David Silva's Beasts of the Cenozoic and Eons mammoth Backerkit Sept 3rd

[Flaffy]

1/35 Woolly Mammoth revealed and unlocked


Am very confused about how they're going about "stretch goals". Aren't they supposed to be unlocked after the initial $185k goal is reached?

[Carnoking]

Well, I guess I'm in for at least 55. Still think the price is a little inflated (the 8 inch ceratopsians run 20 bucks cheaper) but hey, it's all for the cause.

I too am unsure how they're going about this whole stretch goal thing, unless 185,000 is the goal to unlock all of these models and they're just piecemealing out the reveals to keep interest up throughout the month. They did seem to lose some steam after the initial launch but we're still only about two(?) days in now, so hopefully this gives them another push.

Looking at the goals for David's previous campaigns, I guess I would be shocked if they were hoping to get 185,000 for just the initial two mammoths?

[Flaffy]

The silouettes for next two "stretch goals" look incredibly similar to the 1:35 mammoth. So maybe they're just exclusive paint variants or something along those lines?

[Giganotosaurus]

I would like to get the 1/35 Mammoth, but I think I'll just back the 1/18 Mammoth for now, considering that I also want to get the other unique elephants. My poor wallet!

[croco_105]

Its a bit odd how the PBS Eons side is handling this launch.
It isn't mentioned on their main youtube channel, which has the largest following of 2.98 million subscribers. Instagram just has the old teaser preview from July, nothing on the launch date. Facebook has a post made yesterday but doesn't show images of the figures. Finally their social media account with the least followers (Twitter, 13.8k) has some posts about the campaign, only viewable if you sign in.

You'd think they would put this out to as many potential backers as possible across all platforms. Just a weird lack of marketing for something that needs a lot of funding. They have a large audience but I doubt many of them know about the launch. 

Also, the weird way they're unlocking stretch goals is not great compared to those of us who are familiar with how kickstarter handles it. There is no clear way to predict what monetary goals need to be be met in order to unlock new models.

[Pliosaurking]

I do think these figures are gorgeous, but I won't be getting the adult mammoth as much as I'd like to. 200 bucks for something that is smaller than the trike or toro, plus conversion and shipping... yikes. However I think I will get the 1:35 scale one to go along with my WWD Rex. I also will probably get the moerithreium, and maybe one of the other smaller Proboscideans, depending on price of course. I do hope this succeeds.

[Faelrin]

@croco_105 Fully agree. I noticed that on their instagram as well and thought that was odd. Getting a campaign to be successful ultimately depends on getting the word out as much as possible.

I do think there was a tiny increase after A @Andysdinosaurreviews posted their news video mentioning the campaign was live. Like it wasn't just me that noticed that right?

Anyways I'll be adding this one to my pledge. Definitely can cover this and the baby between now and next month's payments. I also asked on the campaign how these stretch goals work. There definitely needs to be some transparency of when these goals will unlock, as I think if more people are aware of that, folks waiting for a particular non mammoth will know to keep their eyes on the funding progress for it to unlock.

I'm also so used to David's campaign's where the stretch goal totals are hinted at after the initial funding goal. Though it is possible they are included in this 185k funding goal already. The campaign specifically mentions "Scientifically accurate, articulated models of the Wooly Mammoth, Gompotherium, Moeritherium and Platybelodon, created by the minds at Creative Beast Studio along with Eons!" so who knows.

Part of me also wonders if the 1/35 mammoth was a later stretch goal that got moved up? The order here totally has been shifted compared to what was present from day 1. For comparison (with the image in @Flaffy post above):




Also can't forget about sharing some pics from the campaign here (and also the fully painted up Moeritherium). I'm in a new motel with much better internet, so business as usual from here.

So here's a pic of the tusks for both of the 1/18 scale versions (male, female, and broken):

https://www.backerkit.com/c/projects/complexly-and-creative-beasts-studios/prehistoric-elephants/updates/9955



More pics of the exclusive Snowy set (rest below spoiler):

Spoiler

[close]

Pics of the 1/35 mammoth (which includes three sets of tusks as well, but the description on the add-ons page only mentioned the male tusks). Again the rest of the pics are below the spoiler (which includes images with the interchangable tusk options):

Spoiler

[close]

And finally here's the pics of the painted up Moeritherium.

Spoiler

[close]

I'll definitely be getting the op updated with these.

[Giganotosaurus]

Maybe the 1/35 was meant for later, but pledges aren't as high as was expected? So they figure more will pledge if there is a more affordable Mammoth?

[BlueKrono]

I wonder if Moe will be able to close its mouth? That's my biggest problem with these figures: the articulation is so limited it's hardly any better than a static figure.

[Faelrin]

@BlueKrono I don't see why not? There's clearly a joint there. A little reminder that these prototypes are resin with the parts glued in. Have to wait for the test shots and/or paint samples for the real articulation displays (like the recent BotC black Smilodon).

Also folks I just wanted to let you all know the op (first post on first page) is massively updated and restructured (especially the mammoth and Smilodon sections). Hopefully it is much easier to browse and find what you are looking for now. 

