Hello everybody!
Today is the first day of 2021 and I always like to start a new year trying to apply the good resolutions I failed to follow during the previous 12 months.
This is why this morning I just drunk a cup of tea (with little addition of milk, to feel more British) instead of my usual biscuits soup ( basically, I fill a cup with almost boiling milk, then I add as many biscuits I need to turn the whole thing into a kind of blob of flavoured-biscuits gluttony), and this is why I spent the whole morning in making the stock inventory and preparing some new minis for my next project, instead of playing Animal Crossing 'till I feel like I'm wasting my whole existence.
As I was saying: good resolutions.
If you take a look at the most important page of my website, the store, you would notice that today there is pretty huge news about: the store is closed!
Before going into panic, let me reassure you that this is only (obviously) a temporary situation: despite the latest Kickstarter campaign went above all my expectations, I'm still far from being able to close everything and enjoy my golden retirement in Shibuya. So don't worry: you'll see me here around for a long time.
As mentioned in the previous post of this blog, this decision has been made for two reasons: I need to set the store to fit the brand new fiscal/bureaucratic duties I have to comply with from now on (you know, I don't want to receive any visit from the Italian Inquisition...), and I wanted to refresh a bit all the online store and, consequently, the whole website.
Moreover, since today rules for shipping to UK changed, and to keep sending our goodies to the Queen's land we all are asked to produce new documents that have to be approved.
For all these reasons I preferred to temporarily close the store, and take some time to properly cuddle my little webspace.
As you may know, I directly manage all the stuff here and considering that this is not my main skill (far from that...), I require time to make things work.
I appreciate your understanding!
So, what about the changes? As always there will be good and bad ones. I would like to give you only good news, but unfortunately there are too many things that are not under my will, at least 'till DPF will gain the same raw power of Amazon and I will be the fifth emperor of the world (Amazon-Disney-Apple-McDonald's and then Durgin Paint Forge). I'm working on that, but I need your help to achieve this goal so, please, do not stop buying my minis.
PRICES ROLLERCOASTER
The big money of the latest KS campaign not only gave us happiness and pride but catapulted us out of some tax advantages we had. I don't want to ruin your day with Italian tax insights (I spent the last 2 months with my tax consultant, working on the best way to adapt DPF to the new fiscal rules and avoid problems. No, apparently garlic doesn't work.), but let's say that as soon as you are a newborn company and your income doesn't overcome a certain amount of doubloons, you get advantages on taxes and, above all, i.v.a (our VAT).
Apparently, now we have grown up as real businessmen so we will pay a huge amount of taxes.
I've spent A LOT of time, trying to figure out how this new fiscal suppository will afflict our incomes, and after long debates and several moments of pure depression, I couldn't help but accept the fact that some price needs to go up.
Before (again) indulging in panic, please let me reassure you that we are not talking about GW-style rise: we are talking about 0,5/1€ more on certain products.
They won't cover 100% of the new costs per unit, but at least for this year I will see if a soft strategy might be sustainable.
Moreover, and this is good news, I've noticed that on certain kits (think about the Bluecoat Pathfinder, for example) I have still a little margin to play with, and I will apply a little discount on their price.
As you can see, things are not dramatic, but I'm always nervous when I have to talk about prices with customers: when I'll be as rich as Bezos, I will give tons of minis for free to all of you, I promise! Meanwhile, unfortunately, I need to find a way not to work only for the glory of paying my taxes. Sorry.
SAY GOODBYE, NOT FAREWELL (well, hopefully)
As anticipated, at the moment I need to keep the whole factory (lest' call it this way) fresh and adaptive. We have produced another big range that soon will hit our online store and we won't stop here, at all: in a couple of weeks, Valerio will start to work on two new ranges!
You know me: I love all my little minis. But I can't ignore the fact that I have limited resources and I can't afford to keep producing some of them that, simply, don't sell well.
It's sad and real pain for my pride, but I need to make space for the new products in my inventory and say goodbye to several companions of ours. Hopefully, this will be only a short goodbye and not a farewell, but please consider that some products will be available only while stocks last:
•Redcoat Soldier
•Female Pilot
•Majora #19
•Agent of M.A.S.K B
•Bluecoat Soldier A •Bluecoat Soldier C
•Female Blacksmith
•Female Inventor
•Priestess of the Golden Boar
•Patriarch of Vidarr
•An Unfortunate Predation
So here is the bad news. I hope you can keep supporting us and understand these upcoming changes, because I've plenty of ideas in mind to create and I can't wait to show at least a glimpse of them to all of you!
As mentioned before, we will work this year on a very special range of big-scale figures, based on our Inneath lore: not just a resize of our current range of products, but a unique range of special characters!
I want to use the chance of working on big figures to unleash all Valerio's power, I think that without the limitations of 32mm scale, we will be able to make some really impressive kit!
Of course, the first kit of this new range (name still to be decided, but you know me: it will be a very kitsch and ridiculous one...) will be a Dwarf character, I'm still undecided between an Iron Crow bust or a full figure of a Veteran of the Eastern Chamber.
I'm open to your suggestions!
Moreover, we will soon start to design the Orcs' range and Valerio will design at first the new incarnation of Urghor!
As mentioned before, Urghor is a very special character to me, and I want to finally give him the right place inside the lore of Inneath.
During these last 5 years, the blue Orc for sure didn't just stand around: he really went to the grind!
He gathered a huge crew of mercenaries and now he chases his ambitions on top of an enormous Imperial Erdraz!
If you think that the Forest Troll is a big kit (and indeed it is!), wait to see the new incarnation of Urghor!
Thanks again for a year of success and joy, my friends, may this 2021 be even mightier for all of us!