Mesozoic Life Proyect Figures 2021

[Dusty Wren]

Thanks for the update, @Fembrogon, though now I'm really confused as to why Amazon is an option. Also, the minimum number of figures has changed quite a bit, hasn't it? It used to be 1,500, and now they're saying 700 to 800.

I love the looks of this figure, but I'm really concerned about the financial/business side of things.

[Fembrogon]

I'm guessing the team isn't experienced with the financial side of business planning, so they're having to adjust/correct plans as they go.
If any of the rest of us here on the Forum are on Twitter (or subscribed to their Patreon), I'd suggest striking up more discussion there to help in sorting out what the game plan needs to be.

[Psittacoraptor]

Yeah, someone needs to tell them that Amazon and Kickstarter are two completely different business models. If they need funding ahead of production, IIRC Amazon won't be an option because they don't allow third party sellers to offer preorders. I'm surprised they didn't go with Kickstarter from the beginning, it's what made Beasts of the Mesozoic possible, and that should be the best known dinosaur figure project of this kind. Maybe they didn't want to pay the fees, but any platform charges fees, including Amazon. They'd just need to make the figures more expensive by 4% or whatever Kickstarter's fees are, if the previous prices were what they needed to fund production and make the project profitable.

[Faelrin]

I think Kickstarter would be a good option. Would perhaps make it more accessible to more people as well.

[Fembrogon]

It looks Kickstarter is (maybe) a go, regardless of the poll. This photo was also shared on Twitter:


https://twitter.com/michel_elia/status/1427406388108660746

Here's hoping!

[Faelrin]

Assuming it can go live, and ends up successfully funded, then I hope my situation can improve to allow me a chance at one of these. Just need to wait and see how things go in both instances.

[Concavenator]

Though I would personally prefer it if the figure was sold through Amazon, it seems the best option for them is Kickstarter. So I guess I would also support them if they choose Kickstarter, which looks like it might be the case. Though I have no idea how Kickstarter works and how all the payment is handled. If someone could elaborate on this I would be grateful, otherwise I will just ask Blayken later on.

[Dusty Wren]

@Concavenator, here's a quick Kickstarter rundown for you and anyone else who's new to using it:

To back a campaign, you have to create an account on kickstarter.com. You'll need to add a credit card to your account. Kickstarter doesn't take any other forms of payment, as far as I know.

Once the campaign starts, Mesozoic Life will have 30 days to meet their stated funding goal. You choose how much money you want to pledge toward the goal. Mesozoic Life will create pledge tiers, which are specific amounts of money that are associated with specific backer rewards. You pick the tier that matches the reward you want (they'll probably have a tier for one Spinosaurus figure, maybe another tier for two figures, and so on).

If they've met their goal by the 30-day cutoff, the amount you pledged will be charged to your credit card. You do not get charged any money until after the 30 days are up, and you can change the amount of your pledge or cancel your pledge at any time during the 30-day period.

If they don't meet their goal, the campaign just ends and you're not charged anything. Mesozoic Life will get no money at all unless their funding goal is met.   

That's the basic idea. Some campaigns get more complex, adding more goals once the original goal is met. Not sure what Mesozoic Life is planning for their campaign.

[Concavenator]

@Dusty Wren Thank you very much, very well explained!

You'll need to add a credit card to your account.

Do you know if debit cards can be used as well?

That aside, take a look at the comments at this tweet from Blayken. He says they will need to get the funds for producing the steel mold and about 700 to 800 figures. The fact that the minimum of figures will have gone from 1500-2000 to 700-800 strikes me as positive, with the goal number being lower, I imagine it would be easier to achieve.

https://mobile.twitter.com/michel_elia/status/1427200564769824769

[Dusty Wren]

Yeah, it looks like Kickstarter does take some debit cards, so that should work (here's Kickstarter's policy on payment types for reference).

[Concavenator]

Yeah, it looks like Kickstarter does take some debit cards, so that should work (here's Kickstarter's policy on payment types for reference).

Alright, thanks!

[Concavenator]

The Kickstarter is coming!!

https://twitter.com/michel_elia/status/1428356076626403328

So, it seems that between 650 and 700 figures reserved in about 40 days is the goal now.
D @Doctor Velociraptor again, I encourage you to contact Paleofiguras, Paleo-Nerd and many more accounts to spread the word. It looks like it's going to be significantly easier to achieve now than before. Last time they said they had about 200 models reserved in just a few days...