Tag: Crowdfund This

Crowdfund This: Volume 2 Of Jason Inman, Ashley Victoria Robinson, and Ben Matsuya’s ‘Jupiter Jet’!

by Derek Kraneveldt

Back in January of 2017 we featured Jason Inman, Ashley Victoria Robinson, and Ben Matsuya’s Jupiter Jet in a Crowdfund This column.

The project ended up clearing over 180% of its Kickstarter goal, and the first volume of Jupiter Jet was even nominated for a Ringo award for Best Kids Comic or Graphic Novel.

Naturally, a single volume of the celebrated series wasn’t enough for fans, and today Jason, Ashley, and Ben (and publisher Action Labs) have finally unveiled a new crowdfunding campaign for a 120-page Jupiter Jet volume 2, Jupiter Jet and the Forgotten Radio!

The Kickstarter campaign for the new volume has only just launched, and features tons of goodies for new and old fans of Jupiter Jet. The creative trio is looking for a cool $17,500 to fund the book, and if early pledges are any indication, Juper Jet and the Forgotten Radio should fly past its goal very quickly.

Robinson notes that a “book about space lizards, asteroid belt chases, and fighting with your family, combines three things I love reading the most. Bringing some of my favorite things to one of my favorite characters I’ve created has been such a blast,” and having had an opportunity to read the first 20 pages of the book, her passion for the project (and Inman’s and Matsuya’s of course) seeps across every panel.

Described as Kim Possible crossed with A Fistful of Dollars (two IP’s that I never imagined would be mentioned together), Jupiter Jet and the Forgotten Radio is:

One girl’s journey on the brink of adulthood to remind herself that the world will always be bigger than you think and that your parents aren’t always perfect. Jupiter Jet and the Forgotten Radio celebrates the confidence that comes on the precipice of adulthood and the hard lessons we learn when we don’t know everything – and introduces a brand new jetpack!

Just like last time around, there are some amazing rewards available for backers. These include exclusive early copies of the book with cover art by Spawn’s Jonboy Meyers, prints from Nicola Scott (Earth 2), and b2rianls (painter Brian Lopez who Ashley also collaborated with on Aurora and the Eagle), and incredibly, script and portfolio critiques by industry professionals including: Steve Lieber (Superman’s Pal: Jimmy Olsen, Detective Comics), Mitch Gerads (Mister Miracle, Batman), and David Booher (Canto, Alien Bounty Hunter).

There’s a lot to love about Jupiter Jet — take a look at the Jupiter Jet and the Forgotten Radio Kickstarter video below, and head to the official Kickstarter campaign page for more information, and to back this fantastic project!

Can’t get enough of Jason or Ashley? Ashley was just a guest on one of Geekscape’s newest podcast’s, My Favourite Episode Of, and Jason was on Geekscape this past Summer!

Crowdfund This: ‘Magic: The Gathering’ Creator Richard Garfield & ‘Jeopardy’ Champion Ken Jennings Team Up For ‘Half Truth’!

by Derek Kraneveldt

This is a new game designed by Richard Garfield… do I really need to say any more?

I picked up my first pack of Magic: The Gathering cards when I was about eight years old. I played the game for years (and fell in and out and in and out of it depending on where I was in life) and hope every day that I see some news about Magic: The Gathering – Arena dropping on mobile platforms. Last year at PAX West, Artifact made me feel like a kid again — leading me to feel a sense of wonder and excitement that I hadn’t felt in quite some time. A few months later, a unique deck game called Keyforge released. It’s a card game with no deck building or booster packs, just inexpensive, algorithmically assembled pre-built decks that absolutely made buying decks as addicting as buying boosters used to be — this is a game that even my fiancé Mikaela got into, and prior to this I would have never, ever thought I’d see her play a card game.

So, you could say I’m a fan… and you could say that I was probably going to back this the moment that I read the names that are attached to it. Garfield designed the game along with essentially the master of trivia, 74-time Jeopardy winner Ken Jennings (with art by Ian O’Toole). Half Truth is also being produced by Studio71, the studio behind games like Shady Agents and previous Kickstarter darling The Binding of Isaac: Four Souls. After reading Ken’s book Brainiac, Garfield wanted to design a trivia game, and after more than 13 years of the pair crafting and playtesting the title, the game is ready to be revealed.

The game is called Half Truth, and it’s a party / trivia game designed for all ages. According to the just-launched Kickstarter for the game, it “comes with 500 trivia question cards and each card has a category on it, like “Animals with blue tongues.” There are six possible answers, three right and three wrong, and players have to place bets on answers they believe are correct. Players are usually surprised by how well they do. We’re all smarter than we think.”

Gameplay sounds pretty simple, and it also sounds like unlike a lot of other trivia titles, there’s not a lot of waiting around (which can get boring and wouldn’t make for a very fun party game). Every player will play every round. Jennings and Garfield get more in depth with the gameplay right here:

Honestly, it just looks like a take on trivia that I’ve never seen before. As someone who knows a lot about certain things (movies, video games, other useless stuff) and not enough about others (history, politics, sports), a game like this that gives you a chance even if you’re trivia worthy knowledge isn’t the most well-rounded sounds right up my alley. There’s even a risk/reward system that can earn you extra points if you guess more of the possibilities, so when a card pops up that you feel confident about, you’ll be able to act on it.

The campaign has just started, and based on the rate that the backers are coming through, I think that Half Truth is going to blow past its goal pretty quickly. Naturally, there are some cool rewards up for grabs for backers, including discounted copies of the game, multiple copies of the game, copies signed by Garfield and Jennings, and even the option to add your own custom card to the game!

Jonathan even had Richard Garfield to talk about his achievements in gaming, as well as the creation and development of Half Truth. You can listen right here, and the episode is also embedded below.

Take a look at the campaign video for Half Truth below, and head here for (much) more information and to back the project. The game is estimated to ship in December, and I just can’t wait to play!

Crowdfund This: KikiDoodle’s Deep Sea Purrmaids

by Natalie Kipper

Be prepared for a siren song of epic (and fuzzy) proportions! Designer toy enthusiasts no doubt recall KikiDoodle‘s original Purrmaid plush Kickstarter from last May. Well, she has returned with three new cat/fish hybrids that are sure to make you go “Awww!” in her Deep Sea Purrmaids Kickstarter.

The first of the three is the Bombangler, a cross between a Bombay cat and an angler fish. This ingenious plush measures 13 inches long and 10 inches tall with glow in the dark eyes and a posable lure. It even has a hidden talent: it can hold your smartphone in its jaws!

https://www.instagram.com/p/BXJBobFFf4S/?taken-by=kikidoodling

Next up is the Squitten, a squid/kitten! This plush is a whopping 22 inches long and about 5 inches wide. Why so long? The Squitten has powerful magnets in its two paws that let it hang grab on things and just general hang around. Cool, right?

Speaking of hanging around, the final plush of the trio, the Jelly Angora (a mix of a jellyfish and a Turkish Angora cat), looks precious when hung up. It can also sit elegantly on its tail if there isn’t an place for the lovely Purrmaid to dangle. Just barely shorter than the Squitten, the Jelly Angora hangs 21 inches long with an 8 inch wide skirt.

