[IC] "Troubled Minds" - a Joker/Eva01 inspired set - Up on Massdrop!

[thesiscamper]

BACKGROUND
Hi guys! I'm new to mechanical keyboards, about a couple of months into it. After learning of custom kits I wanted to create my own. This theme, oddly enough, started because the only Ducky Shine 2 on stock at the shop was one with green LEDs. So I wondered what looks good with green? Violet of course, courtesy of the Joker! The colors match Eva 001's and after some initial feedback I figured, why not make it work for both? I hope you guys like it as much as I do!

Thanks a lot to Wilba for his template, and livingspeedbump for his awesome assistance!

POLLS ARE DONE

SET INFO
Although the renders are SA profile, there are no details that are set in stone yet! I know SP currently has a few SA sets in the works and that making this SA would have a shipping date quite far in the future (probably April/May?)

Set will be SA ABS, doubleshot using RDE for purple, VAT for green, OAS for orange, RN for red, and WFR/WA for white.


I'm now trying to finalize the novelties.

PROGRESS & UPDATES

• IC Started on 9/18/15
• Updated novelties on 9/19/15
• Poll started, updated novelties render on 9/21/15
• Poll reset, SA profile and purple on green mods chosen on 9/22/15
• Poll closed, set name is "Troubled Minds"and legend process is doubleshot on 9/23/15
• Designed new novelties, adjusted colors on 9/24/15 and 9/25/15
• Finalized novelty kits (almost), updated 2D mockups on 9/26/15
• Poll for row numbering started on 10/03/15
• Exploring group buy options on 10/07/15
• Updated mockups to the more accurate colors on 10/14/2015
• Added ErgoDox Kit on 10/22/2015

SET RENDERS & CHILD DEALS (None are final!)
Base Kit


Numpad Kit


Novelties (Joker & EVA themed)


ISO kit


International Kit


Adapter Kit


DVORAK/Colemak Kit


Color Modifier Kit


Planck/Atomic Kit


Ergodox Kit


Novelty Mockups


ErgoDox Mockup


Thanks for looking! Please leave any input/advice you have in the thread! I'm open to working with what the community wants! 

[Sifo]

Finally. I've been meaning to run this set for over a year but if someone else wants to do it, I'm happy so long as it gets done. You have my support, order, and help if you need it.

[livingspeedbump]

looking good! huge potential here 

[romevi]

Finally. I've been meaning to run this set for over a year but if someone else wants to do it, I'm happy so long as it gets done. You have my support, order, and help if you need it.

lol, didn't you stop Matt3o's from running because of  the Eva set?!

[CPTBadAss]

Finally. I've been meaning to run this set for over a year but if someone else wants to do it, I'm happy so long as it gets done. You have my support, order, and help if you need it.

Yeeeee finally came out

[absyrd]

Nice to see someone come in with a nice design and be totally OPEN to help/advice.

[Sifo]

Finally. I've been meaning to run this set for over a year but if someone else wants to do it, I'm happy so long as it gets done. You have my support, order, and help if you need it.

lol, didn't you stop Matt3o's from running because of  the Eva set?!

Well he was going to help me run the buy but I just never got around to it and of course he moved onto other projects. I don't recall ever saying "no you can't do it cuz I plan to", but I was a bit more motivated back then to design the set.

[thesiscamper]

Finally. I've been meaning to run this set for over a year but if someone else wants to do it, I'm happy so long as it gets done. You have my support, order, and help if you need it.

Thanks! I've watched Evangelion but that was years ago and I'm not up to date so if you have ideas for the Eva kit please feel free to share!

[romevi]

Finally. I've been meaning to run this set for over a year but if someone else wants to do it, I'm happy so long as it gets done. You have my support, order, and help if you need it.

lol, didn't you stop Matt3o's from running because of  the Eva set?!

Well he was going to help me run the buy but I just never got around to it and of course he moved onto other projects. I don't recall ever saying "no you can't do it cuz I plan to", but I was a bit more motivated back then to design the set.

Yeah, didn't mean you halted it, but I remember reading a comment saying that if you go with it then he won't delve into the Joker theme, or something like that.

OP, this looks great, and I love the graphic caps. I have a friend who's OBSESSED with Heath Ledger's Joker, and this may be a great way to get him into mechanical keyboards.

[Sifo]

Finally. I've been meaning to run this set for over a year but if someone else wants to do it, I'm happy so long as it gets done. You have my support, order, and help if you need it.

lol, didn't you stop Matt3o's from running because of  the Eva set?!

