Monday, September 13, 2010

Sakevisual Figures?

Hey all! If you've been watching twitter or facebook, you've probably already got an inkling as to what's going on. Well, now it's time for details on what exactly I'm up to.

Over the past year, I've gotten a lot of requests online and in person to have figures made of some of the sakevisual characters. As a collector of trading figures and gashapon, I was down with the idea from the beginning, but it didn't seem very practical, given the fact that sakevisual is very small. Well, we're still very small, but the requests have been increasing, so I started talking with a company about what, exactly, it would take to manufacture some figures. We've been going back and forth lately, and the process is something like so:

-Company builds a prototype figure.
-Everyone gets to see prototype figure and figure goes to pre-order.
-If enough people pre-order the figure, figure gets manufactured.

So here's the deal. It takes a LOT of pre-orders for something to be made. The cost for building a prototype, making the molds, and so on is pretty high. We need at least 400 pre-orders in order to get the figure to be made. That's a lot of people, and that means I need a lot of feedback right now. sakevisual is still very, very small. There's been a lot of interest in figures, but I need to know exactly how much serious interest there is and what figure I should have ordered. Right now, we're discussing a small, 4" figure, so the price (realistically) shouldn't be more than $15USD. So here are my requests:

Please vote on the poll, even if you have absolutely no interest in figures at all. Knowing how many people AREN'T interested is also important to me.

Please leave comments with your thoughts. Give me details about what sort of figure you'd like to see. Which character? Which outfit? Chibi or realistically proportioned? Full body or bust? Accessories? Can you buy things online? If you can't, would you buy them at a convention or through some other physical venue? The comments are seriously important right now as we work out which lucky character (if any!) will be the first.

Plug our stuff. I know I say this a lot, but please do. Word of mouth is the only way that people ever find out about us, and the more fans we have, the more likely we are to hit the 400 pre-orders we need. Share our games with your anime club or leave a link to RE: Alistair++ in your forum sig. Even if you can't afford a figure, you can at least get friends interested enough to check us out and our free stuff. Ripples can be played directly online, even!

Keep in mind that this is still just a survey. At this point in time, we don't know if making figures is even reasonable. Your votes and comments (especially comments!) will be a huge help.

21 comments:

Deji~ said...

I remember when I was contacted by a company to make a Vinca figure a few years ago.... I was so excited! Until I heard the price of the prototype ^^;; It was so expensive I almost cried ;_;

I'm biased, I want a Kuu figure with a kitty :P
Or a figure of ??? with a cup of coffee and/or taking notes on the sketchbook~~

TheeForsakenOne said...

Kuu or Merui! :D I'd prefer Merui but I see she's not an option. T_T

Anonymous said...

I'd love a figure of Travis, and (to a *slightly* lesser extent) Merui! It might also be cool to have a figure of Alistair, but I'd have to consider that a bit more. For the Merui one, it'd be really cool if she were wearing her Rivenwell Online outfit! :D

I prefer realistic porportions, but chibi would be okay. And I greatly prefer full body - I don't think I would buy a bust. I don't feel the need for any accessories. I would buy them online.

marblebunny said...

Shiroooooooooo! I think he'll look adorable as a full body chibi. I guess with accessories too, like something other than headphones, you know?

I would buy the figure online. And it would be cool if the figures come with something like a special access to something like Jisei because I never really buy games online but if I bought a figure then I can pay for it along with the game? I don't know if that makes sense. I guess an alternate idea was *IF* Shiro is the chosen one, there would be a bonus game or segment or something. Wouldn't that be cool? I guess it's a stretch and maybe I'm just a little too bubbly right now... ^^"

Anonymous said...

Kuu's like your poster girl. And she's adorable, so I want Kuu. And Travis too (Travis!!!!). Though actually, an Oda one would probably be cooler.

My tastes tend to run towards chibi-style, but for some reason, though I'd prefer that for Re:A++ characters (especially the MMORPG versions. But they're chibi anyway. xD), I prefer normal for Kuu and and ???.

I probably would NOT buy the figures online. Shipping tacks on so much. However, if the price point is around $15, I would get them at conventions. That seems like very worthy money. Plus, I always send too much at conventions. >.>

Cee said...

I personally don't like figures, as much as I like ripples (if any, i'd pick Kuu, simply because her design is unique and pretty evenly likable by both genders) and the such o.o
It's probably jut personal preference, but figures (to me) seem like really purty barbie dolls...that you can't move or dress up D:(< and I diss barbie dolls as it is ^^") Even if I did like figures, I'm worried about the cost- seeing some taken risks bringing down perfectly good companies v.v I say that we save the money for now, although- some ideas might be like anonymous (9/13) said, the alistair characters with their rivenwell online counterparts :)

J-chan said...

Congratulations, I'd love to see how something like this would turn out! I love figures and wish I could make my own. *///* Keep us updated on the process and stuff!
I'm torn though, personally. I prefer regular figures to chibi for the most part, and there's a definite dearth of males in general... But I love Kuu's design and cats, so if you could have her made with a cat it would be amazing~ > w< I'd totally order it online.

