Relaunch
Hey everyone! Stephen here. When the first campaign failed to meet its goals, I was ready to proceed with my original plan of a very small production run as a gift for Ally... but after discussing it with everyone and seeing you guys donate well into the final hours of the campaign, we committed to relaunching with a new goal and approach.
Short Summary
If you're not familiar with Year One... I, with the help of some community members, produced a set of cards known as Year One to commemorate the first year of the channel Ally built. We spent hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars of my own personal money to produce Year One in limited quantities for Ally to distribute to the community. You can see her open the gift here:
We're currently working on Year Two, and we'd like to offer you the opportunity to own your own set. I can't spend the kind of money I did last time to produce Year Two in any real quantity. Year Two is nearly twice the size of Year One, and the community is over three times the size it was when I started Year One.
Timeline
Due to the the majority of funding for art and miscellaneous costs being my responsibility with this approach, the timeline is less clear cut. If I can only spend $500 per month toward the project, then it will take 5 months to cover the rest of the costs. I hope I will be able to spend more, more quickly... but this is a realistic goal.
We will be to the stage where we are waiting on art by the end of February. This will give us plenty of time to check for errors and avoid all the typos in the first printing of Year One. It will also give us time to examine some of the new options the manufacturer we work with now offers.
We will update this page regularly with progress on card design, art orders, production status, and more as we get closer to final production and distribution.
What We Need & What You Get
Put simply; Your support! We don't have set dollar amount goals this time. This campaign exists solely to help distribute the set to those who want it. The costs of the decks remains the same, but the perks for the tiers have changed to reflect lower volume orders.
Fulfilling our production and shipping obligations will be the highest priority for any funds received through this campaign. Only if we reach thresholds that allow us to perform our own QC on the decks will any funds be used for anything above and beyond basic production and distribution.
Here is a list of the revised perks for this campaign:
Certified First backers will receive one (1) Year Two deck and special recognition on a card in the Year Two set.
Year One backers will receive one (1) Year One Second Edition deck, an error corrected second printing of Year One.
Certified Completionist backers will receive a collection of one (1) Year One Second Edition and one (1) Year Two deck with special recognition on a card in the Year Two set.
Certified Rudy backers will receive one (1) case of twelve (12) Year Two decks and 1 short print (SP) card exclusive to the campaign in a custom printed case, as well as special recognition in the Year Two set.
Certified First and Certified Completionist tiers will be removed and replaced with regular versions of those perks that don't include special recognition in the set when it goes to print. The Certified Rudy tier will be removed entirely at the same time.
About Year Two
We originally set out to create a set of cards to capture the highlights of Year One so that Ally would have an easy, and very meta, way to look back at all she had accomplished. We ended up succeeding, but more than that... we created a celebration of the community that grew around her. Year Two leans heavily into that, with 4x as many community cards and many more meme-able moment cards.
Year One was a 52 card set with Moments, Community, Fashion Icon, Cosplay and Art subsets. Year Two expanded to a 97 card set with all subsets returning and the addition of an entirely new one: Gags (joke/reference cards). Niv even has her own Art card this year!
Risks & Challenges
The single biggest challenge we faced with Year One was delays and the resulting missed deadlines. Most of those deadlines were self imposed, as nobody was really expecting it... and most of the delays were out of anyone's control. It was an excellent learning experience, and it's part of what has led us to be so realistic, even bordering on pessimistic, when it comes to the delivery date. We don't want to set ourselves up for failure, or add any more stress than necessary to the campaign or the project.
We rose to meet all the unknown and unforeseen challenges of Year One, and we're confident we are well prepared to minimize and conquer the challenges of Year Two.
Other Ways You Can Help
We know not everyone can afford to or is interested in contributing financially, but that doesn't mean you can't help the community reach its goal!
We'd appreciate you talking about this campaign with anyone you think might be interested, or sharing it on any platform you frequent. Any and all help is greatly appreciated by us all.
Thanks for taking the time to read and consider this campaign!
Privacy Policy
We will only use your personal information to fulfill our obligations you. We will not retain your information once it is no longer needed. We will not share your information with anyone other than shipping companies, as needed. Perks requiring a name can be substituted with a name of your choice (within reason) or opted out entirely.
