It’s that time again, yup, it’s time to support an awesome new toy over at Kickstarter :]

I was emailed this week by Lissy L’Amoreaux of Union web design (who I highly recommend you check out, as they’ve done some amazing work for huge clients); informing me of their new venture into the vinyl toy market.

Chums, if successfully funded will be a run of 2000 pieces with the prospect of more friends to be made from any profit on the first run.  You can pledge as little as $25 (rougly £25 with shipping) to secure yourself a Chums when they’re released into the wild.

Overview

As both digital artists and vinyl toy enthusiasts, we set out nearly one year ago to design and prototype a vinyl toy that would actually do something. But what utility could a vinyl toy offer? We decided on a little friend for our desks that could hold our tablet pens. The result of one year of creativity, fun, a bit of frustration and a lot of trial and error is complete.

Meet Chums, Terror of the Deep.

Chums, although a deadly predator, is more than happy to hold your pen, pencil, beef jerky or whatever else you dare put into his mouth.  He may be small at almost 4″ but that doesn’t make him any less dangerous, he comes well prepared with his bib should he accidently spill some blood and his 22 sharp teeth should be enough to make any thief think twice about touching your stuff.

Not only do you have a neat vinyl toy, but also the added functionality of making sure you never lose that really fancy fountain pen you got from your aunt that one christmas.

The Goal

Our goal in raising this money is to take our prototype and work with a factory to produce 2000 painted and packaged Chums. Specifically, the money will go toward four things: Casting the production mold, making many Chums, painting many Chums and packaging many Chums. We don’t plan to make a large profit on this first run. We simply want to take our creation and give him to the world at a reasonable price. Any money that we do make will be reinvested in making more and more little friends for people to enjoy. Now that you know how we intend to use your pledge, you can find the specifics about this fascinating species in the next sections.

Head on over to Chums’ Kickstarter page to contribute to the project and help make it a reality.

Lucky Cat Spiki is here to bring good luck to everyone in the year of rabbit. In Chinese tradition, the colour red represents luck, good fortune, and happiness and KusoVinyl is ready to send Lucky Cat Spiki to spread the love!

KusoVinyl will be taking pre-orders of Red lucky cat Spiki, designed by Nakanari, on Feb. 2nd 2011 (Chinese new year eve). Estimated drop date: Mid February. 4″ tall, limited to 200 pcs worldwide. Retailing at $12.