BackerKit surveys SENT! Plus LegionsCon follow-up and more finished prototypes!
10 months ago – Wed, Dec 06, 2023 at 11:12:15 AM

It's that time! The BackerKit surveys have all been emailed to the Kickstarter backers! 

BackerKit Surveys- things to know

For those unfamiliar with BackerKit, or even if you are, here's some info that you may find helpful.

Lockdown

The lockdown date for these surveys is February 20th, 2024. What this means is that you have until then to add everything that you'd like, and no new charges will be made until the lockdown date.

Kickstarter pricing

The Kickstarter pricing will remain available for backers until the Lockdown. This also includes access to figure bundles, wave bundles, and troop builder sets, which will not be offered on the preorder store.

Surveys 

The main purpose of the BackerKit platform (not to be confused with Kickstarter or creative-beast.com) is to serve as a pledge manager where you will add your shipping address as well as any additional items that you weren't able to pledge for during the Kickstarter campaign.

Pledge Levels

You also have the option to switch your pledge level. 

First, click the pledge level title on the start screen.

Then select 'Switch Pledge Level?' 

And then choose your new pledge level from the options below.

Add-ons

If you pledged for add-ons during the Kickstarter, they'll be carried over to your BackerKit survey. These are locked and can not be deleted by the user. If you need this portion edited, please send me a private message and I'll be happy to assist. Note that deleting add-ons will not earn you a refund, but only credit toward other Cyberzoic BackerKit items.

What's new?

Everything is mostly the same as before, but there were have been a few adjustments of note.

Dragon Bundle added- this was originally intended for the Kickstarter, but I neglected to add it at the end when the Lizard Dragon was unlocked. Now those who want both dragons can take advantage of this bundle deal.

Dragolina/ Helina heads- I'd initially planned to include three heads with the Dragolina/ Helina figures (standard, yelling, and without headgear). I've deiced that the third head, without headgear, will need to be omitted in order to hit our price point. I apologize for this change, but I felt it was a better option than increasing the figure price. 

Carnotaurus size- After much consideration, I've decided to increase the Carnotaurus size from 18 inches to 20 inches. This will allow the Decimator armor to be more compatible with other therapod dinosaurs such as Allosaurus, as well as the larger 'body 4' Tyrannosaurs. It also creates a more appropriate rival for the Allosaurus. Carnotaururus is mostly known to be slightly smaller than Allosaurus, but having them at the 30 foot long scale is still within the scope of possibility so this seems like the best way to go. The Kickstarter backers are locked in at the $90 price point for this figure, but it will ultimately end up at the same price as Allosaurus, increasing by $10 to the $119.99 retail price. 

Otherwise, the items and bundle options remain as they were on the Kickstarter. 

Dybukk painted prototype

In addition to setting up the new BackerKit/ preorder store, I was also able to finish the final character prototype in the meantime- take a look at our main antagonist, Dybukk!

 Dybukk here is loaded with articulation and accessories, plus he's big, making him the only humanoid figure in the deluxe class. 

For more photos, check out the full gallery here.

LegionsCon follow up

Only a week after the exciting conclusion of the Cyberzoic Kickstarter, it was time to gather our team and our prototypes for LegionsCon, and what a great time it was!

This was likely the only time we could have all of the Cyberzoic prototypes on display and I'm so grateful that the venue was just a half-hour drive from my home!

Big 'thank you' to everyone who made it out to see us! Not only did we get to visit with a lot of the Kickstarter backers, but we made some new fans as well who'd not known of Cyberzoic previously.

For closer look at what was on display, check out the full gallery here. Table photos provided by Abby Feil,  and Adam Drake- thank you!

Yutyrannus armor

Last but certainly not least, the final prototype armor for Yutyrannus (Ice Breaker) was also completed recently. We first showed it off in 'dino-mode' at LegionsCon, but now we also have the vehicle mode finished as well!

 Here's the completed Yutyrannus set with Qi 'Lara.

And of course the hover bike mode!

Now we finally have the Tech Knight fleet assembled.

I'll have a full gallery for this set up soon, so stay tuned to my social media for that.