I've also added image galleries for the painted prototype for the Platybelodon (which I forgot to add earlier apparently, although to be fair it was posted on the day I had to move out of the hotel I had been in for like a year and a half), and even the Kickstarter Exclusive Cyberzoic Smilodon set (since I just added the new Backerkit exclusive Snowy mammoth set).

[Giganotosaurus]

I really dislike that there isn't an estimated release date for these figures.

[Faelrin]

@Giganotosaurus It's there, but kind of hidden. You have to click on the pledge level tab, and then the figure of interest. Anyways, I checked each of the ones so far, and they all say early summer 2025. Probably should have had that info on the main campaign page, as I imagine it is easily overlooked otherwise.

[Concavenator]

I won't be participating in this campaign as there's nothing that interests me, but I hope it's successful (and I'm expecting it will, seeing as all of their other campaigns were). In any case, glad to see more 1:35 Creative Beast stuff, and I hope there will be more down the road!

[Pliosaurking]

So I just read a comment up in the community section
The 185k is for just the mammoths to be made. The others will be unlocked afterwards. Definitely is ambitious!

[Faelrin]

@Pliosaurking Yeah that was the response to my question right? I just saw that too. I also just asked them if they could spread the word by making a video on their youtube channel. I made another post on my instagram account today about the 1/35 mammoth, but they have a massive reach in comparison to my measly near 400 followers (and I suspect a good number of those are probably fake accounts as they don't interact with any of my posts).

[Carnoking]

So I just read a comment up in the community section
The 185k is for just the mammoths to be made. The others will be unlocked afterwards. Definitely is ambitious!

 

[Giganotosaurus]

So the 185k goal is for just the baby and adult 1/18 Mammoths, not even including the 1/35 Mammoth?!!! That's not good!!

[Faelrin]

Here is where I asked:

https://www.backerkit.com/c/projects/complexly-and-creative-beasts-studios/prehistoric-elephants/updates/9996#top

What I asked:

I'm so glad to see this is a thing. Adding one to my pledge (add-on). How do the stretch goals for this campaign work? Are they unlocked at different intervals before the goal of $185k or do they unlock after that goal is met? I'm used to backing each Creative Beast Studio campaign, where the stretch goals where unlocked after the main goal. I'm really looking forward to that Platybelodon and Moeritherium in addition to the mammoths. I don't know if it would be feasible for this campaign, but I would also love to see a Deinotherium and American Mastodon get this treatment as well (if not numerous others). I've actually seen a lot of folks asking for the former on instagram, if not elsewhere.

Complexly Fraize's response to my question:

Once we reach our funding goal of $185k, we'll be able to manufacture the Mammoth, Baby, and the 1/35th Scale. To make Gompy, Platty, or Moeri we'll need to make more than $185k.

The new question I asked (thanks to @croco_105 for the idea):

Thanks for clarifying Fraize. I see the campaign is like 1/3 of the way now, which is good progress. I forgot to mention this earlier, but I noticed there wasn't anything on the PBS Eons youtube channel about this campaign though. I think it would help get the word out if a quick video on the campaign was shared there, as there's nearly 3 million subscribers on the channel that might not be aware of this campaign if they aren't following your other social media accounts, or any of Creative Beast Studio's social accounts (which for example I was). I've been trying to help spread the word about this campaign, but I have a tiny reach compared to you guys.

Will update if he responds. Hopefully this clears things up for folks. Tagging @Giganotosaurus as this addresses your concern.

[Giganotosaurus]

Thank you for the write up! Do we think we can reach 185k? That seems really high to me, but I've rarely participated in Kickstarters before (mainly just the Tyrannosaur, Cyberzoic, and the Pacific Rim Tabletop Game Kickstarters).

[croco_105]

Well at least we finally get some clarity, 185k just for the three current mammoths is a lot to aim for. I get that manufacturing prices have gone up and the Eons team adds some extra expense I'm sure. However, I can't help but feel EONS doesn't really add much to this whole campaign. Frankly, with their severe lack of proper marketing, lack of transparency for goals and inflated prices (compared to the previous creative beasts kickstarters) it doesn't look good.

It's also a bit confusing as their 1/35th scale mammoth images show all three tusk variations (male, female, broken). Yet several people have asked about this in comments and they were told only the male tusks were included. A bit misleading, why show multiple variations if they are not included?

I'm personally more interested in the gomphotherium, platybelodon and moeritherium but at this point that is very far off from happening. From looking at the general comments on various sites, it seems others have the same interest in these rather than the mammoths. To have to hit 185k, then add say another 10k or so (just a random estimate) to add each remaining figure seems unlikely.

@Faelrin  thanks for the followup questions you asked for clarification.

The only reason that comes to mind in regards to the Youtube channel is perhaps there is some sort of legal reason to not advertise on that particular site due to PBS being partially publicly funded. I don't know how it all works as they do advertise on tv from various donors, products etc and on their other socials.