project-image

Kobold Plushies

Created by The Gallant Goblin

Kobold plushies inspired by fantasy tabletop gaming.

Latest Updates from Our Project:

Belated Big September Update
over 1 year ago – Tue, Sep 20, 2022 at 09:05:03 PM

Hey folks, sorry for being quiet for so long on the official update front. Theo's mom has been very ill, meaning he's been out of state most of August and September, which has left us at reduced capacity in terms of keeping everything going.  We have, however, mostly good news on the Kickstarter front.

Classic Rory Shipping

We're late on Classic Rory shipping due to the aforementioned family emergency but almost all US backers for Classic Rory had their packages mailed out today and should have received an email notification with a tracking number. There's a few more left to fulfill. Here's all the little guys that headed out for their forever homes today!

A photo of a couple dozen Classic Rory red wizard kobold plushies individually wrapped in plastic and lined up on our cabinet waiting to be packaged and shipped.

For international backers, you have two options:

1) We can mail out Classic Rory now from the US but risk you getting hit with customs and VAT charges because our US carrier options don't handle customs-friendly shipping. We are happy to refund you the amount you pay if that happens.

2) We send the Classic Rory plushies to our international fulfillment centers and they'll be included in the big shipment with everything else, but you'll have to wait until all the other pieces are ready to go.

If you ordered a Classic Rory and are not in the United States, please feel free to reach out to us at [email protected] if you want to proceed with Option 1. Otherwise we will default to Option 2.  

Manufacturing

Every last physical item in the Kickstarter is in manufacturing phase now. All the kobold plushies and their accessory packs are scheduled to complete production in late October, at which point they will be shipped to our three primary fulfillment centers in the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia.

Depending on the state of sea shipping in late October, we are admittedly cutting it close on getting the plushies to you by Christmas. It's possible, but everything has to go right.  Production did get delayed slightly because we received all the updated samples in person and had some change requests:

  • Some of the new weapons didn't stick to the Velcro on the kobold hands well enough so we had to request the manufacturer add Velcro to those pieces.
  • The cleric's tunic had a very small head opening that required smushing the kobold's head to fit it onto the body. While it fits fine, we were worried it required too much aggressive squeezing and people might be worried about damaging either the kobold or the tunic. So now the tunic will open and close with Velcro in the back.
  • We also requested some design and color adjustments for the torch flame.

We believe everything should be good now though we are waiting for the final production samples to arrive still. Here are some photos from the first wave of samples though, which should be higher quality than the ones we posted from the manufacturer in our last update:

Adventuring Kit Accessory Pack (aka the Stretch Goal accessory pack)

Rory the red kobold wizard models the stretch goal accessory pack. A gray torch with green flame in the sconce is attached to the left hand and the healing potion bottle to the right. A gold key about the size of his leg leans against him. He’s wearing the backpack pet carrier but you can only see the chest straps from this front perspective.
The back view of the previous picture showing the basket-like pet carrier backpack attached to Rory’s back.

Barbarian Accessory Pack

Buckles the blue kobold fighter models the barbarian accessory pack. All the pieces are colored light tan and dark brown. there is a kilt/belt around her waist, a spiked armband on her right arm, and a spiked shoulderpiece on her left shoulder attached via a strap over the chest. She also holds a warhammer almsot as tall as her in the right hand.

Cleric Accessory Pack

Buckles the blue kobold fighter models the cleric accessory pack. All the pieces have a silver and light blue color scheme. She has a kite shield strapped to her left hand and a mace in her right. There’s a robe-like tunic covering the body, a small circular pendant necklace depicting the head of a dragon in side profile, and a pair of matching shoulderpads attached by straps around the neck.

Druid Accessory Pack

Flick the orange kobold ranger models the druid accessory pack. There is a satchel on the left side with the strap going over the head and right shoulder. A pair of brown antlers atop the head are attached via a band wrapping around the head and under the neck. In the right hand is a candy cane-shaped brown staff with a green ribbon running down its length to which are attached small green leaves. Flick is wearing the leaf cape but you can only see two leaves over the shoulders from this front perspectivr.
A side view of the previous picture to give a better look at the brown satchel and the thick straps holding it closed.
A back view of Flick wearing the same druid outfit to show the green leaf cape and the layers of big leaves that make it up.

