Comparing an action figure line to a deck of cards isn't *remotely* a fair or worthwhile comparison. There's pretty much nothing a toy company could learn or utilize from a card game company's product or methods to help the toy line's sales.



The Kickstarter company isn't really set up to handle the depth of optionality an action figure line offers, so the interface for contributors can be wonky. Boss Fight, Marauder, and the 4Horsemen have had such success with KS that they're often copied in how the offerings are structured, but every line and company is unique and does it differently according to their needs and goals.

The basics of a campaign are that the campaigners need a minimum amount of money to do any product at all. For action figures this is mostly the cost for the factory to make the master molds and produce a minimum number of them. The cost of workers and mold production and their installation on the plastic extrusion machines causes factories to require a minimum order to make it worth their time and effort. Then there's typically printing costs for the packaging, shipping from China to the campaigner's homebase, and whatever artists that may have been contracted to help along the way. Whatever they expect all that to add up to, and I expect a small percent on top as a buffer for emergencies or simply profit, is what the minimum funding level becomes.

Additional products obviously cost more, but usually not as much overall as the minimum funding amount; so you'll see Unlockable items at smaller amounts above the minimum.

The Kickstarter company acts solely as money-handlers in this process, gathering the contributor funds and passing them on to the campaigners. I believe they take 10% of the total as their fee, but don't quote me on that. Other than maintaining the campaign webpage for updates and comments, they have no further involvement in the process and accept no responsibility for the campaigners to follow through and deliver product.

Once you pledge your money, you're free to raise, lower, or cancel that pledge up until the time the campaign ends. KS then charges your card and you begin the wait for your figures to come. If you have insufficient funds or such, campaigners will send emails for a while asking you to fulfill your pledge. I'm not sure if KS has measures to prevent excessive 'bad pledging', but I imagine your account gets canceled and your card info blocked.

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Basically you pledge a set amount of money for the project. As enticement to get more money, the creators of the project add layers of things that you can expect to receive at certain pledged amounts.

They further can add complexity by offering additional 'stretch goals' that could be considered 'bonus items' if they weren't already factored in to the matrix before launching the KS campaign.

Many times a KS won't allow a backer to 'buy' any additional stretch goals unless that backer has put in a significant initial pledge. They wouldn't want people paying $1 to have the same access as the folks who pay $25/100/450, etc., because there wouldn't be a reason for folks to pledge high initially.

A backer can not only add to their pledge, but can also decrease their pledge at any time DURING the campaign. IF the campaign is funded (which this one is, at the time of this writing) you are on the hook for that money. THAT DOES NOT GUARANTEE YOU'LL RECEIVE ANYTHING. As far as I can tell, KS is a one-way street and that's why it's important to do your homework on any given campaign.

The 'all-in' feature can be a good thing (Boss Fight) or it can be a 'meh' thing, but can also be a dangerous thing -- like others have said in this thread, if enough stretch goals aren't 'unlocked' (meaning the total money pledged gets high enough) then people who went all-in can reduce their pledge down to a level that makes fiscal sense, and if enough people do that, it can drop the total pledges low enough to actually un-fund the campaign and nobody gets anything. If a campaign is unsuccessful (by not making their lowest goal/requested amount) then no pledges are honored and your funds are safe.

Having an idea behind who is involved in this kickstarter campaign, I would be surprised if it didn't retain it's initial funding success, as there is probably someone who can loan/invest into it, just to not lose all the nerdmoney pledged and to see something get made, but again, that doesn't guarantee product.

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dang! I wish I had this kind of reaction to *my* questions once in a while!

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They got some anonymous donor to kick in $10,000 too according to the comments on the kickstsrter. I have a feeling that 555 contributor mark to unlock the vigilante as well as the $100 minimum pledge are gonna be tossed aside. The vigilante will need to be opened to anyone as an add on before the end. I might go in if I can get the lawman with the vigilante added on. My confidence has been shaken too much by warnings and by predicted behavior coming true regarding a member of the kickstarter campaign to go in any farther than that.

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I didn't make a product comparison ADRIEN, I simply provided a link to a very successful and SIMPLE Kickstarter Campaign.

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Simple is always better than wonky.

Adding super weird rules and restrictions is even worse. This one has the weird matching of 10k but only for all in levels and then the unlocking of the BLV if the total number of pledges is 550 and only if they are over $100... Just adds confusion when there shouldn't be.

I also think that ALL-IN production level exclusives is the worst marketing ploy of all time. If you are going to offer some kind of ALL-IN reward make it something like resin casts or test shots of one of the already offered figures with a COA or something like that.

Just my 2 cents though. I've never been brave enough to try and launch my own toy company via crowd funding.

To be clear, until the campaign ends, no money changes hands. One is not 'on the hook' in any sense beyond a mildly ethical sense in that canceling your pledge after the campaign reaches minimum funding could drop them back below that amount. You're not contractually obligated to pay your pledge at any point in time until the transaction has been run after the campaign has ended.


By saying "these guys know how to do it right" you are not simply providing a link but in fact making a comparison between the campaigns, as if action figure campaigners deliberately complexify their campaigns arbitrarily. If it were sensible to want just one suit of cards or just the face cards or whatnot, I'm sure that campaign would have set up rewards attempting to satisfy all the desired variants a contributor could want.

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edit:

*sigh*

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Liftoff and I are splitting a 5pack + BLV, under his account. My pledge status is fine.

I do agree that forcing weird conditions on whether a figure can be bought beyond the simple matter of whether the money is raised is most likely to be more counter-productive to the campaign than it is an incentive for greater contributions. BFS had KS exclusives, but anyone could request them without limit or obstacle so long as they pledged. I think their campaign structure should be seen as the gold standard for how an action figure campaign should be structured.

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Oh and also, sometimes the campaign creator works with BBTS and they will accept pre-orders during the campaign.

BBTS will create pre-orders on their web-store and you can pre-order the items. Prices usually match the KS campaign and they do not charge you until the item ships from BBTS to you.

Then BBTS will gather up all their pre-orders and make a contribution to the KS.

BBTS assumes all the risk because in the event that the KS does not deliver the rewards you can always cancel your pre-order even after the campaign ends.

It doesn't look like this particular campaign has worked with BBTS but some do.

Eagle force for example. In fact you can still pre-order some of them.
http://www.bigbadtoystore.com/bbts/menu.aspx?menu=1124&company=1762

hey thanks guys !

a bit clearer now, but still not my bag. unless someone starts a "lords of rock" 1:18 fully articulated collection if they make Sabbath with dio I am out, sorry .

are hellscreamers suppose to start on the 31st? jeez if all these guys had gotten together and not ran campaigns simultaneously im sure it would have benefited them all in the end. i looked at the hellscreamers several weeks back, just not interested in them at all. the big bulky space outfits everyone in huge helmets hiding their face thing isnt really for me.

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I threw in for a Posse Pack. I like them because they could be used as they are, as historical Old West figures, or as bases for Firefly customs with just a little work.

What? It was funded, then it dropped back under the line?

If one or more pledges are canceled, that's exactly what can happen. I don't think we've seen it happen with a figure campaign yet, though; and I doubt it'll stay below funding through to completion.

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