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Snughouls: A Cryptid Collection

Created by McMadmissile

Fluffy, floppy 20" tall cryptid plushies designed for big cuddles!

Latest Updates from Our Project:

Series 2 Update: Inspection Progress and ETA
over 1 year ago – Mon, Sep 23, 2024 at 10:20:13 AM

Morning critters!

I got some news this morning I wanted to share asap, as well as some additional photos of the impending hoard because its both adorable and daunting 😅 Can you say snug-pocalypse?
 


I know we're all hoping desperately for an October fulfillment, but the fulfillment team reached out today to let me know the third party inspection won't be wrapping up until closer to mid-October. I'm disappointed, annoyed (not with the fulfillment folks-- they've been lovely and accommodating throughout) but it also is what it is at this point. These are uncharted waters and now I know for the future bringing 20k+ plushies to fruition takes basically forever.

The upside is I'm learning from my mistakes. I've been working hard for a couple weeks now to secure some lines of credit for the business and things are going well on that front. Primary reason being a desire to be less reliant on preorders in the future, but this also has the added benefit of allowing me to pay for things faster and more efficiently when I do use backerkit by not being beholden to processing times/transfer limits and so on.

But back to the issue at hand, its looking more and more like November-December is more likely for fulfillment. I'm still reasonably confident it will happen this year since the plushies are done, in boxes, and otherwise ready to go but once again I can't promise anything and believe me, that drives me bonkers.

I'm sorry folks 💔 I agree an October delivery would have been incredibly fun and poetic, but just bear with me a little longer. We're almost there! (and I think we can all agree the 'ghouls are looking incredible in those photos 🥹)

Series 2 Update: Inspections are underway!
over 1 year ago – Wed, Sep 04, 2024 at 04:59:36 PM

Howdy critters!

First of all I apologize for the radio silence. I was sick with covid for a good chunk of August (just about back to normal now thankfully!) and then to add insult to injury I fractured my ankle in the most mundane way possible this week so I've been a bit preoccupied 😅

Moreover, the photo update I was waiting on from my supplier has not materialized but I don't think it's fair to make you folks wait any longer for a progress report so here we go~

In short: it's good news! Safety testing is 100% finished, production has wrapped up and we're just waiting on the results of the various inspections now. To explain why things move at such glacial speeds, I'd like to break down the inspection process real quick.

  • This is the first round of inspections before they leave the factory, performed by the factory. This should catch the majority of defects like holes, crooked bits, flawed embroidery, you name it.
  • The next step is another inspection with the third party inspector I hired. For this round a small group is inspected and if its within tolerances (say a defect rate of 5% out of 100 plushies) they get a pass and can ship out.
  •  If they fail they'll be inspected again and repaired by the supplier before leaving the factory.

And finally they'll be inspected a third time when they're being packed and sent to you folks-- yay redundancies!



Keychains and other small goods are also in production currently and estimated to arrive at the warehouse around mid-October, which fits perfectly within our new schedule! Overall while things aren't moving quite as fast as I was hoping, they are indeed trucking along with positive and measurable progress. 

And don't forget there are other ways to keep up with us between updates 💖 The discord remains awesome and active with everything going on both in and outside the scope of Series 2, and I can generally be reached on twitter too if you ever need an extra expedient reply.

Snughoul Discord: https://discord.gg/QtHJCYPZtK
Snughouls on Twitter: https://x.com/snughouls
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/snughouls/

Fingers crossed I will have some additional production pics before the week is over!

Series 2 Update: Checking in + important links!
over 1 year ago – Sun, Jul 28, 2024 at 10:09:12 PM

Hello critters!

I don't have anything TOO exciting to share today, but I wanted to pop in and assure everyone things are still progressing! I'm currently getting all the hang tags finalized with their unique barcodes so they can be printed asap and (not so) patiently awaiting the news that production has finally finished.

I did receive an email that the tote bags arrived at the warehouse and are all accounted for! I've also found a new supplier for keychains that I'm quite happy about despite it being a relatively tiny fraction of the campaign funds. I've been dissatisfied with my old supplier for a long time so this was an overdue change.

I'd like to take this lull in news to also remind everyone that there's lots of different ways to keep up with the snughouls!

Snughoul Discord: https://discord.gg/QtHJCYPZtK
Great for keeping up with smaller developments that don't warrant their own news post! I also share snughoul adjacent projects here that are in the early developmental stages. Plushies, apparel, and other small merch items are usually teased here first, especially when I'm looking for some quick feedback (and the community is very sweet!)

Snughouls on Twitter: https://x.com/snughouls
Just made this account this week! Will mostly be used for announcing backerkit updates, sharing in-development pics, and retweeting snughoul fanart.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mcmadmissile/
Admittedly I don't really use this one for updates very often because I hate the UI, but I hope to change that very soon.

