So… funny story.

Last December, I registered for a dealer’s table at Pittsburgh Anthrocon, one of the country’s biggest furry conventions. I like working with those guys. I find them extremely well organized and fair to both their dealers and their patrons. Unfortunately, many people must feel the same way, because tables sold out in half the time they usually do. I was offered a spot on the wait list, but the chances that a table would open up were very slim.

Fast forward to the end of May. A table opened up! That’s great! I’ll see my friends and meet more fans and sell my merch and……..

…I have six weeks to prepare for a con that I should have had six months to prepare for.

Okay, I already had comic books, t-shirts, magnets, and trading cards. But I wanted something new for this con. Last year, I sewed plush turtles, based on the lead character from my animated short, Cookie Tree. I thought it would be nice to have another plush, but I wanted something that looks more like my usual drawings. But I had not time to design toys based on any main characters.

The I remembered these guys:

I had drawn this one comic where Dynamite and Detonator had showed off their family album. Most of the rabbit designs were not predetermined. On a whim, I drew this rabbit couple – one cheerful and upbeat, the other gloomy and downcast. I wanted to do something with them again some day, so I figured they’d make good toys. Plus it might be fun for readers to own their own member of the jackrabbit family, not an established character, but a less defined one that readers could give a new identity and personality.

And, for even more fun, I based the design on some of my Super Smash Opera puppet patterns. So these aren’t just plush toys. They’re also hand puppets.

These guys are made from super soft fleece with flannel linings. The eyes are printed on cloth-transfer paper, so they are literally my drawings in plush form.

As you can see, I departed from my original drawings a played up the tropical theme for one and the goth theme for the other (I really love the concept of a cute goth bunny.) You can think of them as Blast and Mortar, if you like, but I consider them to be new “inspired by” characters, whom I have nicknamed “Sunny” and “Shady.”

For now, there are no plans to sell these jackrabbit puppets outside of the con. If you want to guarantee yourself a puppet, you’ll have to come and find me at Anthrocon. I’ll be at table C-08.

See you there.