Mars Attacks: Uprising Coming To Kickstarter

[jdandns]

Insert picture of a Martian doing the Futurama Fry "Take My Money"-thing here.

Exciting times!

[Drmike]

Originally Posted by A Levine

Q:. Is the size of the Mars Motors Chase Set finalized, could it be bigger?

It's currently 9 cards total. I was thinking 3 different 9-card chase sets. The first was going to be Motors. The second was going to be "TBD" and a stretch goal would have made it Dinosaurs, but I decided to make that exclusive to the hot pack. The third was never determined. As it stands now, we have 3 nine-card chase sets and only one theme settled on, so that is one idea: do 2 chase sets, 1 of which is 18 cards. Hm.

Anyone else have an opinion?

Doing a 18 card chase set would be great! Would Jason be up to the challenge to do the additional 9 cards?

[Drmike]

Originally Posted by A Levine

NOT FINAL.

First draft of Hot Pack add-on list. Looking for feedback. This is pretty close to what we did last time, with a few notable changes:

"Mars & Dino" Collector Pack essentially replaces Judge Dredd, but includes 9 all new cards exclusive to the pack (which were originally chase cards but I'm thinking might be better if exclusive to this pack PLEASE GIVE FEEDBACK, which is better?), with new art. Dredd was simply re-used art from the comic, for comparison. The 18 cards in this pack will be the 9 new cards, and the 9 from Occupation-- all printed in Heritage format. Need feedback.

"Mars Motors" will include 6 of the 9 chase cards. The reason I did not include the full subset was to avoid de-valuing the full chase set. Thoughts?

I changed the Lucky Hot Pack from Occupation (a sketch or a metal for $35) to a 2-sketch hot pack for $75. We noticed most buyers were simply buying 2 of those packs to guarantee one sketch card. The metal is then moved to the Heritage Hot Pack. Any thoughts/feedback on this change? They seemed to be popular last time, so there's one though to simply not change what isn't broken, but if sketches are what people want, maybe this makes more sense? It's a good alternative for those who want a few extra sketches, but don't want to drop $350 on the fat pack.

So let's open the floor. Do you like these changes, or want something closer to Occupation? Or something different entirely? PLEASE KEEP IN MIND I don't want to add too many different hot packs. This is already pushing it!

NOTE: THERE ARE TWO MORE HOT PACKS THAT WILL BE ADDED AS STRETCH GOALS, including a $25 Mars Initials Complete set (26 stickers), which will also be added to the $1600 pledge.

This mock up looks amazing. I think keeping things similar to what you did with occupation makes sense. It worked really well. The dinosaurs pack makes more sense that way. You’ve given lots of options for sketch cards and chase cards. Hope you can make your outer limits set larger as a stretch goal. Same as the motors set. The artist autograph pack is another great pack to have. I think you’ve given everyone more than enough options to add on to whatever way they decide to pledge. I’ll have to see what comes with the $1600 pledge and add on whatever isn’t included.

[Drmike]

One other thing... You could probably have the mars motors pack, contain the full set. I don’t think this would take away from the chase cards in the boxes. It’s always nice to be able to have a complete chase set. Might have to be like $70 but getting an autograph and maybe a Jason Crosby sketch would be so worth it!

[A Levine]

Originally Posted by Drmike

One other thing... You could probably have the mars motors pack, contain the full set. I don’t think this would take away from the chase cards in the boxes. It’s always nice to be able to have a complete chase set. Might have to be like $70 but getting an autograph and maybe a Jason Crosby sketch would be so worth it!

The issue with giving a full set in that pack is that we'd be completely devaluing the chase set, unless we bumped the price way up. Right now, the value of the bundles comes from the difficulty of assembling all the chase sets.

[A Levine]

Originally Posted by Drmike

Doing a 18 card chase set would be great! Would Jason be up to the challenge to do the additional 9 cards?

The set would be by him and Chris Mason, so i'd give each of them 9 cards.

[Drmike]

Originally Posted by A Levine

The issue with giving a full set in that pack is that we'd be completely devaluing the chase set, unless we bumped the price way up. Right now, the value of the bundles comes from the difficulty of assembling all the chase sets.

Totally fair point. I guess you’re right. If you want a full set of something, you’ll have to pledge a higher level. If I pledge the high $1600 level. Would I get a complete set of mars motors and a Mars motors sketch/auto pack?

[Drmike]

Originally Posted by A Levine

The set would be by him and Chris Mason, so i'd give each of them 9 cards.

This chase set sounds fun. Can’t wait to see how it turns out. Will we be seeing a preview image soon?

