[IC] TMT Story(Groupbuy is now LIVE!)

[shawnlyx]

The Groupbuy is now LIVE in all regions!
Check out the Groupbuy thread: https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=114195.0

TMT Story
I've created a discord channel for some Q&A and minor updates for this project here:


We are proud to announce the manufacturer for this set, Tomatocaps(TMT). They are a high quality keycap manufacturer partnering with zFrontier to manufacture their new line of dye-sub PBT Cherry profile keycaps.
To attest to their manufacturing quality, they are also releasing an in stock BoW set along with this release, check out the details below!
Commenting on this thread in zFrontier will also net you the chance to win a giveaway of the BoW Set!

HERE





Hello, this is a project I've been working on for a while now and I think I am finally ready to proceed on an IC for it. This is a design inspired by a certain Japanese Literature involving a Crab, Cat, Snail, bunch of animals + a Vampire and a lot of wordplays(take a guess).

I have created and combined multiple different typefaces while designing this set. The theme for this is Japanese Literatures, which are usually published in a stylized Calligraphy-Like Serif font called Minchotai 明朝体, which this set is primarily using.

Current Hiragana Fonts in the market are usually Gothic, which is a San-Serif font that most keycaps currently on the market use.





UPDATE(12th JULY 2021)
I have finally received the R1 samples from the manufacturer! Check it out below!



MAJOR UPDATE(8th JUNE 2021)
Sorry for the long silence, I've been actively working with zFrontier to get a BRAND NEW manufacturer with quality, pricing and delivery time surpassing that of Geekark. Details on the reasons for this change is detailed in my reply below but TLDR is that I got some intel from my Chinese IC highlighting issues with Geekark's recent reputation there. To avoid such problems I have been taking my time looking for a good manufacturer with the following criteria:

- Deliver at a "Sane" lead time
- Quality at least as good as Geekark, rivalling EPBT
- Reasonable pricing

This brand is a newcomer working with zFrontier(not Keycreative) and to my knowledge is producing this keyset as their debut set, considering that, I have high hopes that they will meet all the criteria.

More details will be released after confirmation. We are looking at a July 1st August GB, fingers crossed.

Deskmat Form HERE
Google Form (Please help me out by filling in this form)
Full Album Here




Render


Customized Hiragana Sublegends

U80-A Port By Rama Works

Full Novelties


Nemui By Bachoo

Alt Alpha, Num Row, Mods, Novelty (Peak Weeb)

1800 By TKC

Single Color

Ikki68 Aurora By Wuque Studio + Saka68 by CMM.Studio

75%

Paragon By Artemis Design Studios



Fuji65 By CMM.Studio


New Renders!


D60 Lite By kbdfans


Layout
Please Note: 4.5u Spacebar is XDA
MAJOR KITTING UPDATE: We no longer need to use XDA profile for the 4.5u spacebar with this new manufacturer!
Base kit

Alt Alpha

Alt Mod

Novelty

Spacebar



Ouchi
Deskmat




Also, a small peek at the V1 deskmat I've made, this won't go to GB. Try guessing the reference in here!

More

Specs

• Geekark Brand new manufacturer(Name TBA when the manufacturer promotes)
• FULL (Modified) Cherry Profile(1-1-2-3-4-4) except for XDA 4.5u Spacebar
• Full JIS Support
• (Reverse)Dye-Sublimation
• 1.5mm THICK PBT
• Designed By Shawnlyx(Lunasho)

Colors


Color Comparison:


IRL Photo(Taken in 10am sunlight, phone camera)

More

Vendors

US: Vala Supply
CA: Deskhero
UK: Prototypist
EU: mykeyboard.EU
SEA: Hex Keyboards
CN: zFrontier
JP: Basekeys
Oceania: Dailyclack



GB Date
GB Date: 16th August 2021 to 16th September 2021
Expected Shipping date: 6 months after groupbuy




Pricing
(Subjected to change with exchange rate fluctuations)




Samples
(New, Updated 9th August 2021)
R2 of samples have arrived! The print quality is great, no blur at all! Thick 1.5mm thick walls and straight spacebars.






Novelties


Print Comparison with GMK


R1 of samples here:

More

R1 of samples have arrived, the main purpose of this round of samples are to confirm the quality of the product(the quality, the mold and the clarity of the prints.)

Please note that this round of sample does not have the correct color matching for this set.

For more details and comparisons, click here:

More

Comparison with GMK NOEL for Legends Clarity









Current Purple is using 2094C, but we have switched to 2092C for R2 of samples

Updates

• 8/5/2021 Updated the kit render resolution
• 10/5/2021 Kitting Update
• 14/5/2021 Announced Vendor + Kitting Update
• 14/5/2021 All Vendors onboard
• 18/5/2021 Added Deskmat + Additional Renders
• 19/5/2021 Updated the Deskmat design to more closely capture the feeling from the inspiration.
• 20/5/2021 Fixed some kanas on the backspace key.
• 8/6/2021 Major Update + Change of Manufacturer + kitting changes
• 12/7/2021 Samples R1 Announcement
• 16/7/2021 Color Announcement!
• 28/7/2021 Pricing announcement + GB Date announcement
• 6/8/2021 R2 Samples Arrived! Group buy in a week!

