WONDER CON 2010

here is our new postcard/flyer that we just got printed. it shows off some of the products that were available at Wonder Con and will be available at our other shows throughout the years to come.

this is the other side of the postcard. basically just re-using the banners graphics that Chito did for us.

so, we had to airship some of our products to get them in time for Wonder Con. it cost a ton and ate up all of our potential profit, but at least we had stuff to sell.

here's Linda Hong checkin out the goods. it may look like a lot of product, but we only had a maximum of 20 pieces per style.

before and after. this little toaster of ours is the perfect vehicle for us. we are able to take out the back seats completely and load it up with squidy goodness.

our little navigator did a great job gettin us to SF. these guys were pretty popular, so this little guy found himself a new home on the last day of the show.

Squibs are carnivores and thanks to Man Vs. Food we decided to check this place out on our way through San Jose. it was pretty tasty.

this was our first time having a booth at Wonder Con and were pleasantly surprised to find out we get to drive through Moscone Center. the wait wasn't too bad either.

it was also our 1st corner booth, and setup took a bit of time. once again Jerome provided the Magic Cubes. they seem to keep us pretty well organized.

front doors to Moscone Center. this must have been the set up day, because no one was out front.

this was the line on opening day. it was tough to get a good photo, so this was the best view i could get.

some final tweeks before the show opened. Linda Hong put hearts in the eyes of our Colossal Squib for this show. it worked out as a great way to debut our new plush items. our grey guy was by far the most popular. we're not sure if it's because he looks happy, or because he's on the banner, t-shirts, and a bunch of other stuff. either way we're happy people like him.

here are some photos of some of our other products and some customs. Dou's robo Squib was a fan favorite. Robin's mermaid was also very popular. the image of the crowd was taken during one of our raffles. we had a great turnout each day.

this is the Hyperactive Monkey side of the booth. who knew monkeys and squids could coexist so well together.

in this battle between men, no body won, but the scars run deep.

these curious little Squibs wanted to know how chocolate was made, and Ghirardelli's was the place to find out.

we answered 50 video game questions online to get our special Encom badges, just to find out that they were handing them out to anyone and everyone outside of Wonder Con. lame. the event was poorly executed, possibly due to weather, but it was still worth goin to it.

so, that pretty much wraps up Wonder Con 2010 for us. it was by far our best show yet. it was great to see peoples reactions to our stuff. boys and girls, young and older liked the plush. we sold out of a lot of things, mostly because we only had limited quantities.

we got in a super small shipment of more plush due to the factory correcting a mistake. all that means is we happen to get a small amount of product early. this has given us the opportunity to get a booth at Wizard World in Anaheim on April 16-18th 2010. we'll have less than we had at Wonder Con, but it's better than nothin.

SQUIB PURSES

here are some rough control drawings for our plush purses.

here are some rough concept sketches for the purses. we had to find a way to use up the amount of fabric we were required to purchase. this was one way to do it, so we didn't have to make a thousand of each of the other plush. it allowed us to make more variety and in smaller quantities.

so, here is our little press release for our Squib purses that we did for spankystokes.com. we had a small amount available at Wonder Con and Wizard World Anaheim. We finally got our main shipment in and they are now available on our web store. woohoo.

just a couple of quick photos, i hope to replace them with better ones soon.

these all have a 3' strap and a little zipper pouch in the backs of their heads. we learned a whole bunch of lessons with this little venture. maybe i'll explain some of it some day, but today is not that day. quite the pain in the butt..... but we are happy with how these turned out. they come in the same 3 styles as the other plush items. we haven't officially named them each individually yet. we might not ever name them, you'll have to wait till the storybook comes out some time in the not too distant future.... hopefully, not too distant. ha.

SQUIB PLUSH

this is the first plush Squib ever made. Linda Hong worked her magic to make this guy happen. i learned how to sew stuffed animals in school too, but she just has a knack for it.

these early samples didn't have irises and pupils in the eye sockets. for the DIY resin i wanted the people customize them and fill in the blank eye sockets how they saw fit. that concept obviously doesn't work as well for the plush.

maybe this was the first plush Squib ever made. i really can't remember, but neither could Linda, so it's ok. this little buddy is still MIA somewhere over seas. hopefully he'll return home someday, hopefully.

this is the sample that was made based on the model we sent. very similar, but refined. still no eyeballs. it was better to send illustrations of the eye designs to manufacturer, rather than try to embroider them ourselves.

this was our first sample with the embroidery done. not cheap, but we had to see how it would look. we made slight modifications to make them more bulbous, but that was about it.

here are some images to show the 3 styles and 2 sizes of the final product.

our plush vendor did an amazing job for us. we couldn't be more happy with his service and our how they all turned out.

this is the image we put together as a press release on spankystokes.com. i just took a bunch of photos on my iphone really quick. i'm pretty happy with how photogenic these little guys are.

so, here are some images of what it was like unloading the truck. the driver took the 4 pallets off the truck. i had to unload the pallets, so he could take them back. then i had to carry the 135 boxes up to the 2nd floor of our place. even light plush Squibs feel heavy after a while.

after at least an hour of moving boxes, this is what it looked like. i couldn't get all the boxes in this photo. it's hard to tell, but those are stacked about 6 feet high. it was pretty claustrophobic. we have since rearranged and only blocked one or two windows. sunlight burns me anyway.

so, these plush guys cost us a pretty penny and was a huge risk for us, but we learned a lot of lessons during this little endeavor. shipping and customs were the main hurdles for us. it was our first time dealing with that part of the process. the big challenge now is movin them out of our home and into other homes around the world. should be a fun experience.

SQUIB SKATEBOARD

here's the image from our little press release on spankystokes.com. i took the photos on my iphone with hipstamatic. it's a pretty cool app. you'll be seeing a lot of those types of photos from us for a while. at least until wonder con.
so here is the board graphics with a simulated wood background. i wanted the board to look it was part of my sketchbook, at least a little bit and i like the natural wood showing through.

Steve James of Finesse Skateboards helped me get this board made. it will be available at wonder con 2010 for the first time anywhere. we should have some available on our website after wonder con, but most will be available through Finesse.