Dream Big Friends

[venivididolli]

I saw this photo on Tumblr and I fell in love with Yuna. She has a Kickstarter project that I encourage everyone to check out:

www.kickstarter.com/projects/bigshot-toyworks/dream-big-friends-yuna-doll


I already pledged my $40, because I think she is the cutest little thing and she's something different from what I already own. Watch the video and look at the line-up of adorable friends, too! I'd buy every one.



We've got to get this Kickstarter funded and get Yuna into our collections!

[bananasmom]

venivididolli OMG, she's so cute! Thanks for posting, I'll definitely back too! I hope they make their goal. They set the bar high.

[venivididolli]

They definitely did. That's my worry. That's a big number and they only have the two rewards at low values right now.

[bananasmom]

venivididolli I was thinking the same thing about the rewards/donation amounts. Maybe it would encourage people to give more if they set a higher donation amount with a promise of getting each new doll as it comes into production, or something like that.

[zuzuloopsy]

Thank you so much for sharing this!

[marigirls]

Such a shame that kickstarter has become a place for big toy companies to raise money for a project. It originally started out for the little person to raise money but now all I see is big toy companies using their in house design teams to create a fundraiser. I would not donate to any kickstarter campaign, all these fundraiser sites are now super fake.

Anyone get any of the Elementals, remember them? Huge flop! I don't want to come across as a Debby Downer but I just hate seeing these companies try to manipulate consumers with these fake campaigns.

[venivididolli]

I've been part of three small Kickstarters that were funded successfully and the products are all awesome. Two are small companies making plush toys and the third was one of my favorite singers funding a small print run of her adult coloring book. And I'm part of the ongoing Scary Godmother doll project, which someday will see completion.

Not all of them are "super fake." And honestly, I don't care if this one is a big company. This doll line should see the light of day, because so few lines have that level of diversity. I mean, here we are on a Lalaloopsy site and Dot couldn't even get a Girls doll. We need more doll diversity.

[Wardah]

They aren't even that big a company. They aren't a Mattel or even an MGA that can absorb the shock if they take a big risk and it flops. To develop a toy line takes a lot of money. So their only options are either to take a huge risk and if it flops it could cause them to lose a lot of money and possibly go bankrupt or to just avoid risky projects altogether and just stick with what's safe. It's not manipulation to try to find out if there is a paying audience before putting all that money on the line.


Tho I do think MGA planned on adding Dot to the Girls line eventually but the line didn't do good enough and so any future plans were dropped just like the 3rd wave of Silly Hair Minis never ended up happening.

[venivididolli]

Yeah, they might have planned on adding her, but she could have easily taken Jewel's place in the last basic line. We didn't need another Jewel. Why does poor Dot have to be pushed to "eventually?"

[Wardah]

I wonder if Dot had a deluxe release planned for the same time as the basics and the stores said yes to the basics but no to the deluxe since they shelf sat. I know that happened with Bratzillaz and that's why we got Jade, Sashabella and Meygana in the Back to Magic line but no Cloetta or Yasmina since they were in the Witchy Band line that they all skipped.

[marigirls]

They are not a big company, they are a design team that works for BIG TOY COMPANIES. So get that fact straight, and as far as supporting them, why should we? You know why they started a campaign? Because the companies they work for, ie. Hasbro, Mattel, etc., won't fund this so they have to find somewhere else to get the money. I for one am not duped by these corporations using people for profits, I won't pledge any money, and for those who look at it like, oh this is cool, I want one, do some research first. Don't get taken advantage of.

Edited to add:
My husband knows someone who works directly with Mattel and their design team. Prototypes are expensive, manufacturing is expensive, depending on whether they do a short run and the type of molds used for reproduction. I say all this to say that what is in the campaign is a finished doll. It is pretty much ready to be distributed. How is that possible and what do they need money for if it is already complete? Food for thought.

[Wardah]

The big toy companies don't want to fund it because they think it is "too risky" to have a toy line centered around a character who isn't white unless it is tied into a movie or TV show. Just because they have a prototype done doesn't mean they have enough money to order a run of them and even if they did what is wrong with making sure there is enough demand for them first?

[venivididolli]

If we want to support this doll, so what? Let us spend our money how we choose. I'm not telling you how to spend yours. This negativity is so unnecessary here and I find your know-it-all, condescending attitude really offensive.

And Wardah hit the nail on the head. The big companies won't fund it because they barely produce PoC dolls, which are important and should be supported.

[bananasmom]

Hmm... I feel like I missed something! lol My impression was that the people involved in this kickstarter are independent toy designers/creators vs. being people who are actually currently employed on a design team for any particular large toy company. Even if their studio does commissioned projects for the larger companies, that would not imply any willingness on the part of those companies to produce/distribute a project like this for them. Someone said "too risky" which I would agree with. I doubt any large toy company would have expressed any interest to them in taking on this project. Which leads me to believe their campaign is probably legitimate.

Made sense to me anyway! Hehe

[marigirls]

Nov 29, 2015 17:14:11 GMT -5 venivididolli said:

If we want to support this doll, so what? Let us spend our money how we choose. I'm not telling you how to spend yours. This negativity is so unnecessary here and I find your know-it-all, condescending attitude really offensive.

And Wardah hit the nail on the head. The big companies won't fund it because they barely produce PoC dolls, which are important and should be supported.

Let's be clear on a few things. I don't have an attitude nor do I know everything. I could care less what you or anyone else on this forum spends their money on. I happen to think that the doll is really cute, I would totally buy it, but, and there is a but, I won't pledge money to have it made so that I can buy it. That just doesn't make any sense. I offered no negativity just simple facts that if anyone who has eyes to see and can understand would realize what is going on. I don't know if you have noticed how badly all toys are doing, with the exception of LEGO. I have seen Monster High and Bratz in second stores already!!! These are new releases that I am talking about. In past years, something like that would never happen. I love Lalaloopsy, and this is the only forum I post on. It just seems as though there is a big shift in toys and the fund me sites are a testament to that.