• 13/8/2021 Manufacturer Announcement! GB in 3 days!

Q&A


I like the looks of your sublegends but would you consider Doubleshot?
I'd like to do it too, but it's too expensive to do that and I want to do a "Story" set. Doubleshot GMK BoW or Wob will be a future project if there is enough interest in that.

No Daiji(大字) for JIS?
JIS market isn't big enough to justify 10 extra caps.(すいません、また今度。楽しみにしていてください！)

Alpha only keycaps?
I don't think it fits the theme of this set.
I've got at least 5 different typefaces in this project and 4 of them are customized, please do consider supporting the Japanese Set instead!

Hey, your banner logo looks good, why don't you put it on the novelty?
I don't want to get sued to oblivion.

What is the key profile?
Thick 1.6mm Cherry(Dye-Sub PBT)

All of your keys are Cherry Profile, why is the 4.5u Spacebar for JIS XDA?
Geekark only does XDA profile 4.5u spacebar, it is suggested that I take the XDA profile instead since the dimension is close to cherry profile but flat instead of domed.

Hiragana only alphas?
Not at this moment, trust me I would really love to make it, but looking at previous sales number for other Hiragana alpha kits like GMK Hanami Dango, the sales number just isn't high enough for a Geekark GB. Especially not for this niche color. I will be interested to explore it in the future but for my 1st run I'd like to play it safe.




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To Do
Finalize Color
Deskmat
Vendor
Manufacturer Change
GB Date
R1 Sample Arrived
Pricing
R2 Sample
Groupbuy in a week!!
Groupbuy in 3 days!!


Credits

Special thanks to u/bthf on reddit for their in depth research and write up compiling the list of Typefaces appearing in the series for the design of this kit.
Big thanks to hali from KDD, u/mumpz, u/NotJALC from reddit and others who filled up my pre-ic form for the advice on color and kitting.
Thanks to York Chan too for the IC format I copied from.

[paulgali]

Could you not ensure pricing for alt mod + alphas would total up to be the same price as the base kit? Imo that is a nice combo and it would be good to see.

AFAIK the only issue would then be sourcing 4.5u spacebar wires. I'm sure that won't be too hard.

[shawnlyx]

That will be my intention, yes. I will try to get the pricing as close as possible.

[hali]

nice. alpha bars avail? and can base kit be split into mod and alpha kits?

[FishyKeebs]

looks nice, looking forward to another great geekark set 

[shawnlyx]

nice. alpha bars avail? and can base kit be split into mod and alpha kits?

Thanks, non accent bars are included in the base kit and alt alphas. As for splitting the base kit, currently I have no plan for that unfortunately, I'd like to cut down on the number of kits as much as possible and focus on few good kittings. This is my first kit and I want to focus on just these few kits unless it will negatively impact the pricing from Geekark.

[treeleaf64]

looks nice, looking forward to another great geekark set 

Me
too

[vi0till]

Doesn't F13 normally follow modifier color?

Wondering, what is the use of 4.5u spacebar?

[kaikifc]

Great set! I love monogatari and please consider making Kaiki set hahaha

[minicap]

Awww, these novelties are so, so, cute, and the novelty spacebar design is very cool. GLWIC!

[shawnlyx]

Thanks for all the encouraging comments!

Doesn't F13 normally follow modifier color?

Wondering, what is the use of 4.5u spacebar?

It is my inexperience in F13 keyboards that makes this mistake, Will be fixing this along with the issues pointed out by many about the kitting in the next round of renders. Please do continue to point out the issues you spotted, I appreciate it and will do my best to fix it in the next round of updates.

4.5u spacebars are exclusively for JIS layout support, where user can have 3 extra keys squeeze in at the bottom row for easy Katakana/Hiragana Swaps and to switch between words with the same sound.

[shawnlyx]

Updated the kit resolutions, apparently people are having trouble loading the page cause of how high res it was. Really sorry for the inconvenience caused.

[lush_bunny]

Geekark Brushy Brushy

[Cubic // esc lab]

This is actually really really well done

Also more Geekark Pog

[shima]

these are some pretty cool beans ya got here 

[LaserCrafter]

looks pretty nice. hopefully price is cheap

[Cubic // esc lab]

looks pretty nice. hopefully price is cheap

Probably

Geekark makes fairly high quality sets for the price

Hope more designers use them moving forward. Pretty reasonable fulfillment times too

[qats]

hoooooly. this is nice. im hella down for this. hope everything goes well!

