July 2024

Hello fellow Bunnies fans!

With this email, we are celebrating 12 updates, one per month (on average), which comes out to ONE YEAR since the first! If you're still with me so far after a year, thanks for sticking with it. I'm definitely relieved to be able to say I have delivered a product by the year mark, as all the pre-orders have been delivered. From here on out, I have official, live products on the Killer Bunnies store! https://killerbunnies.com/collections/jupiter

And now ... as promised....

SURPRISE!

I have a surprise for you! For all of you who made an order, you will have noticed I put an extra little something in each box. Without further ado, let me introduce ... NUMBERED LIMITED EDITION!!

That's right! I am taking a page straight out of Jeff's very first Killer Bunnies release plan and have made each box unique. Sellers often use the Limited Edition and Numbered system ideas separately and I decided to combine these two to create a special product for you all. The numbering means that the earlier the order was made, the lower the collector's number, and the higher the value. So for all of you who pre-ordered, your boxes will have the lowest numbers. Thank you for your pre-orders!

You’ll find your collector’s number on the outside of your box as well as on a nice little Collector's Card as proof of ownership of that number. As I said, these products are also part of a limited edition with its limit number set at 250. Once that number has been reached I will no longer make any more of this edition, which adds rarity, scarcity, and makes this somewhat of an artistic piece. :)

So the secret I was keeping from you is all summed up by these cards. I spent a lot of time making sure the manufacturing was very consistent. That way all the Collector's Cards that you will gather from me over time will have the same look and feel.

THE PLAN

Now, I want to give you an outline of my next goals. My plan for August is to actually shift focus from Jupiter to Quest. As you may remember, I whipped up a couple of models a while ago for some ideas I had to improve the good ol' Quest gaming experience. Some of you die-hard Jupiter fans may be disappointed but I do have to say ... I actually need a bit of a breather. 

I’m a passionate guy and as a result have significant perfectionistic tendencies. This is actually something that inspired the name of our business: Hale-Bent. Once I have a vision laid out in my mind, I become hell-bent on seeing the best version of it come to life! 

Unfortunately that strength can lead to spending hours on details that I’m not necessarily passionate about which in the end wears me out. To avoid too much of that, I need to give myself some variety in what I’m working on.

What I love most is the creation and designing parts of this project. I love being able to get the pieces I’m picturing in my head into a reality I can hold in my hands. Designing all the shipping and packaging necessary to get all my pieces out, however, is not my favorite part…. Though I wanted to push my limits to see what was possible there, I am frankly relieved to finally be done with it. But I have to say, I have gotten a ton of help from my wife for that part, as well as for all that manufacturing and organizing, which I’m very grateful for.

So in short: I need to go back to what I love most this month, meaning creating something fun I’ll be able to make into reality in a relatively short amount of time to recharge my batteries. Just for one month, I’m going to hop on over and chase some rabbits in Quest land! I got some fun ideas that have been ruminating in my head I'm excited to explore. 

Come September, I'll be refreshed and ready to come back full swing for more Jupiter pieces, namely, ships! I've got some snags to work through there that I think I know how to tackle. After that, I'll finally get to finishing out the detailed design of each ship, which is delightfully fun work. From there on out, once I can get at least a prototype of each piece, I'll be able to get pictures ready and post some new pre-orders.

Thanks for following along.

~Hale-Bent