I know one backer in particular will be especially pleased with this announcement: the Pacman Frog pin is now UNLOCKED! 🎉

That means the Final Showdown poll has come to a close, and your winner by a long shot is...

The orchid mantis (Hymenopus coronatus) is an alien-looking yet beautiful predatory insect popular among invertebrate enthusiasts. It not only looks like a flower, but acts like one too, hanging off branches and swaying in the breeze! They don't take up much space, but beginners may find them challenging because they require high humidity (at least as adults). A great way to help with this as well as showcase the natural, if bizarre, beauty of the mantid is to create a bioactive home with live plants. And of course, like all mantids, they are famously cannibalistic, so no matter how many of these you have, you absolutely need to keep them all separate!

I have also been reliably informed by a friend who breeds mantids that they are astoundingly, hilariously stupid. 😂 Mean, maybe, but funny. We love our less intellectually gifted pets just the same!

So! That means that our final goal of the original 11 pets will be...

Why no coil?
The largest millipede in the world is often depicted in art in its beautiful defensive coil — but not here. I deliberately chose not to draw it in that pose because a coiled millipede is a terrified animal fearing for its life, and that's a kind of stress that a beloved pet should, ideally, never experience. That's not the kind of vibe I'm going for here. CREEPY CUTIES is about showcasing these "scary" pets displaying unstressed behaviors to express their natural charm, and I hope that this pin fits the bill!

Aside from that! The giant African millipede is pretty long-lived for an arthropod, capable of living for up to 10 years. They're gentle animals that feed on detritus and live communally. They're nocturnal, so you're not going to see them out and about too often unless you like staring at your vivarium in the dark (😂), but they don't tend to be actively fearful of light. Here's a weird fact about them: they don't have one set number of legs like a civilized animal — each time they molt, they grow a new body segment that includes two new pairs of legs — and two new sets of internal organs! Who allowed this?!

In case you missed this morning's update, I'm excited to tell you that since so many designs have been unlocked, I've opened a limited supply of Early Bird pledge slots in case you want to upgrade! This is a one-time offer: once those pledges are sold out, there won't be more. So take a second look at the hot discount you can get by pledging for more pins and claiming an Early Bird pledge!

Work has been so busy today it has legitimately taken me 8 hours to fill out this update. So I think I'm gonna cut it off here. Thank you, thank you, a million times thank you!

Spookily Yours,
Tom