[GB] ePBT Skadi - SHIPPING, AWAITING TOKKIPEES

[Sifo]

Status:https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=109034.msg3120127#msg3120127


This pic was taken in the shade + indoor incandescent lighting so it's kinda scuffed


Left is R2 sample, right is final




deskmat sample:
https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=109034.msg2975860#msg2975860

http://epbtskadi.com



Ran from Oct 13 - Nov 8.

ePBT Skadi is a keycap set inspired by the character Scáthach-Skadi from TYPE-MOON's Fate media franchise, who is based on the Norse winter goddess, Skaði.



Kits/Novelties

There will be a base kit, a tenkey kit, and a spacekeys/bars kit for compatibility with most 60, 65, 70, 75, 660, TKL, 96, 1800, full-size keyboards in ANSI, tsangan/WKL, basic ISO, HHKB configurations and more. We have also added support for 40s, ortholinear and NorDeUK.

The novelties included will feature a set of treasures fit for the Norse Goddess of Winter.

Base kit - $120 CAD ($92~ USD) @ MOQ 200


Numpad kit - $25 CAD ($19~ USD) @ MOQ N/A


Spaces kit - $25 CAD ($19~ USD) @ MOQ N/A


Novelties kit - $21 CAD ($16~ USD) @ MOQ N/A


40s/Ortho kit - $25 CAD ($19~ USD) @ MOQ N/A


NorDeUK kit - $34 CAD ($26~ USD) @ MOQ N/A


Deskmat

O, ancient rune.

For only $29 CAD ($22~ USD) you can Enhance your Primeval Rune to Lv.10 for maximum value!



Artisans

Up for your consideration are these lovely Sakuras by Tokkipee! They will come in both variants and will be available to purchase as FCFS for $69 CAD each keycap (limited one of each colorway per household).



Prime Caps and Hello? Caps info will come later! 

Cables

We will also be offering a limited stock of 5 foot USB-A to USB-C cables from noodlecords!




Where to buy?

NA: ApexKeyboards
Base: $120 CAD
Numpad: $25 CAD
Spaces: $25 CAD
Novelties: $21 CAD
40s/Ortho: $25 CAD
NorDeUK: $34 CAD

EU: MyKeyboard (VAT included)
Base: €89
Numpad: €18 
Spaces: €18
Novelties: €15
40s/Ortho: €18
NorDeUK: €25

China: KBDfans
Base: $92
Numpad: $19
Spaces: $19
Novelties: $16
40s/Ortho: $19
NorDeUK: $26

Asia: monokei
Base: $127 SGD
Numpad: $28 SGD
Spaces: $28 SGD
Novelties: $22 SGD
40s/Ortho: $28 SGD
NorDeUK: $36 SGD

Australia: Daily Clack
Base: $126 AUD
Numpad: $26 AUD
Space: $26 AUD
Novelties: $22 AUD
40s/Ortho: $26 AUD
NorDeUK: $36 AUD

More Renders

More

The following renders as well as the kit mockups are provided by Oblotzky.








The following renders are provided by Marco.

Specs

We will be using ePBT's new molds which should be completed in September. This will hopefully eliminate warping in spacebars and mods! We should be getting samples for those new keycaps as well as samples for the colors ASAP.

Colors are Pantone, physical chips have been sent to get color matched by ePBT. The white is GMK's WS2. Photo was taken in the shade.



These runic legends were designed by Ulliam specifically for this set. Shout out to LeandreN for his original IC of an Elder Futhark set that gave me the idea, the layout of the sub legends is the same as his mockup. With some advice from konstantin we decided to use some rune variants within Elder Futhark to fill out 26 keys.



