Membrain to handle licensing for character brand Purridge & Friends by Furry Feline Creatives

Our friend at Furry Feline, who have exhibited alongside of us at NYCC and also provided us with exclusive plushes, have just sent over an exciting press release. Seems to be a giant step forward in terms of gaining global recognition for the FFC brand!

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Los Angeles-based licensing, brand management and marketing consultancy memBrain have been selected to manage the merchandise licensing program for the whimsical character brand “Purridge & Friends,” created by Alvin and Cheri Ong of Furry Feline Creatives.

Remarked Jennifer Sullivan, president of memBrain, “Purridge & Friends features a playful lineup of colorful characters and stories that inspire the imagination.  After such a successful launch in boutique and specialty stores, we are excited to introduce Purridge & Friends products in new categories and channels of distribution throughout the world.”

Since its launch in 2012, Purridge & Friends plush toys and related products have been flying off the shelves of specialty stores, boutiques, and at tradeshows.  In only a couple of years, Furry Feline Creatives has expanded the Purridge universe with adorable new characters, personalities and a delightful world to live in. There are now special edition plush versions of Purridge, Ringo, Chef Tako, and Dude, as well as all the rest of the handcrafted cuddly cast of characters.

“We are very excited to be working alongside with memBrain headed by Jennifer Sullivan, award-winning licensing, marketing & brand strategist, as our global licensing agent for Purridge & Friends. The memBrain team truly understands our vision and philosophy and shares our fans' passion for this brand. Their knowledge, expertise and relationships combined with their ability to convey through their partners will no doubt lead to some fantastic licensing programs in this market.” expressed Alvin Ong, Co-Owner/Storywriter of Purridge & Friends.

Purridge & Friends stars Purridge, a little white cat with a big heart, and her friends. Purridge shares her love of food, fun, and learning with her best pals who are filled with personality and fun. “We wanted to make something familiar and real, something we like and that we can relate to. We are unique, we’ve all got stories to tell, and that’s what makes it so special and original” explained Cheri Ong, Co-owner/illustrator of Purridge & Friends.

“We’re so excited to work with Furry Feline Creatives on this fun, cute and super adorable brand.  As soon as you pick up the Purridge & Friends plushies, it just gives you a sunshine of happiness. I’m really looking forward to extending these fun, personable characters to apparel, accessories, toys and so many other products,” enthused Julie Lee, Business Manager of memBrain.

About Furry Feline Creatives

Furry Feline Creatives is the character design studio and lifestyle brand that was started in 2011. Two newly proud parents, Alvin & Cheri wanted their kids to grow up and recognize their individuality and differences.  Embracing themselves for who they are.  So they turned into creating their own characters to share the message of Individuality, Family and Love. Cheri with no previous sewing background started sewing plush toys with the drawings she made in her childhood days while Alvin wrote stories influenced by people's personalities, interests and experience.  These were projected in these wonderful and appealing cast of characters. 

About memBrain 

memBrain helps brands to unleash their story and to find their place in pop culture. Fusing creative energy with strategic know-how, memBrain represents global brands, celebrities and manufacturers, driving sales and building lucrative and lasting emotional connections with fans through authentic brand extensions. memBrain offers brands unparalleled access to talent, top brands and business innovators.  With a global network of top-level creative and strategic business executives, memBrain develops meaningful and actionable programs that push boundaries and resonate in a crowded marketplace.  Founded more than a decade ago by entertainment attorney Ken Hertz of Hertz & Lichtenstein, LLP (whose clients include will.i.am, Will Smith, Gwen Stefani, Britney Spears, Shaun White and others), memBrain develops and executes entertainment, partnership marketing and media programs on behalf of leading global brands including McDonald’s, Hasbro, MillerCoors, Intel and Coty and strategic licensing programs for Demi Lovato, will.i.am, Iron Chef, Kenny Scharf, Man V Liver and other leading licensors. Visit www.membrainllc.com for more information.

FREE Kickstarter App for iPhone and iPad now available

Kickstarter has launched a NEW and FREE app for iPhone and iPad which you can download here.

Because there's nothing more fun than sitting at work, earning money, while simultaneously spending money! Surf the fabulous Kickstarters on the road, at lunch, and while walking the dog. Might we suggest that you download the app and do a search for "Four Horsies"?

We promise to deliver the Pocalypse right to your door! Modern conveniences, I tell you! I'm even managing the Four Horsies Kickstarter from my phone now!

- Benny

 Click here to back the Four Horsies of the Pocalypse Kickstarter 

El Jardin de las Criaturas by The Criaturas

Madrid based artist, The Criaturas, sent over some info on the latest release titled "El Jardin de las Criaturas" (The cutest garden ever). Created on a 15cm wood base, with the tallest piece measuring 15cm as well, this unique art piece, features simple shapes with bold colors. The base is natural wood, while the rest of the piece is hand made, representing a cute little garden of colorful little creatures. Priced at 55 Euros(~$64), "El Jarin de las Criaturas" is on sale now. Be sure to follow The Criaturas through their website and on Facebook.