[shawnlyx]

Thank you all for the amazing support in the IC form. Over the 24 hours I've received so many feedbacks I am still sifting through them right now. But I would like to give everyone a small Q&A regarding the common concerns you have here:

Regarding Pricing
Pricing is one of my priorities right now, I am still reading through the feedbacks gauging potential vendors. But rest assured I am looking to get a comfortable pricing for this kit. That includes pricing the alt alpha + mods combo as close to the base kit as possible.

Kitting for the alt mods
I will be updating this kit to support a full size in a future update.

Novelties
I'll be adding the other four animals into the kit since people are asking to include them, should not bump the price up too much, hopefully.

Teaser for a future update(maybe?):
I might add everyone's favourite dress and aviator hat wearing vampire into the kit. Please do let me know in the IC form if you want to see it implemented.

[kidviddy]

Very happy to see the JIS support in this set!

It's a nice-looking set, too.  I'd always assumed a Mincho typeface would look ダサい on a keyboard, but it actually looks great! Couple of questions:

• Did you consider traditional numerals on the numpad, rather than / as well as the number row?  I can see why you didn't offer both sets for JIS, but given that the number pad is the same regardless of ANSI/JIS/ISO that would work for everyone.
• I also think it's a little strange having kanji numerals on the number row but no hiragana mono legend option for the alphas (including the number row). I can see your reasoning behind excluding the latter, though.  Again, if the traditional numerals were on the numpad they could be sublegends set against standard arabic numerals, which would fit with the sublegends everywhere else (of course, you could do this on the number row as well, but I'm guessing you chose not to because it gets pretty cluttered).
• I'm intrigued by some of the choices of legend on the Japanese mods.  Note that I'm not saying these are wrong -- I'm a non-native speaker of Japanese myself so there may be nuances I'm missing.  But they're different from other keyboards I've seen before, so I'd be interested to hear the reasoning behind the choices. Specifically:
  
  • コット.  This looks to be taking the place of "Ctrl", but the word just looks like "Cot" to me. I've seen it used for camp beds in the past, but I don't know what it means in a keyboard context.  Or is it related to the theme, with which I am not familiar?
  • 確定. The "enter" key.  This means "confirm", as opposed to "new line/paragraph" which is signified by the more common legend 改行. A perfectly reasonable choice, I suppose, and indeed on iOS devices at least (don't know about android) the legend used for this key switches between 確定 and 改行 depending on context.  I tend to see the 改行 legend used more frequently for this key, though, and personally if you asked me what the "enter" key did I would probably say "new line" before I said "confirm".  Was this a conscious choice, or based on some existing keyboard? Again, this isn't a criticism, just interested in hearing the reasoning.
  • 始マル／終ワリ. "Begin"/"End". These take the place of the "Home" and "End" keys on the keyboard.  Something about this feels a little off to me, although again I would defer to a native speaker before declaring that they might be "wrong" per se.  It does feel like a 2-kanji compound would fit better with the surrounding keys, though.  Some alternative options might be 最初／最後 (or 最初／最終) for "beginning"/"end". The keyboard that inspired ePBT Wāpuro features legends like 文頭／文末 (beginning/end of sentence), 行頭／行末 (beginning/end of line), and 頁頭／頁末 (beginning/end of page), which might also work although they might be a bit over-specific since I think the behaviour of these keys might be different between Mac/Windows/Linux systems.

Anyway, just a few thoughts, but overall a very nice set!

[shawnlyx]

Very happy to see the JIS support in this set!

It's a nice-looking set, too.  I'd always assumed a Mincho typeface would look ダサい on a keyboard, but it actually looks great! Couple of questions:

• Did you consider traditional numerals on the numpad, rather than / as well as the number row?  I can see why you didn't offer both sets for JIS, but given that the number pad is the same regardless of ANSI/JIS/ISO that would work for everyone.
• I also think it's a little strange having kanji numerals on the number row but no hiragana mono legend option for the alphas (including the number row). I can see your reasoning behind excluding the latter, though.  Again, if the traditional numerals were on the numpad they could be sublegends set against standard arabic numerals, which would fit with the sublegends everywhere else (of course, you could do this on the number row as well, but I'm guessing you chose not to because it gets pretty cluttered).
• I'm intrigued by some of the choices of legend on the Japanese mods.  Note that I'm not saying these are wrong -- I'm a non-native speaker of Japanese myself so there may be nuances I'm missing.  But they're different from other keyboards I've seen before, so I'd be interested to hear the reasoning behind the choices. Specifically:
  
