Merchandise Creation Poll

[uncreepy]

I decided to finally look on Google (there was no worthwhile info on YouTube) about mass production of plushies (since we already know how commission plushies by 1 artist goes).

Plushie production process in China (how the toys are actually made): Interesting, contains images.

One example of a company who makes plushies (the site is in English, but the factory is in China) and about minimum orders and other details.
More details of the process by the same company: You have to get a prototype ($250-500 for this one plushie alone) made and approved first. The cost of materials increases with size of the plushy.

Here is another example from a blog about people interested in plushies of main characters from books/games. The previous company required a 500 piece minimum order. The example in this blog is much bigger. The prototype was made by an artist experienced in making prototype plushies and charged $75 per hour (ending up at a whopping $1,000 prototype plushy), rather than the example of my friend who would make commission plushies that cost based on size (I think it was only around $25 for the plushie itself and no charge for the labor). The incentive for working with a professional prototype artist was to save headache with a Chinese/English language barrier. I think if you can draw your own ideas for a prototype, it might help save time (though you wouldn't be able to draw the master plan pieces if you don't know how plushies work).

At most factories the minimum order is about 10,000 units, but for an additional set up fee of about $2,000 some will do 2,500 pieces for you. If you provide digital artwork, the factory will print and affix the hangtags as well. Remember that you’ll need to do safety testing for the toy, too.

More unexpected stuff to think about (safety and logo tags). If the prototype plushie costs $500-$1000, and a "small" batch of plushies has an ADDITIONAL set up fee of $2000 in order to get $2500, what is the ACTUAL cost of the material/labor/shipping to your country in order to get the plushies made? I imagine the normal amount of 10,000 plushies would cost a lot. Where would you store them? How would you ship them? Does the Chinese company own the copyright to your plushies? This isn't even considering contacting the Vocaloid company for a character license.

 

[razelberii]

Thanks for taking the time to look into it, uncreepy! Really good finds!

As I wondered, it certainly does cost a lot to order many plushies. I imagine this is designed more for a company rather than a small person such as myself. We'd have to get some kind of fundraiser, and I have 0 desire to do such a thing.
So it seems best that self-sewing and self-shipping may be the best options. It looks like going by commission is the way to go. That will also avoid the idea of the company possibly getting a hold of some copyright to the plush.
With self-work, this way the copyright is to oneself, and to the Vocaloid company (or companies) associated with that character.

Because man, I do not need 10,000 plushies stored somewhere in my closet.
If I did though I would use them as pillows and test to make sure each one functioned correctly

It's definitely WAY over my budget, but hey, good thing to keep in mind if somehow this does turn into some kind of company. Besides, seeing the process can help me if I do want to get into the plush-making business. Hmm.

 

[WintermintP]

Flags are the third one on the list.

Oh? Zut, I should've paid more attention >.<

WintermintP

 

[razelberii]

Hey everyone!
The new character-focused Vocaloid Merchandise Poll is here.
This time I am using Google Forms, to help with asking many questions besides one.

Vocaloid Merchandise Poll: Character

- Company related to the character : For sake of organizing and understanding what companies may be good to focus on as a whole.

- Specific Character : Optional question to see which Character(s) are most popular (1-5 can be added).

- Design: To see if alterations or similarities are important, or if there is no preference. This is related to the Vocaloid's original artwork. For example: Fukase is designed to have sleeves that end a little past the elbow. Some illustrations may have the sleeve reaching the hand.

- Alternate Designs : To see if a new design or a design like the original is preferred more. For example: The Sun Miku design for Miku Africa is a fan-made design for a planned concert in Africa. The design is different from Hatsune Miku's original outfit, as the original features arm sleeves, blue tie, black/pink ponytails, etc.

- Thoughts on Cancelled/Private Vocaloids receiving merchandise : Optional question

- Other voice synthesizer-related merchandise? : Optional question. This includes Voiceroid, UTAU, Alter/Ego, and more. Other is also an option, so you may share another possibility.

Thank you in advance for taking the time to fill out this form. I look forward to seeing our results!
The poll is set to end in two weeks, June 16.
As always, feel free to give your thoughts below, I think we may have another poll later to narrow down further what characters we are interested in seeing the most.

 

[WintermintP]

I made my vote.

Say... do you happen to speak Japanese by any chance?

Regards,
WintermintP

 

[razelberii]

I made my vote.

Say... do you happen to speak Japanese by any chance?

Thank you for participating in the poll!

