I'm going to go over each design individually, and then I'll post a more general overview of design changes that will affect all of them! 

The lil guy that started it all. When I first started this campaign, I seriously thought that he would be the only one that got produced. Not much has changed with this lil green ghoul. I've been doing some testing with his zipper, trying to ensure that they can stand up to frequent play. Since I have had Grimsley the longest, and I also have more than one sample of him, I've been doing a lot of testing on his zipper. I kept one of the plush's bellies unzipped with his "guts" peeking through, without zipping him back up. After about a month in this state, I found that the invisible zipper had sort of gotten stuck in that position. It was difficult to open and close after it had already become warped.

While the Hurtsies are intended as collectible novelty toys, and not meant to stand up to a child's level of playing, it's still important to me that their features hold up over time as much as possible. I also want their features to be fun instead of frustrating. Trying to fix a jammed zipper? Definitely not fun. (More on this below.)

For some reason, there was a miscommunication about Wiggles's markings with the manufacturer. While her foot is white, her other markings are a peach color. Other than this, it's just a matter of matching up her markings and adjusting her zippers and stuffing ratio.

Wiggles comes with three brain worms and who could have thought that parasites could be so much fun... The wormies have wire in them so you can wrap them around your fingers or pose them in various ways. They definitely have the Fun stamp of approval. I like winding them up into little coils to make them bounce. You can also wrap the worms around her paws or have them peek out of her head. Due to the positioning of her zipper, her head can appear a little flatter from certain angles when the worms are removed. The inserts also serve as "stuffing" to give shape, so this is normal. Without removing some of the stuffing, there would be no space for the inserts at all. 

Just like Wiggles, Nibbles's features a zipper on his head. Due to the size of his brain zipper pouch, however, we'll be adjusting the width and location of the zipper to provide ample room inside. 

The brain coin purse features an invisible zipper and... it's gotta go. The invisible zipper gets stuck very easily at such a small scale. It will be swapped out with a matching pink zipper in another style to prevent technical difficulties. There's just enough space in his brain to hold his single brain cell! (Or you can add your own stress ball or other material to give it a squish!)

No thoughts... head empty. Instead of having an insert, Mishmash functions as a plush backpack. Plush backpacks are notorious for not having a lot of storage space, so I opted for two zippers on Mishmash to give him a lil more room to work with. There is a larger cavity on the back of his head, and a smaller pouch on his back. His paws are sewed in place with a couple stitches, but if the owner really wanted to, they could easily snip these to let the paws dangle more freely. It's up to you. Once they're yours, I won't oppose if you want to maim them a lil bit. They're already dead, right? 

Additionally, as an added perk, since Mishmash is stuffed less than the other Hurtsies, he is by far the most cuddly! The hardware straps can be removed in order to give him a snuggle (and bonus: you can store the straps inside his noggin!) Another minor change I requested was for the silver zipper to be replaced with a matching red-coated zipper. 

His face finally got fixed up and he looks much better! Grave Robbert follows Grimsley's base design, so he didn't need much tweaking either. His belly opens up to remove two removable bones and a ruffled headband designed to look like a spinal cord. The headband ruffles are supposed to be along the full length of the elastic, or at least most of it, so I requested those changes.

While my manufacturer doesn't offer the hair clips that I want for the bones, I'm considering requesting the bones to be shipped separately so I can assemble them here in my home office. (I'll be doing this with the bandaid accessories too... Is there a certain style of hair clip y'all prefer? That's so oddly specific, but there are many styles, so it's something to consider. Let me know if you have any personal preferences! As for me, I have short hair and don't really style it often... so I'm kind of a novice at this hair stuff... Non-bald people, please help.

Additionally, some people requested that he have his flower like in his character art. Unfortunately, adding more accessories will increase the unit cost by a lot. Because he already has three inserts, he is pricier than the others. Adding a flower, would increase his unit price even further. In the future, I'm hoping to do a Hurtsies Series 2, where I will largely expand on the accessories for each Hurtsies. I hope y'all understand! 

Again, Riffraff follows the same base pattern as Grave Robbert and Grimsley, so he's pretty much good-to-go! I requested some color adjustments, but the fabric he is made of doesn't have a lot of purple options for some reason... So I did my best with what I have. In person, he is so bright and poppy and looks great with all his other friends!