 

 

 - Mark-Anthony

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Heroica: Lego almost remakes HeroQuest.

A few people might remember a game put out years ago by Milton Bradley (with miniature design done by the talented people at Games Workshop) that was essentially the gateway board game into playing pen and paper rpgs like D&D. I bet fewer people realize that a kick ass series of games in the same vein and spirit of HeroQuest were released by Lego Games under the name of Heroica.

Even the map reminds me of old school NES game maps you'd get in the manuals.

 The set I am covering today is the Draida expansion, which was one of five (technically six) board game styled Lego sets that could be assembled in a Voltron forming way to create one long winding dungeon/castle/cave/forest crawl.

The rules for the game are insanely basic, with an oversized die that is rolled for movement, and depending on the set you have, various enemies, weapons, items, and micro figures to use as heroes on your quest. (<--- HA! Subliminal!)

It and many other games that have been developed for the board games line from Lego are not the most complex in explanation, and in all instances, not unlike the open ended aspects of building with Lego bricks, there are huge open possibilities to completely customizing the rules for this game to really ramp up the difficulty, quest intricacies, and danger for the characters. Which was even something done for the other game HeroQuest by many rabid fans.

Front and back of the box. The nice aspect of the size of the box is as noted on the back, you can store the board completely assembled in it's box when done.

The unfortunate thing is that more and more, mint copies of games for Heroica are becoming scarcer by the year, with prices climbing on the aftermarket very quickly ever since interest recently renewed. Draida was the first set released back in June of 2011 with an msrp of $15. The line lasted for about a year and a half and culminated with the retail release of the Ilrion add-on (although the incredibly rare Ganrash promotional set was available in Q3 of 2012 through a few places, I only saw one polybagged copy at Planet Comicon two years ago for $70).

The fortunate thing is that in some retail shops, like Hastings, where I found this box set, it was marked at clearance for $1.99, and had a pack in Nintendo DS game for Lego Harry Potter. Those are the kinds of toy finds I LIVE for.

(Top) Contents of the box all polybagged alongside Harry Potter for the NDS. (Bottom) Shot of one of the polybag contents.

Lego really went all out with Heroica's design and feel, and I think there was a lot of promise and potential that could have come out of this series if it had been out for a while longer. For a while animated adventures and even an online rendition of the board game was available on the Lego website.

The box set came with a game rules manual, combination comic and world map, and instructions on building Draida.

The set is small, and is actually the starting point when all of the sets are assembled together, but did come with a large amount of micro figs. (Inset image) A lego prybar is included for kids (and impatient adults with large fingers) to separate bricks.

The assembly didn't take long at all. Maybe a total of fifteen minutes, if that long. But in this case, as I'd mentioned before, the game aspect is what is being pushed more than the Lego form factor.

(Upper Left) Included comic adventure. (Upper Right) Wizard and Barbarian hero character micro figs. (Bottom) Goblin soldiers and Goblin General in the rear, standing in front of the "Crystal of Deflection".

And in case you have never seen these Lego micro figs compared to the main line mini figs, here's a comparison for you to check out...

I shall call him... mini me.

My final thoughts? If you have even the slightest love of board games and Lego, get these while you can now, before these sets get really high in price. The fun factor for this series can really be off the chart, and only limited by your imagination. 

Until next time! - Mario, the Rogue Hobbyist.
 

Stats	Rating/Information
Item	"Draida" Heroica Game
Made by	Lego
Rarity	Rare (The variant with the pack in HP game seems to be a bit rarer.)
Classification	Out of Production
Condition	Mint, but some shelf wear.
Procured	Hastings - Warrensburg, Missouri
Worth	$40 (based on current eBay findings)
Investment	$2
Further Research	N/A
Trivia & Fun Facts	The Heroica line has a small but devout group of enthusiasts that have been creating new content and rules for playing in fan forums and sites, to having new official ideas submitted to Lego Idea. Check out the very cool Balkhur Moors set proposal on Lego Ideas here! And and incredible dual level build here.

RELEASE THE mini SQUADTS! - NOZZEL s001.50

This is the new NOZZEL S001.50 being released today at noon central time. These pieces will only be available for the next 24 hours in the Project Squadt store.

NOZZEL S001.50 is a 3.5" vinyl, cloth and ABS - Includes: 2 sets of arms, sAK-74, parka and removable helmet. It is available for $40 plus $20 shipping worldwide. Orders of 2-3 pieces will receive a flat $25 shipping rate and the figures will ship in 6-8 weeks.