The KickStarter Project campaign for HIDEOUS PLASTIC – In stores everyone can hear you scream. didn’t receive the support I anticipated; and while the result was disappointing, I’m not disappointed.  There is a difference.  I’ve written a post mortem for the final update on the Project’s KickStarter campaign page and I’ve reproduced it in its entirety below:

The KickStarter campaign is now over and the result has been disappointing. Oh well. It’s not really a problem. I’ve already commenced working on a plan to raise funds elsewhere. Regardless of the disappointing result, people did support the campaign. 49 Backers to be precise; and I am stoked that these people were willing to express their votes of confidence by making pledges. 23% (AU$5670) of the primary (AU$25,000) goal was reached and while this falls well short of the target, I am still pleased people considered the Project to be worth supporting.

Thank you everyone who made a pledge.

Mind you, the campaign wasn’t a complete failure. While the funding goals were unmet it did serve another important purpose. The campaign significantly raised the levels of awareness for this Project and now thousands of people know about the book, HIDEOUS PLASTIC – In stores everyone can hear you scream. Widening the range of exposure and promoting the book was a secondary goal that has been met and I’m grateful for that.

As to the book itself, it’s still very, very much alive. Here’s the current state of its development. The manuscript is largely complete. I do have more work to do to bring it up to date but the content is definitely in place. To get the book into peoples’ hands, however, I need to involve other professionals.

• I already have a publisher wanting to take on the responsibilities of committing the book to print, which is very encouraging.
• The book will also need to be edited and typeset.
• It also needs to be fact checked and made 100% accurate. That’s a little tricky, but can be done.
• It needs to have the interior and cover designed.
• Finally, printing and distribution will have to be done.

People needed to perform these tasks have already agreed to do so. In this regard, the book is as good as complete as all the services needed have already been arranged.

The only thing that stands in the way of its publication now is the funding needed to pay these individuals/organisations. KickStarter was intended to be that bridge. Unfortunately, the bridge is out and I have to find an alternate route. It’s not really a problem and it just means the book will be delayed while I arrange alternate funding.

As far as anyone interested in this book is concerned, you won’t see it released for Christmas, 2017 as originally planned. It will be released some time later, 2018 at the earliest. 12 months is an expected minimum.

Some changes will be made to the book but it will remain largely unaffected. At this stage, a hardcover edition is unlikely but the contents remain unchanged. Only content relating to KickStarter will be excised from the book. There’s no great loss there. A proposed gallery of Backer images, a KickStarter supporters page and various other references will not be included. That’s it. Overall, the book won’t change or suffer much in this regard.

I learnt a lot from this KickStarter campaign. I’ve got a pretty good idea where I can improve my chances of success should I choose to pursue a follow up KickStarter campaign in the future. Yes, that is a possibility and definitely not out of the question at this stage. If I choose to do so, it will be different.

In the meantime, you can follow the progress of this Project on its website.  Visit hideousplastic.com for updates. I can’t promise any regularity to them but I do often post news and reviews regarding ALIEN action figures and toys. There’s always going to be content posted on the site to keep people coming back. I’ll make sure of that.

When I started the campaign, I intended to work on further volumes with the long term goal of making HIDEOUS PLASTIC a trilogy. At the time I believed failure of the campaign would result in volumes 2 (This time it’s more.) & 3 (Whatever sells we buy.) being axed and terminated. Completely.

Now in this post KickStarter period of the Project, I find I still want to work on those 2 follow up books and it’s not quite so easy for me to let them go so readily. This means they’re still alive – albeit on life support – but still a going concern. I’ll get this first volume out of the way first and revisit Vols. 2&3 at a later date.

This first book is going to be a difficult enough Project to complete without the anticipated funding and additional complications of working on multiple Projects of this size. I don’t need to concern myself with an additional workload right now. I’ll return to these separate Projects when it’s appropriate and they’ll be a lot of fun – and work – to prepare.

Various other people were instrumental in getting the campaign up and running and I owe them as much an expression of gratitude as anyone else.

Joe ‘SiL’ Guilar helped out with the campaign video and ran the Hideous Plastic instagram account. It’s still up and running and he’s posting Kenner ALIEN action figure photos when he sees fit. Geofrey ‘Le Celticant’ Kenner provided the soundtrack to that campaign video. Matthew McNamara handled the social media side of things to help reach out to as many people as possible. Nicholas ‘Mr.Shank’ Yee was kind enough to post all manner of stuff to me during the past 6 months or so and that’s been a great help, too. Oh, and Garry Parrott for all his miscellaneous assistance when I needed it.

There are other people I wish to recognise and thank for their assistance in helping me promote the book and its website. Corporal Hicks of AvP Galaxy, Willie over at ALIENS Collection and Apollo of Global AvP. Thank you, Guys, for your support.

No doubt there’s others I’ve neglected to mention who are equally deserving of praise. Please don’t hold this against me. This has been a difficult past 2 months and I’m glad to see it’s over now.

Thank you everyone. Your contribution was invaluable and I absolutely appreciate your efforts!

Finally, it’s time to acknowledge this campaign is now closed and this will be my final update on KickStarter for this current Project. While it didn’t reach the financial goals, the campaign was invaluable in many, many other ways.

Keep an eye out on the website for further updates on the book’s progress. …or at least visit for any News, reviews and independent commentary regarding ALIEN action figures, both old and new.  The site is updated frequently in this regard.

Thank you for your interest, attention and support. This campaign is now over. I am leaving it behind; but we certainly aren’t finished yet.  Anyone wanting to contact me regarding anything about the book is welcome to do so.

Phil ‘Windebieste’ Wlodarczyk.

windebieste@hideousplastic.com.