Pseudodragon

An angled front view of the gray pet pseudodragon showing the round pink frills around its neck and the rainbow gradient of frills down its back. You can also see the butterfly wings which are white in the center, then a layer of pastel blue, then a layer of pink on the outer edges.
A side view of the pseudodragon giving a better look at the wing and back frills.

Kaku the black monk

Kaku the black kobold monk standing against a white backdrop. There is an axe in the right hand that is about half as tall as the kobold. There are white armbands with black stitching on both arms. Kaku also wears a white eye mask tied around the head and a white robe with a black belt tied around the waist.

We also have our other two sticker sheets and our adoption certificates.

A photo of our three sticker sheets side by side. Each is 9 inches wide and 10 inches tall. The first sheet features art of our core kobolds and has a blue background. The second sheet features other kobold adventurers and has an orange background. The third sheet features cute animal pets and kobolds with a magenta backgroind.
A photo of our adoption certificates. Both depict the Hero Plush text logo in front of Rory with Flick standing behind him to the left and Shep to the right. Both certificates are 4 inches wide and 6 inches tall, portrait orientation. The right certificate is full color. The left certificate is also full color but has all the outlines replaced with a holographic foil that has a silver sheen and a vivid rainbow effect under bright light.

And here's video of the foil adoption certificate to get a better sense of how it looks. It has a very vivid rainbow effect when it catches the light right, but it otherwise looks like silver foil.

View Video

The pins and coins are already done manufacturing but haven't been shipped yet. We are holding the shipment until the plushies go out to avoid incurring storage costs at the warehouses from them arriving too early. From the manufacturer, here's the Kaku pin:

A picture of the Kaku black kobold monk pin, based on its concept art, attached to a cardboard backing card that features a gray dotted background, the Hero Plush logo below the pin, and a yellow bubble in the upper right corner that holds the text: Kaku

and examples of what the backings look like:

A photo of the backs of two pin backing cards wrapped in plastic. The left card is for Yuki the yellow warlock and the right card for Shep the green rogue. At the top is the art the pin is based on and a description of the character to its right. Then there’s a URL that is heroplush.com/[character name] to learn more about the character. Below that are the logos for Gallant Goblin and Hero Plush, then some legal text, then the product bar code.

Still in Progress

The harvest dragon is a beast of an STL and TableFlip Foundry is still working on the presupports for it. The adventure for it is also in progress.  We have almost all the art for the tokens so that will likely be the next digital download that becomes available through BackerKit. The digital files for the other two 3D printable mini STL files are already available for download on BackerKit.  The other digital content is still in development and we'll provide updates as more of it gets finalized.

Thanks for your patience and don't hesitate to reach out if you have any questions!

Grady & Theo

The Gallant Goblin

Classic Rory Shipping Soon + New Sample Photos!
over 1 year ago – Sat, Jul 30, 2022 at 04:55:57 PM

In this update

  • Verify your address if you ordered classic Rory, shipping starts August 12!
  • Check your email for one shot with Theo scheduling!
  • Previews of all the accessories
  • More stretch goals unlocked!

Verify your address for Classic Rory

As we described during the campaign, classic Rory with all accessories stitched to him and not removable was produced in bulk to test our manufacturer's quality consistency and shipping procedures. We therefore have him in hand and are ready to ship him.

You still have time to add him to your order if you want to be one of the first to have a kobold plushie in hand! Even after we start shipping, you can add him on at any time.

What does this mean for you?

We will not be locking the pledge manager for this shipping wave. You will continue to be able to update your order and address. However, we will not honor cancellations for classic Rory once he ships—you will need to go through our Return process instead by contacting [email protected] and requesting to Return and Refund. You will be responsible for postage to return unless there is a defect, in which case we will cover the cost to return and replace. Classic Rory begins shipping August 12 so you have until then to update your address or remove him from your order.