I try my best to speak Japanese. Is this related to Merchandise Creation? Otherwise, please send a PM.

I am not taking translation requests at the moment, however. I apologize for any inconvenience.

 

[WintermintP]

I... wasn't going to ask for a translation... I was just wondering...

Regards,
WintermintP

 

[razelberii]

Hey fellow Razzberries,
Just wanted to drop in and give a heads up that the poll is still up!
The poll ends June 16, meaning we got 6 days left before the results are analyzed.

Right now we have 9 responses! Thank you for taking the time to vote!

If you do not have time to vote or wish not to, it is no problem~
You may vote at your own timing, let's look into the results together soon!

Vocaloid Merchandise Poll: Character

Edit: Poll is now officially closed. Results will be analyzed and posted within the next few days. Please look forward to then.

 

[razelberii]

Heyo, Razzberries,

How are you guys doing? Our poll focused on characters has ended, you know what that means?
Analyze time!

I have went through each question and shared my thoughts. They are in spoilers due to the length of this post.

Please select a Company related to the Character(s) you would like to see

It was a challenge to think of how to phrase this question, but here is our result.
From a discussion with Move->Forward, it may be wise to ask for permission for a handful of designs at once besides one at a time. For example, in this case, I may make designs for Miku, Rin, Len, and Luka, then ask Crypton if these designs may be approved or if changes are necessary, etc., instead of emailing about a Miku design, then emailing again for a Rin design, and so on. That will save time and emails, and allow products to be added in multiple rather than one at a time.

So, here are the results of the poll.

1. Crypton Future Media - 4
2. YAMAHA - 3
3. AHS - 2
4. Zero-G, Gynoid, Other* - 1
(*In this poll, Other includes IA, Lumi, MAYU, Nana, Galaco, Rana)

The Crypton Vocaloids are a popular set, so it may be good to start with these characters, or at least work on these designs at the same time as another.

Any specific characters you are interested in?

This question received 10 answers.

Hatsune Miku was mentioned 5 times in this question.

Some characters were found 2 times:
Megurine Luka, Fukase, Avanna, Oliver, Tianyi

Many other characters were mentioned once, so I will state some companies that these Vocaloids originate from:
Zero-G, Crypton, Yamaha, AHS, Internet, and more

It's nice to see a language variety here, and it makes sense to have this kind of approach as well. It may be good to focus on a Japanese group such as the Crypton Vocaloids, then an English group such as Zero-G's Vocaloids, then a Chinese group such as V Singer.

Design

1 is the artist's own interpretation on a character's design, while 5 is staying true to the original artwork.
With this result, it is certain that there may not be a strong preference. It may be good to keep some details in mind with the design at least, but not strictly.

Alternate Designs

1 is "More designs the better!" while 5 is "Stay true to the original!"
I was surprised to see the handful of responses for enjoying different designs. It's something I will have to keep in mind down the road.
It is fun to see what an artist decides for an "alternate costume" for a Vocaloid, such as "What would Miku wear for an everyday/casual outfit?" or "What would Dex wear if he was getting ready for snowy weather?"
Perhaps we will do a poll on what types of alternate designs buyers would like to see, if there is interest?

Do you have thoughts on cancelled Vocaloids or private Vocaloids receiving merchandise?

This question received 9 answers.

We had some mixed answers, but I noticed at least 5 were in favor or not opposed to the idea.

1 response said that it depends on the Vocaloid, which makes sense.
1 response expressed a need for a Ring Suzune plushie (which is also Vocaloid dependent).
1 response stated being fine with private Vocaloids receiving merch, but did not see a need for cancelled Vocaloids to receive merchandise.
1 response was not interested.

Besides Vocaloid, are you interested in merchandise for other characters/items?

11 Responses, hm? We see there's quite some interest in UTAU! Almost half of the results were in favor of UTAU.

1. UTAU - 5
2. Producer-related merchandise - 3
3. Character items - 2
4. Alter/Ego - 1

A nice variety. Perhaps it may be good to see what kinds of UTAU merch people would enjoy seeing in the future.

Wow. Some interesting results.
Again, thank you everyone for participating and giving your input!!
As tempting as it is to make a poll about what poll to do next that's a bad joke, I think we should take time to consider now which products to focus on.

I have researched and found some different places to print. T-shirts, Keychains, and the like. Some have dropshipping (they do the shipping so it does not need to reach my place, for example), while the other places I found I would need to handle shipping myself.
Some services may need to be analyzed and studied to see which place works well for these things then.