This is more or less reiterating what I shared in the last update, but I also updated the main page timeline with the most recent production developments. I get a lot of concerned emails from folks who aren't receiving updates and thus assume I've run off with the funds and I want to do everything I possibly can to combat that 💖

Now unrelated to campaign fulfillment but kind of fun is the launch of this shirt I designed for a contest hosted by Raw Paw! You can preorder this sick limited time design AND boost the snughouls to the top of leaderboard with your purchase, check it out here.


Thank you for hanging in there, and as always I hope I'll have some more exciting news soon!

PLEASE READ: Series 2 production updates!
almost 2 years ago – Tue, Jul 02, 2024 at 09:56:16 PM

Howdy critters!

I got some good news and bad news in this update, so lets rip the bandaid and start with the bad news. Production is not as far along as I was hoping it would be at the start of July. In order to stay on schedule the plushies would need to be leaving the factory pretty much now, and that is simply not the case.

According to my supplier, we're looking at the snughouls leaving the factory around the end of August. To be frank, that sucks. I was told- even with such a large order -the lead time would be about 45 days and this week is the 45 day mark since making the initial payment.

All of that said, there's not much I can do at this point beyond keeping you folks updated and crossing my fingers we don't encounter any more delays. Words can't express how much I appreciate the patience each and every one of you has had since this project began, and I hope you'll hang in there a little longer as all the little pieces finally come together  🙏


Now for the good news! Some of the designs are in the embroidery step, and others are being sewn so we ARE making progress. Totes are also finally on the way to the warehouse and stickers and lanyards will be following suit soon. 

The one upside to this delay is that it gives me a bit more time to hash out some of the custom packaging details that I had put on the backburner while under the impression we would start shipping early August. I want to make opening your snughoul package feel as personal and magical as possible, so I'm actually looking forward to working on this as soon as I get back from my trip this weekend!

Less of an upside and more of an optimistic assumption on my part-- I want to believe this delay also means they're treating every plush with care (knowing they'll be inspected not once, but TWICE by my own team) and we'll really be blown away with the final product.

To summarize: 

  • Production isn't going as fast as I hoped, plushies are now expected to leave the factory around late August.
  • This means they likely won't reach the warehouse where they'll begin shipping to backers until October.
  • Things are still progressing though, with many of the snughoul designs either being embroidered or sewn now.

Once again thank you for your patience, and I deeply apologize for any stress or disappointment this update may cause! Believe me when I say I'm equally disappointed and dreaming of the day I can start sending out tracking emails 💖

Series 2 production updates-- things are starting to arrive!
almost 2 years ago – Sun, Jun 23, 2024 at 09:52:54 PM

Happy (almost) Monday critters!

Updates have been sparse because admittedly there isn't much to share at the moment, but I want to touch base anyway and let you folks know everything is still trucking along!

  • This week pins arrived at the warehouse and totes are finished/shipping out any day now (there's a whopping 36 boxes!) 

  • Plushie testing and production is going a little slower than I was hoping for, but it is well underway! Because of the time between prototypes and production (6+ months for the oldest samples) a lot of the material had to be re-confirmed due to minute color differences between rolls of the same fabric. The differences are incredibly small (in almost all cases virtually nonexistent) so I wouldn't say this step was COMPLETELY necessary, but I do appreciate my suppliers' attention to detail and their transparency. 

  • Working on another, even more comprehensive inspection checklist now so the plushies can be inspected by a 3rd party before they even leave the factory. This will save us SO much heartache later and hopefully decrease the possibility of a customer receiving a flawed snughoul to almost zero. 

Because I've received several messages about it I'd like to also remind everyone you can still edit your address despite orders being locked. Addresses will not lock until about two weeks before plushies are estimated to arrive at the warehouse.

Now for some less pertinent updates that are still pretty fun.

Say hello to the nightcrawler snughoul! Arrival of this shy critter is still TBD (I don't want it to interfere with series 2 or pintopia), but my hope is to host a preorder via the shopfiy store shortly after Series 2 fulfillment begins.



And this week another new face joined the party-- meet the Wyrm on a String!! This 45" fluffy behemoth will be the perfect friend, pillow, and neck warmer when they're all finished up. Below is the first glimpse and next to it are my notes. For a first pass I'm INCREDIBLY excited and can't wait for them to join our monstrously cute lineup.



I believe that covers all the most exciting updates! As always if you have any questions (about production, your order, or anything else) feel free to leave them here or shoot me an email at [email protected]

I will be out of town between July 5th and the 8th but don't foresee this disrupting anything, just mentioning it just in case!