  • コット.  This looks to be taking the place of "Ctrl", but the word just looks like "Cot" to me. I've seen it used for camp beds in the past, but I don't know what it means in a keyboard context.  Or is it related to the theme, with which I am not familiar?
  • 確定. The "enter" key.  This means "confirm", as opposed to "new line/paragraph" which is signified by the more common legend 改行. A perfectly reasonable choice, I suppose, and indeed on iOS devices at least (don't know about android) the legend used for this key switches between 確定 and 改行 depending on context.  I tend to see the 改行 legend used more frequently for this key, though, and personally if you asked me what the "enter" key did I would probably say "new line" before I said "confirm".  Was this a conscious choice, or based on some existing keyboard? Again, this isn't a criticism, just interested in hearing the reasoning.
  • 始マル／終ワリ. "Begin"/"End". These take the place of the "Home" and "End" keys on the keyboard.  Something about this feels a little off to me, although again I would defer to a native speaker before declaring that they might be "wrong" per se.  It does feel like a 2-kanji compound would fit better with the surrounding keys, though.  Some alternative options might be 最初／最後 (or 最初／最終) for "beginning"/"end". The keyboard that inspired ePBT Wāpuro features legends like 文頭／文末 (beginning/end of sentence), 行頭／行末 (beginning/end of line), and 頁頭／頁末 (beginning/end of page), which might also work although they might be a bit over-specific since I think the behaviour of these keys might be different between Mac/Windows/Linux systems.

Anyway, just a few thoughts, but overall a very nice set!

Thanks for your interest! To answer your questions:

• For now I am trying to balance between keeping the cost down and the usability of the whole set, I can see that the majority of users in this community rarely uses a Full size keyboard. Adding 10 keys most people doesn't use is a waste, I'd like to have more keys that people use when they are paying for the novelty of it. I am still open to just running a numpad only traditional number kit for both color if there is demand for it, but so far no one is requesting it in the IC. Do fill in the IC and tell me if you want to have a Numpad only novelty kit though.
• Fitting both Daiji and the Arabic numerals will be very cluttered, yes, unless people are interested in that look in the IC form, I want to keep the Arabic numerals, Daiji is a very niche market, nowadays not even Japanese use them anymore, so majority wins here. Hiragana mono legend is a tough decision to make but again, we still need to hit MOQ, I might explore it in the future if this project goes well, but for my first kit I want to play it safe.
• Well, for this I have more to add:
  
  • コント(Ko-n-to) is just a design decision I have to make to make the bottom row look clean. The full term for this in Japanese borrowed word is コントロール(ko-n-to-ro-o-ru, fitting that into a keycap just looks cluttered to me. Of course, I can do Kanji 制御 or even Chinese 控制(which doesn't fit the theme by the way), but having a Kanji in the corner of a bottom row while the ALT keys are Katakana just doesn't look right to me and now that I planned to make the ALT mod kit complete, the new WIN/OPTION keys will be アプリ(short for App-lication), which makes having コット in the corner makes sense for a tidy 3 kana look.
  • 確定 and 改行 is a Costing and usability choice, I can do either one, just like the shift keys(シフト and 転換), but adding shift keys at least gives a chance that people can use those shifts for another board of some strange layout. Adding enter key on another hand just adds 2 more keys that most aren't going to be using. Maybe in the next update I will open a poll for people to vote for the Kanji/Kana used for the Alt mod kit.
  • As for 始マル／終ワリ, well, I have no excuse for this, it's just a reference to the source material(終ワリ*語), if I add 終ワリ then 始マル just makes sense, I can either put 終ワリ in ESC or END(where it kinda makes sense) but I thought of people wanting artisans or the novelties on their ESCs. Plus the 2 word>3word>2 word looks kind of cool in the function cluster. Then there is the 4>4>4 in top as I shrink down Scroll Lock(スクロールロック) into 4 kanas(スクロク) which kinda sounds like a game I played a lot as a child Sugoroku. Again I am open to change back to 2>2>2 if people want actual usability instead of just Novelty.

Hope this makes sense.

[shawnlyx]

Small update today, updated the kittings.


Base Kit
=Update F13 to Mod color.

Alt Alpha
+Added Arrow keys
+Bumped numpad 5
-removed F13 key

Alt Mod
+Added F5-F8
+Added Winkeys
+Added Numpad mods
+Added F13 Keys

Novelties
+Added a few more caps.


On another note, I have gathered and identified some of the vendors of interests and will be in contact with them this week.

[Schmack]

This looks quite exciting to me! 

[Vala]

Novelty spacebars? I'm in.

[vestun]

This set looks so good with the hiragana. Amazing!

[shawnlyx]

Thank you all so much for the amazing support, I'm pleased to announce that we have managed to get a vendor for most regions! Currently waiting for Geekark to get back to us on the GB details. Will be posting a major update soon!

Currently aiming for a Q3 GB.

Updated the novelty kitting to include arrow keys.
Fixed the labelling on Alt Mod, removed extra R4 1u FN key

Vendors:

US: Vala Supply
CA: Deskhero
UK: Prototypist
EU: mykeyboard.EU
SEA: Hex Keyboards
CN:
JP: Basekeys
Oceania: Dailyclack

[shawnlyx]

Just 1 day after the announcement we've got all the vendors on board! zFrontier will be our vendor in CN!