One Shot with Theo Scheduling

A planning document for the Kobold One Shot with Theo was emailed out last week. If you believe you should have gotten it, but didn't, please reach out and let us know. It's not too late to join in on this add-on either. We have 3 spots open still for you to add-on via pledge manager or the preorder store (pricing is $75 USD on both) if you like.

Looks of all accessories

The following photos are from our manufacturers. They are shipping the samples to us so we can verify them in person and take better photos, but we wanted to share the looks as soon as possible to get your feedback. If no changes are requested, these will likely be the final designs.

Pseudodragon Pet

Two pictures of the two sides of the pseudodragon plush. The body is light gray. It has four paw-like feet and stitched eyes and eyebrows. There are two butterfly-like wings on its back with concentric colors of white in the center, a jeans-color blue around that, and a pink on the outside, with a black outline separating the colors. A series of semi-circular ridges run down its back, which have a metallic sheen and transition from a green color at the front through the colors of the rainbow to purple in the back. There's also a similar set of pink semicircular frills along the top of its neck, separating its head from its body.

Druid Accessory Pack

Three photos of Rory modeling the cleric accessory pack. The first two pictures are front and back of him holding a candy cane-shaped brown staff with green ribbons swirling around it and a few flat leaves (green with black stitching for the veins) in his right hand. He's wearing a leaf cape with three layers of leaves progressing down his back. The leaves are dark green with light green for the veins and outer edges. The cape is tied around his neck with green laces. He's wearing a pair of antlers that are about 1.33x the length of his head horns. The antlers are brown and attached to his head via a brown loop of cloth that loops along the top of his head to below his chin. The last photo shows Rory wearing just the druid satchel. It's a little wider than his body, dark tan with light tan for the shoulder loop and bands that hold it shut.

Barbarian Accessory Pack

There are three photos. The first two show Rory wearing the barbarian shoulderpad, arm guard, and loin cloth. The shoulderpad has one big spike made from a flat triangular piece of gray cloth. The two smaller spikes shown in the concept art are stitched as part of the pattern of the shoulderpad, as they were too small to make 3D. The armguard (formerly wristguard) was lengthened to fit the spikes as well. There are two 3D spikes on it, slightly smaller than the spike on the shoulderpad, and each of those spikes is flanked by 2D spikes. The shoulderpad is attached to the body via a tan loop that goes around his body. The armguard is attached to his arm via two tan loops. Finally, the loin cloth loops has a tan belt attaching it to his body. It is also 2D, showing a belt buckle in the front plus a series of cloths alternating tan and brown. The third picture shows Flick holding the barbarian's warhammer, which is only slightly shorter than himself when held upright. The warhammer is attached to the velcro on Flick's left hand.

More stretch goals unlocked!

We also have the stretch goal accessory pack, which originally included a health potion and an alternate pet carrier. Now, thanks to additional purchases in the BackerKit preorder store, we were able to add two more accessories to the pack! One is a treasure key for your kobolds to discover on their adventures. Maybe it opens a secret room or a treasure chest! The other accessory is a torch sconce. Just because kobolds have darkvision doesn't mean they don't need some torches when exploring particularly dark caves! But what good is a torch if it can't be lit? Since Rory already comes with a fireball, we didn't want people who pick up Rory to get a duplicate. So we did a color swap of his fireball to give you... (Acquisitions Inc. fans should know the drill:) green flame!

(Note the pseudodragon pet isn't included with the stretch goal accessory pack and is sold separately. It's only in the photo for demo purposes.)

First picture: a side view of Rory holding the treasure key and wearing a long basket with lid like a backpack, with straps going around his chest. Second picture: Overhead view of Rory wearing the backpack with a second backpack next to him. The second backpack has the lid removed and you can see the pseudodragon sits upright inside the basket and fits entirely inside. Third picture: Rory holding the health potion bottle. There are four smaller pictures along the top showing closeups of the handheld accessories: the 2D key is yellow with a fancy looping design in the back, complete with green gem ornaments. The various elements of the key have black outlines to give it a cartoon-y look. The next two pictures are different sides of the health potion. It has a circular bottom with a wavy red pattern along the bottom to indicate its contents. There is then a neck and a tan stopper at the top. The "glass" parts of the bottle are a blue-ish gray color, and there's also a tan band around the base of the neck, separated the neck from the bulb. Finally, there's a picture of the torch sconce, which is colored two tones of gray to look like metal. The sconce piece of it resembles a castle tower turret design. The flame is identical to Rory's fireball but with two shades of green instead of yellow and orange.