'World of Cyberzoic' prints update

Just a quick update on the Kickstarter exlcuisve 'World of Cyberzoic prints. The prints have already reached Lewis and he's signed and they're on their way to me now, and they look fantastic!

I'll begin shipping these prints out to backers next week. If you pledged for this reward, it's especially important that you fill out your survey asap so that I have your mailing address. Otherwise the delivery of this print will have to be delayed.

New podcast!

Just one last thing to mention. Chris, Ross, and myself now have a new monthly podcast on my youtube channel called 'Creative Beasts'!

We plan to do a livestream podcast every last Thursday of each month where we talk about our current projects, toys, and all things pop-culture. You can find our most recent one here!

What a relief it is to have this BackerKit up and running- that was a lot of sku's and combinations! Now that that's done, I have more lore content planned for these updates that I can't wait to share. 

Until then be sure to follow our progress via my  Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. or the 'News' section of my website , updated each week. And don't forget about the Cyberzoic Fan page, Gaea 2 on Facebook, for all things Cyberzoic related.

Also, if you haven't already, be sure to sign up for our newsletter at creative-beast.com for project updates, discounts and giveaways. We also have plenty of Beasts of the Mesozoic products in-stock for the holidays!

Take care, and enjoy the holiday season, everyone!

-David

All stretch goals funded! Campaign ending recap, BackerKit info, LegionsCon appearance and more!
10 months ago – Tue, Nov 07, 2023 at 09:43:57 AM

Hello Everyone, happy post-Kickstarter! 

Now that I've had some time to recover from an intense 30 day campaign and that crazy finish, I'm happy to say WE DID IT! 

As many of you know by now, all of the stretch goals were reached within the final hour of the campaign! This was such a huge endeavor for myself and my team and we're thrilled with the massive response to this project. Thank you all so much for making this our most successful Kickstarter yet! 

Regarding the ending of the campaign, I know that there wasn't a lot of time left for people to add the final stretch goal, the Lizard Dragon, to their pledge which raises the question for many backers,  'Did I miss out?' No, you certainly did not and I'll explain why as we learn more about...

BackerKit Surveys

Since the campaign ended, I've been receiving a lot of inquires regarding the BackerKit survey and how it'll work. There was a brief mention of this process on the campaign page, but I'll go into detail here, addressing the most commonly asked questions.

-Will I be able to add items after the Kickstarter?

Absolutely. You'll be able to add anything from the campaign, including bundles, with the BackerKit survey. The Lewis LaRosa print will be the only item not available. 

-When will the BackerKit surveys go out and what is it?

The BackerKit surveys are part of a pledge manager service hosted by BackerKit (which is not owned by Kickstarter) and will be emailed to you 2-3 weeks after the campaign ends. These surveys not only allow you to add additional items and switch pledge levels, but this is also where you'll add your mailing address. Note that you can only add to your pledge- switching to a lower priced tier will only give you more credit for add-ons, but not a refund. 

-What happened to the 'Dragon bundle' and how much will it be?

Unfortunately, I forgot to add the Dragon Bundle option at the end of the Kickstarter campaign, but it will be included with the BackerKit survey. The price of $445 was initially incorrect due to a type-o, it will actually be $345 for both dragons.

- How long do I have to finalize my BackerKit survey

The BackerKit survey will 'lock down' on Tuesday, February 20th. 

-When will I be charged for the additional items?

Your pledge credit will be automatically transferred to your survey from Kickstarter, but any additional purchases will not be charged until the lock down on February 20th. This is to give everyone time to recover from the holiday spending. 

-Will the items be available outside of the BackerKit survey?

After the BackerKit lock down, I'll post the preorders for all non-exclusive items on creative-beast.com.  

-Will I be able to add additional items to my BackerKit survey after the lockdown?

Yes, but this can only be done by request and the items will be subject to the preorder pricing by that point. Any shipping discount in this case would be based on location. 

LegionsCon

 Now that the Kickstarter campaign is behind us, it's time for our next toy show appearance- LegionsCon! The event is this weekend, Nov. 11-12 at the Hanover Marriot in Whippany, NJ. Click here for more info on this show!