Finally, we get to the Baby Purrs. There are two available in this Kickstarter, the Blue Baby Jelly Purr and the Bombanglet (or Baby Bom). The Blue Baby Jelly Purr will not be sold after the Kickstarter. There is also a promotion in which a Blue Baby Jelly Purr will be included with your package if you select a backer tier that includes two or more of the regular plushes. Of course, there is also a tier for just one or both of the Baby Purrs. Heck, there is a tier for pretty much any option you can imagine.

KikiDoodle is currently running a Design-your-own-Purrmaid contest as well. It will run until August 22 and all the details can be found here. Alternatively, there is also a tier that nets you all the prizes from the contest, including having your idea turned into a brand new Purrmaid plush (which you will be credited for). You can check out some of the entries on KikiDoodle’s twitter.

The Deep Sea Purrmaids Kickstarter ends on August 27 at 12:02 P.M. Pacific. It currently has $25,698 pledged of the $33,000 needed to succeed. There are plenty of tiers for every budget, from $5 to $600, and every little bit helps! You can check out the Kickstarter campaign here.

Crowdfund This: ‘Beats Of Rage: The FP 2’

by Derek Kraneveldt

Briefly: It’s been 84 years…

Not really, but it’s been almost 6 years since The FP first blew our freaking minds. Back in the day, we had our own screening of the feature, had basically the whole family on Geekscape, and spent way, way too long playing The FP rhythm game on our phones.

I even dressed up as a member of the 248 for Halloween one year.

Jason and company have worked on a bunch of cool projects in the years since The FP, but naturally, myself and fans all over the world wanted to see what happened to our pals from Frazier Park.

I’m so, so happy to see that after what seems like years of teasing, Beats of Rage: The FP 2 is finally on its way.

Jason and crew have already shot the first 30 minutes of the project, with the intention of pitching Beats of Rage as a television series. Jason notes that “We were going to try and pitch is as a TV show… but, politics YO! That could take a mo suckin’ eternity. Plus, we think this shit is so dope, we’re sick of waiting! Let’s just finish the movie and get this shit up into your living room with a beer in your hand ASAP!”

That sounds great to me. We’ve waited this long, NOW LET’S SEE THIS SHIT! FOR THE DUCKS!

Here’s the synopsis for Beats of Rage:

In a dystopian future… the world is in a booze drought. Disputes are fought to the death via the dancing arcade game Beat-Beat Revolution, which has absolutely no relation to Dance Dance Revolution. Alternate Reality yo.

In this ghetto ass fantasy, in order to save The FP once again… again, JTRO -The Beat-Beating champion from a legendary bloodline of beat-beaters and KCDC – his mystical hype man, must quest deep into The Wastes, a world decimated by the beat wars, in order to compete in the ancient Beat-Beat tournament, “Beats of Rage”. JTRO travels deep into the realm of his birthplace where he must dig deeper than six feet to vanquish the self-proclaimed lord of the Wastes, AK-47. Will JTRO fulfill KCDC’s prophecy? Will he be able to RENIG before it’s too late and save The FP from runnin’ dry once and for all?

In just a couple of days, the team has raised nearly 25% of their miniscule $25,000 goal. We’ve seen freaking Potato Salads make more cash than that, so fans should definitely be able to hit this target (and way, way more than that). Naturally there’s some shit in it for you (aside from simply letting this exist). Backer rewards include credits, soundtracks, copies of the film, shirts, having your photo in the film, a ticket to the premiere, and even a role in the movie.

Did I mention that you can watch 10 minutes of the project right now?

Yeah, you can.

So for For Jason. For Frank Sanders. For us. It’s time to show that you’re a true member of the 248 and make this shit happen. Open your chequebook. Click the freakin’ share button. Make Beats of Rage: The FP 2 happen.

You can head to the IndieGoGo page right here, and watch ten minutes of the project below.

https://vimeo.com/222572260

Crowdfund This: Loading Crew Crafts’ RPG Jelly Plush

by Natalie Kipper

Loading Crew Crafts previous Kickstarter campaign Jelly Realms may not have succeeded but out of its ashes, the RPG Jelly Plush were born. Based on characters created for the original Kickstarter’s game, these underwater warriors belong to several traditional role-playing game job classes, like rogue and bard.

Each of the plushes was designed with love. They will be made with minky fabric and measure about 14 inches long. I have personally played with two plushes from the previous Kickstarter campaign and I can vouch for the quality of these cuties. They are not only well-made but also very soft and huggable!

Kohath the Paladin, Nomura the Rogue, and Fanta the Mage are the main three that will be available if the campaign hits its goal of $7,500. Want to see these guys in action? Check out the video at the top of the Kickstarter page!

Besides Kohath, Nomura, and Fanta, there are two additional plushes that can be unlocked by reaching stretch goals. Help raise $14,000 and for your efforts, you will be able to purchase Fergus the Narwhal Warlock. You can see him in all his plushy glory in that video I mentioned earlier. Blast through to $20,000 pledged and Pipe the Bard will be unlocked.

Loading Crew Crafts’ RPG Jelly Plush Kickstarter campaign must receive at least $7,500 in pledges by Wednesday, April 26 at 9 PM Pacific to be funded. That means we only have another 19 days to bring this dream to life. So what are you waiting for? Head on over and take a look!

Crowdfund This: Tentacle Kitty – Earth Color Little Ones by John Merritt

by Natalie Kipper

What do you get when you mix together a pinch of Cthulhu, a dollop of cute, and tons of fuzzies? John Merritt’s Tentacle Kitty, that’s who! Characters from Tentacle Kitty’s world have been sold at many different conventions (look for booth #1908 at this month’s WonderCon!) and ThinkGeek even had an exclusive Orange Tabby Tentacle Kitty. One of the most requested plushes is Tentacle Kitty’s friend, the Little One, in earth cat colors. And now that wish is about to be fulfilled, thanks to a current Kickstarter!

The Kickstarter has already met the goal needed to be funded and is well on its way to clearing its first Stretch Goal, the Siamese Little One. At present, the Grey Tabby (the top image) is the only one available. However, there are still 29 days left on the campaign and to reach the final of the four designs, the Calico Little One, a minimum of $24,000 must be pledged. They have already raised $11,053.

Let’s talk pledge rewards for a second. While most of the goods are pretty standard ( the actual plush, lanyards featuring art, digital wallpapers for your desktop and phone, and so on), there are several items that caught my eye. One reward that  a fan of John’s work will appreciate is the “Design Your Own Tentacle Kitty” for $400 or more. Limited to five backers, it includes the opportunity to work with John Merritt in creating your very own custom Tentacle Kitty. For the big spender (and myself, if I had the funds), is the $1,800 pledge for a Giant Cat Guru plush. Who is Cat Guru? Why, he is that glorious, green feline thing right above this paragraph. And when they say “giant” they are not kidding around; this bad boy is six feet tall!

The Kickstarter campaign for Earth Color Little Ones runs until Monday, April 3 at 6 PM Pacific Time. If you want to learn more about Tentacle Kitty, the Little Ones, and my main man, Cat Guru, I highly recommend that you check out their webcomic!

Crowdfund This: ‘Never Hike Alone’ A Friday The 13th Fan Film

by Shane O'Hare

Welcome back to another installment of Crowdfund This. Where we here at Geekscape share with you amazing and incredible crowdfunding campaigns that you need to see. This time around take a look at Never Hike Alone: A Friday The 13th Fan Film. Horror fans, take note!