Riffraff comes with a "stomach" zipper pouch. Like Nibbles, I will make adjustments to the zipper and internal stuffing to allow more wiggle room. The sample pouch has a white zipper, but I have requested that a purple zipper be added to match.

omg Mumble... The fan favorite. I can't believe that his design was last minute, and yet he even blew Grimsley and Grave Robbert out of the water in terms of popularity! I have such a fat stack of Mumble stickers right now, and I'm so glad y'all love him so much. Mumble's zipper is located on his back, and it's designed to blend in with his scratch marks. He is supposed to feature a white headband designed to look like extra bandages, however, there was a miscommunication, and it was not included. I've seen photos of it in production, it just somehow did not make it into his back. This will be fixed, of course, but I unfortunately cannot provide pictures of it at this time!

Speaking of bandages, his left ear is designed to mimic a bandage, and because of its length, it can be wrapped around him like a scarf. You can even tuck it into the pouch on his back. Normally, Mumble's eye would be hidden under his head bandage, but upon inspecting it personally, the bandage can be moved a little bit. I've requested the another eye be added under the wrap. 

Poor sweet Gruff. His pattern definitely strayed off the beaten path, so we've struggled a bit with his zipper mouth in combination with his markings. I think the pattern designer got the markings down, but now it's a matter of fixing the functionality. Gruff has cute little felt teeth sewed behind his zipper lips. He's supposed to feature a tongue that can stick out (y'know, like :P.) However, after many rounds of sampling and testing, the tongue also pulls out his inner pouch and it just... it doesn't look good. Instead of a flat piece of fabric for the tongue, we're going to do another elastic headband that can be pulled out. Same effect, but this one is more functional, which is an added boot! 

And speaking of colors, his colors will be adjusted thanks to the fabric swatch book I received. He is also missing his other ear marking, but it will be added back in this round of adjustments. His tongue will feature the same candy corn colors as the rest of him!

(Bonus note that I don't really know how to fit in... After removing his inserts, you can make it look like he's eating your hand which is fun.)

Because we've got the base pattern down pat, there's not much that needs to be changed aside from functionalities! However, I am making some overall adjustments to further improve the plushies. It was often mentioned that the ears looked a little limp. If you'll notice in Mishmash's design, his ears look a lot more supple, without being overly stuffed. This is because his ears are lined with a soft sponge to keep their shape. All of the samples will get some sponge lining in their ears, so hopefully it'll make them look a lot less withered. I'm hoping they will also retain some flexibility so their ears can still be styled, but that remains to be seen.

As mentioned above, I have also been testing the functionality and making sure that they can stand up to play. Originally, we used invisible zippers because they're less apparent. However, the invisible zippers have a tendency to get stuck because they are so small. We're going to opt for coil zippers in matching colors. This will ensure they stand up more to the test of time (but they'll still blend in to the design!) In my opinion, there's nothing more frustrating than fighting with a stuck zipper, so it's important to me that they unzip smoothly.

I'm overall very pleased with the plushes, and once I work out the kinks with the zippers, I'll be chuffed as chips. 

Because of the back-to-back holidays and some unforeseen circumstances, there have been some delays in getting the samples perfected. As some of you know, Chinese New Year is a BIG time for manufacturers, so the samples have been a little bit behind. I've produced plushies in the past, but because these designs are so uniquely functional, I not only have to ensure that they look good, but also that they stand up to the test of time. Designs like Mumble, Riffraff, Grimsley, and Grave Robbert came together easy enough, but the others have definitely been more of a challenge.

That being said, the factory has said that the new samples should be ready again this week. Once I confirm that everything is up to snuff, the bulk will take about 1-2 months. I will arrange for safety testing during this time. Freight shipping will take about 3-4 weeks to reach the port. I'm going to tentatively set fulfillment for around June-July, but if I get them done sooner, that's even better.

I love this project with all my heart, so it's important to me that y'all get a unique design that you can proudly say "I helped make this possible!" I hope that this update has provided further insight into everything that's going on behind the scenes regarding this project. I can't be more grateful that y'all have trusted me with this project by investing your hard-earned money, so I intend to give y'all my best!

Plushies aside, the other add-ons have also been in the works! The stickers have already arrived and charms and sticker books are on their way to the port! I plan to start putting together orders ahead of time so that I can just pop the plushies in once they arrive. (I'm just trying to clean my garage because it's gonna take a lot of space... woof!)

I plan to check in at least once a month, if not more! I think that about covers everything for now... so if you have any more questions, please let me know! Thanks everybunny, and as always...

Lops of love,
Loppy Rae