I made a thing with Coheed and Cambria! It's pretty exciting to finally be able to properly announce this. A little under a year ago, a representative of the Evil Ink, Coheed's label/comic company, reached out to me asking if I'd be interested in working on a project with them. Just coming off my successful Kickstarter campaign for the Elements toys, I was on a high for making more toys and exploring new challenges. So, obviously I said yes. When I first received the email, I was in a friend's car driving to get dinner, or something like that, out in Portland. It was only about a day after finishing Emerald City Comicon, and I was feeling pretty exhausted from the con, and everything really. It had only been a few months into the year and I was already busier than I had been in a long time. So when the email popped up on my phone, I pretty much had a triple take. I even showed my friend and was like "um... you see this too right?" Once I realized that my mind wasn't playing tricks on me, in state of an absolutely delirium, I replied and the conceptualization of this toy began!
Original concept design by Denis Caron
I mentioned the "exploring new challenges" in reference to this toy, because this was my first toy in which I was "breaking the mold." In fact, it was my factory's first time too. We had a very specific idea in mind, and it wasn't particularly an industry standard. They had a hard time understanding what it was we wanted to do, as most plush toys are plump and squishy. To them, they've done toy making one way for a very long time, and were convinced I wasn't sure of what I wanted to do with this. I was, so I pushed them to try. I have to say, I'm proud of the factory I work with, particularly my primary contact for championing the idea for me, because only after a few revisions we nailed it. We made a toy that looked pretty damn spot on to my design.
The band, their management, the factory, and every moving piece that made this thing come together, did so, so fantastically well, that I have to say this experience has been nothing short of amazing. Music is my heart, it's the one constant in my life that has always lead me in the right direction, so it's been an honor to work with rock legends like Coheed and Cambria as a part of my journey to continue doing what I love so much, creating.
The toy is available at the band's official merch store, and at the merch booths on their tour!