Never Hike Alone is a 22-minute short film that follows the story of KYLE MCLEOD (Andrew Leighty), an avid backcountry hiker who, while on a solo backpacking trip, discovers the long lost remains of CAMP CRYSTAL LAKE. Ignoring the campfire ghost stories from his childhood, Kyle’s curious nature draws him in to see what is left of the camp since it was closed after the infamous 1980 Friday the 13th murders.

This has got me absolutely pumped! Not being a hardcore horror fan, Friday the 13th has always been my favorite horror franchise. With the announcement that the upcoming remake was cancelled by Paramount, Friday fans don’t really have much new content on the horizon.

Never Hike Alone aims to fill the void left by the feature film being shutdown, and they need your help!

The majority of principle filming has been completed. The team over at Womp Stomp Films just needs a little bit more to get the project finished.

For more information, and to peep some of their INCREDIBLE backer perks, check out the official KickStarter.

Crowdfund This: The Animazombs, Series 2!

by Natalie Kipper

After a successful Kickstarter for Series 1 back in 2013, The Animazombs are back for round 2! The campaign launched on Kickstarter on January 31 and has already just about reached the 50 percent mark of their $8,783 (£7,000) goal. You can learn more about Series 1 over at the official Instagram and Facebook but let’s dive into the all the excitement of Series 2!

So far, six undead critters have been revealed (the owl, however is part of a stretch goal). There may be more, should additional stretch goals be reached. Here is the line-up:

Now, each of these precious plushes has its own backstory (head over to the Kickstarter page to get the scoop) and a variety of fun hidden details to find. My personal favorite is Jamie the Walrus (who perhaps bears a likeness to a certain Myth Buster). His design is particularly witty and who doesn’t love a good walrus? But honestly, I don’t think you can go wrong with any of these guys.

You will notice some of the Animazombs don’t have names. That is because one of the pledge tiers (£250) grants backers the privilege of naming them. There are four slots for that tier available. There are plenty of other pledge options available, though. You could choose one plush from either series or even a full set of Series 2 Animazombs plus any potential stretch goals, for example.

The Animazombs Series 2 Kickstarter campaign ends on Wednesday, March 1 at 7 AM Pacific. Check ’em out!

Crowdfund This: Jason Inman, Ashley Victoria Robinson, and Ben Matsuya’s ‘Jupiter Jet’!

by Derek Kraneveldt

This is a phenomenal looking book from a fantastic team, and we can’t wait to read it!

Yeah, we’re a little biased due to the fact that our pals Jason Inman and Ashley Victoria Robinson are a part of this high-flying, all-ages adventure, but the book also looks (and sounds) damned cool.

Jason is the host of DC Comics All Access, podcast Geek History Lesson and more, while Ashley is a  Top Cow Talent Hunt winner turned Head Editor (“Apollo IX #1”, “Witchblade #175”). Both of them co-wrote a multitude of episodes of popular webseries The Red Shirt Diaries.

The duo, along with artist Ben Matsuya (Criminal Macabre) have teamed up to create a 5 issue mini series through that stars a spunky teenage girl with a jetpack, her genius mechanic brother and a bad guy who wants to end the crusade of the “flying girl”!

The book’s called Jupiter Jet, and it follows the origin story of the eponymous superhero as she must find a way to balance her Robin Hood-esque activities, support the family repair shop and keep her secret identity – Jacky Johnson – out of the hands of the mobsters that are always on their
trail … and the mysterious man who controls them all.

It sounds incredibly fun, and it looks great. Naturally, based on the ‘Crowdfund This’ prefix of this article, the team needs some help if this fantastic idea is set to come to fruition. Book one has already been written and drawn, but that leaves four more issues in the story, and the team is looking for a cool $14,500 to make everything happen.

The team notes that “money earned will go to covering fees, production, postage, and printing of the collection. Any leftover money will be used to pay for new artwork that will be used in the series…maybe some back-ups by other creators? Variant covers? All money will go back into the book, period. The first goal of this campaign is to give our readers a high-quality product.” They even created a sweet pie chart that breaks things down:

The project just launched this morning, and at the time of writing, it’s already raised an impressive 27% of its goal.

There are some fantastic backer rewards up for grabs with this one, including copies of the book (digital or physical), social media follows, sweet prints, original pages, portfolio reviews, lunch with the creators (and Jon Schnepp) and even more.

You can take a look at some slick preview pages below (along with the Kickstarter video). Head here to check out the Kickstarter campaign (and back, of course), and be sure to share the project with your friends! These are some amazing creators with a great idea, so let’s help them out any way that we can!

Crowdfund This!: Long Gone Gulch!

by The_acz

When it comes to Kickstarter projects, animation is always a tricky beast to tackle. Due to high production costs and the fact that animation for a show can take anywhere from 6+ months to produce, animated projects are usually very expensive and risky. This however, doesn’t seem to be the case for Long Gone Gulch.

LGG Snag Rawhide

Created by Tara Billinger and Zach Bellissimo, Long Gone Gulch centers around the sheriffs Snag and Rawhide  as they try to keep peace and order throughout the Gulch which houses many different creatures from various myths and folklore. This show has been a personal dream for the duo for a while now, and they’re not about to give up on it.

Long Gone Gulch Characters

If you’re worried about the talent and money going into it because you’ve been burnt on some crowdfunding before, then don’t! As explained in their pitch video, all the money the project makes will be going into paying the always talented animators, artists, voice actors, and musicians. Zach and Tara also have a good amount of experience in the industry. Tara currently works at Disney and helps on Paul Ruddish’s awesome Mickey Mouse shorts, while Zach currently works at Warner Bros. on Teen Titans Go!, and was even a character designer for the first season of Rick and Morty!

Gonnorhea Monster

_sparkle_eye_mickey__by_purplepeepbits-d74yxvm

The campaign goal for the pilot is $25,000, which is actually very reasonable for a pilot. The best part is that the kickstarter launch has been great as the project is close to 90% complete with a little around 14 days still left to go at the time of this article. If you would like to help contribute to the pilot yourself then check it out below! Also, if you’re interested in more of Zach and Tara’s work, then check out their tumblrs (including the one for the show.)

LGG Main

 

Donate to the Kickstarter!: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1830737577/long-gone-gulch-animated-pilot

Tara’s Tumblr: tarabillinger.tumblr.com
Zach’s Tumblr: snaggle-teeth.tumblr.com/
Long Gone Gulch Tumblr: longgonegulch.tumblr.com

Trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OQkXzGx62I

Crowdfund This: ‘Jelly Realms’ RPG Puzzle Game

by Natalie Kipper

This edition of “Crowdfund This” double-dips into the world of mobile gaming as well that of toys. I am talking about Jelly Realms by Loading Crew Crafts. This free-to-play game belongs to the Match 3 Puzzle genre but adds RPG elements a la Puzzle and Dragons. 

plushies

One of the titles of the cooler elements is its tie-in with a line of plushes made in the likeness of some of the game’s characters. Besides Nomura the Rogue (second from the left) and Kohath the Paladin (second from the right), the remaining roster are part of various stretch goals. I am personally rooting for the spell-casting narwhal, Narlock.

1e568ff8e39fa5d3c7f0182837ad49a1_original

Why bother with collecting plushes? Well aside from the fact that they are cute and cuddly, each toy will come with a code that will unlock a “Legendary Orange”quality version of that character which will have the highest capacity for stat growth in the game. To be clear: you do not need to purchase these toys to play the game. Every character can be unlocked through normal gameplay.