Updated Vendor list here:

US: Vala Supply
CA: Deskhero
UK: Prototypist
EU: mykeyboard.EU
SEA: Hex Keyboards
CN: zFrontier
JP: Basekeys
Oceania: Dailyclack

Good news too, I will be finalizing the color the following week as my pantone kit arrive and I might have something interesting to share for deskmats!

[elongatedmusk]

Loved the colors and it's nice to see more Geekark! Been very consistent for lead times and decent final products.

Looking forward to see this happens!

[Cubic // esc lab]

Quick question - any idea how long Geekark will take to manufacture the set?

[shawnlyx]

I've finally got the deskmat ready! Please help me out by filling in the form if you are interested!

Introducing: Ouchi!


Deskmat Form HERE

Oh, also I've added more sample of kit combinations renders!

We should have something more to share by this week, please do look forward to it!!

Also, a small peek at the design which didn't make the cut.

More

[shawnlyx]

Quick question - any idea how long Geekark will take to manufacture the set?

Currently the turn around time is still unknown, I still need to get my color kit before engaging with Geekark. It should come in around this week, fingers crossed.

[Cubic // esc lab]

Quick question - any idea how long Geekark will take to manufacture the set?

Currently the turn around time is still unknown, I still need to get my color kit before engaging with Geekark. It should come in around this week, fingers crossed.

Thanks for the answer

I'm curious how Geekark turnaround time compares to PBT or GMK. If it's less than six months, more designers should consider using them.

[shawnlyx]

Quick question - any idea how long Geekark will take to manufacture the set?

Currently the turn around time is still unknown, I still need to get my color kit before engaging with Geekark. It should come in around this week, fingers crossed.

Thanks for the answer

I'm curious how Geekark turnaround time compares to PBT or GMK. If it's less than six months, more designers should consider using them.

Got in touched with my vendor and they mentioned usually it's a 3 to 9 months turnaround time.

[shawnlyx]

My color kit have arrived and I am in the process of picking the right color. Update coming real soon!

[PradyXT]

Great novelty and deskmat! I saw you on the keycap designer dc with your deskmat design

[SDKCAMPING]

I am interested in hearing more about the story that this set is based on, it sounds like a really funny and unlikely band of characters.

[shawnlyx]

Following some feedback I've removed the colored leaves and spaced out the characters on the deskmat, it should look closer to the inspiration now!



Also, as a side note, I have finished picking the color, will be sharing it when we start groupbuy. Thank you all for the amazing support!

I am interested in hearing more about the story that this set is based on, it sounds like a really funny and unlikely band of characters.

The inspiration IS interesting, do check out the Monogatari Series from books or from the show if you are able to, it is one of my most favorite novel, and one of the reason I started designing this kit is to promote/get more people into the series. 

[shenshendei]

ararararararararagi-san would be happy to see this, me likey

[shawnlyx]

Made some small adjustments on the novelty backspaces. Ironing out some of the small issues detected.

New


Previous

More

[//gainsborough]

In reality, I doubt that a solitary second went by.
But for me, it was like an hour - no, it felt so long I even began to imagine that my life might reach its natural end before this glimpse was over.  This is absolutely not an exaggeration.  In that moment, I experienced a lifetime.
My eyes were so captivated by [this keyset] that I felt as though my eyes were about to grow dry.
Of course, I understand - the gentlemnamy thing to do in this kind of situation is avert your eyes.
Of course, I understand that.
In most cases, I probably would have done so.  I even try my best to look at my feet the entire while if a [keyboard] happens to be in front of me when I climb the staris.
But at that moment in time, I was not so polished a man that I could promptly behave in said matter, utterly unprepared, upon being visited by such a blessing out of the blue.

[shawnlyx]

It has been a long, long while since I have an interesting update to this set.(I mentioned this week, sorry for the 20days long week)

I've been actively working with zFrontier to get a brand NEW manufacturer with quality, pricing and delivery time surpassing that of Geekark.

Preface to this change is that my Chinese IC of this set really diminishes my trust in Geekark's delivery as a manufacturer.
Chinese IC1：https://www.zfrontier.com/app/flow/40MooW30JQNz
Chinese IC2：https://www.zfrontier.com/app/flow/D6BprJKOpOK6
You can see the support from IC 1 to IC 2 really dampens out as I announced the Chinese name for Geekark(文若) at IC2, highlighting severe delays and non delivery from their recent Chinese GBs. I do not know the legibility of these claims, but there were a lot of them persuading me against going with Geekark for this. I did some researches on the claims too and found some unfavorable reviews that further pushes me away from Geekark. Ultimately, I'd like to play it safe and deliver a product I can be proud of.

Of course, I have approached a more well known and trusted manufacturer in the community for this too but it seems they are not taking any orders now and are backed up with reverse dye sub manufacturing.

