As the saying goes, “The best plans for rats and men often have problems.” Last week, the Longbox Heroes Collection launched a Kickstarter campaign a week ago to create a second wave of brand new action character selection based on characters from comic books owned by some of the most popular creators. While there is a promising start that looks likely to meet the crowdfunding goal, the event has been cancelled.
Unless you are not paying attention to the current event, it is no surprise that it is related to the new tariffs. As the Rich Toys explains in an Instagram post:
First, we want to thank you for your incredible support in the last week of your Kickstarter campaign. We have been closely monitoring the latest developments in terms of tariff increases and after much deliberation, we have made difficult decisions to suspend the campaign.
Many of you may know that recent policy changes have greatly increased tariffs on goods imported from China. These new policies add 35% tariffs to the existing 20%, which means we now face more than 50% of manufacturing costs. Unfortunately, this cost is not absorbed by China, it directly affects us as manufacturers and ultimately takes you as a supporter.
Put it on perspective:
If our digital production costs $10, the new tariff will be increased to $15. This is a supplement to licensing fees, internal production costs, tools and allocations. This means that once all relevant taxes, transportation and handling costs are taken into account all electricity prices, transportation and handling costs. Given these circumstances, we made incredibly difficult decisions to cancel the Kickstarter campaign.
No one is more disappointed than we are, we are still committed to finding ways to bring these characters to life. We really appreciate your enthusiasm, support and understanding throughout the process.
Thank you for believing in this project like we do.
I’m sure fans and collectors are very disappointed with the news. Expect things to get worse and then get better. As seductive as I am, I will avoid making any political comments and allow the comment section to be freely bound.