Speaking of gameplay, there are plenty of features for backers to look forward to. Players will have the ability to design their own jelly avatar as well as customize its skills and those of the whole party. There is a large cast of undersea characters to meet and recruit (along with some real-world guest stars). The game’s cutscenes will also be different depending on who is in your party. Over 50 characters are currently planned for the game, so that are plenty of potential combinations there!

The Jelly Realms Kickstarter campaign has 11 days left and at press time, has received $1,739 of the needed $33,000. You can read more about the Kickstarter (and pledge!) here.

Crowdfund This: The Purrmaid Plush by KikiDoodle

by Natalie Kipper

Christine Knopp of KikiDoodle recently launched a Kickstarter campaign for plushes of her Purrmaid character. Half-feline and half-fish, these plushes glow with Christine’s signature art style. Each toy is nearly 16 inches tall and features whimsical details like a real bell around its neck.

Crowdfund this - Purrmaids

Even the page’s description for these furry, finned rascals is adorable and smile-inducing:

Purrmaids are mythical magic sea creatures who live in the oceans all over the world! They love hunting tuna, stealing fish from fisherman, and knocking over items when they’re bored. They look up to Tiger Sharks for their gorgeous markings and sharp teeth. And they hate when sea cucumbers sneak up on them.

The campaign has already met its minimum goal of US$6,500 and will be funded. The first of the stretch goals, the Siamese Fighting Fish or Betta Purrmaid, is next on the list and will unlock when a total of US$12,500 in pledges. At press time, US$10,377 has been pledged and with 34 days left on the campaign, I would say there is a high likelihood of this stretch goal being reached.

Purr maid Kickstarter - betta stretch goal

The Purrmaid plush Kickstarter campaign will close on July 4 at 11:59pm Pacific Daylight Time. You can check it out (and pledge) here.

Crowdfund This: Ghostbusters: The Board Game II By Cryptozoic Entertainment

by Natalie Kipper

In just two hours, the Kickstarter campaign for Cryptozoic Entertainment’s Ghostbusters: The Board Game II had already reached its minimum pledge goal. Honestly, I am not surprised one bit. For starters, the original had a huge fanbase. And after demoing a prototype version at this year’s WonderCon, I can see where the draw is. What Ghostbusters fan wouldn’t dig a game that draws references not just from the movies, but also the cartoons, comics, and toy lines?  For those wanting to see the game in action, the team whipped a tutorial video. Let’s check it out.

Not only has the minimum pledge goal of $250,000 been met but a good chunk of the stretch goals are unlocked as well. There are 23 days left to go and at press time, there is already $523,657 in pledges.

Ghostbusters the Board Game II stretch goals

The base pledge that nets you the game costs $80. There are, of course other tiers that can get you rewards such as exclusive expansions, limited edition figures, and for high-rollers, the opportunity to bring your own ghost to life (afterlife?) or be written into IDW’s Ghostbusters comic.

I had a blast demoing the game and would definitely recommend that Ghostbusters fans  and board game players check it out.The Kickstarter for Ghostbusters: The Board Game II will end on May 9.

Crowdfund This: Kristin Made Stuff’d Corgi And Pugasus Plush Toys

by Natalie Kipper

This article is brought to you by the letters O, M, and G, because oh my goodness, Kristin Palach of Kristin Made Stuff’d is running the sweetest Kickstarter campaign. Her Corgi and Pugasus plush toys are equal parts silly, precious, and fluffy-looking. You can’t have enough corgis (they are fairy dogs, you know) and who wouldn’t want a horned, winged pug? It has a bone as a cutie mark, for crying out loud!

Corgi and Pugasus - Corgi Corgi and Pugasus- Pugasus

The pair aren’t alone either! Joining them is an otter friend, whom I presume is named Otter. Each of these 10 inch tall plushes is made of minky, soft fabric and features embroidered details.

Corgi and Pugasus - Otter

Now, we get to the hard truth. These little ones won’t get made if the Kickstarter’s goal of $15, ooo isn’t met. The campaign has currently earned $8,242 in pledges. Unfortunately, only four days are left to pledge. If you can find it in your heart to pledge some money (and get fun rewards in return – I am looking at you, coloring book), head on over to the Kickstarter page.

Crowdfund This: Shane O’Hare’s Pony Parade!

by Derek Kraneveldt

Our pal, writer, and Geekscape Games host Shane O’Hare loves My Little Pony. I mean loves. More than he loves, well, anything (including writing for Geekscape, his parents, flossing,  the list goes on and on).

He also lives in Alaska, which is (apparently) a super boring place to live.

A few months back, Shane had this crazy idea that only an obsessed Brony could concoct: bring all of (or many of) his fellow Bronies to Alaska so that he wouldn’t feel so alone… and rationalize it all by organizing a My Little Pony themed parade.

He told us that it would be huge, and that he’d love to stream it live on GeekscapeTV so that all of our readers and listeners could be a part of the festivities. We told him that we didn’t want any part in the damned thing… But he’s trying to make it happen anyways.

So, the least that we could do is give him a few minutes of our time with a Crowdfund This piece…

I mean, just look at how desolate Alaska can be:

TargetAlaska

And look at how much Shane loves dressing like a cartoon horse:

Wouldn’t you love to see an ear-to-ear smile on that man’s face? Shane’s looking to raise a cool $40116 to cover the costs of stables, parade organization, and to catch up on a few past-due bills (these things are expensive, okay), and as the campaign is officially starting today, he’s currently sitting at 0% of his unabashed campaign goal.

Of course, as with every crowdfunding campaign, there are some sweet, sweet rewards available for backers. We’ve got Shane O’Hare t-shirts, posters, and autographs. He’ll record you a hype voicemail message if that’s what you’re looking for, and for one generous backer, he’ll even share a bed with you at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con.

Oh yeah, Kickstarter also declined to run Shane’s campaign, so if you’re looking to back the project (and how could you not want to at this point), you’ll want to contact Shane directly on Twitter @ShaneOhare. You can totally trust him.

Crowdfund This: Daniel Corey’s ‘Bloodworth’!

by Derek Kraneveldt

Back in September, a 12-page preview issue of Bloodworth hit ComiXology, and it seems as though everyone has been loving it so far, with fans noting that:

– “Daniel Corey’s incredible knack for world-building is on full display in BLOODWORTH. The sights, sounds, and characters are vibrant and intricate, and the story is brimming with possibilities!”

and

– “It’s good fun, and thought-­provoking for those who enjoy some modern tech-dystopian drama.”

Now, it’s time to turn Daniel’s dream alive, with a Kickstarter campaign to fund the book’s first full issue! The story sounds pretty damned cool, creepy, and surprisingly not too far fetched:

In the near future, people can upload their memories as a form of social networking, called “Thoughtshare.” Special Agent Brenda Bloodworth leads an FBI task force that can enter the memories that people don’t want to share, in order to solve crimes.

 

When Bloodworth falsely turns up in a memory that frames her for murder, she must leap the Chain of Thoughts that will lead her to a conspiracy that threatens to control minds on a worldwide scale.

Corey has previously written Image’s Moriarty and Red City, while Bloodworth will be drawn by Red City and Orphan Black‘s Chris Fenoglio. Design and lettering comes from Eisner nominated Dave Lanphear, and The Boys and Transmetropolitan‘s Darick Robertson will draw a variant cover for this first issue.

