A look at the numbers (even though we're not done yet)
over 1 year ago – Wed, Feb 01, 2023 at 01:25:26 PM

So, at the very end of December, I got my final bill for the manufacturing/freight of the plushes, and I thought it would be cool to share with you guys where things are going.

I can do a further breakdown of the specific owlbear costs (but I gotta itemize it out).

Typically, when I produce product for a project, I want to produce about double the amount the project needs so that after fulfillment, I can continue to sell that product, we've done this for every project we've ran and was expected. 

Refunds is probably a bit low, as I need to tag each transaction, and fulfillment is an ongoing number (mixed between warehouse labor costs and cost of shipping). 

Freight was the major thing that caught me off-guard.  When we started this project, our estimated freight bill was 15k, at the end when all things were finally delivered, it came out a total of 75k (a 400% increase). Also, seeing the amount of taxes is surprising to see, but this was factored in my initial numbers.

Nevertheless, my initial budget plan was that all with all costs of the project (owlbears, freight, and fulfillment) I should have had 60k of funds to work with. a budget of 60k seemed like a fine number to anticipate extra freight, unexpected shipping, refunds, minis, lorebook, and all the digital goodies as needed. Maybe when this project was all done, I was hoping there would have been leftover funds to invest in the next series of products and maybe even pay myself a bonus. Unfortunately, it looks like that won't be the case. Now that is fine, but it does make things a little strained. 

I don't anticipate these budget shortfalls to impact our ability to finish fulfillment to everyone, and we do still have some cash in the bank and a positive cash-flow, but its a lot less than I would have liked. 

So right now my focus in getting rewards out to everyone, and ensuring that we have a positive cash-flow, so that we can continue delivering product and goodies to everyone. 

Happy to answer questions, I still intend to fulfill everything as things evolve, but I wanted to show you where/how things are going. 

Thanks again for the support and apologize for the massive updates. 

Andreas

Shipping Updates + In-A-Box Extras
over 1 year ago – Wed, Feb 01, 2023 at 12:42:54 PM

Hey Backers, 

For those who have received your owlbears it's been warming to hear the stories, you have shared. At any point feel free to use the hashtag #owlbearplush, or tag me (@andreas_mwg or the company @BabyBestiary or @MetalWeaveGames) to share your owlbear adventures and pictures.

------------------

First, a note of honesty,  

It's important to state that everything I have worked on and built up has been for what its worth, has been a hobby that has grown into a second job. Not a job that pays the bills (at least not for a looong time), but a hobby that allows me to create cool things and share them with you. There is no full-time team behind the Baby Bestiary and Metal Weave Games; quite frankly, it's just me and contractors that I work with and hire to create products (I do some design, but they do the writing, and I do the layout), and I manage everything from the project, to the website, to the support. And as someone who has a 9-5 job to pay the bills and a baby to take care of, my time is limited. 

When the baby was on the way, I knew I had to wrap up my projects, and scale back future projects. But despite my best efforts, we're still here and the project still goes on. I am doing what I can, and please be understanding and patient. 

Knowing that this has taken far longer than any of us have expected, as a sort of apology, I have provided everyone with the PDFs of the Caretaker Warlock (5e), Beast Companion (5e), and the Baby Bestiary Handbook (volume 1). These were not included as part of the digital goodies (see below for an update on such). 

Digital Fulfillment

Downloads to your digital rewards have been sent out via Backerkit.  There you will find a direct download (from Backerkit) as well as a link that will provide you the ability to purchase the product on our store at 100% discount. Some products are expected to have updates, so by purchasing them there, you will receive any updates on that. Some exceptions and notes worth mentioning:

• The Alphabetical Guide to Monsters is a first draft/pass of the book (only available to those who purchased it), I will be updating that both in Backerkit and our Website as that progresses. 
• Apothecaria and Map Games Bundle) is recommended to download via our site, as there are other items which I could not upload due to size. I need to have those re-exported to be more manageable. 

What about the digital goodies, these have honestly been on the backburner since I've been mostly distracted about getting the fulfillment of the physical products out. But as things are finally settling, I can dedicate more oversight in getting these cleaned up and finished. 

• 5e Classes (draft written, art is in progress and needs editing) 
• Ryuutama Journey (not started) 
• 5e adventure (draft written, needs editing and art)
• Wallpapers (need to compile and commission a few more)
• Owlbear Artbook/Lorebook  (draft in-progress, needs editing and a few more pieces of art)
• Rearing guide (draft in-progress)

Fulfillment Update

•  USA/Americas -  If you have opted to wait for your owlbear, see further below. If you are missing your rewards and you have not opted, use the form at the bottom, and I'll get you sorted.
•  UK - Still digging into the specifics; about half of the 'imported' shipment has been shipped out (and I've gotten word that some are receiving their packages), the other half is waiting for the post to process. I am currently waiting on a follow-up for what I believe is orders missing from their system.
•  EU - Currently waiting for GamesQuest to deal with EU VAT, since I'm using them as a 'passthrough service' for VAT. I should have an update this week on how things are going. 
•  AUS/Oceania  -  There is a segment of you still waiting on shipments that had extra items in it. It is finally on its way to the warehouse however the unfortunate news is that the freight for this load might take awhile. Unfortunately, my only to options was (freight: $1000 - 60 days) or  (air freight $6000 - 6 days). Both of which are kinda crazy for different reasons. If you want me to ship now justuse the form at the bottom and ill get you sorted. 

