The Kickstarter for the Bantam dragon launch date!

Please let it be regular flu… Please let it be regular flu…and repeat…

I had no idea about the Kickstarter so that was cool that now I do. That #50 Bantam Dragon is mine! Bwa ha ha ha

We are on lock-down here at the house. We have cabin fever and I am running out of puzzles to do.

Love Kimberlee

Take care of yourself Melody, the flu is no fun. I had strain B just a few months ago and I was down for 3 solid days. Get well soon drink plenty of fluids and *begs* if you can give up a solid date a little bit in advance I really want to try and get the time off work to perch on the computer so I can claim the dragons I want <3 Focus on getting better in the mean time *sprays Lysol and hugs*

Take your time to recover. Lots and lots of sleep and fluids. The KS can wait, your health is what is most important.

But.. Feel better soon, being sick sucks!

Melody wrote:

I’m back to work now and am all better… now the question is, should I launch the Kickstarter soon? Or should I continue to postpone it a couple of weeks?
What do you think?

I think there are arguments both ways. Hear me out…

1) People are off work and home with lots of free time on their hands. People are looking for things to buy and entertain themselves. People with disposable income anyways. So this could be a good time to do a Kickstarter and also get good exposure as many Kickstarter Campaigns are shutting down or postponing, so less competition. Every Renn Fair has been canceled, every fantasy fair has been cancelled. Our people are without an outlet for magic.

That said…

2) People who are off work and whose children are also home and who don’t have disposable income are in panic mode. They are desperate for baby formula, toilet paper, chocolate, wine. You know, Staples. The LAST thing on their minds is a Kickstarter. They aren’t even getting on the computer as it’s all apocalyptic doom and gloom. They are playing board games, putting together puzzles and looking for that left over old prescription of Valium from their oral surgery in 2014 that they never took. In other words, surviving.

So arguments both ways, doing it now and waiting. But if you wait, I would wait until A) Those $1,000.00 checks actually go out and are received. People will feel like it is free money and may share that windfall with their favorite Windstone Family Kickstarter, B) We are well beyond the quarantines, but not yet into the dead zone of January 2021. So maybe July-ish 2020?

Those are my thoughts.
Kimberlee (Dr. Brassy)

I’m glad to hear you’re feeling better, and hope you and yours remain healthy!

I’m on the fence also. Selfish me wants the Kickstarter to begin ASAP, the site is letting me in atm and I have the money set aside for my Bantam. My job isn’t going anywhere hopefully- I’m a caregiver for a 90 year old bedridden lady with dementia. There are two of us splitting the entire week between us, and the other caregiver has called in a lot recently. So I’m rarely home, but am feeling prepared to spend after 100+ hour weeks. Plus I just got stressful news, and would welcome the distraction.
Bored people or those who feel they got ‘free money’ or that the ban on evictions lets them off the hook might be eager to spend also. And people are shortsighted, they may be more willing to spend now when they have it than later when they’re trying to dig out of a hole they refused to see coming.

I can very well see the other side, though. If money is uncertain, pricey gypsum frivolities are the last thing I need. If my lady gets COVID-2019, I’ll be out of a job. Thank goodness I don’t have young children! But I do have an elderly disabled husband and mother, a doggy furchild, and she has cats and a dog I’d help support if needed. Plus a daughter in college, currently remaining there. They all need to eat, and creditors won’t care about my income woes if I can’t work. It may be the end of the year, or next year, before things are really on a more even level. Do you want to wait until fall or later?

Ms. Melody, I can’t answer your question. Do whichever is best for Windstone, and I’ll support you and your decision any way I can. Unfortunately it seems this Kickstarter is a bit damned if you do and damned if you don’t, the customer base is likely affected either way.

I am another on the “more or less untouched” side for now, but my dad’s work is cutting hours to run a skeleton crew to minimize exposure risks. I also read a headline (NPR, so pretty reliable) that almost 20% of households have someone who is out of a job or on reduced hours because of the pandemic.

There might be some in-between options for the Kickstarter? I don’t know how flexible Kickstarter is as a platform, but I know some projects run for 60 days. Extending the KS would be the simplest way to add flexibility for a rough financial period.

You could also split the KS up – run a smaller KS now, and the big grand celebration later. Ex. smaller = “Bantam Dragons: Pre-Production Run” of non-exclusive colors. Basically allow pre-orders of the planned store colors: Stone, blue-eyed Albino, Violet Flame, Emerald Peacock…? That would give people a lower price-point commitment, with the flexibility of knowing they won’t miss out forever if they just can’t join in now, and still get Windstone the funds up front to start production.

Then later this year, after things are “back to normal”, launch the grand celebration – “Bantam Dragons: Specialty Exclusives Run” – with the now-or-never specials: pink-eyed Albino, Sand, CYO / GB. I think everyone would understand the delay, and by then those impacted by the shut-downs might be able to participate again.

Personally, I’ll still be sending Windstone money in the next couple months, whatever happens – a couple colors & sculpts that I had waitlisted just got re-stocked, but I held off because the Kickstarter took precedence!