Instead of a huge goal, Corey and company have four smaller Kickstarter campaigns planned over the course of 2016, one for each of Bloodworth‘s planned four issues. Where will most of the funds be going? Well, that’s simple:

The majority of money raised by this campaign will be used to pay the artists. The artists have to put in many long hours of work: it can take as much as 1-2 days to finish the pencils, inks, colors and letters of 1 page of a comic book. The remaining monies raised will cover the print costs of reward tiers that include print copies.

We’re huge fans of Corey’s work here at Geekscape, and as such we’d love to see each issue of Bloodworth come to light. With 29 days to go in Bloodworth #1’s campaign, the book has already raised $1,555 of its $4,800 goal.

As always, there are some fantastic rewards available to backers, including digital and printed copies, metal trading cards, variant covers, USB drives, and much much more.

So take a look at the campaign video below, head here to back the project, and be sure to share so that we can help Bloodworth happen!

Crowdfund This: ‘Ghostheads’

by Derek Kraneveldt

I am absolutely in love with this idea.

When the original Ghostbuster hit theatres back in 1984, I was still a good six years from even being born, and it would be a number of years following that before I was ready for my first movie. I can’t be certain, but I’m pretty sure I would have started with some baby crap rather that gems like Ghostbusters and its 1989 sequel.

Thus, I’ve spent my entire life watching people of all ages, races, genders, and nationalities, build proton packs, ECTO-1’s, and celebrate a phenomenon that I’m too young to remember the birth of.

Now, I completely adore Ghostbusters (and you can bet your ass that I’m looking forward to next year’s reboot), but I’ve always wondered just why Ghostbusters garnered and maintained such an incredible influence on our culture. Hell, our own Eric Francisco just donned a Ghostbusters jumpsuit at New York Comic-Con, and at last weekend’s Halloween parade in Vancouver (yes, for some reason we have a parade for Halloween), a Ghostbusters group costume (including an inflated Stay Puft Marshmallow Man, was probably the most impressive aspect of the entire morning.

Thats’s why I’m beyond excited for Ghostheads, which is coming from director Brenden Maertens and producer Tommy Avallone (who directed the fantastic documentary I Am Santa Claus).

Basically, “Ghostheads are hardcore Ghostbusters Fans; the nickname was born in the mid 1980s after the huge growth of Ghostbusters fan base around the world. Ghostheads are just a collection of friends and acquaintance that decide to get together a couple of times a year, dress up in their Ghostbusters gear to either entertain people, attend conventions, screenings and even do charity work as well. Ghostheads are very much intuitive, as they re-build all of their very own Ghostbuster props from scratch, using only screen shots from the films as reference points.”

Sounds pretty awesome, doesn’t it? How the heck do I joint?

Brendan and Tommy are currently following around Ghostheads; those amazing folks who dress like Ghostbusters, build proton packs, and drive around in ECTO-1s. The documentary also, of course, celebrates the cultural impact that the movie has had on the public for the last 31 years. Damn, that’s a long time. The film is also set to be narrated by Slimer voice actress Robin Shelby, and interviews are lined up with original cast and crew members of both films!

Want to see it? Fantastic! The film is already being worked on, but Brendan, Tommy, and the rest of the crew are going to need your help if Ghostheads is ever set to see the light of day.

Yesterday, the team launched a flexible-funding Indiegogo campaign in order to raise funds for the film. Ghostheads has a modest goal of just $30,000, and its already getting a running start with more than $2500 raised in less than a day!

As always, backers get a lot more than a documentary out of the deal. Backer rewards include copies of the film, Zack Ryder signed Peter Venkman Funko Pop! Figures, T-shirts, producer credits, birthday parties (yep), and more! There are certainly some fantastic rewards here that Ghostbusters fans should be jumping on.

Now, it’s all up to you! You can learn more about the film via the Indiegogo campaign video below, and head here to back the project! Be sure to let us know which rewards you’ll be looking for. Can’t back it yourself? I’m pretty sure that you know someone who loves Ghostbusters, and would absolutely want to be a part of this!

https://youtu.be/sYo-_2xKwls

Crowdfund This: ‘Jo and the Pirates’!

by Derek Kraneveldt

Jo and the Pirates is set to be a short film about growing up…and space pirates. Who can’t relate to that?

The project honestly sounds pretty insane (and the best ones usually do); it’s something that I can barely imagine actually watching in this day and age, which really makes me want to see it even more. Here’s a breakdown of Jo and the Pirates‘ plot:

Jo, a fourteen-year-old sarcastic tomboy lives with her foster family, which includes her foster mother Nancy, Nancy’s deadbeat but lovable brother Kyle, and two horrible foster sisters, Amber and Gina. Jo feels like a speck in a universe full of jerks, her only real friend being Corey, a kind-hearted boy who is more or less Jo’s sidekick.

On Halloween night, Jo is hiding from a bully in the woods, where she finds a strange piece of metal debris. The moment she touches it she’s teleported from the woods into the cockpit of a space ship, crewed by intergalactic pirates.

After helping the captain of the ship with a bounty hunter problem, the crew decides to take Jo with them as they blast off through space.

Basically, creator Adam Murray has spent the 1.5 years writing the project, with the full intention of selling it to a studio. Then, as often happens, he absolutely fell in love with it (and doesn’t want anyone to ruin it), so he’s planning to make it into a short film himself. Of course, he needs our help to do it!

Adam and company are shooting for a respectable $15,000, and just one day have already raised $1077, so with 39 days to go, things are looking quite good for the project. Where’s the money going? It’s all headed “towards paying the cast and crew, as well as renting equipment, locations, creating the alien crew along with their space ship.”

Now, this isn’t one of those crowdfunding projects that hits YouTube the day its finished. Jo and the Pirates will be hitting the festival circuit once finished, meaning that it can’t be publicly released online. If you want to see it (and with the team shooting for a film that feels like the Amblin movies and other films they watched growing up like The Goonies, Gremlins, E.T., ect., who doesn’t), the only way to check it out is by being a backer.

Sold? Good. There are plenty of awesome rewards available to backers, including digital copies of the films, posters, signed scripts, stickers, screen prints, producer credits, and more.

The project sounds fantastic, so take a look and the campaign video below, and head to the IndieGogo page here to back!

https://youtu.be/0DAeSQSmvrA

Crowdfund This: Help Unique Horror ‘The Unwanted’ Hit Its Goal!

by Derek Kraneveldt

Briefly: Typically, our Crowdfund This pieces look at Kickstarter and Indiegogo campaigns in their infancy that pique our interest.

Unfortunately, with E3, San Diego Comic-Con, and a million other things going on at once, this one slipped under our radar, and now definitely needs our help if we want to see it happen.

It’s called The Unwanted, and it’s “a frightening supernatural thriller that examines a haunted hotel years after a horrifying incident occurred.”

The idea for The Unwanted originated from the Elisa Lam tape, which features “real security cam footage of a woman in an elevator that, over the course of four minutes, looks as if she’s becoming possessed – drifting in and out of the elevator, unbalanced and frightened. At the end of the video, she slowly pinwheels her splayed hands about, as if pleading with something we cannot see, her body then contorts and she disappears from view. She went missing and was found dead in a SEALED, inaccessible rooftop water tank weeks later. The County Department of Coroner ruled the death “accidental due to drowning” and said no traces of drugs or alcohol were found during the autopsy. This happened at the Cecil Hotel in Los Angeles two years ago.”

You can take a look at the footage here, but be warned that it’s creepy as hell.