And a closer look at the torch picture:

Closeup of the torch sconce and green version of Rory's fireball.

That's it for this update. Once we get the samples in hand and process your feedback, everything will go into production. Our manufacturer has indicated we are queued to go in August, which typically means shipping everything to our fulfillment centers in the US, UK, and Australia in October. With global shipping being the disaster it is, there is always a possibility of delays, but on average the cargo should reach the fulfillment centers in November in time to be shipped out to you in December. So barring any major disruptions, we remain on schedule.

Coming soon: the harvest dragon encounter pack and VTT tokens should release sometime in August. We should also be getting sample prints of the adoption certificates in August. The digital supplements and cards are still being designed.

We're also going to be traveling to Indianapolis for Gen Con August 3-8. We're going to be in two panels, the Uncaged: Goddesses discussion and Creature Curation's Let's Make an RPG session. Stop by and say hi, we'd love to meet you! We're also looking into other opportunities to meet with folks, which we'll coordinate or announce in our Discord server.

Stay safe and have fun!

Grady & Theo

The Gallant Goblin

Bring on the fireworks!
almost 2 years ago – Wed, Jul 06, 2022 at 07:33:41 PM

In this update:

  • Mini STL pack release update
  • Sticker sheets update
  • Plush production sample update and accessory pack adjustments
  • Brick-and-mortar preorders
  • BackerKit reminders

But first of all, happy fireworks weekend for those in the United States celebrating the Independence Day holiday (apologies to those in the UK). Kobolds love fireworks no matter the reason, so boom boom boom!!

Our cats are less impressed, as Wash here can show you:

Our tortoiseshell cat Wash sits on me on the couch looking grumpy, with her eyes narrowed and ears back.
It's grumpy Wash!

Mini STL Pack Update

After much hard work by our friends and partners at Forg3D Manila and TableFlip Foundry, the Young Adventurers and Veteran Adventurers STL packs are ready to go! We will be distributing the files through BackerKit to everyone who has pledged for them, so keep an eye out for an email from BackerKit or check your Digital Downloads in your account there. There will be 3 types of files:

  • A regular STL file with no supports for those who want to make their own supports from scratch
  • A presupported Lychee slicer file with modifiable supports in case you want to adjust some of the supports, though we don't expect you to have any issues with them
  •  A presupported STL file for those who don't want to use Lychee to print the presupported mini. Note that a few of the larger minis are hollowed out and come with hole files. You must manually add the holes in the slicer of your choice or the resin inside in the print won't be able to drain and cause a dangerous gas explosion later.

Every file should be printable on the smallest print plate commonly available on the consumer market. For minis that were too big to fit on that plate, they were split into multiple pieces with clear lock-and-key connection points for you to assemble them. The splits were done in places to make the final assembled piece look as seamless as possible.

Every mini is also provided without a base so that you can attach it to a base of your choice, whether that's a clear acrylic base, a textured base, or something else. We have provided standard base files with the packs as well so you can print your own flat bases of the correct diameter for each mini.

The Harvest Dragon pack is still in progress as it is the most complex sculpt, plus it will come with adventure content, but rest assured we will release it as soon as it is ready!

Sticker Sheets Update

We have the final form of all three sticker sheets! They are each 9 inches wide and 10 inches tall.

Sticker Sheet - Core Adventurers
Sticker Sheet - Fantasy Adventurers
Sticker Sheet - Cute Kobolds & Pets

The Hero Plush logo is not a sticker on the first two sheets due to sizing issues but it is a sticker on the third sheet.

The magenta line around each sticker is the "cut line" of the sticker, and each sticker is going to be transparent so the white borders that you see will not be part of the sticker itself. Here is a video of us removing one of the sticker sheets from our sample of the Core Adventurers sheet so you can see what the sticker looks like!

View Video

After researching various sticker manufacturers, we have decided to make them with StickerApp based on their reviews, the responsiveness of their customer service, the types of sticker materials they offer, and the quality of their samples. 

