Patchtogether In New York Comic Con

Hi everyone. This is Miller from PatchTogether writing in to share some images from our recent trip to the New York Comic Con where we had a complete blast soaking in all the madness and excitement. Despite a small fiasco with DHL, the 3 day event was by large a very positive experience for our small company's first convention. The numerous words of praise and support from those of you who visited our booth was very encouraging and much appreciated. It has been a challenging journey the past 3 years taking PT from inception to its current state, so it was very nice to finally have an opportunity to meet and talk with our supporters. Here are some pictures of all the fun we had.
After attending numerous conventions as a Joe Public, I finally witnessed the sheer craziness and exhaustion that goes on behind the scene for exhibitors and vendors. I think most people will tell you that the preparations and initial setup leading up to opening day is beyond exhausting. Packing, shipping, transporting, unpacking, the list of things to do felt endless. The long flights into NY(Beijing, Germany and San Diego)had all three of us yearning for zzz's the first night in town. Major props go to VISEone for arriving earlier in the week and doing all the hard lifting with the booth setup. The Ikea display cases were a wonderful choice and nicely arranged to showcase our products. Speaking of products, we had originally planned on showing off several new prototypes along with debuting our new Floxy line with an exclusive NYCC version at the show. Unfortunately, there was a mistake by DHL which prevented our shipment from clearing customs on time. Initially, we were all quite bummed by DHL developments, but we got over it quickly and did the best we could with the older pieces from our California warehouse. VISEone also brought some amazing custom pieces from Germany which piqued the interest of many visitors. Due to the DHL debacle, the only items we had on hand for sale were our Yeti, Slimeball and Roboluchas. But to the delight of a few PT supporters, we were able to offer many of our display models for sale during the last day.
The most attention grabbing prototypes at our booth were life size Chum Buddy and its smaller body pillow counterpart. We received some great feedback from everyone who climbed into the jaws of ChumBuddy. Most people found his belly surprisingly comfortable but a bit too warm. Miller and I was really happy with the outer material's durability because it managed to survive three days of abuse from the public without any tears or rips. Our only concern was the puffiness of the cotton material which was greatly reduced when it was vacuum packaged for shipment. As you can see from the pictures, this created a deflated look to our poor ChumBuddy. But be not worry for our factory has been instructed to include more cotton to offset the reduction.
It was my first time to New York and I was completely dazzled by the city. The people, the architecture, the food, the energy. There's simpley nothing else like it. I wish my stay in NY was longer because there was so much more to see. Maybe next year.