Now, the team notes that they are “NOT basing our film on this footage. Instead, it inspired us – in a horrifying way – to create The Unwanted. A film with elements of The Exorcist, The Gates of Hell and The Sentinel. A film that asks the question – what if you were possessed by TWO different entities in a horrible, haunted place and the only way to stop them was to stop yourself?”

Sushi Girl co-writer Destin Pfaff is now helming this one, and with the cult fanbase that the star-studded film has, it’s crazy to me that The Unwanted sits at just $7700 of its $85000 goal.

So, The Unwanted needs our help. As always, there are some fantastic rewards up for grabs, including shirts, scripts, digital downloads, Blu-Rays, producer credits, and much, much more. The biggest reward of all? Getting to see this movie me made, of course (does that sound like a MasterCard commercial, or what)?

So, you know what to do. Take a look at the project’s Kickstarter video below, and head here to back! Are you looking forward to The Unwanted?

Crowdfund This: Frank Sanders’ ‘CHRISTMASsacre’

by Derek Kraneveldt

This is so cool.

Regular folk will read this project’s creator as as Frank Sanders, but long time Geekscapists know him better as Sandstone. He’s been with us for as long as we can remember, and we really, really love him, so we’re beyond ecstatic that he’s finally getting to make the short film he’s been talking about for ages.

It’s called CHRISTMASacre, and… well, you’re already sold, aren’t you?

Need more? Here’s the synopsis, which is just as bad-ass as the title is:

Christmassacre is a short film about Jesus and Santa teaming up to rid the world of lowlife criminals and crooked cops.

 

The world has turned the chaos. Everywhere you look you see people jumping at every opportunity to take advantage of their fellow man. We expect this of politicians and we expect this of a portion of our society best suited behind bars. What we do not, and should not expect however, is for those that are tasked to protect us to turn against us with violence and malice. Sadly, what we want and what we get are often two dissimilar truths, and now The Immovable Object and The Unstoppable Force have come to set shit straight by any means necessary.

Now, the project is already well into principal photography (as you can see from the screenshots on the Kickstarter page), and everything is looking really solid so far. The campaign has a goal of just $1000, and as Frank states, ” We need the extra little amount to pay the final actors travel expenses and food for being so kind as to come work on this project. We will also need a few more tools in editing.”

Sounds reasonable, doesn’t it? Now take a look at this short teaser:

Now, as always there are some pretty sweet (and CHRISTMASsy rewards available to backers, including signed promo photos, bloody Christmas ornaments, fake needles (that double as pens), Santa suits, and more.

Now, take a look at the campaign video below, show your holiday spirit, and help out a fellow Geekscapist! You can head here to back the project.

Crowdfund This: ‘Nosferatu – The Feature Film Remix’

by Derek Kraneveldt

Seeing Doug Jones as Count Orlock is a pretty amazing thing. Imagine a feature film worth of this:

DougJoneOrlock

Doug Jones, along with director David Lee Fisher and a crew of exceptional talent (including Academy Award Nominated special effects artist Mike Elizalde) want to bring the horror classic Nosferatu back to life in an extremely interesting way.

They’re calling it Nosferatu – The Feature Film Remix, and are using technology they developed on previous projects to add and adapt original footage with new props and actors. The project’s Kickstarter video shows off some of this technology in motion, and it actually looks pretty unbelievable. As described, they call the technology a “visual remix.”  Nosferatu’s production will use this same revolutionary process, but to a much higher degree of quality due to great advances in software, cameras and computer power; allowing us higher cinematic quality and far more dynamic sets and locations.”

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If you’re unfamiliar with Nosferatu, here’s how they describe it:

The original, Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror, was the first vampire tale ever filmed, and is widely considered the cornerstone of horror cinema. Shot in 1921 and directed by F.W.Murnau, the film was an unauthorized adaptation of Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Upon its release, Stoker’s widow ordered all copies of the film burned. Fortunately a single print survived.

The history of the film is pretty amazing on its own, but Fisher, Jones, and crew re-adapting the film for a new audience could keep the legend alive for years and years to come.

Of course, to make this dream a reality (and to give Doug Jones what sounds like his dream role), this project needs our help. Nosferatu – The Feature Film Remix is sitting at just $34, 421 of its $60, 000 goal… with just eight days left to go. It’s a project that looks beyond deserving of our funds, and it’s one that really needs every dollar possible at this point to get there.

Of course, there are a ton of great rewards in store for backing Nosferatu. There’s the standards; DVD’s, digital copies, Blu Rays, etc. But there are also some extremely unique rewards available if one wants them badly enough; sculptures of Orlock in various sizes, Skype conversations with freaking Doug Jones himself, studio tours of Spectral Motion sound… this stuff all sounds incredible.

In any case, take a lookout the project’s Kickstarter video below, and head here to back! If you can’t back, share with your friends, as this is a project that we would all love to see happen.

Crowdfund This: Fried Comics’ ‘Red Xmas’ #1!

by Derek Kraneveldt

Well, I know what I want for Christmas. Just listen to this synopsis:

Kris Kringle just lost his wife in a tragic toy accident, and now he’s out to make all those little brats pay! When Santa-skeptic FBI agent Ellie Tewksberry finds her son Byron among the missing, she must fight alongside her wannabe-elf former husband to save him – and Christmas!

It’s called Red Xmas, and it’s a five-issue limited comic series by the insane dudes over at Fried Comics. Yep, these are the guys that brought you Deadskins and Pregnant Bitches of War, the series that Y: The Last Man and Saga creator Brian K. Vaughan called “A comic as audacious as its title.” and our very own Jonathan London deemed “The most messed up comic you should be reading.”

Red Xmas #1 is well on its way to production, and Fried Comics’ has decided to go with the crowdfunding route for the series this time around. Backers will be able to get their hands on digital AND print editions of the book, as well as tons of other goodies like exclusive TPB’s of Pregnant Bitches of War and Deadskins. Crazy things like editor credits and having ‘Your Name Presents’ on the front of every issue are also available if you’re feeling very generous, but just remember that every single dollar that you can offer up counts towards their modest $3000 goal… which they’re already 2/3 of the way to with 9 days remaining.

Want to know where your money’s going? It’s pretty simple:

Glad you asked. FRIED Comics only seeks enough to pay our artists a decent wage for their hard work and deliver copies to our backers.

 

Of course, a portion of our funds will go towards Kickstarter fees and taxes (on the project. Not, like, our personal stuff).

 

And if we’re fortunate enough to raise more than our goal, all additional money will go towards production of future issues.

Not bad huh, they just want to pay their artists and get this insanely unique book in people’s hands.

Fried notes that “RED XMAS #1 is well-into production and on track for a Christmas release in digital form. We’ve picked out our printer and will have materials in the mail shortly thereafter.” So backers won’t even have to wait long to get their first taste of this new Santa.

You can head to the Kickstarter campaign page here, take a look at a couple of sample pages below, and look below that for the short and sweet Kickstarter video! Just remember that this Christmas, Santa must die, so join the execution!

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Crowdfund This: ‘5th Passenger’

by Derek Kraneveldt

Briefly: This one’s got just a few days left of it’s nearly-there Kickstarter campaign, and I definitely think that we can push it over the edge!

This one’s called 5th Passenger, and it’s an original science fiction/horror feature film with cast members from Star Trek and Stargate, and it also features a strong female lead! Kari actually had an opportunity to interview some of the creative team behind the project back in September 0f 2013, so if you’re looking for more 5th Passenger, be sure to head here.

