A surprising amount of people responded to one my tweets recently, saying they very much do want more POPGOES merch, with some specific suggestions too. We've had a bit of a break in the merch department recently (only the Youtooz plushies this year so far!) but there are things going on behind the scenes. Here's some info I can give:

The POPGOES Beach/Summer Pin Set is almost finished. We're currently touching up paint and glitter colours. I am fairly certain it will release before the end of the year, but delays can happen. I know we're not in Summer anymore, so let's just pretend we all live in Australia. This is another super high quality, great value pin set by Youtooz.

Believe it or not, but something else should be releasing ALONGSIDE the Beach Pin Set (or very close to it). Something small, affordable, but VERY cool. If all goes well, it will be the first product of a set that I am very proud of designing. Something I have been trying to get made for almost a year! Hopefully news on this soon-ish.

A third and final product is confirmed to be in development behind the scenes. It has official concept art but no production progress just yet. This is a special "variant" of something that has already released, but I think it's super exciting. This product is also designed to gauge the interest of more products in its "genre", so we shall see where it takes us...

As for longer-term plans:

- I am in contact with a new company that has never worked with the Fanverse before. I reached out over a year ago in hopes of collaboration, mostly for cheaper, "printed" products like t-shirts, art prints, etc. This has been a super slow process but things are looking really good right now. Even Scott wants this to happen!

- I am aware that people want more standalone merch of non-Popgoes characters. Don't worry... I have reason to believe that, at the very least, Blake and Stone will get more attention next year.

- Can confirm I've heard nothing from Funko or Hex/Warren James. I'm quite convinced that their higher-ups are simply not interested in the Fanverse at the moment. Totally their decision, but fingers crossed we can change their mind in the future. I am making the most out of my connections with the companies that are involved in the Fanverse. Really appreciate their cooperation.

As for the logistics of POPGOES merch:

- Ignoring the Funko plushies, I am directly involved with every single POPGOES merch release. I am very strict with quality control, so some products can take quite a while to be finalised. That being said, mocking stuff up, commissioning artists, and communicating with companies does not take up much of my time and it certainly does not affect game development, so don't worry about this. Developing games (and more recently fixing/updating them...) is always the priority.

- Despite the label on the back of the Youtooz pins, the merchandise released for POPGOES is for the "POPGOES series" and not specifically POPGOES Evergreen. The Summer designs are nowhere in Evergreen, and neither is the Blake design on the Funko plushie. Complaints of merchandise being released "before the game" are incorrect... because there are two Fanverse POPGOES games out right now! And they are just as valid as full, playable, official FNAF entries, as Evergreen. So try to enjoy the merch as a complimentary product as part of the POPGOES "franchise", which has multiple games out right now, instead of complaining about it being made before the release of one specific entry. Or just ignore the merch lol.

Designing merch is fun, and releasing it is super exciting, so I want to thank everyone who shared their enthusiasm for it in the replies to the tweet mentioned earlier. More tangible news soon, hopefully.

- Kane