 Last year was the first dedicated LegionsCon show and it was a fantastic time! This years' show is shaping up to be even bigger and better. 

As for our display, we'll not only have the usual assortment of Beasts of the Mesozoic items on-hand to purchase, but we'll also have all of our new Cyberzoic prototypes on display, including this newly completed Yutyrannus set!

And as if that wasn't awesome enough, the Creative Beast team will be there! Ross Persichetti, Chris 'Chaotic' Albers, and even Matt Holt will all be at the booth! (along with myself of course) 

It's gonna be a great time and I'm looking forward to celebrating our Kickstarter success with this amazing crew, as well as any fans that can make it out to the show!

Live Stream Video- campaign countdown

 For those that missed our live stream of the last hour of the campaign, we have the recording up now on my YouTube channel and you can watch Chris, Ross and myself as we countdown the final moments of the Cyberzoic Kickstarter!

This was so much fun and it's so cool that we captured this event on video. Check it out if you haven't done so already!

Transformation videos

One of the most interesting features of the Cyberzoic figures are the transforming/ modular armor units. Well, we now have these great transforming animations, showing off how these armors will work, courtesy of Chris Albers!

Achillobator/ Razorhound

Deinonychus/ Gunrunner

Dilophosaurus/ Pyrodactyl

Hope you enjoyed these- we definitely plan to do more!

Thank you

I just want to give another big THANK YOU once again to everyone who backed and supported us.  And I especially want to thank all of the incredible artists that contributed to this project, because without them, Cyberzoic wouldn't have been anything more than just an idea.

The amount of skill, enthusiasm, and dedication that went into this project from this creative team was astounding, and I'm so proud to have worked with each and every one noted here.

Gaea 2 fan page

Before I close out this update, I just want to mention again for anyone that may have missed it, the new Cyberzoic Fan page, Gaea 2 on Facebook, for all things Cyberzoic related. Come chat about the toys, the story, or just speculate on what's come!

That'll do it for now. But remember, between Kickstarter updates, you can stay up to date with all of our progress via my  Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. or keep an eye on the 'News' section of my website , updated each weekend. 

And while we await our Cyberzoic rewards, be sure to sign up for our newsletter at creative-beast.com for updates, discounts and giveaways!

I'm planning to get another lore update out after LegionsCon, but until then take care and hopefully I'll see you at the show!

-David

FINAL HOURS! Carnotaurus and Yutyrannus Sets Unlock- Plus Lizard Dragon preview and Live Stream Countdown!
11 months ago – Thu, Nov 02, 2023 at 03:39:13 PM

We are now under three hours left in the campaign and I have a lot to get through so I'm gonna keep the this somewhat brief, but I do have a bunch of photos for you, so strap in!

Carnotaurus Set Unlock

 The Carnotaurus Set is unlocked and all of its items are available as a reward or an add-on! 

 And the Decimator armor is finsihed and we have a Dybukk prototype, albeit unpainted.

 Design

Ross Persichetti once again knocked this design out of the park!

 And big kudos to Aaron Doyle for the amazing sculpting on the armor.

 Dybukk

Every story needs a villain and Dybukk has finally arrived to bring some balance to all of these heroic characters. We'll dive into his backstory in a future update, but for now I want to show off this incredible sculpt by Ehren Bienert!

He also includes this alternate yelling head for those heated confrontations.

 Dybukk is easily the largest character at 4.6" tall, and plenty of bulk to go with it. He's even large enough to have additional articulation with double elbows and deltoid swivels!

 Dybukk was a character I came up with in art school quite some time ago, but I worked with JP Mavinga to develop a modern design. He's a dragon man in a sci-fi world, and used to have wings, but I decided to give him a high tech jet pack for the final version. 

 Dybukk isn't evil, but he has a tragic backstory and thus is alien to any type of sympathy or compassion. His hatred of the Tech Clan fuels his thirst for power. We'll get to know him better later on.