[GoBeavs]

Cool stuff.

Either need to raise the price of the 2-sketch pack, or lower the price of the Sketch Fat Pack. It currently looks like the 2-sketch pack is the better value.

[A Levine]

Unless i'm mistaken, you'd need to get 5 double-sketch packs to equal the $350 pack, and that would cost $375. Not a huge difference, I know, but enough, I think.

[GoBeavs]

Originally Posted by A Levine

Unless i'm mistaken, you'd need to get 5 double-sketch packs to equal the $350 pack, and that would cost $375. Not a huge difference, I know, but enough, I think.

Doh! Me good at maths.

[PumpnDumpling]

I Strongly believe upping the Mars Motors Chase Set to 18 and Guaranteeing a Set with the purchase of (2) Mars Motors Packs @$60 each would be a real winner for both Collector's and the Creators.

Would be so cool to see different depictions of martians in retro themed spacecraft inspired by 1940-50's muscle cars streched out across an 18 card chase set. As of now i am looking forward to this insert the most, but that may change once i see a salute to '62 refractor.....

[A Levine]

Originally Posted by PumpnDumpling

I Strongly believe upping the Mars Motors Chase Set to 18 and Guaranteeing a Set with the purchase of (2) Mars Motors Packs @$60 each would be a real winner for both Collector's and the Creators.

Would be so cool to see different depictions of martians in retro themed spacecraft inspired by 1940-50's muscle cars streched out across an 18 card chase set. As of now i am looking forward to this insert the most, but that may change once i see a salute to '62 refractor.....

There will be no refractors, unfortunately. So far, the vehicles Mr. Crosby has submitted are "wacky" vehicles like garbage trucks and ambulances. A lot of fun. This has been a subset concept of mine going back to 2015, and a long time in the making.

As for putting them all in the pack for $60, with a sketch and auto, do you think that takes value out of the bundle levels, that include all the chase cards?

At that point, should it instead be a separate collector pack (ala Dredd), and not a chase set?

[A Levine]

Edit: i'm overthinking this lol

[Tim]

Originally Posted by PumpnDumpling

I Strongly believe upping the Mars Motors Chase Set to 18 and Guaranteeing a Set with the purchase of (2) Mars Motors Packs @$60 each would be a real winner for both Collector's and the Creators.

Would be so cool to see different depictions of martians in retro themed spacecraft inspired by 1940-50's muscle cars streched out across an 18 card chase set. As of now i am looking forward to this insert the most, but that may change once i see a salute to '62 refractor.....

Disagree. Any time a complete set is that easy to acquire almost always hurts collectability and value. We don't want Revenge like cards serialed to 2 copies lol but we also need some challenge to making a set.

[PumpnDumpling]

I would need to know what specific level would unlock this set (total price, other items included) to really assess the value.

Also, i was not sure if you had entertained the idea of making certain add-ons themselves unlockable as one pledges higher amounts.

As it was just presented, you would get 6/9 cards in the set in a single pack, but if you wanted the complete set you could buy two pack but would have chase set dupes.

Many collectors are OCD and would not like the idea of getting chase set duplicates, where to put them in the binder?

To address Tim's comment; The Set is no more easy to complete just more expansive and more desirable as an 18 card set. You will sell alot more of these add-on packs guaranteeing a full set with purchase of two. Additionally, if you want the set to be really tough, make it 6 chase per pack and guarantee a set with the purchase of 3 packs. But that would prbly be the limit as most will not want to buy 4 $60 add-on packs just for a set no matter how chasey.

I understand you want to protect the value in the highest pledge levels that include all insert/chase set content. Just need to find the right balance between the two.

[A Levine]

Originally Posted by Tim

Disagree. Any time a complete set is that easy to acquire almost always hurts collectability and value. We don't want Revenge like cards serialed to 2 copies lol but we also need some challenge to making a set.

Yes, this is very much my response to a dealer who asked me to make all the hot packs complete sets. Sometimes I have to really carefully consider feedback I get because there's almost always an element of overzealous enthusiasm: sure, a kid wants cake for breakfast lunch and dinner, but if you give it to him he'll get sick (not to mention that different kinds of customers have their own needs and wants unique to them).

In this case, fans and collectors instinctively may want things to be easier to collect, only to find it will ruin the fun of collecting. Or as a friend put it, "they may want an escalator, but they will enjoy the climb."

The beauty of kickstarter is that for the superfans and master collectors and dealers, they can grab bundles of complete sets. For those with limitations or who are a little more casual in their collecting (who may enjoy spending years hunting everything down)-- a hobby box or two and a few hot packs will make it fun and exciting.