So, some products should be finalized, yes? We can have a poll with "Plushies" as an option now, and make it on Google Forms again for more options and questions. It'll be an update to our very first poll on merchandise types, I think it will help us finalize some things with this.

This helps me see a great direction on where to go from here! I'm excited!
That's all for now,

What do you guys think about these results? Any further input or thoughts?

 

[WintermintP]

@RazzyRu

I was hesitant about choosing producer-related merch because part of me wanted merch based on myself or One Minute Winter but I realised it would be too arrogant to ask of that, and I started to figure either I would have to pay you tons of money or take the matters into my own hands and do merch on my own simply because I'm not reputable enough. orz

Forget the plushies. They're too expensive for anyone to handle.

Also, forget the picks. I did more research into the prices and they're not worth it. They're only good if you're super rich or extremely reputable. Otherwise you'll have to sell them at nonsensical prices like $10 or $15 a piece.

Regards,
WintermintP

 

[ZAR-PARTY | ЦАРЬ-ПАРТИ]

Glad to hear that Miku is always popular. Maybe I will actually buy something if it's not too difficult to ship it to Germany. Through Amazon or etsy.com, maybe.

As for alternate designs, I would like to participate in a poll. I can imagine to see characters in themes such as animal costumes, celebrations, gothic, punk, seasons, casual clothes, national clothes, etc., just to name a few possibilities.

As for producer-related merchandise I just thought of printing the logos of known producers, such as HachioujiP and PinocchioP, on t-shirts, mugs, badges, etc.

 

[razelberii]

Hm. Although it is good to note the expense, I'm more concerned about what the popular demand is than the expense at the moment. As we discussed earlier, it was mentioned 5 times, why forget it now? There seems to be an interest, at least in this thread.
If you want a different option, you're more than welcome to vote when the poll comes up~

It is certain I'll be investing in merchandise, but I want to keep this thread open for everyone interested in creating merchandise themselves, and this may include plush-creators too.

As for alternate designs, I would like to participate in a poll. I can imagine to see characters in themes such as animal costumes, celebrations, gothic, punk, seasons, casual clothes, national clothes, etc., just to name a few possibilities.

National clothes would be cool to see. This gives a big variety, I wonder what the popular options of this will end up being?
I'd love to see some suggestions for this poll, I think this would be a good one to have!

And I had a similar thought for producer-merchandise too, things such as logos. The concern will be that the Producer definitely deserves some cut in the profits, and that could potentially run into a few issues (I don't know why I didn't bring it up before orz). So it will be something to think about though, it could be really cool

 

[razelberii]

Alright guys!

Let's figure some ideas for an alternate design question!
I think I may try to combine this question with the upcoming Product preference update poll, I think it will be more beneficial that way (I'll aim for this weekend).

So, ZAR (Is "ZAR" okay?) had some great suggestions, including animal costumes, gothic, punk, casual, and more!
What are some things you'd like to see?
I may put the most popular 4-8 in a question!

I have some other polls in mind, so I may put some more questions in this poll. I think it will also save time this way.
I'm also planning to take time to order some samples this week for some products to review and compare too. I think that will be helpful for us going forward

 

[TheStarPalace]

Honestly when i thought of alternate designs, the first thing that came to my mind was the project diva modules. I understand that those would only be for the Crypton characters, but I would actually like to see merchandise of those! Another idea I like is changing the color palettes of loids(kind of like how the Vocamerica kickstarter prize keychains did) such as making Miku's hair and outfit pink.
Can't wait to vote in the next poll!

 

[ZAR-PARTY | ЦАРЬ-ПАРТИ]

Alright guys!

Let's figure some ideas for an alternate design question!
I think I may try to combine this question with the upcoming Product preference update poll, I think it will be more beneficial that way (I'll aim for this weekend).

So, ZAR (Is "ZAR" okay?) had some great suggestions, including animal costumes, gothic, punk, casual, and more!
What are some things you'd like to see?
I may put the most popular 4-8 in a question!

I have some other polls in mind, so I may put some more questions in this poll. I think it will also save time this way.
I'm also planning to take time to order some samples this week for some products to review and compare too. I think that will be helpful for us going forward

Yep, and "zar" is fine too since I shorten my name on Japanese sites.