Well he was going to help me run the buy but I just never got around to it and of course he moved onto other projects. I don't recall ever saying "no you can't do it cuz I plan to", but I was a bit more motivated back then to design the set.

Yeah, didn't mean you halted it, but I remember reading a comment saying that if you go with it then he won't delve into the Joker theme, or something like that.

OP, this looks great, and I love the graphic caps. I have a friend who's OBSESSED with Heath Ledger's Joker, and this may be a great way to get him into mechanical keyboards.

Yeah that probably happened. I was ready to go ahead with the gb at any moment back then, but then Feng did his Eva set and there was a ton of other stuff (I think granite? not sure) going on as well so the timing was bad. Then I got busy and lost motivation to do it. Again I'm sure I said this before during Matt3o's IC, in the end I just want it to get done!

[thesiscamper]

Finally. I've been meaning to run this set for over a year but if someone else wants to do it, I'm happy so long as it gets done. You have my support, order, and help if you need it.

lol, didn't you stop Matt3o's from running because of  the Eva set?!

Well he was going to help me run the buy but I just never got around to it and of course he moved onto other projects. I don't recall ever saying "no you can't do it cuz I plan to", but I was a bit more motivated back then to design the set.

Yeah, didn't mean you halted it, but I remember reading a comment saying that if you go with it then he won't delve into the Joker theme, or something like that.

OP, this looks great, and I love the graphic caps. I have a friend who's OBSESSED with Heath Ledger's Joker, and this may be a great way to get him into mechanical keyboards.

Thanks a lot, the set's name is supposed to be "The Killling Joke" but the Eva kit complicates it a bit, so I'll have to come up with a new one.

[romevi]

Rats; I was going to say the issue which Joker was introduced, but that's Batman #1. So Unit 01 would be repetitive.

Hmm... Unit Clown? Unit Joker? Unit Jester?

[Sifo]

Just got home.

Potential problems: well, copyright. SP won't deal with any of the copyrighted logos, so a lot of the novelty caps are a no go.

Personal problems: I'm not a fan of the red legends on the mods, but maybe it's just me. Would prefer the purple

[thesiscamper]

Just got home.

Potential problems: well, copyright. SP won't deal with any of the copyrighted logos, so a lot of the novelty caps are a no go.

Personal problems: I'm not a fan of the red legends on the mods, but maybe it's just me. Would prefer the purple

Yeah that was a concern for me too, but someone told me some logos push through, some don't. Best way I guess is to try and work from there, I'll be racking my head trying to come up with alternatives. Thanks!

edit:

Maybe something like these as replacement:

[thesiscamper]

I hope changing "EVA" to "UNIT" is enough to skirt the copyright issue for this key at least:

[just66in]

Loving at the theme and choice of going with SA profile. You have my order for sure!
I personally prefer the alternative 1.25 white mod on the right (not the one with the circular shade around the eye)

[switchnollie]

Some next level renders there!

Great job, I'll be watching this one 

[trenzafeeds]

Damn, I've had this same idea in the back of my mind for forever! Glad to see someone actually putting into action. While I enjoy the nod to classic joker with the orange bits of the color scheme, I personally am not a big fan of how it ends up looking. I'd kind of prefer just a white/green/purple set, but maybe that's just me. I'd most likely buy it either way. In terms of the copyright stuff, you'd probable have to cut a couple of the novelties and call it like the "Trickster set" or something that's somehow an offbrand Joker reference.
Edit: upon looking at the renders again, I realized how little orange is in it. I'd really just like to see more white in the base kit. Right now it's too dark for my taste, and the color white is integral to my image of the joker.

[KnivesM]

The Joker set looks cool, I'd be down for the eva novelties probably as well, but I already have a EVA set.

Personally I like the red on green but it'd probably look good with purple too. Could probably do a poll for that and the profile.

[ghostjuggernaut]

Looks pretty good. I would prefer uniform colored alphas though.

I'll be keeping an eye on this for sure.

[FunkMasterJ]

This would absolutely be an instant buy for me.

[zzyjayfree]

You've got my attention since I'm looking for EVA set lately

[nubbinator]

Looks interesting.  I do have to say that I highly doubt that SP will be able to make some of the drippy legends.  They're likely too small for SP to produce.  Hit up Melissa and see what she says.

[thesiscamper]

I'll be updating the renders later with your suggestions, probably run a poll for the modifier legends. Thanks for the heads up nubbinator, I will try to contact SP about that. Thanks guys!

edit:
Here are some updated renders for a couple of alternate color schemes. Personally I prefer the original colors and I hope we can all have what we want, but I'm not sure how offering lots of color mods will affect pricing and if it's worth it. I have to say though these colors work for me too.

