Kings Wild Project - Official Thread

[bdawg923]

That's awesome. Now to figure out when standard subs can get an attempt at getting a limited sub! I think I'm just in t he 4th stage of subs since I don't have a numbered subscription currently.

[JacksonRobinson]

Hey everybody, I'll try and answer some of the questions that have been asked.
____________________________________________________________________________
First off, 100% of all decks next year, across all three of the subscriptions, will be printed by USPCC unless expressly stated.

This is due to a number of reasons:

Sea freight is entirely out of control in terms of pricing. Reserving space on a container cost $1500 12 months ago when now it cost anywhere from $16K-$20K depending on the day, and that is an additional cost added on top of production cost. Shipping from the USPCC is free and only takes two days as close as my shop is to USPCC headquarters.

That naturally means that there will be little to no foil on any of my decks, but I'm excited about that as I feel foil is becoming a trope for myself and many other designers and want to force myself to produce even stronger art that stands on its own. I also found myself "designing for the foil" and NOT "designing for the story and art."

I also miss the absolute unparalleled printing quality of USPCC when it comes to reproducing my detailed artwork. I think you will see what I mean when you see November's Alice in Wonderland deck. I think it is one of the top three decks that I have illustrated, and the printing quality and holding of detail are unlike anything I have gotten in the past.

Production time

While USPCC is still slower than it has been in years past, when it comes to production, they have shortened their production time significantly coming out of covid issues. On the flip side, Asia's production times (coupled with rising shipping costs) have done nothing but balloon to an unacceptable level.

____________________________________________________________________________

The price change, in short, is based on the rising cost of all production materials, as well as the fact that we have kept subscription prices the same for almost three years now while continually adding more elements like foil, book boxes, etc.

_____________________________________________________________________________

The slight difference in price for the Vintage Reimagined Gilded deck is that every single Gilded Vintage Reimagined deck will come in a period-correct PU Leather slipcase, similar to the slipcases that came with luxury decks of the late 1880s. We also plan to continue the "period correct approach with the Vintage Reimagined decks and cover them in translucent wax paper or vellum instead of cellophane.

____________________________________________________________________________

I created the two new subscriptions (Vintage Reimagined and No. 13) to expand further subscribers' ability to choose what they want and what they don't want. It was interesting to see that during the 2021 Shorts year, two distinct camps formed. We had subs who loved the story decks and didn't care for the Fed decks. We also had the exact opposite camp that wished that we had done more fed decks and didn't care for the story decks. Creating the Vintage Reimagined sub makes a good solution for both of these types of people. For those subs who prefer the more classic decks with vintage or standard court cards but with an elevated story and background, the Reimagined series is going to be the way to go. I am collaborating closely with playing card historian and author Jason McKinstry to create websites dedicated to each Reimagined deck to give in-depth, documentary-style background and videos for each deck. This will significantly deepen the overall experience for each subscriber.

On the flip side, the subs that enjoy the storytelling and illustrative nature of the Literature-based decks then the No. 13 club is the route. We are also planning to create similar deck-specific web pages that dive into more depth with each story and characters from them.

My goal for 2022 for both the Vintage Reimagined sub and the No. 13 club is to bring more than just a beautiful deck but more history and story to bring more depth and value to your subscription. I'm also doing this to help enrich the playing card community in education from a phenomenal source (Jason McKinstry) of the Golden age of playing cards, which is the period where all the Vintage Reimaged decks are being pulled from.

____________________________________________________________________________

I hope that answers some of the questions you guys have had and gives more insight into some of the decisions and directions we have chosen for 2022.

[hsbc]

I am collaborating closely with playing card historian and author Jason McKinstry to create websites dedicated to each Reimagined deck to give in-depth, documentary-style background and videos for each deck.

Holy hell this sounds awesome

[Harvonsgard]

Unless otherwise stated... a definite confirmation looks different in my book .

[JacksonRobinson]

Unless otherwise stated... a definite confirmation looks different in my book .

I definitely confirm ALL of 2022 sub-decks will be definitely printed at USPCC

[bdawg923]

Which month will the 6 deck subs start? Are all the subs starting in Jan or staggered?

[Harvonsgard]

Thank you for the infos/update . That's good news indeed then.

[portcullis]

I'm a little confused by the overnight email, but I'm sure it won't be anything too convoluted once I get into the site next week. Might have to cut back on spending next month just in case.