[venivididolli]

Oh, gee, I'm sorry, how could I think you have an attitude when you say such delightful things as:

"So get that fact straight" which was totally rude.

"I for one am not duped by these corporations" which reads as "You are all ignorant and I'm so superior!"

"do some research first" Ditto above.

And now "anyone who has eyes to see and can understand" which isn't condescending at all. Oh, no.

You also were very negative about Kickstarter campaigns, when they're NOT all some big company conspiracy. I told you about the ones I've successfully funded and were very clearly done by small groups.

I made this thread so people could see a cute doll and maybe decide to fund her, not get in a snitty argument with someone. I'd rather end this and leave this post to the topic at hand, which is THIS CUTE DOLL, not your issues with Kickstarter. If you really don't care how we spend our money, stop trying to get us to not fund this project.

[bananasmom]

venivididolli marigirls Maybe you guys could just agree to disagree on this one? You've both presented your thoughts regarding kickstarter/this campaign, and you're both saying you're not here to argue and/or it doesn't matter to you what people decide to do on this. So why not just step away from this now and let people make their own decision about whether or not they want to contribute. What do you think?

**Much love to you both**

[venivididolli]

Fine with me as long as we can keep talking about the campaign if there are any updates. That's why I posted this, not to deal with negativity. Other people post things and their threads go fine. I get this mess. *sigh* I just wanted to share a cute doll that I think would be an important addition to the doll world.

[bananasmom]

venivididolli I have no problem with you and others continuing to post updates about this campaign. I'm interested in the project myself, as I said, and glad you did share it here. Also, I don't think it was really marigirls intention to be condescending or negative towards you personally or anyone else. I think she just had a strong opinion regarding certain things going on with kickstarter that she was expressing. And I appreciate her sharing what she knows also.

But hey, you guys are both good people, you've both given us good info to think about, and I think people can make up their own minds about the campaign at this point, without this thread needing to continue in any negative direction. Thanks, you guys!

[davidugly]

hi all, thanks for the kind words about our kickstarter.

We are indeed a tiny company,
and can't use funds from our existing tiny companies to pay for this doll...

...but the doll is ready to go. If the project is funded, we press "go" at the factory.

We have put as much money as needed ( and as much as we could ) into the project to get it "ready for press"
at a great factory with high quality materials, and our experience will see to it that this
ships on time with no sudden surprises met by many kickstarter projects.


( edit: here is a pic of my La La collection, so I don't seem like a total troll only interested in talking about my own project...
Thanks for letting me add my explanation. ) 

[zuzuloopsy]

Super excited for this project! Love your work, Sun Min and David! Thank you.

[bananasmom]

davidugly Hi David! Thanks so much for joining the discussion & clarifying some of the details about your kickstarter project for our members here. (And for sharing the pics of your awesome Lala collection, of course!) Yuna is super cute and I wish you guys lots of success with this project.

[davidugly]

Nov 29, 2015 10:13:46 GMT -5 marigirls said:

They are not a big company, they are a design team that works for BIG TOY COMPANIES. So get that fact straight, and as far as supporting them, why should we? You know why they started a campaign? Because the companies they work for, ie. Hasbro, Mattel, etc., won't fund this so they have to find somewhere else to get the money. I for one am not duped by these corporations using people for profits, I won't pledge any money, and for those who look at it like, oh this is cool, I want one, do some research first. Don't get taken advantage of.

Edited to add:
My husband knows someone who works directly with Mattel and their design team. Prototypes are expensive, manufacturing is expensive, depending on whether they do a short run and the type of molds used for reproduction. I say all this to say that what is in the campaign is a finished doll. It is pretty much ready to be distributed. How is that possible and what do they need money for if it is already complete? Food for thought.

The doll in our Kickstarter is not complete or finished.

We still need to make the tooling/molds and go into production. 
That is a huge expense. 

We got everything ready as much as could be ( it was a lot of work ), and the doll you see in the images is a 3D printed prototype made of resin and other materials, hand painted made to resemble the materials she will be made of.
( this is how we make all of our plastic figure prototypes which we then show at toy fair for Uglydoll. )
The final product will actually look even better ( especially the clothing )  and she will be plastic, made of very high quality plastics with really good, clean paint apps. 

Our Uglydoll company is tiny, as in super tiny. We don't ship to huge companies like Wal Mart. 

Also, this is a separate project from our uglydolls, and we need to keep it completely separate for a number of reasons.

Regardless, we are going to Kickstarter for the same reason anyone else would... to help get it funded and made a reality.
Our partner in this project, Big Shot Toyworks, has produced several toys for the big companies ( the giant toy companies often use smaller one man operations to complete projects ) and Big Shot is a work from home small company, as we are.
Big Shot knows exactly how to get a doll made correctly at the factory, thanks to their production experience with their other projects, as do we with ours.
But we are collectively tiny, and pretty much just 2 dads wanting to make a different choice available for our kids and for anyone else out there who might enjoy. 

Also, just to be clear, we did not, nor would we want to show this to larger companies to get made.

=)

[venivididolli]

Yay! Glad to hear some more details about the project. I really hope more people start funding Yuna. We NEED to get this doll made because she's something refreshing and much-needed. I'd love to know more about all her friends, too. I hope to have them all on my shelves someday.

[marigirls]

davidugly, welcome to the board! Thanks for sharing your love for Lalaoopsy as well as clarifying exactly how your company is. All the best to you guys!