I am really sorry to those who wanted to see a Geekark kit with this set. I hope you will support me in this decision.
The groupbuy is projected to be on July and I will share pictures of the samples as soon as I've received them, thank you for all the supports, I am very excited to get this manufactured perfectly! Please let me know if you have any concerns, I will try to answer it to the best of my knowledge!

On another note, a final changelog to the kittings!
Changelog
With the new manufacturer, it seems we no longer need to compromise on a XDA 4.5u spacebar!
Common
= Increased Sublegend Size
= Fixed Render Allignment
Base
-Removed Extra R4-1u-FN key
= Changed 4.5u spacebar from XDA to Cherry profile!!
+ Added 1u かな（Kana） and 1u 変換（Henkan） Keys for increased compatibility to some of the more popular JIS non standard bottom row keyboards(Logicool and Razer).
Alt Mod = Changed 始マル to 始マリ　> to match 終ワリ(stylistic choice)
Spacebars
= Changed 4.5u spacebar from XDA to Cherry profile!!
+ Added 2 Extra B Keys to support both colorways

[//gainsborough]

I, personally, will support any decision that will help this set become a reality!

Will this change affect the pricing of the set as well? 

[shawnlyx]

I, personally, will support any decision that will help this set become a reality!

Will this change affect the pricing of the set as well?

No, it should maintain at the low side, I have already received the price quote from this manufacturer and it seems competitive, we are starting to discuss with the vendors now and I am going to get the actual samples from the manufacturer before announcing any further info.

[Neely_12]

Have any other sets been run with this new manu?

[shawnlyx]

Have any other sets been run with this new manu?

It is their debut set is what I'm told, it is a totally new brand. I have seen their BOW samples and the legend looks great to me. We are still waiting for a sample to this set as I am working on getting all the files ready for the manufacturer within these few days. Please look forward to it!

[shawnlyx]

Just realized that I've uploaded an older version of the base file, here is the actual file. No changes to the kitting, just fixed the alignment and sublegend size.

[eskimojo]

Does the manufacturer have a public facing name that we can use? I maintain KeycapLendar, and it would be confusing just to enter "PBT" as the profile/manufacturer (manufacturer name is used in the case of Cherry profile, which is the way sets are referred to semantically).

[shawnlyx]

Does the manufacturer have a public facing name that we can use? I maintain KeycapLendar, and it would be confusing just to enter "PBT" as the profile/manufacturer (manufacturer name is used in the case of Cherry profile, which is the way sets are referred to semantically).

Yes, they do have a public facing name and we will be announcing it when we do announce the GB and physical sample. The manufacturer haven't start their marketing yet.

[eskimojo]

Does the manufacturer have a public facing name that we can use? I maintain KeycapLendar, and it would be confusing just to enter "PBT" as the profile/manufacturer (manufacturer name is used in the case of Cherry profile, which is the way sets are referred to semantically).

Yes, they do have a public facing name and we will be announcing it when we do announce the GB and physical sample. The manufacturer haven't start their marketing yet.

Cool, thanks - I'll leave it as Geekark for now then, and will update whenever a name is known 

[willowt]

Looking forward to this! Monogatari is great, and the color ties to the theme quite well!

[jaxter]

Made an account just to say that I'm looking forward to this set. It's probably already too late to do this but I wish there were more snake keycaps in the novelties kit. I know its hard to to represent everyone but she feels underrepresented.

[shawnlyx]

Looking forward to this! Monogatari is great, and the color ties to the theme quite well!

Thanks!

Made an account just to say that I'm looking forward to this set. It's probably already too late to do this but I wish there were more snake keycaps in the novelties kit. I know its hard to to represent everyone but she feels underrepresented.

Unfortunately, with so many characters I am forced to pick my favorites and it's a little too late to do any changes without delaying the GB even more.

My samples are coming in tomorrow or the day after, the wait is almost over, please look forward to it

[Kacperoni]

Not sure why, but the moment I scroll to novelties picture, the Tapatalk app crashes 🥲 I just want to see all the kits


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[shawnlyx]

Not sure why, but the moment I scroll to novelties picture, the Tapatalk app crashes 🥲 I just want to see all the kits


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

You can check out the full album HERE

[shawnlyx]

Hi everyone! It has been a while since there is any major development on this IC. But GOOD NEWS, I have finally received the samples from the manufacturer. Here it is, keep in mind these are taken with a phone in 10am daylight and the main purpose of this round of samples are to confirm the quality of the product(the quality, the mold and the clarity of the prints.)



I have requested for a R2 sample which will be a full set of 84 keycaps with the correct color matching which will hopefully arrive before the tentative GB Date of the 1st of August.

Tentative GB Date: 1st of August
Pricing: To be announced before GB.

I have also started a discord server, come join me for some minor updates once in a while!

