We've been engaged in a a debate over here at The Little Plastic Train Company headquarters. (Imagine a giant Paw Patrol-style Tower, but with various train themed vehicles we can deploy for different emergencies.)
The debate is about our Urban Freight graffiti trains.
One group wants the graffiti to appear on both sides of each train. Call this faction "team maximum graffiti."
The other group is concerned that having graffiti on both sides of each train will make it harder to tell at a glance the spots that the black boxcars cover. This group wants the graffiti to appear on one side of each train to vary how often the graffiti appears and to make it stand out more when it does. Call this faction "team graffiti halfsies."
It's true. More money often does cause more problems. Economics even has a name for this phenomenon: the "resource curse." Sudden wealth from natural resources can, paradoxically, make a country's government more corrupt and its standard of living worse.
But you know what never causes more problems? Moretrains.
In fact, the more trains a country has, the less likely its government is to be corrupt and the higher its standard of living.
We can only assume the same is true for our trains as well.
Our train sets come with 48 trains each. This is more than enough for most train games, with the one exception being Ticket to Ride: Asia, which requires 54 trains per player.
To satisfy folks who wanted enough trains for that variant (or just wanted a bunch of extras), we created the "Extra Engines Pack" in our last campaign. 6 trains in each of the previous models so you can have 54 trains of each type.
We want to make as many of our backers happy as possible. We've run the numbers and can make an "Extra Trains Set" containing 6 trains of each of the 8 current models (48 trains) for $15 each. This product would be offered as an add-on and would not incur any extra shipping costs. And the trains would fit in the existing tins you'd be getting as part of this campaign.
But, we need to know how many of y'all are interested (or not) to determine if we can offer this extra product.
We'll keep the poll open through the end of the week and make an announcement at that time.
The Little Plastic Train Company
Monorail: It can happen to you
about 1 year ago
– Wed, Oct 18, 2023 at 03:43:19 PM
Glorious backers,
We're sorry for not having posted an update in a while.
You see, our updater-in-chief has been sick.
Don't worry--it's nothing serious. He's just got a cold.
But our updater's illness has prompted us to make a public service announcement about another disease that affects thousands of people worldwide but is rarely talked about.
Monorail: A One-Track Disease
A typical case of monorail
Because monorail, often called "mono" for short, is rarely fatal and few people seek treatment for it, we don't have good statistics on how many people it infects each year.
Also called the "Disney disease" because most people contract mono for the first time at DisneyWorld, its typical symptoms include:
Monorail fever - an obsessive desire to ride the monorail over and over again
Sore throat - from telling friends and family how cool the monorail is
Fatigue - from excessive monorail travel
Suddendesire to speak Spanish - por favor mantengase alejado de las puertas
Monorail: DISNEY-71 strain
Though mono mostly infects adolescents and teenagers, adults can contract it too. The symptoms of adult-onset mono can be even more severe. While most cases of mono eventually go away on their own, for some people mono can become a lifelong, chronic illness.
Globally, chronic mono is most common in China, Japan, and Germany. In the United States, chronic mono is found mostly in the cities of Newark, Jacksonville, and Las Vegas.
Mono with acute inflammation
Sadly, there is no vaccine or cure for mono.
Fortunately, new research suggests that chronic mono sufferers may be able to alleviate their symptoms by interacting with miniature facsimile monorails in the comfort of their own home. Unable to ride these monorails, chronic mono patients can thus experience a "safe" form of monorail interaction that will hopefully cause their symptoms to one day disappear completely.
It's believed that a completely fictional, off-world monorail would be the most effective form of treatment as it would not remind chronic mono sufferers of the real-life monorails that caused their affliction.
That's the primary reason we decided to create "The Odyssey."
You spin me right round, baby, right round
If you suffer from mono, don't suffer in silence.
Ask your doctor if "The Odyssey" is right for you.
There is life after mono...
A very special message from,
The Little Plastic Train Company
Upon reaching over 1,011 backers...
about 1 year ago
– Thu, Oct 12, 2023 at 12:41:43 AM
Sometime on October 11th, we passed 1,011 backers and raised over $101,100.
A coincidence? Or a sign of divine favor from the heavens?
Definitely a coincidence.
What else was significant about October 11th?
It was a very special day in America:
National Pet Obesity Day.
Such a heckin chonker
In honor of both occasions, a poem:
Once more unto the breach, dear backers, once more!
Exeunt,
The Little Plastic Train Company
Aside: Don't overfeed your pets, y'all. That ain't right.
Funded in just 1.33181 x 10^-5 years!
about 1 year ago
– Tue, Oct 10, 2023 at 09:18:00 AM
Or 4.2 x 10^20 attoseconds!
That's 7 minutes for those who want a more human timescale.
Is that important?
We have no idea!
All the other "cool" campaigns send out an updating letting their backers know how long it took their campaigns to fund.
So, I guess we're giving into peer pressure.
No, mom, we wouldn't jump off a bridge if all the other campaigns were doing it.
It's not like that, mom! You don't understand! Gaaaaaawd.
And why won't you let us go see Taylor Swift? Kirsten's mom is letting her go. Ugh! Why are you so mean to us! It's not fair!
Distance, timing, breakdown, fighting / Silence, the train runs off its tracks.
Anyway, y'all are the best backers. Thank you!
More to come.
The Little Plastic Train Company
P.S. Just don't cancel your pledge or we'll have to write a song about you.