It's a balancing act for sure. I'm leaning now towards returning to my original plan, and making the dinosaurs and mars motors just regular chase cards.

The mars motors pack would have 6 of the 9, and the DA hot pack would include a complete heritage parallel set, but not the standard, borderless chase cards (which I like because the first image that's come back has some cool elements at the bottom that would get cut off by the title banner of the heritage design).

As my edited comment says, there's a fine line between giving the project a critical eye, and overthinking it.

[Drmike]

I presume the mars motors is considered to be a chase set? The reality is that anyone that pledges $100 or more, will be getting a complete set of these cards with their bundle. So unless you want the sketch and the autograph that would come in the pack, there’s not going to be much incentive to get this pack, specifically if you don’t want extras. So maybe just having the partial pack is appealing to the casual collector that just wants a sample of the cards and doesn’t want the complete set of chase cards.

[A Levine]

"I would need to know what specific level would unlock this set (total price, other items included) to really assess the value."

I'm not sure what you mean, can you clarify? The set i'm referring to is the $100 bundle level, that includes the full set, binder, and all chase cards. And the higher bundles as well. I didn't realize I didn't post a pic of it in this forum yet. Give me a few moments.

"Also, i was not sure if you had entertained the idea of making certain add-ons themselves unlockable as one pledges higher amounts."

Unfortunately that's not really possible with the platform, and even if it was would be a huge challenge to fulfill. One thing we found really fouled things up last time were certain perks at different pledge amounts (a print for all orders over $150 for example, or the bonus card for those who pledged before a certain date). It may sound like it would be easy to fulfill, but the way we assembled orders, it really proved to be a problem. This is why a lot of perks just became "for everyone" like the promo cards and such.

Lots of little things can easily fall through the cracks too, particularly with so many moving elements. Providing this for these people, and that for those people. It's very time consuming, and if you screw up you piss off a huge amount of fans who were counting on it, even if it was something minor like a gold foil trim or something.

"As it was just presented, you would get 6/9 cards in the set in a single pack, but if you wanted the complete set you could buy two pack but would have chase set dupes."

Yes, that's true, but there will be other ways to get the full set. And frankly, I don't necessarily think the idea of having some dupes is a huge issue. Most collecting involves the risk of winding up with some extras. It's a part of the game.

"You will sell alot more of these add-on packs guaranteeing a full set with purchase of two."

I don't know if I agree with this, as it's really the sketch and auto that are the draw, not the chase cards themselves. The sketch cards just add a little bonus. Frankly, if anything i'd rather make it a "sketch and auto" pack for $45 with no chase cards, than expand it to 18 cards and include all of them.

Remember, these are meant to be HOT PACKS not complete sets.

[A Levine]

Originally Posted by Drmike

I presume the mars motors is considered to be a chase set? The reality is that anyone that pledges $100 or more, will be getting a complete set of these cards with their bundle. So unless you want the sketch and the autograph that would come in the pack, there’s not going to be much incentive to get this pack, specifically if you don’t want extras. So maybe just having the partial pack is appealing to the casual collector that just wants a sample of the cards and doesn’t want the complete set of chase cards.

Yes, this was the initial intent of that pack when I was putting all this together. If you want sketches, this is for you. If you just wanted a sampling, this is for you.

If you want a complete chase set, get the $100 bundle.

[Drmike]

Then I would say keep the Mars Motors pack as you have it planned. For me the appeal is the sketch card and auto. But I would love to see the mars motors set expanded to 18. This chase set looks like it could be the most fun.

[Drmike]

You’ve given enough options in the bundles for people to obtain complete sets of base sets and chase cards etc. As you mentioned..you can’t give everything away and make it easy to get. Part of the fun of this set is, that everything is obtainable, depending on what you want and how much you want to spend. The higher pledges offer some unique items which will be limited. That is a huge appeal.

[A Levine]

Originally Posted by Drmike

Then I would say keep the Mars Motors pack as you have it planned. For me the appeal is the sketch card and auto. But I would love to see the mars motors set expanded to 18. This chase set looks like it could be the most fun.

Agreed. That's still an option. And it helps me on a certain level too, as it solves the problem of "what's our third chase set?"

[A Levine]

Primary reward levels. You'll also be able to select a single hobby box, cases, etc. Our smallest reward level is a single pack.

[Drmike]

Seeing how much that will be coming with each reward level is pretty awesome. And you still haven’t even gotten to stretch goals or add ons. This will be a HUGE set.