SelphyClark (Not really!~) said...

I'll start sending out word on Sakeviusal to my town and See if any would think of the figures being cool!~

Kuu since she is such a cool looking Character of Ripples

but What about your Mascot Kurara !! she is Important too~

I'm sure I can get 10 - 15 people for the preorder XD

Anonymous said...

Q: Which character?
Kuu or ???.
Q: Which outfit?
Their standard outfit.
Q: Chibi or realistically proportioned?
Realistically of course. Everything else .... might not be that cute!
Q: Full body or bust?
Full body, i'd never buy a bust.
Q: Accessories?
Not nessecary, but ???'s headphones or Kuu's cats would be nice.
Q: Can you buy things online?
I'd buy online. If you can ship to my country, that is.
Q: If you can't, would you buy them at a convention or through some other physical venue?
No.

Anonymous said...

I definitely think that they would be great to collect, but I would add if you did Allistar I would like to see a more adult version of him, A non-chibi version. Also as much as I would love to collect these and voted for several of them, I am a poor college student. So depending on the price I may not be able to afford them.

Anonymous said...

A full figure of Shiro!

A_Human said...

Nice if it was Merui, but I'll go with a full bodied Shiro today.

Hanayuki said...

Which character?
Kuu!!
Which outfit?
Standard outfit.
Chibi or realistically proportioned?
Realistically because I don't know if she will be as cute when in chibi
Full body or bust?
Full body, I don't like burst and wouldn't buy one.
Accessories?
CATS!!! :)
Can you buy things online?
Only if you ship to Canada.
If you can't, would you buy them at a convention or through some other physical venue?
No, because I highly doubt that I'll go to any convention in the near future and even less to some in other country XD

Unknown said...

I'd love a figure of Jisei's Protagonist *A*. (Or Kuu Or your mascot (which isn't in the choices) since they're very emblematic

However, for a 4 inch figure, I guess a chibi would be much better than one with realistic propostions.

I would send at much as 30$ for a full body more realistic , taller figure (I don't have much more budget right now, but maybe I could spend as much as 50$ for something like a beautiful, fullbody normal proportions and 20~25 cm tall figure of a character I love)

I would buy them online or at conventions (however, the only cons I attend are Otakon (Baltimore) et Otakuthon (Montreal, Canada)

Heathy-chan said...

I plug Sakevisual a little TOO much, I think. XD Ha ha! Anyway;
I would LOVE to see Travis, full body, in his usual...outfit...thing with an armfull of books, or taking his glasses off!!! *0* Oh!! Or he could wear his Rivenwell online outfit too! THAT would look awesome. :3 Heh heh, yes!! I would so totally buy it at a convention, mostly because the only things I buy online are books. ^^'' Well, now you have my opinion, GO GET 'EM SAKEVISUAL!!! ♥

Livvy Humphries said...

I'd definitely buy a figure online if it didn't cost too much to get it shipped to the UK, but I realise that's not always easy. And I don't mind which character it is, as long as it's full body and I'd love chibi because it's so darn cute ^^ But I agree with Deji~, Kuu with a kitten would be fab =3

Anonymous said...

Well I just came over after finishing playing Jisei, and craving a sequel. Then I saw the link on the DA group about figures and that about made my day, even if you're just thinking about it! I love collecting figures! I would buy one of the main character, nameless as he may be. XD And I think a regular proportion would be nice (because chibi is cute, but the kid's kinda handsome :) ).

Anonymous said...

This post is pretty old so I don't know if you'll see this, but have you considered patchedin.com as an option?

It's like threadless, but they do figurines too and I've seen a couple webcomics use it to make figurines of their characters. So it's kind of two for one - you find out what the interest level is, and if it's enough, you get a figure made.

The problem is that the figurine will cost more in the end and you wouldn't actually be selling it, but I thought it'd be nice to let you broaden your list of options.

As for my personal opinion... figurines are an expensive hobby and I tend not to buy them sorry. >_<;;

Anonymous said...

...actually, I gave you the wrong url. It's:
http://www.patchtogether.com/

Sorry about that.

PantherX said...

I would love figures of the Rivenwell Online avatars, in regular proportions rather than chibi.

Funnbunny123 said...

I thought, lets post comments at old posts ^^

Which character?
Shiro <3 or Merui ^^ (not Travis please I don't like him!)

Which outfit?
Their normal outfits, Oh gosh I just thought about something funny, Shiro in his fionawings outfit with an embarrassed face XD that would be so cool ^^

Chibi or realistically proportioned?
Hm.. Doesn't really matter to me but for 4 inch would Chibi better I guess...

Full body or bust?
full body. I don't own any figures right now but I wouldn't want just a bust.

Accessories?
Shiro's headphone and Merui's sword ^^

Can you buy things online?
Jup. I can only buy things with iDeal right now but I could always ask my mom to buy it for me.

If you can't, would you buy them at a convention or through some other physical venue?
Nope, I guess you can't come to the Netherlands and I've never been to a convention before.

I don't know if I would actually buy such a figure if they were available... but I wish you guys luck, cause you're so awesome putting awesome games for free here, with everything!!!!