Discord

Join the ApexKeyboards Discord server for the quickest updates and further degeneracy discussion!

https://discord.gg/BzWw4ur

Timeline

• October 13, 2020 - GB Launch
• November 8, 2020 - GB Closed

Credits (alphabetical)

More

• エース
• ApexKeyboards and all vendors involved
• DALExSNAIL
• Hello? Caps
• konstantin
• Oblotzky
• Olivia
• OneCreativeMind
• Pachriksu
• PrimeCaps
• pwade3
• Rensuya
• Tokkipee
• Ulliam
• Weeb Cave OGs, wouldn't be here without you guys

Disclaimers/Miscellaneous Info

The modifier base color is really tricky. It can look baby pink in warm light while appearing lilac in the shade. For me and my terrible display the Oblotzky rendered mods look a little bit more vibrant while my physical samples look a little less saturated, but that's just me as others have told me the renders look perfect. Marco's renders seem a little warmer and you can see what I mean by "looking pink."

The legends MAY have a slight variation in lightness between the mods and alphas in the final product due to how dye-sublimation works. To clarify, this does not mean that the legends will be inconsistent across the keys. For example, the legends printed on the modifiers and accent keys may appear darker compared to legends printed on white keycaps. I hope that makes sense. It's tough to guarantee that the dyesubbed legends will be an exact match to the plastic Pantone sample chip.

The legends seen in the renders will not be an exact representation of the final product. We are considering to use the same legends as ePBT Samurai with some tweaks here and there.

The photo of the Sakura novelties are samples provided by Tokkipee and have not been properly color matched. I will be sending each artisan a physical sample to properly match.

[ubmit]

Looks nice, GLWGB!

One question though: when is it going to be delivered?

[pancake]

どれにしようかな～

[ItszBrian]

Bought mine this morning. OhIStaryn.

[Sifo]

Looks nice, GLWIC!

One question though: when is it going to be delivered?

I'm not sure due to ePBT's new tooling. I still haven't confirmed if it's finished yet.

I'd estimate like 5 months which is what ePBT Samurai's lead time is, I think.

[KuroTheCrazy]

どれにしようかな～

[o3okevin]

Hell yes

[hong@RebultKeyboards]

New molds? I'm in. GLWGB

[forevermadrigal]

Will this be using ePBT's new molds?

[CaptainVinceO2]

Will this be using ePBT's new molds?

Yes, this set is slated to be the second full set to use the new ePBT moulds from what I've seen. First set being ePBT Samurai and specific new moulds like the spacebar being used on ePBT Spectrum spacebars.

[Sifo]

we're like 3/4 to MOQ with some extras, waiting for proxies to update for a total count

[dvorcol]

[vinhsanity]

Picked up Base, Numpad, Spaces, Novelties, Tokkipee, and the noodlecords Cable. GLWGB!

[Kokoboro]

Just picked up the Base Kit and Spacebar Kit for my Lubrigante, can't wait! GLWGB

[Sifo]

Thanks for the support guys <3 hoping to have deskmat sample and news regarding the cap samples soon.

[dvorcol]

Some vendors haven't updated recently.

[Sifo]

We've slowed down drastically but not too bothered. There's still 2 weeks left and I appreciate that there was so much support right out the gate (no it wasn't all extras lmao)

kbdfans numbers aren't included at all because getting constant updates from them is kinda tough with how busy they are and I haven't asked Daily Clack for an update on numbers yet.

Set will be made regardless so if you're interested feel free to get yourself one. And if you're not interested thanks for stopping by anyway. I'm just happy that it's getting produced.

[paysen]

Looks great

[ele7087]

ドレニシヨウカナァ〜

[Sifo]

Ok we hit MOQ no more sweating

go check out the giveaway on reddit

https://www.reddit.com/r/MechanicalKeyboards/comments/jieayx/epbt_skadi_giveaway/

[dvorcol]

More

<-- progress

[Sifo]

hello friends, yes we have cleared moq and have picked up a little again, sorry for the lack of updates and shilling. Hoping for one final push but honestly just happy to hit moq since I have no benchmark for an obscure odd colorway epbt set.

I guess it's a bit late to mention but please be aware prices on apex by default are displayed as CAD, so it's cheaper than it looks. Also had some friends confirm that the shipping prices to the US is about the same, in some cases cheaper, than purchasing from a domestic vendor, so there's that.