Here’s the film’s plot:

Set in 2151, after the Yellowstone Caldera volcano erupts throwing the Earth into chaos, 5th Passenger tells the story of a secretly pregnant female officer and her four man crew adrift in deep space in an escape pod after their transport ship explodes before reaching the new home planet. They fight amongst themselves as they run low on air, but must work together to find a vicious alien hiding aboard their craft before it kills them all.

Sounds pretty cool, huh? Now check out their Kickstarter video, and read on for more info.

Yeah… this looks freaking awesome. And how about that cast and crew!? Doug Jones, Tim Russ, Marina Sirtis, Robert Picardo, Manu Intiraymi, Hana Hatae and even MORE!

As always, there are plenty of rewards up for grabs for people who back the project, including stills, digital downloads, premiere tickets, DVDs, autographs, producer credits, and more! There’s really something for everyone here, and with just three days left in its campaign, it needs just $3600 to make its goal.

You can head to the 5th Passenger Kickstarter page here, and be sure to let us know if you plan to back!

Crowdfund This: ‘COMIX: Beyond The Comic Book Pages’

by Shane O'Hare

Rarely does a group of creators come together that have as much passion for their product than the team behind COMIX: Beyond The Comic Book Pages.

Way back in April, I met with the creators of COMIX at WonderCon. There they showed me a clip of their upcoming Documentary.

I was instantly impressed, everything felt very candid and the little that I saw of interviews were great. It reminded me a lot of our own Doc of The Dead.

Check out the trailer for COMIX below!

COMIX: Beyond the Comic Book Pages is an exciting new feature film documentary about the world of comic books told through the thoughts and images of the creators, artists, writers, collectors, store owners, independent publishers, and especially the passionate fans who have made it the phenomenon that it is today.

COMIX includes exclusive one-on-one interviews with icons from the comic book industry, like Stan Lee (Spiderman, X-Men, Fantastic Four), Frank Miller (Sin City, 300), Neal Adams (Batman, X-Men, Green Lantern/Green Arrow), Mark Waid (Kingdom Come, Superman, Justice League of America), Mike Richardson of Dark Horse Productions (Hellboy, Sin City, Goon, and Concrete), Marc Silvestri of Image Comics and Top Cow Productions (Tomb Raider, Hunter Killer, Witchblade), and Todd McFarlane (Spawn). COMIX also includes interviews with fans, many dressed in full costume, as they talk about their love for the characters and cosplay, at conventions like Comic-Con, Wizard World, and more.

The list of people involved with this project is amazing, and with a group of creators like this there is no reason for you to NOT help this Documentary.

Stan Lee (Spiderman, Fantastic Four)
Frank Miller (Sin City, 300)
Neal Adams (Batman, X-Men, Green Lantern/Green Arrow)
Mark Waid (Kingdom Come, Superman)
Mike Richardson of Dark Horse Productions (Hellboy, Sin City, Goon, Concrete)
Marc Silvestri of Top Cow Productions (Tomb Raider, Hunter Killer, Witchblade), Image Comics Co-Founder
Todd McFarlane (Spawn), Image Comics Co-Founder
Matt Hawkins of Top Cow Productions (Tomb Raider, Hunter Killer, Witchblade)
John Romita Jr. (Spiderman, Punisher)
Gareb Shamus (Wizard World, Wizard, Toy Fare)
Tone Rodriguez (Snake Pliskin, Violent Messiah)
Steve Niles (30 Days of Night)
Renae Geerlings of Top Cow Productions and Mane Entertainment
Doug Jones (Silver Surfer, Hellboy)
William O’Neil (Snake Pliskin, Chasis)
Christian Gossett (Red Star)
Joel Adams (Lils)
Amanda Conner (Vampirella)
Mike Choi (Witchblade)
Andy Park (Tomb Raider, God of War II)
Lee Dawson (Dark Horse Productions)
David Glanzer (Comic-Con)
Paul Grimshaw (House of Secrets comic book store)
Bill Liebowitz (Golden Apple Comics)

How Can You Help

Head on over to the official Kickstarter Page and donate donate donate! With just under two weeks left NOW is the time for you to jump on board.

While you’re there share the page, tweet the page and tell every geek you know about COMIX!

Crowdfund This: Hero Chest

by Derek Kraneveldt

This is very cool.

Subscription box services are all the rage right now, and Hero Chest sounds like a phenomenal option for comic book fans. If I didn’t reside in Canada, I’d definitely be subscribing to this one.

In their own words, “Hero Chest will be a curated subscription box that brings the comic shop experience to your doorstep each month. Our curators’ selections will be guided by years of comic experience and a passion for high quality comics. We want to send you titles you might not see featured in your local store or might have slipped under your radar. Most of all, we want to send you cool stuff to read! (And toys.)”

Hero

As a guy who only makes it into my LCS to pick up my pull list every month or two, I know that there’s a lot of cool stuff that I’m missing. Hero Chest could be a great way to expand my comic book horizons.

Each Hero Chest is set to contain:

– A recently released Trade Paperback (compilation of 6-10ish comic issues, usually of a single story arc in one place)
– 3 current comic books (issues) selected specifically for their quality of art and storytelling, significance and potential interestingness
– Monthly curation notes on the titles chosen for the box
– Fun surprises like t-shirts, stickers, toys, and collectibles
– And Kickstarter rewards include shipping and handling!

A beta box was put together and sent out to a few lucky Kickstarter backers, which Hero Chest has broken down on their official blog.

everythingfrombox

The Hero Chest Kickstarter campaign is a great way to get early access to what is sure to be a highly-successful product. Backers can receive access to three exclusive boxes, pick up year-long subscriptions (even for a friend), grab exclusive t-shirts, and much more.

You can head to the Kickstarter page or the official Hero Chest website for more info, and be sure to let us know if you’ll be backing this one!

Crowdfund This: ‘Sultana’

by Derek Kraneveldt

This is a pretty incredible story, and like most folks, it’s one I’ve never even heard of.

According to the Kickstarter campaign, “The Sultana disaster is one of the most horrific events in U.S. history and yet few are aware that it even occurred.  A Mississippi steamboat, the Sultana, exploded just north of Memphis, Tennessee in the early morning hours of April 27, 1865 killing over 1,800 souls.  The boat was overloaded with over 2,300 Union soldiers, newly released POW’s on their way back home after surviving the horrors of Civil War prison camps. This accident wasn’t only tragic because POW’s died on the way home; it’s not just tragic because greed-driven men squeezed well over 2,000 individuals onto a vessel licensed to carry 367 passengers; the Sultana disaster is tragic because it was covered up and, ultimately, forgotten. Greed, drama, and humanity make the Sultana a story to remember. Please help us remember the Sultana and raise this story from the depths of the Mississippi and into the hearts of people everywhere.”

This sounds absolutely insane to me. The boat should have only carried 367 people, but was loaded to over 2300. What.

Less than 2% of Americans have ever heard of the country’s greatest maritime disaster, and that’s something that Mark Marshall wants to change. He’s set out (along with Sean Astin, Jim Michaels, Matthew Egan, Leah Cevoli, Jeff Hoopingarner, Mark Alan Ray, and more) to tell the tale of the ill-fated ship, and “honor the victims of the Sultana by reaching as many people as possible with their story. This production will serve as a beacon of hope to establish the Sultana story in American history books across the nation. Our mission is to assist the Sultana Movement in establishing this event among the great tragedies of The Civil War. These were common men who were tested in battle, suffered in Confederate prison camps and survived, only to die within sight of home. They deserve to be remembered and honored by the nation they served.”