I thought of the Project DIVA modules too since you mentioned them in the poll. Making merchandise of them would require a license by SEGA, but, as far as I know, they make all their merchandise themselves. Original costumes would be a safe bet. You could even collaborate with other costume designers who don't want a fee and draw their costumes again in your own art style.
My personally favorite costumes are wedding dresses (well, Miku's wedding dresses), China dresses, idol costumes, bikinis, gothic dresses, Japanese school uniforms and cyberpunk costumes.
As for male costumes, I like long coats, punk clothes and suits, but I doubt that I would buy merchandise of any men.

 

[razelberii]

Hey Razzberries, our new poll is now live~

This poll will focus on merchandise details with the customer, such as price preferences and how often products are purchased, as well as a new focus on merchandise!

The merchandise question allows up to three options, and plushies is now included!
There is also a question asking what kind of merchandise will not be bought. I'm sure there are some obvious ones, but I wanted to put this in to see if there are some choices that may be good not to focus on at first.
Thank you always for participating and for your thoughts and feedback!

Vocaloid Merchandise Poll: Customer

Poll ends: June 29 (~21:00)
This poll is only a week this time, but can be extended if preferred!
Our next poll will most likely focus on alternate designs. Let's send some more suggestions!

 

[Move->Forward]

Our next poll will most likely focus on alternate designs. Let's send some more suggestions!

Alright, I can add onto the already existing suggestions:
In verbatim with ZAR's wedding dress suggestion, how about tuxedos?
Or in general formal attires?
Pirate costumes? Other themed costumes? Cosplaying as each other? (Or other characters, but then more permissions may be involved in that.)
Casual clothes? Clothes of certain eras? (Like 80's)

 

[razelberii]

We're getting a lot of suggestions, but I don't see very many repeating ones.

You guys cool if we try to narrow down the list? Perhaps we can post 3-5 alternate designs/outfits you think would be cool for merchandise!
We're not worrying about license details at the moment, since this will be open for all those interested in creating merchandise.
It is also fine if you pick something another user has: We are looking for the most common choices

When it comes time to the poll, I hope to have around 6-8 choices (might as well throw an "other" in there too). It could get overwhelming seeing 12 or so choices up front, plus I believe it will be beneficial to see which ones are the most popular!

I may not count my picks, but I will share some of my thoughts. Here's some alternate designs I enjoy:

Metal/Punk version, Casual wear (Bonus if there's a hoodie), Lolita version, and Steampunk version

Edit: Forgot to add "Winter Wear", which puts me at 5.

You can also suggest alterations, such as an animal, like Dex and Daina's animal version EmpathP drew, or, whatever the proper name of those would be. Like, maybe Oliver is actually a bird. Or, Nekomura Iroha is a cat.
And Utatane Piko is a... literal USB cable.

 

[Fukase]

You can also suggest alterations, such as an animal, like Dex and Daina's animal version EmpathP drew, or, whatever the proper name of those would be. Like, maybe Oliver is actually a bird. Or, Nekomura Iroha is a cat.
And Utatane Piko is a... literal USB cable.

I mean younger versions, like the baby Fukase commissions could also be possible. It's something, I always kind of wanted to see happen. I wonder if that's also a possibility.

 

[razelberii]

Hey Razzberries,

I decided to extend the current poll for a few more days!
The Vocaloid Merchandise Poll: Customer will now end Monday evening, 7/2
I am hoping for more responses, we are only at 5 at the moment.

Edit: Poll has been closed and results will be posted 7/3

An Alternate Design poll is being prepared in the meantime.
It is not required of course, and may not be as high of a priority as the other polls, yet I have grown curious and wonder what everyone's thoughts are.

In the mean time, I have entered the Ani-T design "contest" and have been accepted.
It's not a shirt from my store, but it is a start at shirt-making!

ゆかりんギター

ゆかりんギター
Every "LIKE" is one step closer to production, and is highly appreciated!

I wanted to try drawing Yukari with a guitar. I have heard some cool rock songs that used her voice well, and was inspired by the idea of Yukari playing the guitar. (I think she fell asleep after playing)
I hear 10% of purchases of the shirt go to designers as well, so that's a cool bonus~

Please excuse my advertising. m(_ _)m
[For staff: If it is necessary I edit or move my post, please let me know]

Currently I am interested in starting with two kinds of products: Keychains and T-shirts! Some samples have already been purchased, and I will soon get some more. I am finalizing places to order and places to set up, so we are steps closer for this.
For shirts I may try a design similar to this one for some designs.
Are there certain T-shirt designs you are drawn to? What are they? I'd love to hear more!