[//gainsborough]

awwww yeah!!!!  Let's go!

[GLOVE]

looks great. It is also very cute style.

[Mr Chrome]

The sample legends look pretty good next to the GMK! I really hope this set does well so people have another manufacturer to work with for future sets. It would be nice to have an ePBT alternative to cut some lead times 

[shawnlyx]

Apologize for this, but I have missed a small fix in this announcement! Small changes to the legends in the alt-mod kit. コント is used for the control instead of コット(This was a typo).

[shawnlyx]

Updated (7/16/2021)

Colorway and comparison updated:




15 days to go!

[shawnlyx]

New Renders



Fuji65 by CMM.Studio

[Serval]

Looking forward to this set! Is it possible to get Zion Studios as a vendor please?

[shawnlyx]

Looking forward to this set! Is it possible to get Zion Studios as a vendor please?

Thank you for the interest!
Unfortunately, I won't be able to add Zion Studio as my vendor, this is my first set and I'm working with a new manufacturer so I want to keep the vendor numbers down a little. I do have a general SEA vendor (Hex Keyboards) though, please check them out.

[ezra]

Made a acc just to say to I’m definitely interested in joining the gb on august 1st.. also maybe try get some ig keycap acc’s to promote the gb. Ty

[growler]

Am looking forward to trying a new PBT vendor, like the colours too.

Sent from my SM-G980F using Tapatalk

[shawnlyx]

Unfortunately due to the flooding situation now in China, the manufacturing for my samples were stalled. As such, we have decided to delay the groupbuy for 2 more weeks(16th August 2021) until the samples arrive.

Thank you to everyone who are interested in this kit! Apologize for another delay, it is very unfortunate that the typhoon strike at this time.

[lluvia]

as lurking angy native Japanese that emerges with any "incorrect" weeb set, dis I approb.

This is the first set I find no incorrect/inappropriate Japanese anywhere (at least one where it's creative) including the names for the sets. (Uniform is sort of an Easter egg for those native.)

Mincho is definitely always going to be timeless, more weeb, more unique, and say that you really do love otaku stuff from a Japanese perspective!
Straight-up Gothic/Arial Hiragana always feel a bit childish or really weird and definitely would have not fit with where the motif is from.
You even put the monogatari-style Kanji numbering!!! Mad props!

I also appreciate that you ether bought the expensive font to be true to the motif for everything including the deskmat, or dedicated some time in photoshop!
(https://www.instagram.com/p/B_QyfsSp5ZX/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link if you're interested, OP.)

My only complaints/opinions are insignificant especially since I slept on this but:

Novelties - I would have loved (I guess this for if you do another set) the accessories of the girls who are seen in the uniform, like glasses, long black tie or oversized sleeve, fluffy hair scrunchies, and an Enter with bandaged arm!
Novelties - OMAESAMA MOAR DONUTS JYA
Novelties - Oniichan, did you forget about me? I said with a smug face.
Numpad - Numpad doesn't have the numbering Kanji on the alphas. As Chuuni, it's significant because that was the sole reason I waivered on buying the Cangjie sets lately.
Deskmat - In GB one is amazing. (It's what caught my eye because it was more instantly associable.) The V1 seems like you mashed three ideas into one... lol.

I love it and want to support it and will end up buying it but I have no idea what board can compliment this set. Snake girl too evil so cannot Alt, but then it makes for a good Third Impact motif set...!
...So that means you've have the smol trio after this right? Thanks, I appreciate it, my wallet doesn't. (I would love an Axe/Shikigami set and the colors would be interesting but she's not popular enough..   The other two can get their own and be fine lol.)

[shawnlyx]

as lurking angy native Japanese that emerges with any "incorrect" weeb set, dis I approb.

This is the first set I find no incorrect/inappropriate Japanese anywhere (at least one where it's creative) including the names for the sets. (Uniform is sort of an Easter egg for those native.)

Mincho is definitely always going to be timeless, more weeb, more unique, and say that you really do love otaku stuff from a Japanese perspective!
Straight-up Gothic/Arial Hiragana always feel a bit childish or really weird and definitely would have not fit with where the motif is from.
You even put the monogatari-style Kanji numbering!!! Mad props!

I also appreciate that you ether bought the expensive font to be true to the motif for everything including the deskmat, or dedicated some time in photoshop!
(https://www.instagram.com/p/B_QyfsSp5ZX/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link if you're interested, OP.)

My only complaints/opinions are insignificant especially since I slept on this but:

Novelties - I would have loved (I guess this for if you do another set) the accessories of the girls who are seen in the uniform, like glasses, long black tie or oversized sleeve, fluffy hair scrunchies, and an Enter with bandaged arm!
Novelties - OMAESAMA MOAR DONUTS JYA
Novelties - Oniichan, did you forget about me? I said with a smug face.
Numpad - Numpad doesn't have the numbering Kanji on the alphas. As Chuuni, it's significant because that was the sole reason I waivered on buying the Cangjie sets lately.
Deskmat - In GB one is amazing. (It's what caught my eye because it was more instantly associable.) The V1 seems like you mashed three ideas into one... lol.