And finally we are hoping to get physical cap samples soon, epbt has my pantone chips and I've seen a few previews from apex's instagram showing off the new spacebars I believe and they look pretty good.

Thanks for the support friendos

do re ni shi yo u ka na

[dvorcol]

I guess it's a bit late to mention but please be aware prices on apex by default are displayed as CAD, so it's cheaper than it looks. Also had some friends confirm that the shipping prices to the US is about the same, in some cases cheaper, than purchasing from a domestic vendor, so there's that.

[Sifo]

btw I've been too lazy to take a good pic so have a ****ty one, deskmat sample.



A revision to the background has been made so that the gradient toward the bottom-right side isn't as harsh, it'll be more in-line with the rest of the background being cooler rather than hot pink.

[Sifo]

ends Sunday and then I'll stop spamming, will try to get a vendor tally then

[dvorcol]

More

<-- progress

[mdlt97]

joined!

cant wait

[Sifo]

joined!

cant wait

thank you sir

for any night owls orders on Apex will remain open until Vince wakes up the following morning.

[dvorcol]

Final including extras

[Sifo]

Hey guys, just to give you a generic update I haven't received any word about samples just yet but will be checking in regularly with ePBT.

New deskmat sample (removed harsh background gradient) should be on its way to Apex.

That's all for now. Thanks again for all the support towards this set, can't wait to get it into production.

[Sifo]

hey just another generic update but we're still waiting on those new molds. epbt spectrum is also ahead of us in line, not sure how that's going but yeah still waiting for samples. With Christmas coming up I don't know if we'll have an update by end of year but hopefully some news before CNY 2021

[Sifo]

Generic update, still nothing new. Join Apex's discord server for the quickest news.

https://discord.gg/apexkeyboards

Receiving one last mat sample and I have some sticker freebies being made (unfortunately no slaps).

[yuejia]

Awesome!!!

[Sifo]

Heyo, one last update before the new year, Apex is starting to receive EPBT Spectrum so Skadi should be up next for samples and then production. Spectrum I believe is using the new molds and so far looks promising! If you'd like to check out pictures of that, head on over to Apex's discord and look at the #epbt-spectrum channel under the Products category.

https://discord.gg/apexkeyboards

But yeah in the meantime, just waiting for our turn. Samples SoonTM, they've asked for the sublegends and novelties as well which we'll be sending over.

Hope you had a wonderful holiday season and see you in 2021!

[Sifo]

heyo late happy new years, got final mat sample, those are going into production.

Haven't heard back from epbt but they have all the resources to produce the sample set so I expect that to just randomly show up at Apex's doorstep some time soon. He's reviewed the new molds via ePBT Spectrum and it all seems pretty good, less warping with the new process.

Thanks for your patience!

[Sifo]

I lied, only the spacebar molds have been completed, they're redoing all the other profiles and caps too. This is taking longer than expected especially with Chinese New Year coming up next month. We're hounding ePBT weekly (if not daily) for updates but it's been slow.

We have requested a sample using the old molds so we can at least sign off on the colors, but I think we're gonna have to push the ETA to summer for the time being.

[Invezting]

Joined!

[Sifo]

I have been told that we're supposed to get the physical cap samples before CNY so that's good news. Hopefully they nail the color the first time around but that modifier color is really tricky so we'll see.

[Sifo]

deskmat production is complete and should be on the way to ApexKeyboards

[Sifo]

So clearly we didn't receive samples before CNY, we've been told it's pushed to after CNY. Factories should be back open by next Monday.

[Sifo]

Followed up, waiting for epbt, thanks for your patience.

[Sifo]

New molds still WIP. Originally we requested that the color samples be made using the old molds so we could speed up the process. That's why I've been saying "samples soon" for months now. But apparently the old molds have been decommissioned so we're forced to wait for new ones to be completed. Sorry for the bait guys... still just waiting. Apex is frequently asking for updates so will let you know as soon as I hear something.

