The Gothitropolis Ravens are go

raven-4h

So, the Four Horsemen‘s Kickstarter campaign for their Gothitropolis Raven and its many variants closed at just over $300,000. As the Horsemen wrote in their note to backers,

It’ll definitely be a jumping off point for the way we’ll promote and pre-sell our action figure lines in the future. We’re certain that others will feel the same way, so prepare to see a flood of new action figure concepts and designs from all over the toy industry hitting Kickstarter soon – including some new things from us.

I find myself wondering how this success compares to what the Four Horsemen invested themselves into, say, Scarabus. If every single Scarabus figure had sold, would they have made anywhere near as much as they did on this project? I’m curious whether this high-profile Kickstarter campaign brought in a lot of people who might not ordinarily have ordered these from the 4H’s own website. There’s no question the 4H were very savvy to keep up interest will all the extras they kept adding, too (although that may partly have been a result of just needing to offer something for all the money that was coming in).

It will be interested to see how this project influences other established and aspiring toymakers. One thing to keep in mind, of course, is that the Four Horsemen have a large, built-in, and what I feel compelled to characterize as a fanatical fan base (it’s funny to use the phrase “fanatical fan,” but “fan” has been divorced from “fanatic” in the vernacular for a while now). Bear in mind, the Horsemen got to $300,000 with only 1,500 backers, spending an average of $200 apiece. I just don’t see that as easily replicable by other projects without that built-in strong fanbase.

That said, the 4H only needed $65,000 to move forward, and that may be an easier goal to reach a less well-known manufacturer. So here’s to hoping we see a lot more interesting toy projects on Kickstarter, thanks to the 4H’s high-profile runaway success.

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12 Comments

  1. Zupahman

    I wish the Heroes Project had gone through. they had a great initial figure, but i guess they were asking for too much.
    http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/gogodynamo/th

    And they did nt have the 'Fan'atic fanbase that the horsement have.

    • Bigbot

      Being in 8" scale is the reason I didn't support it. Otherwise I would have if it had been in 6" scale.

    • Same for me, the scale killed the project for me but I tossed way too much money at Modibots.

    • Zupahman

      Sweet.. I hadn't even thought about the scale, but maybe that was becasue the character is so important to me.. 🙂

  2. Toy projects show up (and succeed) on Kickstarter often, whether the OMFG mini line, or other things that are just one-man jobs. This one was the biggest success, but I'd say OMFG really paved the way for toy Kickstarters two and a half years ago.

  3. are there plans for this line to be for sale regularly on their site now or in the future…?

    • EriktheDuck

      All of them except for Minotaur the Duck (the only one I really wanted >:( ) will be available on their website. Hiw I wish this hadn’t launched while I was saving for my wedding. I really wanted Minotaur.

  4. Monte

    I wish the fundraiser had hit during a time I had more funds. I'd have loved to've contributed to it.

    I'll definitely be picking up a bird or two. I love my Scarabus figure. I still want that damn elephant!

    • They really chose the absolute worst possible time for me too. After going to and spending a ton at Comic Con, the latest ML wave hitting, the new GI Joes hittings as well as the Eaglehawk, and some Lego stuff I was just too tapped out this July/August to back something that wasn't a part of my existing collection. Had the Kickstarter been in September or October I totally would have backed it.

    • Well, all but Minotaur the Duck will be available on their website later (not sure about the extras, like the wings and the stands).

  5. Dead Man Walking

    Did you ever do the bday Q and A with the 4H? If so, I missed it.

    • I was supposed to have a Q&A with them for the Kickstarter, but they never got back to me. Too busy I guess.

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