Shadowgirls

T-shirt with the B!tch Knuckles is a must
plus thong & boxers with Charon in Shadowform saying 'The skin is within'

You know, what's been running through my head of late is a pair of boxers imprinted with that panel of Charon when her eyes started glowing after the assault by Chrissy (sans dialogue).

Charles wrote:Playing cards.

Hearts = McKays
Diamonds = Snows
Spades = Shadowform
Clubs = Deep Ones.

Jokers = Lin Lin

If they're not expensive I'm in. I can't say I'd want anything else at the moment.

Not to Poo-poo what other's have said, but I can't see anything Charles has proposed selling more than 3 items. It's COOL, but way too specialized.

Other than maybe a couple of T-shirts, Posters, and some Shadow Babie Plushies I don't recall anything thatreally got me to say "I'd buy that." Unless you guys have a bigger market outlet, I'd hold off on anything untill after MythMakers is out.

Meh. I was throwing a heap of options out the for people to see. Mugs and shirts are always the common popular (although the Plushies seem to be a hit as well, wonder how difficult they are to produce). Thats what something like CafePress is good for. You just throw the prints and options up there and if no-one orders the product who cares? You haven't had to produce the stock in advance.

BLIS: are you only planning shadowgirls merchandise initially or are you planning for the whole mythmakers line right now?

BLIS, huh? That usually comes later. As for MythMakers merchandise there is a possibility that there will be some in the (near?) future, however it is too soon for me to make any final decisions in that arena. That probably won't be decided until we get a release date from Lewis. I'm in the dark almost as much as you guys, sometimes.

As far as what is planned right now...well. It's always open to change, but there are a couple of things I'm excited about. I know you guys will be as excited as I am, but until the orders are placed I must keep mum. Don't want to raise hopes only to dash them against the reality rocks. I will say that the debut of the new merchandise will probably be at Wizard World Chicago in June, but that too may change.

Thanks for all the ideas everyone!!

...the Lady

How could I forget plushies?!

Charles wrote: (although the Plushies seem to be a hit as well, wonder how difficult they are to produce). Thats what something like CafePress is good for. You just throw the prints and options up there and if no-one orders the product who cares? You haven't had to produce the stock in advance.

Yea, you can Cafe Press a ton of stuff, but if you're looking to do real merchandising, you need to focus on what will sell. Remember that unless you're doing a Print on Demand (Like CafePress) you need to buy your stuff, then resell it to your fans, and minimum orders are BIG. How much would it suck to pay $1500 dollars for Maternity shirts, only to sell 3 at $20?

As for how hard plushies are, it seems to depend. I've seen 7 or 8 to date, and three were considered unsellable, and never left design. Most go through 3-4 interations before publication. I would advise LIS to try and contact Fred and Sarah at MegaTokyo, Christian at Blue Dream Studios, or Chris and Third-Eye at Misfile, as all have done plushies in the last year or so.

Yeah, they'll get more proffit from the pre-order, bulk stuff and they'll have something to sell at the conventions.

Some of the odd things do really well at conventions though. I remember a Microsoft convention where the vendors had pens, hats, shirts and mugs everywhere you looked. But only one company brought stubby holders/coolers and people where going nuts to get them (free beer all night).

Bounty wrote:
As for how hard plushies are, it seems to depend. I've seen 7 or 8 to date, and three were considered unsellable, and never left design. Most go through 3-4 interations before publication. I would advise LIS to try and contact Fred and Sarah at MegaTokyo, Christian at Blue Dream Studios, or Chris and Third-Eye at Misfile, as all have done plushies in the last year or so.

Heheh...I think you meant Third Child at Misfile. I understand what you are saying regarding plushies, though. At this juncture not only is quality an issue but price and minimum order are also problamatic. Most companies want a large minimum order and if they don't then the price becomes prohibitive. Believe me, it's a problem we are working on. I will look into talking with the people you mentioned to see if they have someone I haven't already talked to.

...the Lady

Lady in Shadows wrote:

Bounty wrote:...Third-Eye at Misfile ...

Heheh...I think you meant Third Child at Misfile. I understand what you are saying regarding plushies, though. At this juncture not only is quality an issue but price and minimum order are also problamatic. Most companies want a large minimum order and if they don't then the price becomes prohibitive. Believe me, it's a problem we are working on. I will look into talking with the people you mentioned to see if they have someone I haven't already talked to.

...the Lady

I'm happy I got as close as I did!

I know that SOME people try to run Pre-orders. I have no clue how that works, I've never really had the cash to do that, and I imagine the returns of funds if the deal falls through is three headaches morphed into a giant moster-slaying robot or some such, but it SEEMS like it would help offset the minimum order and inital cost.

Just poking at you there, Bounty. It gave me a giggle.

As for the pre-order thing...It does help with capital for ordering, but the possible headaches involved in such an idea are daunting. Besides, I don't know that we would have enough pre-orders to make it worthwhile. I figure most of the sales for any merchandise will be made at cons.



...the Lady

I'm surprised at how cheap the custom playing cards are. You have to purchase over 500 packs to get it under $5.00ea but with each face containing a custom image, you'd think they would sell pretty well. Heck, I'd sooner pay $10+ for a pack of cards with 54 different shadowgirls/mythmakers images than $20+ for a t-shirt with one print.

Has anyone else seen these sold at conventions?

http://www.admagic.com/custom_playing_cards_pricing-process_color.htm

and that was just the first link I found in a quick google search.

I'm gonna sound so wierd but... I so think Charon's thong would be great. I don't know how much I would want my underwear coming in the mail though

Yeah, but you can already get thongs/g-strings like Charon's so it'd have to have a pic of her on the front as well or something.



P.S. I did find manage to find a pic of the stars only thong but it was in no way appropriate to display here.