ED-209

Custom Minifigures on Kickstarter

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Hi everyone!

I've just launched a Kickstarter campaign with the goal of making custom printed minifigs, and wanted to share some of the designs we're including in the campaign (we're also offering bespoke made-to-order figures!) You can click the link in my sig for more info, here are the designs - hope you like them and I'd love to hear your thoughts! :grin:

*EDIT*

Perhaps the most promising figure is the bespoke made-to-order minifig!

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Edited by ED-209

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Just a quick update to show the designs for the back printing on some of the figures:

anzac_front_and_back_by_edward_the_red-d9hycc1.png

mountie_front_and_back_by_edward_the_red-d9hycdk.png

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Hope you like 'em! :grin:

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Is metallic print possible?

The vikings look good!

Thanks Wardancer, that means a lot coming from you! (The Vikings range back in 2005 is what brought me out of my Dark Ages, hence "Jolly Viking")

Metallic ink isn't part of the Kickstarter campaign I'm afraid. As far as I'm aware it simply can't be done on a UV printer for chemical reasons. Although if the Kickstarter is successful, the next part of my plans will be to eventually get my hands on a manual pad printer! That way I'll be able to overprint the UV printed design with specialised inks like metallics. Best of both worlds! :grin:

I've also added another video to the Kickstarter page containing a collection of designs/ideas for the one-of-a-kind prints! Hit the link in my sig to check it out. :classic:

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It would be fun to have a viking army in that color scheme, but there would need to be more generic torsos in this sort of blue. I cannot spend anything on side projects at the Moment, but if an Opportunity to print metallic ever came up, I would be among the first to try to get a female Version of the CMF elf (an endeavor which might make a cunning customizer rich one day I may add).

Edited by Wardancer

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I've seen a few of these printed part services on the web, and many of them only allow bulk orders due to the cost involved in the printing process. I'm glad to see you're planning on doing a more buyer-friendly single-purchase sort of deal, but I wonder how much each figure will actually cost, more or less? I see from your Kickstarter campaign rewards that it can't be that far from the $20 range, or am I way off the mark? Again, a really great idea, definitely a service I'd love to use over using waterslides.

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It would be fun to have a viking army in that color scheme, but there would need to be more generic torsos in this sort of blue. I cannot spend anything on side projects at the Moment, but if an Opportunity to print metallic ever came up, I would be among the first to try to get a female Version of the CMF elf (an endeavor which might make a cunning customizer rich one day I may add).

Well help get the word out about the Kickstarter campaign, and then we'll be that much closer to being able to print metallic ink! :innocent::laugh:

I've seen a few of these printed part services on the web, and many of them only allow bulk orders due to the cost involved in the printing process. I'm glad to see you're planning on doing a more buyer-friendly single-purchase sort of deal, but I wonder how much each figure will actually cost, more or less? I see from your Kickstarter campaign rewards that it can't be that far from the $20 range, or am I way off the mark? Again, a really great idea, definitely a service I'd love to use over using waterslides.

Thank you, my philosophy is really a "by fans, for fans" kind of thing for the community. I'm not looking to make a tonne of money off other people (in fact all the money from the campaign goes to buying and shipping the printer, buying the blank Lego parts, posting the pledges to the backers, and the small fees paid to Kickstarter - all the time I'll spend designing the bespoke figures is being given away for free! :laugh: )

You're asking how much figures will cost once the Kickstarter campaign is funded and finished? I expect similar, but perhaps a little higher. I haven't worked out all the finer details as I've been focusing all my energy on the initial funding goal, but of course the ongoing prices would have to cover my time to make it sustainable in the long term.

So if you're trying to weigh up whether to back now or wait until later, yes the pricing will be better now! :wink:

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Hi Ed.

Big fan of the elf decals you posted ages ago, and would definitely be looking to get on board with your kickstarter campaign. Just a question though (I'm not overly sure how kickstarter REALLY works). In the event you don't hit the target set, will you still be going ahead? I'm quite happy to do a pledge for a bunch of bespoke minifigs.

Thanks!

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Hi Ed.

Big fan of the elf decals you posted ages ago, and would definitely be looking to get on board with your kickstarter campaign. Just a question though (I'm not overly sure how kickstarter REALLY works). In the event you don't hit the target set, will you still be going ahead? I'm quite happy to do a pledge for a bunch of bespoke minifigs.

Thanks!

Thanks nivremis! :grin:

Good question about Kickstarter. It works on an "all or nothing" funding model, if a campaign doesn't reach its funding goal, no money changes hands. The backers don't get charged at all, and the project sadly doesn't go ahead. It works that way because a campaign's funding goal is meant to be the minimum required to get the project up and running - in my case if I can't raise the funds to buy the printer, then I can't make the figures for the backers.

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Just another quick update to say that we've added eight more figures to the standard "campaign range". And if you're in the US or Europe don't forget to check out an online currency converter - the Australian dollar is so weak at the moment that the prices are probably cheaper than you think! :laugh:

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Hope you like them! And if there's any questions or suggestions please ask! :grin:

Edited by ED-209

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A female elf, my only weakness.

She would look good with these:

http://alpha.brickli...0pb353#T=C&C=88

Or these:

http://www.bricklink...ype=P&catID=484

How much is shipping?

Ah, glad you like her! :grin:

Worldwide shipping is a flat $10 (including the higher teirs).

Wow, 20 Australian Dollars are 13 Euros only!

Told you it'd be better value than you'd expect! :tongue:

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OK, are there any German AFOLS who would like to share an order with me? It gets MUCH cheaper if people share shipping costs and go for the bigger packages. Please send me a PM if you like.

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Fairly new to this site and new to custom minifigs, but it's great to see a fellow Aussie trying to get some custom figs off the ground, they look great! I'm trying to get some NBL figures done, but ended up just going with stickers, but being able to get them professionally printed is the dream! Just a shame we're so far away from the rest of the world and the price differences are comparably greater!

Wish you luck!

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Fairly new to this site and new to custom minifigs, but it's great to see a fellow Aussie trying to get some custom figs off the ground, they look great! I'm trying to get some NBL figures done, but ended up just going with stickers, but being able to get them professionally printed is the dream! Just a shame we're so far away from the rest of the world and the price differences are comparably greater!

Wish you luck!

Thanks w00kie! We could definitely do figures like that for you!

Yeah there's not much custom work being done in Australia. If the campaign succeeds I'd love to be able to take the printer and a laptop along to conventions and print custom figures on-site!

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Sorry it did not work out.

Sometimes I wonder how big the customizer's world actually is. I mean, are there thousands or hundreds or dozens of people? MCW forum is virtually dead, only few participate in the CCC custom category. Flickr has the most action, but it is hard to estimate. It would be really interesting to know how many customers brickwarriors has for example.

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If I might, only the torsos had unique printing (and the norse woman's dress), otherwise everything can be found (or close enough) in the current Lego line. Thus, the prices are really just for one part of a minifigure and that's a lot to absorb.

Maybe creating a theme of torsos would be better. It could keep costs down (only one part) and create something that people could want all of. For example, ten different Castle/Fantasy torsos would make people want to collect all of them.

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I felt an urge to start collecting a viking army. But I have so many projects planned that I cannot start a new army. Also I have gotten so used to printed legs that it is hard to accept figs without it.

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