 Yutyrannus Set Unlock 

The Yutyrannus Set is also unlocked and all of its items are also available as a reward or an add-on! 

 As mentioned previously, some of the mounts have names in the story, and this one is Nxy, named for the Greek goddess of the night. 

 Nyx is accompanied by her companion, Qi'lara. This is the one prototype I ran out of time to build, but at least I started painting the armor!

 Since we don't have a physical prototype for the armor, here are some 3D renders courtesy of sculptor Aaron Doyle once again. (This body is just a generic mid-sized Tyrannosaur in case anyone is wondering.)

Alt mode

 Of course belonging to the Tech Knights, the armor can convert. This time we get a hover bike!

 Design

It's another excellent design from Ross! As these do, it went through a few rounds of design, but never really changed that much.

 And the final version, but we did end up adding the side guns.

Qi'Lara

Qi'Lara is the sister of Helina (Dragolina). Both were destined to be Tech Knights, but Helina ran away at a young age, leaving Qi'Lara to fend for herself in a twisted controlled society. 

 This figure was sculpted by Fred Aczon and painted by Matt Holt, of course they did a beautiful job! 

 She also has an alternate helmeted head and the blades can be stored on her back.

 What will happen when these two finally reunite? Will they be friends or foes? Either way, I'm looking forward to exploring this in our comic.

Design

Qi'Lara is another character that I've had for a long time now. Ross and I redesigned her as a Tech Knight, but she's basically the same character that she's always been. 

 Here's an earlier drawing of mine from about ten years ago, back when this story was a bit more geared toward the fantasy genre. 

Notice the helmet design we ended up with is very similar. She was always meant to have a feather theme to her armor, which led me to pair her with Yutyrannus.

Lizard Dragon Preview

And of course the final stretch goal! Many of you saw this coming, it's the ruler of the forest, the mighty Lizard Dragon!

 Unlike the Arctic dragon, the Lizard Dragon is a species of many and more animal-like, comparable to horses or wolves. 

 Here it is with Dragolina for scale. I also want to mention once again, Aaron Doyle did an incredible job with this sculpt, which is based on my Dragon vs. Raptors model kit design, from 2014. 

Paint

 And again, this was painted in all its glory by Matt Holt. Check out this cool video he made of his process!

Beast Bundle added

 And just a quick note in case any one missed it- you can now get all nine Earth animals in one swoop with the 'Beast Bundle, which is up now as a reward tier or add-on!

Live stream

 Myself, Ross, and Chris, we be doing a Live Stream for the final hour of the Kickstarter, at 8pm EST. Join us on my Youtube channel at https://www.youtube.com/@creativebeaststudio8182

Cyberzoic Fan Facebook Page

There's a new Fan page for all things Cyberzoic! Big thank you to Carlos Castillo for getting this started, I think it's a fantastic idea! Go to the fan page on Facebook here.

And I leave you with our character scale chart so far, first shown in the Kickstarter video. Who are the missing three? That will be a story for another update!

Less than three hours left and 35K away from unlocking the Lizard Dragon. Will we make it? Many will be asking what happens if we don't reach it. To be honest, I don't have a specific plan in that instance, but I will find a a way to get it made somehow. BackerKit seems like the most likely option, but we'll see. For now, let's try our best to get it done here! Spread the word one last time to whoever you can and let's keep bringing up that backer count!

I gotta run! More galleries, prototype follow ups and lore updates to come, but this is the final update during the campaign. It's been an amazing ride so far and I thank you all so much for the support and for coming along. And I also want to mention that I'm getting a TON of questions right now on several platforms, and I apologize if I can't get to everyone right away.

See you all at the Live Stream!

-David

Tech Clan reinforcements arrive- the Utahraptor Set is UNLOCKED!!
11 months ago – Tue, Oct 31, 2023 at 07:44:30 PM

The Utahraptor Set with the Knight Pilot troop figure is now unlocked! This set and its items are now available to add as a reward tier or add-on.

Also added are the Knight Pilot troop builder 3-pack, the Wave B bundle, and the Wave A+B bundle, so be sure to check those out if you haven't done so already!