Plush Samples and Updates

We have gotten photos from our manufacturer of samples for some of the stretch goals that were added during the campaign. These photos have not been modified from the originals sent to us, so they may not look quite as good as the ones we take ourselves under better lighting conditions, but they should still give a good sense of the product.

Here is the pseudodragon pet minus the iridescent scales. An adjusted version with iridescent scales is being worked on right now! The wings also need to be rotated to be parallel to the body. The pet is about 4 inches long, so almost double the length of Pickles the hedgehog!

First pseudodragon prototype

Here is the hammer from the barbarian accessory pack, currently being wielded by Flick to demonstrate its size and power!

Flick with barbarian hammer

And finally, here's your first look at Kaku the monk, our surprise 7th plush!

Kaku the monk with removable accessories

As an update on the barbarian pack, the manufacturer has indicated that some of the pieces as illustrated are too small to support the spikes. For the armguard, we are expanding its size to get the big central spike on there, and the smaller ones will be flat detail on the guard itself, but be aware that the spiked pieces will likely look different in the samples we receive. We have not been notified of significant changes on any of the other designs we've submitted so far.

Brick-and-mortar store preorders!

While our late pledge store on BackerKit remains online, we have notified all our retailer tier supporters that they are welcome to open preorders now. If there's a game store in your area that you think might be interested in our products, please have them reach out to us via Kickstarter message or by email at [email protected]! We'd love to hear from them and will be happy to get them added to BackerKit so they can stock up on kobolds! Of course, Kickstarter backers will still receive their shipments before we ship to retailers, but we want to encourage folks to support their friendly local game stores as much as possible too!

BackerKit Reminders

83% of you have already responded to the BackerKit survey, which is amazing! For those of you who haven't yet, please submit your choices as soon as possible so we can make sure we get your order to you on time! We won't lock your orders and addresses until much closer to shipping time, so you can submit your choices now and go back and adjust them as needed later.

You can also always email us at [email protected] to change your order or address if you're unable to do so via BackerKit.

Enjoy your weekend and stay safe!

That's it for now, but we'll be back with more sample updates when we get them. We're hoping to finalize all samples and begin production in August, so things are happening fast! We have already begun manufacturing on all the pins and goblin gold coins, and of course keep your eyes peeled for that BackerKit download notification if you backed for the Young Adventurers or Veteran Adventurers STL pack! With these out the door, 3D printing shops who received a Merchant License from us will be selling printed versions of the STLs soon too, and we'll promote them here and on social media as their listings go live!

Thanks again for all your support so far. For those of you enjoying the summer weather, please remember to wear sunscreen, and for those of you setting off fireworks, please stay safe!

All the best!

Theo & Grady

The Gallant Goblin

All pledge manager surveys sent! Plus updated sample pictures!
almost 2 years ago – Sun, Jun 05, 2022 at 09:14:49 AM

In this update:

  • Pledge manager survey update (all surveys sent via email)
  • Pledge manager FAQs
  • Updated photos of Rory with swappable gear and Buckles with removable boots

Per our update yesterday, all surveys have been sent from BackerKit!

If you don't see an email, please check your Spam or Junk folder. If you still can't find anything, email us at [email protected] and let us know some identifying info so we can track down your pledge (the email associated with your Kickstarter account, the name associated with your Kickstarter account, or your backer number, etc.)

A note on shipping: As Simon kindly pointed out in our comments, BackerKit may default your shipping estimate to a really high amount when you first start filling out your survey. This is because BackerKit doesn't know your address initially and thus defaults you to the highest shipping rate. Once you fill out your delivery address and BackerKit knows what country we're delivering to, it will update (lower) the shipping costs accordingly. This isn't a problem if you already pledged for something that requires delivery, as BackerKit then asks your country on the first page, but if you pledged for only digital products, you may see this incorrect shipping estimate show up when adding on physical products.