[EvilDuncan]

Which month will the 6 deck subs start? Are all the subs starting in Jan or staggered?

They are staggered.
I think Jackson has said that Romeo and Juliet is February's deck, so I imagine The Vintage Reimagined subs start in January and No. 13 starts in February.

[JacksonRobinson]

Which month will the 6 deck subs start? Are all the subs starting in Jan or staggered?

Correct, they are staggard.

Vintage Reimagined and Table Players start in January and No. 13 club starts in February

[Strag]

Can you help me understand a couple points:

1. Why are you ending delayed shipping when it's far more eco friendly (massive extra use of packaging not to mention the extra delivery costs). Yeah I know your staff don't like it but really that's the best reaoson to not consider keeping it?
2. Why is there such a huge disparity between the limited and gilded version of each of the subs, which are almost inverse to the number you are producing?
a. 200 decks $15 more for Table Players
b. 500 decks $25 more for No.13
c. 400 decks $30 more for Vintage Reimagined

For the life of me I cannot wrap my head around this pricing disparity.

[EvilDuncan]

2. Why is there such a huge disparity between the limited and gilded version of each of the subs, which are almost inverse to the number you are producing?
a. 200 decks $15 more for Table Players
b. 500 decks $25 more for No.13
c. 400 decks $30 more for Vintage Reimagined

Gilding itself of course adds some nominal cost, but keep in mind that the No. 13 gilded decks will come in a book box, Vintage decks come in a (fake) leather slip case and wrapped in vellum paper instead of cellophane, and Table Players in nothing extra. That's probably the majority of it. Also the fact that there are a lower number of Vintage gilded slots than No. 13, so they are a bit more limited.

[aznh]

Can you help me understand a couple points:

1. Why are you ending delayed shipping when it's far more eco friendly (massive extra use of packaging not to mention the extra delivery costs). Yeah I know your staff don't like it but really that's the best reaoson to not consider keeping it?
2. Why is there such a huge disparity between the limited and gilded version of each of the subs, which are almost inverse to the number you are producing?
a. 200 decks $15 more for Table Players
b. 500 decks $25 more for No.13
c. 400 decks $30 more for Vintage Reimagined

For the life of me I cannot wrap my head around this pricing disparity.

i can sum it all up for yo’all

“Corporate Greed”

ur welcome

[EvilDuncan]

I don't think Jackson makes as much of a profit as you think he does. Just saying "Corporate Greed" vastly oversimplifies the issue.

[bdawg923]

I don't think Jackson makes as much of a profit as you think he does. Just saying "Corporate Greed" vastly oversimplifies the issue.

77F28187-1627-4261-A1B0-6BDCD8FFFD1B.jpeg (126.32 KiB) Viewed 12228 times

[EvilDuncan]

Ah you're right I shouldn't. It's just too tempting to pass up sometimes.

[Bradius]

Let me step around the troll.

I am glad to see (for whatever reason) that KWP is going to go back to the basics and focus more on design that will work great without foil. Don't get me wrong, I am a sucker for foil, but it has been over-used lately. Some decks really don't benefit greatly from foil. Jackson's work on Robin Hood though was a great merging of design and foil. His Alice in Wonderland deck was amazing without foil, and is my most anticipated KWP deck this year. If he can produce six decks of that caliber next year in the Club 13 series, I will be over the moon happy.

If you all haven't been watching the Kings Wild Live programs, you have been missing out on his work on LOTR redesign. It is shaping up to be a great deck. He is using a similar border concept he used in Alice in Wonderland that is different, but adds that unique design complexity that is so sweet. I think most everyone will be happy with the redesign.

I will admit I was shocked about the additional shipping costs now involved from China. I knew there were delays, but those costs for a few boxes of playing cards is crazy.

That all said, I would also be really excited to see Alice in Wonderland using all the colors like EPCC showed in Exquisite 8teen.

[EvilDuncan]

I am a sucker for foil, but it has been over-used lately.

Yeah even Jackson has mentioned recently that he thinks he started becoming over-reliant on foil, so stepping back from that will let him produce designs that stand on their own without foil.

Also, he showed the Alice tuck on his stream yesterday and it looks amazing. The foil on the tuck looks really nice.

