By now, you’ve probably seen our Hero Project Kickstarter campaign for our 8” Rama action figure. It will be running from 7/7- 8/8, slightly more than 30 days. Since the clock is ticking, we thought it might worth letting you know a few ways you might chip-in to make this really huge.

For those of you who might be unfamiliar with Kickstarter. Its an amazing new site that helps creators raise funding for their projects by taking preorders. More about how Kickstarter works at this link.

How can you help?

1. Purchase!

We’re not going to be shy. This is a great product and if we don’t sell enough during the campaign, it may never see the light of day. Even if you don’t have kids of your own, it’s a great gift for nieces, nephews and grandkids.

Starting at $35 (shipping included for US residents), these are really high-quality figures and we are producing several reward tiers that make for great gifts. The ‘Figure & Storybook Gift Set’ is a great value at $90. Figures also make good items to purchase as donations for after school programs or day care centers.

Take 3-5 minutes to learn more and support a good cause:

1. Go to the Hero Project Page and see what its all about.
2. Choose a reward package- located in the column on the right.  Options start at just $1.
3. Purchase your reward (through Amazon) If we get fully funded, your product will be shipped to you in February
4. Tell some folks about your purchase and keep the conversation rolling

2. Talk  about it

If you like what we’re doing, talk to people about it. Do you know any culture nuts, yoga enthusiasts, parents, toy collectors, grandparents, teachers or kids? Here are some talk points-

• Introduce your child to the diverse cultures of the world through its heroes!  Like National Geographic, our figures expose kids to ideas from a variety of different cultures. These heroes and their stories are timeless, magical and expose kids to the richness of the societies that produced them.

• Hero play is fundamental to child development. Action figures and action play allow kids to explore new identities, skills, values, and take manageable risks. It helps them model their behavior around the ideas of right and wrong and understand the core values of perseverance, discipline, honor, loyalty, sacrifice, and the value of following their dreams.

• Kickstarter and its ‘crowdfunding’ or ‘pre-order’ model is a radical new way to sell a product. Instead of trying to work with a large company to produce the item in mass quantities, we’re keeping it lean and going straight to the people who might be interested in buying one. We only have one month to get people on board to create the item. If we don’t raise the money, the figure won’t get produced. 

3. Email

Share a link to our Kickstarter page with people that you think might be interested.

Please don’t feel like you have to blast it to everyone! Share it with only the people that you think might be truly interested!

Here’s a sample email-

Have you seen this?  The guys at Dynamo Devlabs design toys for some of the biggest toy brands in the world (Pokemon, Star Wars, GI Joe, Batman, Spiderman, Jurassic Park , etc.).  Now they are producing a toy line of their own, based on heroes from around the world, starting with the Indian hero Rama.

They’re taking preorders for the figure at Kickstarter.com and if they don’t hit their number, the figures won’t get made. You can learn more at their Kickstarter Project Page.  Check it out!

4. ‘Like’ Us!

Go to the Kickstarter Page and ‘Like’ us using your Facebook account. You can also ‘Like’ us on Facebook, our blog, on Pinterest and anywhere that you see we’ve popped up online.

5. Tell bloggers about us

If you know any bloggers or read a site that this might be perfect for- send them this email, shoot them a link to the Kickstarter campaign or have them contact us directly. We can fill in the blanks on what we are doing and why we think it’s a great project.

6. Tell shop owners or online retailers

This product is perfect for comic stores, locally-owned toy stores, gift shops, yoga accessory stores or anywhere that mom’s, kids, or fan’s of world or pop culture might shop. We have 2 retail-based packages that allow folks to buy multiple figures at wholesale prices.

7. Tweet (or retweet)

You can follow us and the project on Twitter @dynamodevlabs   Feel free to retweet some of our updates.

8. Hang a few posters

We’ve produced some posters that you can download, print and hang on bulletin boards at coffee shops, local stores, libraries, book stores, college shops or any community bulletin board. Download the printable poster, make some scissor cuts along the side for the tear-off weblinks and hang-away!

Whew!!! That was thirsty work!  Take a few seconds to pat yourself on the back for us. Thanks a million for taking part in our adventure!!! The outpouring of support has been amazing.

Let us know if you have any more ideas about getting the word out!