[romevi]

What the heck? How are these renders? They look so real...

[SL89]

There are only 2 Magi... 

[ghostjuggernaut]

You should change the ~ and \| keys to match the alphas.

[Coreda]

Very, very cool set. Probably not something I'm personally interested in but I may share the thread around to others.

As others have mentioned those renders look like photos, wish more used them

[njbair]

What the heck? How are these renders? They look so real...

I think it's a composite, like Danger Zone. Basically photoshopping a pic of a real SA set and just changing the colors.

[Coreda]

I think it's a composite, like Danger Zone. Basically photoshopping a pic of a real SA set and just changing the colors.

For the case and outer area maybe, but if you look at the alternate purple number row / white number row posted just a couple above, there are different surrounding key reflections.

[njbair]

Looks interesting.  I do have to say that I highly doubt that SP will be able to make some of the drippy legends.  They're likely too small for SP to produce.  Hit up Melissa and see what she says.

You're right. For doubleshot legends SP can't go smaller than 0.02". I had to rework the Alps mountain logo to fit this constraint.

Now if you do printed legends, you can get much more detail and its cheaper. If course, then you'll have printed legends...

[tofgerl]

Wouldn't dyesub work on the mods? The purple is much darker than the green.

[just66in]

Personally prefer your original red font on green mods as it gives a more "Joker"  theme. Purple legends are alright too, they look safe and pretty standard like how all other standard two-toned sets are.
The white honestly don't really work for me in that render (white spacebar and number row).

[thesiscamper]

Those are renders done in 3D Max using V-Ray. I'm much more comfortable working with sets in 3D than say, Illustrator or Photoshop.

I've updated some of the novelties, I prefer the red legends too as I imagine somehow when Joker says something there will be blood, but I understand a lot of people want their sets to be consistent.

There are only 2 Magi... 

Should there be more? I mean as far as I know there are 2 versions (Ver. 1.x and 2.x), but if you mean the three Magis themselves I'll see if I can incorporate Melchior, Balthasar and Casper.

You should change the ~ and \| keys to match the alphas.

I've included alternate colors for those keys in the base kit

[njbair]

I'm noticing a few caps with more than two colors. OP, what is your plan for the legends? Doubleshot? Dye sub? Pad printed?

[ghostjuggernaut]

Those are renders done in 3D Max using V-Ray. I'm much more comfortable working with sets in 3D done say, Illustrator or Photoshop.

I've updated some of the novelties, I prefer the red legends too as I imagine somehow when Joker says something there will be blood, but I understand a lot of people want their sets to be consistent.

Show Image

There are only 2 Magi...  :-[

Should there be more? I mean as far as I know there are 2 versions (Ver. 1.x and 2.x), but if you mean the three Magis themselves I'll see if I can incorporate Melchior, Balthasar and Casper.

You should change the ~ and \| keys to match the alphas.

I've included alternate colors for those keys in the base kit :)

Completely missed those. Thanks.

[thesiscamper]

I'm noticing a few caps with more than two colors. OP, what is your plan for the legends? Doubleshot? Dye sub? Pad printed?

That's one of the things I want to ask here, would you prefer caps with more than two colors (maybe dyesub) or do you want doubleshot with simpler legends? The profiles, legends, etc are not set in stone. I can replace the color of the text in the "gun key" so that leaves Joker's face and the Eva 01 badge with multi-colors.

[njbair]

I'm noticing a few caps with more than two colors. OP, what is your plan for the legends? Doubleshot? Dye sub? Pad printed?

That's one of the things I want to ask here, would you prefer caps with more than two colors (maybe dyesub) or do you want doubleshot with simpler legends? The profiles, legends, etc are not set in stone. I can replace the color of the text in the "gun key" so that leaves Joker's face and the Eva 01 badge with multi-colors.

Show Image

I'm not familiar with the process and capabilities of SP's SA tooling, but I can tell you for DCS, each custom doubleshot legend costs $45 to cut (one-time cost per key width, row profile doesn't matter). Dye sub legends obviously don't need to be cut but usually people only do dye sub if the caps are PBT, and I don't think SA caps are available in PBT (at least not in all sizes).

So you're probably looking at ABS doubleshot, which again is going to get pricey with all these custom legends, and you're limited to two colors (cap color and legend color).

Pad printing may be an option but I don't think anybody would be willing to make that tradeoff just for more colorful legends.

[thesiscamper]

I'm noticing a few caps with more than two colors. OP, what is your plan for the legends? Doubleshot? Dye sub? Pad printed?