[Bradius]

Thanks EvilDuncan. I missed that when I watched the program later in the morning. For those of you that don't look it up, here is a quick peek from the video.

AliceInWonderlandTuck.png (404.45 KiB) Viewed 12161 times

[Strag]

Now we are getting somewhere on the tucks! Also agree on foil it can be massively overused if not done right and I think that's been the case on a few recent KWP decks. The same coule be said for gilding... overdone was probably the right word for a year ago.

Still would like o hear a better reasoning on the delayed shipping program but then it's not likely I would be able to buy from HWP direct wihout a change in such policy. Otherwise I would have liked to have gone for the Vintage series (at least if I know the tucks won't be those minmalist ones he's been doing lately on the OG Foiled decks).

[rousselle]

FWIW, Jackson, I appreciate your explanations that you took the time to post here. It wasn't obvious from your videos I'd seen elsewhere that you were going to have Jason McKinstry help develop content to go along with the re-imagined vintage decks. It's given me more food for thought on what I'm likely to subscribe to.

[portcullis]

Yeah I went on the new website and watched the three tier videos. I'm much more certain of what to back now. I was considering changing my sub for next year anyway. Given gilded decks are now soon to be pushed out of my budget, it's making the decision a bit more palatable.

[bdawg923]

Anyone get the pw to sign up yet? Supposed to be sent at 12 ET and it's already a few min after.

[Bradius]

I didn't even know they were supposed to send anything, or that it wouldn't launch until noon. I noticed I couldn't sign in using my existing password and sent them an email a few hours ago. I haven't heard back, but they may be swamped with communications. If it went to my email on file, it will have to wait until late tonight because I can only access it from my home computer. Hopefully I can get it sorted out late tonight when I get home.

[brownsl]

I have updated my subs for 2022. Spending a little bit less every month.

I was just charged for the full amount of all the subs. Seems like that should not have happened.

I also got an email saying I needed to activate my account when I already had an account. Not sure if I can just ignore it.

[bdawg923]

Yep same. Also after I subbed, there was a link to register my account which brought me to this page:

kw2.PNG (10.41 KiB) Viewed 12031 times

I have no idea what these fields are.

Afterwards I got an email to activate my account, and once I did, this is my order which I can't read:

kw1.PNG (10.59 KiB) Viewed 12031 times

Hopefully there's plans for a light mode version because dark mode sites are hard to read sometimes.

Afterwards I also realized that the login for the subscriptions site isn't https://kingswildsubscriptions.com/ because the login I just created didn't work. It's here https://kingswildsubs.myshopify.com/

Bit of a rocky start, but seems to be working in the end.

[Bradius]

Yep. Aimee responded to my email and I was able to get my subscription completed. I am still pondering the Vintage, but my wallet is reeling.

I think KWP charged me last time when I subscribed. Not a big deal, but it seems they should have had a way to delay it until the order ships. I'll just look at it as a deposit on the first shipment. Lord knows Kickstarter generally makes me front my payment by much more than KWP. I'll live.

I went back and checked and my first subscription deck was $25 back in September 2018, so the bump to $35 doesn't seem unreasonable.

[flyers3003]

I was just charged for the full amount of all the subs. Seems like that should not have happened.

From the email that Jackson sent about subscriptions two days ago:
"2) Whenever you do sign-up for 2022 subscriptions, you will be charged for whatever you have purchased. So, if you sign up in November, you will be charged for your current subscription as well as the 2022 subscription you just signed up for. However, your next charge will not be until you are about to receive your second deck of whichever subscription you have signed up for.

Example, if you sign up for the Table Players, you will not be charged again until February. Or, if you sign up for the Vintage Reimagine, you will not be charged again until March."

[brownsl]

Ah, thanks for the clarification! Should have read his email.

[JacksonRobinson]

Yep same. Also after I subbed, there was a link to register my account which brought me to this page:
kw2.PNG

I have no idea what these fields are.

Afterwards I got an email to activate my account, and once I did, this is my order which I can't read:
kw1.PNG

Hopefully there's plans for a light mode version because dark mode sites are hard to read sometimes.

Afterwards I also realized that the login for the subscriptions site isn't https://kingswildsubscriptions.com/ because the login I just created didn't work. It's here https://kingswildsubs.myshopify.com/

Bit of a rocky start, but seems to be working in the end.

Thanks for the heads up on this display bug, we have it fixed now.