[Sifo]

Some frustrating news.

Apparently the new molds are only relevant to sets that are using reverse dye-sub. As you know, our set does not use reverse dye-sub and only requires the new spacebar mold. So manu has been completely wasting time for months now for not clarifying that to us... but that miscommunication has been corrected.

Color sample ETA is currently April, we are still aiming to ship out by Summer 2021, ETA 1-2 months for production after we approve color sample.

Sorry everyone

[Sifo]

Hey guys I'm sorry I actually don't know what the **** is going on or what we're waiting on at this point. Apex is bugging them multiple times a week and there's no sign of my samples. At least they're responding? Thanks for your patience. "SoonTM"

[Tom Sparrow]

Thank you for the continuous updates! I am so eagerly waiting.
This my first time buying ePBT and I thought they would be faster, but that is how it is!

Hopefully, samples are matched first try

[Sifo]

Thank you for the continuous updates! I am so eagerly waiting.
This my first time buying ePBT and I thought they would be faster, but that is how it is!

Hopefully, samples are matched first try

We thought they'd be faster too, this is pretty out of the ordinary for them in my experience.

Supposedly sample is done and being shipped by end of week to Apex.

[Sifo]

Not in hand, I think it just shipped to Apex. Should receive it soon to check.

Also do not be alarmed by the colors, the bags are tinted.

[yui]

gotta make sure that those caps do not get zapped
some peoples said that ePBT made brown purple, from those photos they seem rather close to the render (taking into account the blueish gray bags) nice to see so far.
thanks for the update(s).

actually do anyone have an idea why so many manufacturer put non sensitive stuff (like pieces of plastic or roll of solder) in anti static bags?

[Tom Sparrow]

Not in hand, I think it just shipped to Apex. Should receive it soon to check.

Also do not be alarmed by the colors, the bags are tinted.

They are looking very promising!!! Taking the blue bag into account this could be a win! Although they are quite close on the photo, you should make sure they are correct. If they don't match I am not angry if they have to be redone!

So hyped for the next update!

[Sifo]

So I have the samples in hand, Apex has some too and will be taking photos at some point.

I won't be doing photos yet because I'm waiting to get new pantone color chips which have been ordered. The original ones I bought got lost or something, so waiting on that to compare to ensure a proper match to the referenced colors. However just looking at it and comparing to renders I'm quite happy with how it turned out which is a relief.

Once we confirm, EPBT says 1-2 months production time so unless we need too many more rounds of color matching we should be able to ship towards mid-end of summer.

[Sifo]

Sorry for late update and lack of pics. I'm **** at photography and Apex wants to wait until we get all the pantone chips to take photos. We're literally just waiting on ONE pantone chip that was back ordered from our local supplier.

One thing to say for certain is that the white they gave us for the sample is NOT WS2 and will be corrected for the production sets. The mod color is looking good according to Apex, and we're waiting on the accent base color's reference chip to give it the go ahead for production.

Thanks for your patience.

[Sifo]

So where we're at right now is waiting for a new white sample, they're saying it might not be possible to match WS2 due to the difference in plastic (for example gok's BoW is supposed to be WS2 but I've seen both gmk and gok BoW irl and it's not quite the same) but I'm waiting to see how it turns out, if I'm happy with it representing Skadi then we'll take it.

Mod colors match quite nicely, I could definitely nitpick it slightly but it's really not worth it. Legends on the other hand is kinda complicated, the printed dark purple is definitely too light and the Purple C is a little too red so I'm gonna see how it turns out on the new white. The dark purple printed nicely onto the mod and accent though.

Sorry this has taken so long but we're really trying hard to keep that summer 2021 promise.

[Tom Sparrow]

Have you received another sample of white? What is the current ETA?

[Sifo]

It's been 2 weeks since EPBT said the white was in production :\ we're following up constantly but still not on the way to me.

