
After a hard-fought battle from both sides, Silver turned up as the winner. What that means is that every Gluttonous Bass pin we sell will be silver!
I think it's worth noting that it was a VERY close fight. Initially, it looked like Black Nickel was going to win by a landslide. I honestly can't help but feel that probruhganda like this contributed to the comeback bruh:
Credit: eLTeh - Twitter >HERE<
The Beginning of an Estelle Pin
To bring everyone up to speed, on Estelle's birthday (a beloved Falcom Character), we put out this image:
It's sweet, right? And we thought we could reveal our upcoming Junior Bracer Emblem to celebrate! What could possibly go wrong?
Joining in on the celebrations! And to celebrate we want to show you a new pin we've had in development for a while! pic.twitter.com/A5rUYWCtAG
— Pin Box (@PinBoxLtd) August 7, 2020
Well, as it turns out...words are hard. Everyone thought the never before seen art of Estelle WAS the pin...NOT what was tweeted underneath.
There are no two ways around this. We messed up. Unfortunately, it happens. Being a small and relatively new company, we're still learning, and this was one of those times. However, keep reading - there was a silver lining to all of this!
It took us just over an hour to realise our mistake, which, given the world of social media, may as well have been an eternity. A quick tweet after to clear up the confusion (caused by us) and all was well! Right?
Well, not exactly... Everyone still wanted an Estelle pin, and MrFry_ was not going to let this moment pass. We got a notification from Twitter presenting us with something all too familiar:
How many likes for an Estelle pin 🤔 https://t.co/Av4QGvNwXp
— Mr. Fry @ College hell (@MrFry_) August 7, 2020
Having been down this path before with a certain fish...
-Begin Flashback-
-End Flashback-
...we'd be lying if we said we were anything but:
We wanted to raise the bar, so we decided to make things interesting by giving them a chance at some stretch goals - the last of which would bring MrFry_ onboard to be a personal consultant for the development of the pin. A fitting reward for a superfan! Once again, given the world of social media, everyone smashed it, and now an Estelle pin is in development.
Another Contender!? Tio & Mishy Pin
It wasn't long until more people wanted in on the action of getting their favourite characters brought to life. This time, the subject was Tio.
After some negotiation, we agreed that if her fans could meet our given follower count, we would make their desired pin. We offered to bring Mishy along, too! Mishy is Tio's favourite thing in Zemuria, and we figured her fans wouldn't want her to be lonely. They succeeded with only 36 minutes left on the deadline!
Congratulations to everyone! You hit the final goal with only 36 minutes to spare! Keep your eye on this space on the upcoming Tio & Mishy pin! If you have ideas or suggestions we would LOVE to see them below! pic.twitter.com/PWN0roVVtv
— Pin Box (@PinBoxLtd) August 13, 2020
Expect to hear more soon!
Pin Box Legend of Heroes Pins Launch
The long-awaited set of pins have finally arrived! A selection of Legend of Heroes pins will be launching for pre-order, which you can see below. These include rereleases of older pins representing the Bracer Guild, Liberl, and Erebonia, as well as two newcomers - the fabled Gluttonous Bass, and the Junior Bracer Emblem.
Not only that, but we held a special giveaway for one of three Black Nickel Gluttonous Bass Pins in the world!
To recap, the owners of the three remaining Black Nickel Gluttonous Bass pins are as follows:
- Falcom
- Lloyd Bannings...?
- emmipon on Twitter who won the giveaway!
Nope, not even us at Pin Box have the delight of looking at one anymore! Don't worry if you didn't win the giveaway, however, as we have one exceptional prize up for grabs that you haven't missed out on yet!
The Legend of the Golden Bruh
Any pre-order made for the Gluttonous Bass will automatically be entered in for a chance to receive a one of a kind GOLDEN version of the Gluttonous Bass. Only a single version of this pin will be produced, so this is your only chance to get one! We wish you all the best of luck!
Open pre-orders for the Legend of Heroes pins will close on the 2nd of September. At which point, our order will be submitted for production. You will still be able to pre-order after this; however, we may have to stop pre-orders if demand is higher than we anticipate! Should it look like that might be the case we'll give everyone a final heads up, so no one misses out!
Aardman Animations Teams up with Pin Box!
We also recently launched pre-orders for our Wallace and Gromit Pins! It's a series that we at Pin Box are massive fans of, and it has truly been something special to work with Aardman on these. Featuring the Rocket that started Wallace & Gromit's journeys, the Cooker they encounter and of course, Wallace & Gromit themselves. These are all part of our "A Grand Day Out" range inspired by the 1989 short film of the same name.
If you aren't familiar with their work, you should get yourself acquainted. Aardman's stop motion animation is world-class! Please give them a visit @ https://wallaceandgromit.com/.
To celebrate, our Pin Box ducks put together a short movie they would love to share with you! Inspired by Aardman's work and somehow in 8K (according to Youtube), we hope it brings you good vibes for the rest of the day! (Please watch with audio!)
What's next from Pin Box?
That's probably the most frequently asked question we receive! The short answer is: "A LOT".
And although we may be a bit quieter this month, that doesn't mean we aren't busy working away on the next set of pins, many of which are already far into development!
However, we want to give you, the fans, a chance to influence our upcoming releases, so we would like to introduce our Community Goals*! We hope you'll join us in reaching these goals! (*Pins are subject to Licensor's Agreement)
You can find all the links to contribute here!
Twitter: >HERE<
Facebook: >HERE<
Instagram: >HERE<
FAQs
Q: Where is my order of Ys VIII / Okami Pins?
A: They are currently in production! They started just after the beginning of August. There was a slight delay in the manufacturing process that was unforeseen, but I've been assured that it hasn't held us back too much. We are still targeting to get these pins out to you by September, which was the back end of our original estimation! If we expect that to change, we will post about it and keep you informed. Once your pins have been dispatched, you will get an email letting you know it's on its way along with your tracking information (If that applies).
Q: I'm part of the Members Club and haven't received my points for the order, what gives?
A: Unfortunately, we can only credit accounts with the points for their orders when it is dispatched. I know this causes a bit of a dilemma with it being pre-orders at the moment, but without it being this way, the system would be far too easy to exploit for unlimited points. If you get your dispatch email, and the points still haven't shown up after 48 hours get in touch and we'll look into it.
Q: I placed an order, but I want to add something else to the order, how can I do this?
A: Previously, we thought it wasn't possible with our systems; however, we are trialling something new to allow people to add items to their orders. Any change to your order has to be done by us; so you will have to contact us on one of our many channels available.
Q: When will my order ship if I ordered different pre-order Items?
A: Your order will only ship when we have everything that you ordered in stock. In some cases, this may mean you have to wait a bit longer to get a pin that is released earlier. If you want every release at launch, we recommend you make separate orders for each collection or get clarification from us first!
Q: Can This be a pin?
A: Definitely. Not. But maybe.
Until Next Time...
If you've made it to the end - thank you! It takes much longer than you would think to put these together. We look forward to seeing what the following month brings us, and what the community will bring to us as they often manage to do!
We'd also like to thank everyone for their support since we launched Pin Box. It's what gets us up in the morning, and we genuinely cannot wait 'til you start getting our pins in your hands!