That's one of the things I want to ask here, would you prefer caps with more than two colors (maybe dyesub) or do you want doubleshot with simpler legends? The profiles, legends, etc are not set in stone. I can replace the color of the text in the "gun key" so that leaves Joker's face and the Eva 01 badge with multi-colors.

Show Image

I'm not familiar with the process and capabilities of SP's SA tooling, but I can tell you for DCS, each custom doubleshot legend costs $45 to cut (one-time cost per key width, row profile doesn't matter). Dye sub legends obviously don't need to be cut but usually people only do dye sub if the caps are PBT, and I don't think SA caps are available in PBT (at least not in all sizes).

So you're probably looking at ABS doubleshot, which again is going to get pricey with all these custom legends, and you're limited to two colors (cap color and legend color).

Pad printing may be an option but I don't think anybody would be willing to make that tradeoff just for more colorful legends.

Thanks a lot for the great info, I'm leaning towards SA ABS doubleshot. I will update the legends to meet the 0.02" limitation.

[njbair]

I'm noticing a few caps with more than two colors. OP, what is your plan for the legends? Doubleshot? Dye sub? Pad printed?

That's one of the things I want to ask here, would you prefer caps with more than two colors (maybe dyesub) or do you want doubleshot with simpler legends? The profiles, legends, etc are not set in stone. I can replace the color of the text in the "gun key" so that leaves Joker's face and the Eva 01 badge with multi-colors.

Show Image

I'm not familiar with the process and capabilities of SP's SA tooling, but I can tell you for DCS, each custom doubleshot legend costs $45 to cut (one-time cost per key width, row profile doesn't matter). Dye sub legends obviously don't need to be cut but usually people only do dye sub if the caps are PBT, and I don't think SA caps are available in PBT (at least not in all sizes).

So you're probably looking at ABS doubleshot, which again is going to get pricey with all these custom legends, and you're limited to two colors (cap color and legend color).

Pad printing may be an option but I don't think anybody would be willing to make that tradeoff just for more colorful legends.

Thanks a lot for the great info, I'm leaning towards SA ABS doubleshot. I will update the legends to meet the 0.02" limitation.

Good deal.

Word of advice: remember these legends are going to be tiny, so don't worry too much about lost detail as you modify them. Focus on what they look like zoomed out (esp. if you have a retina display).

[zabuza1997]

SA will be legendary.DSA sucks

[Phever]

Loving the look of this set, will definitely be ordering a set for a friend if they do drop. Personally would rather have doubleshot legends, but I know very little about how much that would affect the cost of the set. Would take dyesub if that meant the novelties wouldn't be $200. Good luck!

[KnivesM]

Loving the look of this set, will definitely be ordering a set for a friend if they do drop. Personally would rather have doubleshot legends, but I know very little about how much that would affect the cost of the set. Would take dyesub if that meant the novelties wouldn't be $200. Good luck!

Couldn't do the alphas/some novelties with Dyesub, so unless it gets changed drastically that's not a option.

[njbair]

Loving the look of this set, will definitely be ordering a set for a friend if they do drop. Personally would rather have doubleshot legends, but I know very little about how much that would affect the cost of the set. Would take dyesub if that meant the novelties wouldn't be $200. Good luck!

It really depends on demand. SP will usually make as few as 25 sets. I count 14 novelty legends, that's 14 * $45 = $630. That adds $25 to the price of each novelty set. But if 35 novelty sets sell, it's only an extra $18 each. At 50 sets, it's less than $13 per set.

[thesiscamper]

I'll definitely tweak the designs to within spec and maybe drop some of the novelties if needed.

[maskey]

Looks Amazing! Bookmarking thread!

[Glissant]

Would be interested, but the red on green instead of purple on green turned me off. That green and purple combination is too good not to keep throughout the set in my opinion.

Edit: And since some new renders are there with purple that turns me back on =p

[thesiscamper]

Would be interested, but the red on green instead of purple on green turned me off. That green and purple combination is too good not to keep throughout the set in my opinion.

Edit: And since some new renders are there with purple that turns me back on =p

Purple on green seems to be more popular at the moment.

I've updated some renders and the Joker face to follow the 0.02" limitation which is approx. 0.5mm if I'm not mistaken.

[njbair]

That looks much better with the purple.

I'll say this: even if your set doesn't take off I'd say you have a promising future in doing group buy renders.

[romevi]

Seriously, these are the best renders I've seen. I thought it was a complete set when first I saw it.

I have some key set designs in mind; I may have to contract you!

Edit:
No more red clown lips?