[Sifo]

New white! Not on hand yet, waiting to receive and confirm, and then we can start production (assuming they also made samples of the revised dyesub colors I requested, confirming that now)



Again we may not be able to get a perfect match to WS2 due to differences in ABS vs PBT but if it looks good enough and matches the theme of Skadi we'll have to make do.

[LightningXI]

New white! Not on hand yet, waiting to receive and confirm, and then we can start production (assuming they also made samples of the revised dyesub colors I requested, confirming that now)

Show Image

Again we may not be able to get a perfect match to WS2 due to differences in ABS vs PBT but if it looks good enough and matches the theme of Skadi we'll have to make do.

I think this white looks perfectly good :thumb:

[Tom Sparrow]

I think this white looks perfect based on the image.

How long does the production process take, when to expect the keycaps?

[Sifo]

White samples arrived, I haven't seen them in person yet but it's looking good, it's a cooler tone than Gok's BoW.

Unfortunately still waiting to receive a final dye sub sample as I requested for the printing colors to be adjusted (darker main legends).

EPBT is surprisingly busy right now apparently so samples might take a while (as you can probably tell with the amount of waiting we've done in between just a single color matching round).

They claim producing the set once everything is approved will take a month.

Unfortunately this means our target to have this shipped in summer is likely not possible.

Sorry everyone for the delays, just really want to make sure they get it right. Thanks for your patience.

[LightningXI]

Getting it right > getting it out quickly

Good to see progress still and it looks like production time isn't too bad, to be honest.

[Auxo]

Getting it right > getting it out quickly

Good to see progress still and it looks like production time isn't too bad, to be honest.

This; thank you for the continuous updates as you receive them.

[Tom Sparrow]

Love the updates! 1 month of production is pretty quick. I will be so happy when it arrives!

[Sifo]

Hi bad pic in the shade, ApexKeyboards will take better pics and also a comparison to WS2.



Left is new, right is old.

So basically from what I saw in person, our white is slightly bluer than WS2 but WS2 is brighter. It was never gonna be possible to exactly match the whites since it's ABS vs PBT, but I'm quite happy with how this one looks as far as being truthful to the theme of the set. So this white is being approved, however we still need a final dyesub sample where I requested the main alpha legends to be darker. Don't know how long that'll take but they're working on it.

Also from Apex: Order sheet was also sent to KBDFans for pre-production materials preparation.

[Sifo]

[Sifo]

Message we got was "Need to wait a few days, Dyesub is moving to a new address."

Unclear if this means that the dyesubbing equipment has relocated or if this means that the keycaps are in transit to get dyesubbed.

[Sifo]

It has been clarified that they are in fact moving dyesub equipment to a new location. Samples delayed, nothing we can do here.

[Sifo]

in case you weren't aware it's Chinese National Day (which lasts a week I guess) so we're still waiting for this dyesub factory relocation to settle. We've asked for updates anyway.

[Sifo]

Hey all! So the next round of Skadi samples came in.

I have tentatively approved them! Honestly they're still not perfect, there seems to be some complication regarding how color turns out when printed vs plastic pantone chips. But I can say that I am certainly satisfied with how it turned out regardless and that it matches my vision of how I wanted the set. These differences are pretty difficult to tell with the naked eye unless you're holding them right up to your face, at least under the lighting conditions in which I viewed them, and both Apex and I have deemed it not worth the time to go for another round considering we are approaching the one year mark of an ePBT gb.

If I wanted to be extremely, minutely nitpicky I would say:

The mod color is a little bit less saturated than the pantone chip sample
The accent color is a little warmer than the pantone chip sample
Obviously we've established that the white isn't quite WS2, it has a less blue tone to it and is more neutral in my opinion, works just fine with the rest of the set
The main legend still isn't as dark as the pantone chip, this will be greatly exaggerated in photos because the dark purple of the 520C chip absorbs a lot more light compared to the printed legends
The sub legend leans a bit more toward hot pink rather than the bright purple/magenta of the Purple C chip. This is the one that personally bothers me the most, but from normal viewing distance it actually looks correct. It'll depend on lighting too.