The campaign is making some great progress, and is currently sitting at $29, 740 of its $75, 000 goal. With 14 days left to raise funds, things our looking positive, but the team needs our help if the Sultana story is to be told. There are some fantastic rewards up for grabs, including wristbands, downloads, DVDs, Blu-Rays, shirts, autographs, producer credits, and much more.

You can take a look at the video for the Kickstarter campaign below, and head here to back the project!

Crowdfund This: ‘Sheltered’

by Derek Kraneveldt

Briefly: Here’s a neat short film project that definitely sounds worthy of some support!

Right from Sheltered‘s IndieGoGo campaign, the project descries itself as “the story of Cody and Sam who have ended up at the LGBT homeless shelter for completely different things, but in the end they are able to seek comfort in each other in the attempt to overcome their problems.

The story focuses on how the characters ended up where they are today, told via flashback. It really gets down to the nitty gritty and focuses on some very real issues that are occurring today for the LGBT youth.

It’s an important message that has been kept hidden from a lot of people and we are hoping with this film we can shed some light on this situation and make a change or at least push progress in the right direction, and we can do that with your help!”

Sheltered hold an extremely intriguing theme that many (including myself, being from a small city in Canada) won’t be overly familiar with. Its also this important, affecting subject matter that makes Sheltered so worthy of support. This short sounds like something we’ve never seen before.

The team is looking to raise $11,000 by May 17th to complete the film. Here’s the breakdown of where each dollar will go:

$3,000 – Renting Arri Alexa Camera and Lenses
$3,000 – For locations, permits, and insurance
$1,500 – Art, props, wardrobe, and set dressing
$1,500 – Grip and Lighting equipment
$500 – Sound Equipment
$1,500 – Trucks, Production supplies, and remaining misc.

Being a short film with such an important message, here is what the creative minds behind Sheltered are hoping that the film will accomplish:

-By gaining exposure for the film, we are able to send out the message about LGBT homeless youth and attempt to make a difference.

-After it has completed the film festival circuit we will look into various distribution methods to continue spreading the message.

-Media is one of the largest ways to reach a mass audience.

-Together we can hopefully make a difference with a beautiful film.

As always, there are plenty of worthy rewards up for grabs if you back the project, including signed scripts, your name in the credits, DVD’s, tickets to film festivals, and more. Again, Sheltered definitely looks to be worth the support, so check out the film’s campaign video below, and head here to back the project.

Crowdfund This: ‘The Last Beat’

by Derek Kraneveldt

I could start by talking all about the project, but since the first nine minutes of The Last Beat have already hit the web, why not start with that?

http://youtu.be/jgoOiEUueOc

The film follows “the final days of Jay Douglas, famous American rock star, in a turbulent, but exhilarating early 1970’s Paris. Inspired by the last days of rock and pop culture icon Jim Morrison, the film is not in any way a traditional biopic, but a lyrical study of a brilliant, complex, and troubled soul. Tragic and comedic, at the film’s core are Jay’s broken, but passionate relationships with the two women in his life — Clemence, a glamorous Countess, and his professed “soul-mate,” Valerie Eason, an earthy red-haired beauty from golden California.”

“The Last Beat”  stars Shawn Andrews (Dazed and Confused) as Jay Douglas, Cameron Richardson(Shameless, Harper’s Island) as Valerie, with Martha Higareda (Street Kings), Kevin Corrigan (Pineapple Express, The Mentalist), Seymour Cassel (Heist), Courtney Halverson (Godspeed, Death Valley), Leah Cevoli (Deadwood, Robot Chicken) and Helenna Santos (American Reunion, BlackBoxTv).

It looks like a cool project, and its in-progress IndieGoGo campaign is going very well.  The Last Beat is currently sitting at $32,875 of its $100,000 goal, and it still has 14 days to get there. There are (as always) some fantastic rewards up for grabs, including shootouts, production diaries, copies of the completed film, limited edition shirts, and even extra roles in the film (and more).

Take a look at the IndieGoGo video for The Last Beat below, and head here to back the project!

Michael Reeves Is Heading To Cannes To Raise ‘Blood Kiss’ Awareness!

by Derek Kraneveldt

Briefly: Back in May of last year, we featured an incredible project called Blood Kiss in our ‘Crowdfund This’ column. By the end of its campaign, Blood Kiss had surpassed its Kickstarter goal by more than $38’000! Pretty amazing, right?

Now, with production set to begin this Summer, Blood Kiss creator Michael Reeves (who did a lot of work on a ton of amazing projects, including Batman: The Animated Series), along with the film’s production crew are heading to the Cannes International Film Festival in France to help market his vampire-themed film.

The film has been getting much attention in part because award-winning author/screenwriter Neil Gaiman (who needs no introduction here), will be making his acting debut in the film. Also joining the team will be acclaimed comic book artist Tom Mandrake who will create original artwork for the film.

Mandrake even drew Jonathan's character in the show.
Mandrake even drew Jonathan’s character in the film.

On the trip, Reaves said that he’s “thrilled to bring our vision for ‘Blood Kiss’ to Cannes and bring it one step closer to fruition. So far we’ve received a lot of support for the film and we want to bring some of that energy to this great film festival.”

Blood Kiss is set in 1940s Hollywood with a classic film noir tale of a sexy jazz singer in distress and a private investigator who gets a little more than he bargained for when he takes on a case involving mysterious vampires.

If you’re looking for more from the film, you should definitely check out Geekscape 292, producers Daniela Di Mase and Leah Cevoli chat with Jonathan about the film. We’re unbelievably excited that Michael and everyone involved are able to make the film a reality, and we really can’t wait to see more.

Excited for the movie? Be sure to sound out below!

Crowdfund This: The Rufus Cuff Takes Wearables To The Next Level!

by Derek Kraneveldt

Briefly: Now that the wearable computing market is here in full force (well, almost; it’ll be some time before products like Google Glass are available and affordable for the general public), and companies are finally aware that these products will sell (Pebble Inc. is making a lot of money last I heard) a myriad of new wearable devices are coming to market. Many are not-as-good variations of what the Pebble has already done so well (*cough* Galaxy Gear), and then there are the products that are actually trying to do something different.

Enter the Rufus Cuff, an interesting and intriguing product that mashes Sci-Fi style with, well, today.

The Rufus Cuff labels itself as a “wrist communicator”, and that’s exactly what it looks like. The device features voice control, a 3″ capacitive touchscreen, notification and control support for your smartphone, as well as full access to the Google Play store on its own. The Rufus Cuff also hosts a unique, wrist-friendly UI, that looks as though it will be extremely easy to read and understand, even while on the go.

I could go on and on about the features of the Rufus Cuff, or you can watch what it can do in the IndieGogo video from Rufus Labs:

It may look a little odd on the wrists of the video’s models, but I believe that’s simply because a device like this is so far and away from what we expect to see on someone’s wrist. The future is coming faster than we may expect it to, and it’s devices like the Rufus Cuff that will be at its forefront.

There are great rewards available to backers of the Rufus Cuff’s IndieGogo campaign, including the device in custom colours, special edition units, and even one reward level that includes 40 Rufus Cuffs.

You can head here to learn more about the project, and to become a backer yourself!