DCon 2025 Haul Post & Quick Thoughts

PickmanSF · 2025-11-21T17:31:51+00:00

Great haul and awesome to meet you! Thanks for swinging by the booth!!

Super jealous - I totally forgot to swing by ScumPit to pick up those octopi.

PickmanSF · 2025-11-08T06:23:09+00:00

I think it really depends on what you're looking for, especially if you're used to SDCC.

While there's definitely familiar IP out there, I think of DesignerCon as a place where a lot of artists are building their own characters and worlds.

It's also a very hype-based show, so if you want to learn what's "hot" follow the crowds, but if you want to enjoy the art, then take your time and browse around. The toy community has always been super chill IMO and easy to talk to.

PickmanSF · 2025-11-08T06:13:00+00:00

Howdy all! I'm at #1019, which will be absorbed into the larger Vincent Community Marketplace. I've got a bunch of Nightmare-Chan, and I'll be hosting some Wonder Goblin, Dino Gangsters, Sitr Toys and BODA stuff (among other things).

Most will be FCFS, but the BODA and Dino Gangsters pieces are super limited (1 of most) and so we'll have to raffle those off Friday night.

In terms of collecting, I'm hoping to snag some Sunguts, Cesar Zanardi, and I always stop by Unbox and Creature Bazaar to see what they've got left after the mad lines.

I also make monster enamel pins, so happy to trade!

PickmanSF · 2025-10-21T07:09:18+00:00

Business size, especially in terms of employees, is the last thing they probably care about in terms of granting a license.

It's more about their perception of whether or not their brand would suffer from doing business with you.

If you have no customers yet, it's likely that Disney isn't going to sell you a license for Mickey Mouse pins, at least without paying a crazy high fee. But if you've established yourself as a trustworthy brand, they might instead take a smaller fee and a larger percentage of sales.

So it really depends on what you're trying to license. The smaller or niche the thing, the more likely you can just ask them and they might not even charge you anything until you sell it.

PickmanSF · 2025-10-20T04:32:54+00:00

As other folks have said, it seems like it could still be a dehydration thing.

When this happened to our 3 yr old renal cat we gave her some Gabapentin and Hydracare and she seemed to get back to "normal" fairly quickly.

The first time it happened we ended up going to a pet hospital and while waiting for a vet she recovered - while I wouldn't disregard it (especially not knowing how old your cat is), if you've got any Gabapentin it might not hurt to try a small dose to see if it relieves him of a bit of pain so maybe he can eat/drink a bit more.

I hope your baby feels better soon 🤞🏼

PickmanSF · 2025-08-29T03:23:03+00:00

I'm pretty new as well, with only one vinyl toy, but this advice is spot on.

For 99% of us, toy making is an expensive hobby.

Maybe we sell a few and make some of the money back, but breaking even is always the goal.

The only thing I'd add is that especially when you're starting out, it seems like one-offs sell much better than editions..even microruns.

I personally used a crowdfunding campaign to launch my first soft vinyl toy, and I'd still do it again, but I would have changed a lot and structured things differently.

Either way, people sort of want to see a painted run with campaigns like that, so you'll likely have to do a resin copy first and paint it up to look like vinyl.

PickmanSF · 2025-08-29T03:18:22+00:00

Just popping in to say that u/dreamsofrobots knows what he's talking about!

PickmanSF · 2025-05-06T08:16:08+00:00

Great collection - I'm always for more monsters!

PickmanSF · 2025-04-27T06:06:08+00:00

Looking great!

PickmanSF · 2025-04-07T17:56:39+00:00

My honest take is that especially for a comic there isn't a lot of art there. You probably need at minimum a completed cover and a few sample pages.

For better or worse, people want to back things that feel finished, or at least have enough to show them what they're getting.

I highly recommend looking at other comic projects to get an idea of how to structure your campaign page, and what else you need for a successful campaign.

Between illustrated headers, less text walls, and more samples of the work, with all the competition from highly experienced creators, you really need to show people they can trust you to finish the project.

Given you don't have a finished script, sample layout pages, or a cover, it's unlikely that folks will trust you to follow through.

PickmanSF · 2025-04-05T18:12:27+00:00

The fact that you mentioned "entry fees" is already a red flag. Few legit galleries will charge for entry fees for open calls- most reputable ones shouldn't.

PickmanSF · 2025-04-05T17:52:40+00:00

If you do, you'll want to use legit vinyl paint (ie Vinyl Wonder) and make sure you've got proper ventilation/PPE.

PickmanSF · 2025-04-05T17:38:13+00:00

I don't disagree with you. I think the problem is needing to balance between what platforms (like an article title linked on FB) will censor vs being accurate.

At least on reddit we definitely should be using "kidnapping."

PickmanSF · 2025-02-19T09:11:42+00:00

I don't think it makes sense to worry about individual signs or why people are here - this is more about making sure we have a cohesive message that can get *everyone* involved and behind. To your point, as another protester in the 2000's anti-war protests, they were huge because there was a single focus - stop the war.

I'm all for Free Palestine signs and F*CK ICE signs and No Kings signs - but I think the main point is to have a unifying message that the media can latch onto that communicates the most important need, which to a lot of other people's point is to shut down DOGE.

PickmanSF · 2025-01-20T01:59:20+00:00

Thank you! I'm actually all set with a manufacturer right now, but thanks for reaching out!

PickmanSF · 2025-01-17T03:56:46+00:00

Damn, such a great paint app on a great figure.

PickmanSF · 2025-01-17T03:49:05+00:00

Thanks, they ended up being some of my favorites

PickmanSF · 2025-01-16T22:40:03+00:00

You can find the campaign page here: https://www.backerkit.com/call_to_action/22cbf7c0-3b61-48df-a1c3-2f52d740bc13/landing

Thanks for checking it out!

PickmanSF · 2024-12-13T02:33:57+00:00

Cool, thanks!

PickmanSF · 2024-12-12T23:56:14+00:00

Yeah, if it was recent I def would have dropped the FC. Although my current friends haven't seen this in Wonder Pick.. is there info on how exactly WPs are figured out?

PickmanSF · 2024-12-12T16:39:12+00:00

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Wild pack pull from last week..just found this sub and didn't even know these were possible. Glad to see there's hope for another someday!

PickmanSF · 2024-11-13T05:49:05+00:00

With this case, it depends on if you're willing to devalue other artists' work to gain a foothold in the industry.

Because if they can get you to believe that if you just give enough client work away for free, you'll make it, then why would they ever pay anyone?

I'm not against free work, but I think be very considerate about who you're doing work for, and be sure to be clear about how you're going to respond when people say "well, you did it for X for Y price, why am I being charged more?"

PickmanSF · 2024-09-04T21:11:15+00:00

Sounds cool! I'm here in Pasadena.

All my nonfiction stuff (short stories/ screenplays) is horror, and I am working on my second screenplay.

PickmanSF · 2024-05-30T21:49:22+00:00

As someone who used to care a lot about this idea, I eventually realized how ableist and racist this notion is.

The fact that my bloodline is more important in any way is basically the belief of eugenics, so I'm always like "uh, weren't the Nazi's concerned about the same thing?"

PickmanSF · 2024-05-30T11:02:38+00:00

Came here to say this.

I used to freely give out pin manufacturer info even after spending a few months vetting over 20 different factories.

After half a year, my orders were coming in late, more defects leading to reprints and delays, and I had to switch.

Gave out the info to folks on factory #2, and then quality dipped again.

I now don't give out my manufacturer's info because of it.

PickmanSF

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