Compared to the renders is a whole different story, we hope that having both Marco and Oblotzky's renders gave you an idea of how it'd look in different lighting conditions. Under the shady-neutral lighting as my photos in the OP, it looks pretty bang on with the Oblo renders, but under studio lighting, it kinda looks different in photographs. At the very least I can assure you that it's not as bad as GMK Alter turned out, since that was a whole different issue.

Funny story, for some reason we're missing the "S" key from the sample kit that was provided to us so when I post the pic of the set on a board it's gonna look odd.

Apex has the rest of the kits and will be trying to take photos for you guys to see. We will confirm the order some time this week and hopefully production will begin in the next. ETA according to ePBT/KBDFans is 1-2 months. This means it miiiight bleed into the holidays and delay us further but we're hoping for the best to have these to you guys just in time for the holidays.

Finally I'd like to apologize for having taken so long. A lot of it was out of our control as we were essentially stuck waiting on ePBT to send us samples. It's taken a ridiculously long time for only 2 rounds of samples, again due to many reasons out of our control such as relocating dye sub equipment, new molds, losing our pantone chips, etc. I hope you will find the final product to be as satisfactory as I have.

[Sifo]

Left - R2
Right - final (darker main legend, more purple in the sub legend)

Final sample has been approved, invoicing vendors and placing order.

[Sifo]

Things should be moving along, all of the keycaps were already manufactured so it's just down to dyesubbing.

Tokkipee artisans have begun production as well, and there will be extras if anyone missed out.

Hoping to have everything sent out first thing after the New Year. Thanks for your continued patience and support.

[LightningXI]

Awesome. I'm still looking forward to my first set with this style of sublegends.

[Sifo]

Hi, production is actually wrapping up and will be shipping out to respective vendors soonTM. Just awaiting final confirmation from EPBT

also elzy skadi stickers

[Sifo]

Hi, I lied, I forgot about Chinese New Year. so, after that probably.

[Ranker2]

Any updates on the desk mat?

[Sifo]

Any updates on the desk mat?

desk mats should have shipped long ago. we're ordering more that will be available on apex

[Sifo]

ICYMI

https://twitter.com/Sifolyy/status/1491849150463606784?s=20&t=C5MtqZyZAfyeQPbafOW6Ow

Production should be wrapping up? Just waiting for vendors to receive them. Following up tomorrow.

[Sifo]

Another disappointing update but we ran into some issues which has delayed the sets being shipped out to vendors. They're still in China right now

[Tom Sparrow]

Have they left china or are there any other complications?

[Sifo]

So we have tracking and it has officially been shipped out to vendors but right now it's in a province that's under some sort of restrictions so we're not sure if it will arrive by the estimated date of this Thursday.

[FAMOUSKBD]

Excellent design.

[Sifo]

Shipment to vendors are no longer stuck and en route!

[Sifo]

Skadi has landed, shipping out as soon as Apex can get to it (they're pretty busy with shipping out other projects too)

I'll be checking out the sets later in the week.

[Sifo]

Hi guys just in case anyone is following this thread and wondering why their order hasn't shipped, we have run into delays regarding orders with Tokkipee and numpad kit orders.

Tokkis are delayed due to resin supply and the numpad kit requires replacement keys. We've been working on this for some time now but again due to supply and lockdown in China, it's taken longer than expected. We really want to get these sets out asap so thank you for your continued patience.

[Sifo]

Replacement keys are on their way to the respective vendors and numpad orders will be shipped out ASAP, thanks.

[Rilow]

Any updates?

[Sifo]

Tokkis  are done, awaiting shipping to be sorted out between Apex and the artisan.

There may still be some outstanding orders as well

[Rilow]

Hope the base kits will be shipped soon.

[Sifo]

Email your respective vendor for updates on that, unfortunately I have no control over that. As far as I know most orders that are able to be shipped have been shipped, with some slight delays on Apex's end regarding a few outstanding orders that have slowly been going out.

Tokkis have been shipped to us