I love it and want to support it and will end up buying it but I have no idea what board can compliment this set. Snake girl too evil so cannot Alt, but then it makes for a good Third Impact motif set...!
...So that means you've have the smol trio after this right? Thanks, I appreciate it, my wallet doesn't. (I would love an Axe/Shikigami set and the colors would be interesting but she's not popular enough..   The other two can get their own and be fine lol.)

Thanks for the support! To answer a couple of your inquiries:

-Novelties: I designed this to cater to as many people as possible while retaining references to the original work. If you are a fan of the series, you get the subtle references in the novelties, if you are not, cute animals in a story! I believe this aligns with the story telling of the original work too!
-ミスド sadly doesn't sponsor this keyset! 
-References for her condition sadly doesn't fit the theme of the novelties. Same case for いくら too.

-Numpad: Simple case of 10 extra keys that doesn't cover most use case is an expensive design choice. The reason I added 大字 on the numrow instead of numpad is because most people have numrow on their keyboard but not everyone have a numpad.

-Thanks, I have some requests to run other colors of the deskmat too. But for my first set, I don't want to go too overboard with the kitting. We need to hit the moq first and foremost! If people are still interested, I still have a couple of other exciting ideas to work on after this.

[Serval]

Looking forward to this set! Is it possible to get Zion Studios as a vendor please?

Thank you for the interest!
Unfortunately, I won't be able to add Zion Studio as my vendor, this is my first set and I'm working with a new manufacturer so I want to keep the vendor numbers down a little. I do have a general SEA vendor (Hex Keyboards) though, please check them out.

No worries, I'll check them out
Hopefully the shipping fee doesn't kill my wallet lol.

Btw, will the deskmat ship at the same time as the keyset or will it ship earlier if I made a separate order? Anyway, hoping everything goes well during GB!

[shawnlyx]

Looking forward to this set! Is it possible to get Zion Studios as a vendor please?

Thank you for the interest!
Unfortunately, I won't be able to add Zion Studio as my vendor, this is my first set and I'm working with a new manufacturer so I want to keep the vendor numbers down a little. I do have a general SEA vendor (Hex Keyboards) though, please check them out.

No worries, I'll check them out
Hopefully the shipping fee doesn't kill my wallet lol.

Btw, will the deskmat ship at the same time as the keyset or will it ship earlier if I made a separate order? Anyway, hoping everything goes well during GB!

You would need to confirm that with your preferred vendors. 

[shawnlyx]

Thank all of you for the support! I have finally received the R2 of samples! It has been a long journey, if nothing is wrong, we will be proceeding to GB on the 16th August!

[vanda]

so cute

[ArashiNishi]

can you add FancyCustoms as proxy for South America please? or it's too late?

[shawnlyx]

can you add FancyCustoms as proxy for South America please? or it's too late?

Thank you for the interest! At this point in time, I'm afraid it's a little too late, the gb is happening in less than a week.
Also, I don't plan to have too many vendors currently as this is my first set. Sorry to those whose regions I may not have covered, but do check out zFrontier's international store, they have an international free shipping for a certain amount of order!

[shawnlyx]

Hi everyone! We are finally announcing our manufacturer, Tomatocaps(TMT).
They are a high quality keycap manufacturer partnering with zFrontier to manufacture their new line of dye-sub PBT Cherry profile keycaps.
To attest to their manufacturing quality, they are also releasing an in stock BoW set along with this release, check out the details below.
Commenting on this thread in zFrontier will also net you the chance to win a giveaway of the BoW Set!
HERE

Check out the zFrontier instagram HERE

While you are at it, check out mine too!

[Evasive]

I'm kinda new here but are zFrontiers prices always better than international vendor prices?

[shawnlyx]

I'm kinda new here but are zFrontiers prices always better than international vendor prices?

Pricing is one thing but you might want to look at Tax + Shipping and determine which vendor works best for you!

[CharlotteS]

Is the price announced?

[shawnlyx]

Is the price announced?

Yep, it is listed in the page.

[growler]

Why does prototypist basically charge the dollar cost, but in sterling? Seems a bit of a piss-take?

Sent from my SM-G980F using Tapatalk

[shawnlyx]

Why does prototypist basically charge the dollar cost, but in sterling? Seems a bit of a piss-take?

Sent from my SM-G980F using Tapatalk

From what I know, UK have a 20% VAT for imports. I should specify this pricing is after VAT.

[shawnlyx]

A groupbuy thread has been created!

https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=114195.0

[shawnlyx]

The gb is now LIVE in all regions, as such I am locking this thread. Thank you for all the help, and I hope to see you in the groupbuy!

https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=114195.0