FAQs

We have received a number of questions about how backers can be sure they got all the complimentary bonuses they are supposed to get, such as the early bird pseudodragon or the stretch goal accessories. You should see a listing of all the items after you complete the survey questions and when you reach the "add-ons" section that allows you to add additional items to your pledge. On the right, there should be a listing of everything associated with your pledge level. Here is an example of a test backer account we created to show all the additions:

This screenshot has three red arrows showing, from top to bottom, 1 Pet Pseudodragon added for free for being an early bird backer, 1 Stretch Goal Accessory Pack added for free for adding at least one plush during the Kickstarter campaign (the stretch goal accessory pack currently contains the potion bottle and the pet carrier).

For backers who backed at the $1 or $5 tiers, there should also be a Complimentary Credit listed crediting you the value of the tier so you can put that money toward whatever you like, be it additional add-ons or shipping or tax.

Updated Samples for Rory and Buckles

We have received updated sample photos from our manufacturer. These pictures were taken by them, hence the lighting issues, but should show the key changes that have been made.

For Rory, here is the design with swappable accessories. Note that the fireball has been shifted to attach to the front of his hand rather than the top. We're happy to continue taking feedback at this point if you have any concerns about these changes.  Note that the Classic Rory plushie remains unchanged if you feel attached (see what I did there?) to the original version.  

For Buckles, her boots are now removable as requested by several backers. The boots should be able to fit on the feet of any of the kobolds. While her feet are still tan/boot-colored in these photos, they will be correctly blue like the rest of her in the final product.

That's all we have for now. Again, if you have any questions or concerns about the Kickstarter, BackerKit, the pledge manager, or anything else associated with the campaign, please feel free to email us at [email protected]. Thanks again, and we hope you have an excellent weekend!

Surveys coming through BackerKit
almost 2 years ago – Fri, Jun 03, 2022 at 10:34:55 PM

Happy June, everyone! We are running a little behind on sending out the BackerKit surveys due to catching COVID this week, but the first surveys are going out today!

A few things to know about the survey:

1) The first round of surveys will only go out to 5% of backers today. This is what BackerKit calls a "smoke test" to see if there are any errors or points of confusion before releasing the survey to everyone. If few questions or support tickets come in, the rest of the surveys will go out quickly. If there is a high volume of questions, we will fix the issues before sending out the remaining surveys. The hope is that all surveys will be out by tomorrow, June 4.

2) Please reach out if anything looks wrong with your survey or cart. A few things to look out for:

  • If you believe you qualify for the early bird but it is not part of your cart for free
  • If you ordered a plushie but do not have the stretch goal accessory pack in your cart for free
  • If you backed at the $1 or $5 tiers and do not have the corresponding credit available to you
  • If you backed at a tier that gives you a discount for adding on more coins or plushies but do not see that discount available to you/did not get a store credit for add-ons selected in Kickstarter

3) BackerKit allows you to switch pledge tiers if you want to take advantage of the perks of a different tier, but you can only do so once. If you need to make changes after switching tiers or checking out but are unable to do so, please feel free to reach out to us at [email protected] as we can manually make changes for you.

4) In addition to changing reward tiers, you will be able to add on rewards from the Kickstarter at the same price. You will be able to select additional add-ons after answering the survey questions (what color plushie(s) or pin(s) you want).

5) Shipping prices did shift upward since the campaign started, but we tried our best to honor the prices we listed on the Kickstarter page. However, if shipping prices are too high for you, please reach out to us first instead of canceling an order and let us know which country you are in. We currently don't have access to backer location information, but if there are enough backers in a country, we may be able to lower shipping for you by working with a local partner (if we don't already have one there) or negotiating a bulk shipping discount.

6) We will endeavor to keep the pledge manager open as long as possible but will likely need to close it down by September 1 and transition orders to our own website. We highly recommend completing your order as soon as possible to help us arrange orders with our manufacturers (we will be finalizing our order amounts by July 1 but are keeping the pledge manager open longer for backers to take advantage of Kickstarter pricing) but if some circumstance keeps you from finishing your order this month, you will have some extra time if you were hoping to switch tiers or add on additional items. If September rolls around and you still need more time, please email us at [email protected] and we will see what we can do.

Thank you again for all your support so far! We're really excited to take this next step to getting the kobolds into your homes, and we'll also be sharing more content updates as they become available!