But using it as an example as to why artisans don't do the same is stupid. Amigo.
I don't think you understand the difference between an example (what I did), and a comparison (what you think I did). I wasn't comparing anything, I used an example to explain a point of view, demik. Everybody here knows that making an artisan is way more laborious than submitting colors to Signature Plastics.
The thing is, an example isn't much use if it's not comparable to the case at hand. It reads to me that your opinion is essentially that creating variations on a theme (e.g. running different colourways of the same artisan mold, or running the same keyset with different compatibility kits) over and over again doesn't reduce the creativity of the artisan, or their excitement in their work.
When you use pulse and your personal experience as an example to illustrate that point, it is implicit that the result of the case you mention is comparable to other results. If it wasn't comparable, it wouldn't be a good example. And that's what people are trying to say -- your experience designing keysets isn't comparable to the experience of the artisans, at least not based on the comments artisans have made in this thread and elsewhere. Hence, your example isn't a good one.
My experience with artisans is that they make caps because they enjoy making caps. If an artisan derives the greatest enjoyment from refining and perfecting a single design, all power to them. However, most artisans seem to prefer to work on different projects, rather than continue releasing the same cap in different colours for years on end. And they do what makes them happy.
Allow me to end with an admittedly absurd example.
Pulse is running now for its second time. Which is neat, there are people that missed the first round, or didn't get into keyboards until after it had run, or whatever. The new round even has some additional compatibility, which makes it accessible to even more people. But six months down the road, people start asking for pulse again. So it runs again, maybe something new is done. And then you run it a fourth time, a fifth time, a sixth time, because people keep asking for more pulse, and more compatibility kits, and more novelties, and another opportunity to get the base kit. And every time you run pulse, it takes time away from something else you want to do. Isn't that what's happening now with godspeed? I know you're more excited about that colourway than you are about pulse, but pulse is running and godspeed is delayed.
Can you honestly say that you wouldn't be frustrated to run pulse for the 20th or 50th time rather than put out your next new design? I realize the example is a bit contrived, because keysets are made in mass production and there's no precedent for any custom set to run more than a few rounds. But artisan caps can't be made at the same volume as keysets without losing part of what makes them an artisan cap. And so the demand will practically always be there -- resulting in dozens of sales for the same cap design. And there's only so many colours one can do, before they feel ready to move on to a different design.
As for your proposal about seasonal releases -- would you be happy running a group buy for the same set every three months?