 In-A-Box lorebook+mini

So as you know there was going to be a little owlbear lorebook that we wanted to print and a pewter miniature that we wanted to produce to include with the Boxed owlbears. Lorebook is making progress, but unfortunately, the minis still elude me (despite having seen pictures of minis, but never actually seeing and being able to order them). I am still trying. But that said,  it has been awhile since you have opted to wait. 

So what are we going to do? At this point I still plan on having them be produced, the question is how long is it going to take and how long are you willing to wait. 

Realistically, minis I have no timeline on (and these are not the owlbear minis we have in the MWG store, nor did i ever have enough of them to cover this project.), I would like to still get them done, and the pictures I've seen of them are promising, however, like a majority of my woes, getting communication has been difficult. Lorebook wise, I think I could have the PDF finished by early March (gives us time for art and layout), and give it another two weeks to produce (at least locally via POD), puts us late march/early april, if all goes decently. 

This pretty much gives us three options

• Ship Now (get credit to get lorebook/mini later or something else)
• Ship Now (but exchange lore book and mini for something else)
• Wait for Lorebook (and hope mini comes but will likely swap it for something else)
• Wait for Both Lorebook and Mini

What can you swap the lorebook and mini for? Im offering the following swaps. 

• physical 2023 Calendar,
• softcover 5e beast companion guide,
• physical Atlas Animalia Creature Deck (tarot sized - only art no lore/stats)
• physical Galaxy fishie
• PDF (baby bestiary handbook volume 2, awakened, incantations, or atlas animalia
• Store credit 
• enamel pins (left to right: bounding, fluffy, sitting, tumbling),
•  3d printed owlbears
• whatever remaining  pewter minis that I do have left in stock (though we only have a small handful left).

and if you already got your in-a-box rewards, these options are available to you as well.

-> Fulfillment (in-a-box) Survey 

sorry it took a bit to get this out, there's a lot to consider and position when trying to keep things going while making everyone happy. 

Thank you for understanding and your support,

Andreas

UK starting to move (EU soon)
over 1 year ago – Fri, Jan 20, 2023 at 12:26:13 PM

Hey Everyone,

I know it's been a little bit, and I've been holding off on updates until I have something concrete to share. 

So, since my last update, the lead of GamesQuest reached out (seeing my past posts) and wanted to figure out what's going so they could make things right and straighten out the ship so to speak. That's kickstarted a bunch of good movement. 

At the moment it appears 600 of UK orders (of just owlbears) are ready and paid to start shipping.

this leaves about 1k orders left (500 UK of orders including other items), which I'm asking about. and 500 EU orders, which I'm working through import paperwork with GamesQUest so they can commence shipping. 

As I get more information, I'll be sure to post it. 

Thanks again for your patience (and I know digital downloads are still on my to-do list)

Andreas

UK/EU/Europe Madness
over 1 year ago – Thu, Jan 12, 2023 at 09:00:03 PM

Hope you all have been doing well, and terribly sorry for everyone in Europe who have been waiting. 

I have all the EU orders in their system, and just sent the final instructions for them to proceed regarding some specific stock, but overall the process has been rather frustrating (and I've also found out I'm not the only one having these frustrations as well talking with other creators currently in fulfilllment)

For future projects we will no longer be using GamesQuest, they've been great in the past, but as they've scaled its been getting worse and worse. 

I unfortunately still don't have a ship date (for europe). But I'm about as far up I as I can in getting things ready for them to start. (and hopefully with my luck after sending this, they'll finalize a date or something lol). 

I will post more updates as they come, I was really hoping I would be able to have some better news sooner. 

Andreas

PS I know digital stuff needs to come, that will be my work for this weekend to sort out. 

Quick Note; if your owlbear/box is damaged
over 1 year ago – Wed, Nov 30, 2022 at 01:44:45 AM

Hey all!

As owlbears are getting out into your hands (and I am seeing many adorable pictures), if you receive damages or non-deliveries, feel free to send an email to [email protected] (please include some method to identify you, preferably the MWG order number, or KS/backerkit email).

We've gotten a few emails and are working to get them handled and resolved.

Thank you for being so awesome and keep sharing those pictures!! (by either using #OwlbearPlush, and/or tagging @BabyBestiary or @MetalWeaveGames)

 Andreas