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24

Missing Pieces, p14

September 4, 2024 by Tim

Last week I was approached by a company, Makeship, about testing the water with some plushies. I’ve wanted to try plushies again, and they seem to do most of the work with little expenditure of time and energy on my part, and I’ve heard people say very good things about the company, so I figured it’s worth a shot.

This Friday morning we’ll launch a 10-day interest campaign they call a “Petition,” to see if we can make a new Zeke plushie.

Zeke has had the plushie treatment twice before (once sort of questionably, and once rather successfully) but not since the CAD 2.0 reboot. I’d love to make a bunch of character plushies (Speck, Console War Soldiers, The Campaign, etc), but to see if this is something you’re interested in, I figured Zeke was a strong choice to lead us off.

The process, as I understand it, works like this: During the 10 day petition, you show your interest in having one of these plushies by pledging $2. If we get 200+ people interested, Makeship will then get to work designing the actual plushie, and then launch a full funding campaign featuring photos of the actual product.  If we don’t reach 200 people, you get your $2 back and we all acknowledge that plushies aren’t something this community wants and that’s that.

If we move forward, and you committed $2, that amount is credited towards the full price/shipping. Then they make all the plushies, ship them out, and if it all went well and everyone’s happy, we pick another character to do.

You can look at Makeship’s site to see examples of the work they do, I think their plushies look pretty good, and I’m hopeful they can do Zeke justice. Size-wise, my best guess is they’re in the 8″ range, but I’m not 100% on that.

So yeah, I’ll remind you again Friday morning that this petition is going live, and this is one of those things where, while I don’t want anyone buying a thing they don’t want, if you do want it, you’ll want to act because it doesn’t happen unless you show up. And they are a “we make as many as we need to fill orders and then move one” kind of a product; they won’t hang around for purchase months later as far as I know.


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Darkhorse
Darkhorse
2 months ago

Well he found his missing piece and is willing to fight for it. Otherwise he shouldn’t have said anything. It is hard not to try to explain, but in the end, the breakup before he opened his mouth was one of the best scenarios he could hope for.

Duncan
Duncan
2 months ago

Me: “Ugh, enough with the drama, let’s get back to Ethan’s possible missing superpowers, and Zeke’s ongoing humanity!”

Also me: “You go, Lucas! It’s about time you stood up for what you wanted, and you deserve this happiness with Ben!”

Jack0r
Jack0r
2 months ago
Reply to  Duncan

Hey, are you me? I was gonna say the same!

Amarant
Amarant
2 months ago
Reply to  Jack0r

Are you a member of a club where people beat eachother up?

If so, yes, Duncan is you. Better you figure it out sooner rather than later!

Callyste
Callyste
2 months ago
Reply to  Amarant

Shhhh… we don’t talk about the club where people beat each other up.

Imperator Ruscal
Imperator Ruscal
2 months ago
Reply to  Callyste

It’s like, the first rule of said club.

Richard Weatherfield
Richard Weatherfield
2 months ago

And the second

Steve
Steve
2 months ago
Reply to  Duncan

I miss them doing actual hero stuff.

But it seems like they’re being put out to the Old Vigilantes home (one has no idea if his power works anymore; the other apparently may want to quit and settle down sooner rather than later).

Gonfrask
Gonfrask
2 months ago

Ben: but is what I want!
“Run away impersonating Zhoiber”
Brlrlrlr

Seems like now they can be 4 players for their online games

Last edited 2 months ago by Gonfrask
Darkhorse
Darkhorse
2 months ago
Reply to  Gonfrask

For the next time you reference him: Zoidberg 😉

Jedi
Jedi
2 months ago

Mission failed…

Arcatus
Arcatus
2 months ago

But how does Lucas recover from this? If Ben reads between the lines here Lucas is basically saying “It’s not what I want, but I need /should break up” Bens (correct) assumption would then be that the entire situation is related to him beeing a cop. There are other reasons too, but that would all be a lie.

leduk
leduk
2 months ago
Reply to  Arcatus

and? I’m sure he gets that.A lot of people dont like police and not only criminals or “vigilante”.

Pyre
Pyre
2 months ago
Reply to  Arcatus

Agreed. It’s still in the recoverable stage but, unless Lucas is willing to fully commit, it is nearly impossible to “abort the launch” once you’ve started. Even if he does convince Ben that what he wants is to be with you, Ben will be unconsciously looking at Lucas to see if he continues to keep his distance. As such, this is where Lucas has to decide whether to commit or not with all that either decision would entail. Keep Ben but lose D-Pad or Lose Ben (and the toast) but go into the “brooding on gargoyles” phase. Of course, this… Read more »

John
John
2 months ago

Being Human is hard. Try ones best.

Lily
Lily
2 months ago

He has been overreacting this entire time. The chances Ben actually cares he is a superhero and that he feels strongly about going after him seem slim.

MyBigPony
MyBigPony
2 months ago
Reply to  Lily

Ye sounds like an excuse to not let himself be vulnerable

Esc
Esc
2 months ago
Reply to  Lily

I believe the issue is if Ben figures out his secret identity that’s a huge breach and can cause all of them to lose their anonymity. One more person carrying the secret is a recipe for failure.

And with that goes their normal lives and the videogame shop.

Extreme
Extreme
2 months ago
Reply to  Esc

On the other hand, I have to imagine there are also benefits to having a loyal partner on the force as a superhero.

Bain
Bain
2 months ago

Oh gosh. This level of perfection in a person always ends up in death or I was secretly the villain the entire time

JKneedsalongeralias
JKneedsalongeralias
2 months ago

Really like this storyline…..

Prime_pm
Prime_pm
2 months ago

Is it wrong that I imagine Lucas and Ben being voiced by H. Jon Benjamin and Nick Offerman? Respectively?

Reso
Reso
2 months ago

Yessssssss!

This is what I needed in my Wednesday morning.

Rolan7
Rolan7
2 months ago
Reply to  Reso

People are posting so many well-thought-out words and I just wanna squeeeee <3

Ben
Ben
2 months ago

So like most of us I want Lucas to be happy, and I have a great urge to cheer for him right now.

But I am CONCERNED, y’all. This guy’s a COP. That means he’s beholden to a government that isn’t always going to be on the same side as Lucas. When it comes time to share his identity with this guy, there’s no gaurantee that he’ll keep the secret. Especially not if it ever so much as LOOKS like D-Pad might be responsible for a crime.

Hotair
Hotair
2 months ago

I’ve had a good experience with MakeShip before. They seem to be a good company.

Jonathan C Smith
Jonathan C Smith
2 months ago

I find it funny that I like this development in the story of Lucas. I absolutely hate the other media that just stick a gay character in for the upvotes. But this story has me very interested. I feel for the characters. I love it.

justathought
justathought
2 months ago

I still have my CAD 2.0 Zeke plushie.. might be nice to have another 🤔

alex
alex
2 months ago
Reply to  justathought

i would show interest in this one, but the link isnt working 🙁

Rylanluv
Rylanluv
2 months ago

On the discussion of the plushies, I would love to have a plushie of Player 4 (the green female player), either as just herself or as her Elf character. I LOVE her and her insanity. I would definitely buy merch of her.

Verdiekus
Verdiekus
2 months ago

Choose happy Lucas, you deserve it.

Blondie
Blondie
2 months ago

I’ve got several makeships and can confirm their plushie quality is excellent.
Having said that, while I wouldn’t be interested in a Zeke plushie, plushies of all the console wars characters is an awesome idea and I’d take one of each!
Best of luck with the campaign Tim!

Phire
Phire
2 months ago

Ben seems a little TOO perfect honestly. Maybe it’s a trap.