Armored Utahraptor

This was the very first Tech Clan armor unit that Ross and I worked on, which set the overall look of this clan. And as with the Knight Pilot, this armor unit was also sculpted by Fred Aczon! 

I think the Zoids fans out there will spot the obvious design inspiration used for this clan, which is especially apparent with this unit.

Using strong angles and mostly neutral tones, and a touch of aerodynamic lines, we wanted to establish a look that distorted where the vehicle ended and the animal began. Because to the Tech Clan- flesh or metal- everything is a machine to be fabricated and used for a specific purpose. 

In addition to its jet mode, the Jetraptor armor also has several modular features in raptor mode. We just saw it fully armed. 

Here it is without the magnetic disruptor wings... 

And without the cannons, using only the wings...

And in case you just want a casual ride the local grocery store, there's the basic armor mode. Gotta feed that raptor!

Jet mode 

And of course the armor can be reconfigured into the secondary jet mode!

This flight stand is not final, but it's a good 'stand in'... sorry I haven't been sleeping much.

This design also makes use of the raptor harness, doubling here as the flight stand cradle. 

And seen here with our unpainted pilot figure. I should also mention that the cannons do telescope, adding further to the various display options. 

Design

As mentioned, this unit was deigned by Ross Persichetti, and was early on in our development of the line, which has already been two years now.

Knight Pilot- Tech Trooper

We began designing a troop for the Fire clan, which ended up being the Fire Guard, and his equal and opposite was this Tech Clan troop, which for a long time was just referred to as 'Utahraptor Pilot', but that was never meant to be the final name. 

Designed by Ross, sculpted by Fred, and painted by Matt, these high-ranking pilot troops are the backup for the Tech Knights and are versatile enough to pilot a variety of dinosaur units, or act as infantry if needed. 

He also includes two alternate, helmeted heads. The main design depicts our troop as Caucasian, but we'll also be including an African-American head as well for more troop building options.

And that's about it for our Tech Clan Utahraptor set!

We're less than $10K from the Carnotaurus now which means, I've got another prototype to finish!

Soon...

And just a heads up- with less than 2 days remaining, I'm gonna have to scale back on the photo galleries for the remaining unlocks. Time is getting tight, but I'll show what can!

It's the home stretch now, gang- let's get those last three reward sets!

-David

First Look at the Cyberzoic Comic Book with new preview art!
11 months ago – Tue, Oct 31, 2023 at 08:52:22 AM

For those who've been following the development of Cyberzoic on my social media, you may recall mention that there's a Cyberzoic comic in the works to accompany the action figure line and help flesh out the story. Well we've been working on writing the first issue for some time now and we finally have the first sample pages to share with you all here, with art by comic artist Tadd Galusha! 

The comic begins with a typical Fire Clan gladiator match, in this case featuring Sykron and our main protagonist, Helina (who's fighting as 'Dragolina' at this point in the story). The gladiators with their thrill-seeking mentality provide some levity in the story, a contrast to the more stoic characters like the Tech Clan members.

Despite the upbeat tone of these pages, it is the 'calm before the storm' as the Tech Clan eventually interrupt the match, causing a disturbance in which all hell breaks loose.  If you can call being attacked by a wild Acrocanthosaurus 'calm' anyway. Speaking of which...

Fun fact, this Acrocanthosaurus color scheme was based on my own model kit from 2010, which was inspired by the Marine Iguana.

And for those wondering, Acrocanthosaurus will be part of Cyberzoic II. It is my favorite dinosaur after all. :)

Drawing process

I'm willing to bet that there's interest to see Tadd's process for this art, so he's also provided me with the inks and pencils for each page as well! 

I hope you all enjoyed this preview of the new comic. We're working really hard to make it something special and costs permitting, I hope to include a mini version with the figures next fall, just like we had in the 80's toy lines!

We're rapidly closing in on that Utahraptor Set stretch goal so I expect to be back later today with more on that. And just to make sure the Fire Clan doesn't get all of the attention,  I'll leave you with a look at our potential Tech Clan crew. 

See you all at the next unlock!

-David