April Update: New Sneak Peeks, Tariffs, and a Near-Final Book!
11 months ago
– Wed, Apr 30, 2025 at 11:44:51 AM
It’s been quite a month. First and foremost, the tariffs have been something I’ve been watching very closely, as our books (and Dededolls!) are indeed made in China. For a time, this was very concerning to me in terms of rising costs. I may have a solution to everything that hopefully won’t involve any increased prices, but a few things are still up in the air, so stand by.
In better news, the design work is almost done! I’ve gotten all the new comics, all the new features, all the new pages! I mainly just need to tweak a few elements, proofread the whole thing, and add in the page numbers, which collectively shouldn’t take more than a week. Let’s take a look at some of the adjustments:
(all images are not necessarily finalized and may be subject to change)
Very little of the original trilogy’s content was touched, but some of the longer video comics got the star treatment this time! As you can see in the example above, what was previously just a blurb and a QR code is now a double-page spread with lots more art from the comic itself. Nothing got cut to make room for this content; the book just got larger. Other comics that got this boost include The History of Nintendo, Home, Prodigal Robot, and Plumber’s Best Friend.
Enough with the old, onto the new:
This rather melancholy cover jumpstarts the final chunk of the book featuring all the newer stuff in one convenient place that I'm calling VOLUME FOUR. Maybe a picnic with Kirby will liven the old place up a bit?
Perhaps we'll find out in the 11-page finale story, "Brawl in the Family Reunion:"
That's plenty of previewing for now. Onto business! You all should've had your orders locked in and cards charged by now, but I won't be locking addresses until a few months later to minimize issues with people moving, etc.
The digital rewards promised to backers (BitF songs and videos, etc) will be the next main thing I work on after sending off the book itself to the manufacturer. These coincide with the website getting a major shift/update so it may be another couple of months, so I'll let you know when there's more info.
That should be it for this update! See you in a month!
-Matthew
March Update: All Items Ordered, Book Stats, and a Waluigi Comic!
12 months ago
– Mon, Mar 31, 2025 at 11:00:06 AM
This month, I've finished nearly every one of the new comics, wrote/sketched the Epilogue, finished assembling the History, BitMusical, and NF sections, and put together most of the book in one mega-PDF (with some help from my friend Evan). Getting the old PDFs--which were basically held together with duct tape--in a current, workable form was a challenge but I'm satisfied with how things are progressing.
Book Progress, Cards and Dolls ordered
My goal is to have the entirety of the book's work done by the beginning of May! That'll leave plenty of time for the manufacturer to print them and deliver them by the beginning of November--which means everyone should have 'em well before Christmas (even international customers). Here are some numbers:
- The book will weigh in at 780 pages
- Roughly 80 of these are all-new, with an additional 20 or so being pseudo-new (NF comics and comics 601-626)
- Among the new pages are some comics getting a larger double-spread to show more of the art in print form (mostly the video/musical comic ones)
- The History section might be the one I'm most proud of right now, with 14 full pages spanning from 2007 to 2025, and plenty of lost/forgotten art and photos over those years
The Dededolls and Playing Cards have also been ordered! I am...currently looking into storage facilities for the first couple months when I have all this stuff...
Credit Cards, Surveys and Add-Ons
You all should've received your surveys for this project through BackerKit a few weeks ago. So far, 90% of you have replied, which is great! But if you're in the 10% who haven't, why not go fill it out real quick? It's typically just listing your address, and you can also pick up any last-minute items you may want through the Add-On store. If you're moving in the next few months, addresses can be changed until near the end of the year--I'll let you know when these will be locked in. Message me through Kickstarter if you have any questions.
For those of you who did Add-Ons, credit cards will be charged this week for them, so just be aware of that if there's an issue!
April Foolery
Hey, April Fools' Day is tomorrow! How about a new Waluigi comic to celebrate?
There was also a love letter from Daisy in there.
That's all for now. Here's to a good Switch 2 Direct on Tuesday!
-Matthew
February Update: BitF History, More Panels, and Upcoming Surveys!
about 1 year ago
– Fri, Feb 28, 2025 at 06:14:09 AM
Things are rolling right along with the BitF Ultimate Edition, and I've got several big things to cover today, particularly regarding your surveys (which you should receive soon)!
Here are a smattering of panels from the various new comics I've been whipping up this month. Elfilin is sick of people not trusting him! And love is in the air this February as Captain Falcon (unwittingly?) takes Dark Samus out.
It's fun working on honest-to-goodness Brawl in the Family gags again, and I've actually conceptualized nearly all of the 2 dozen strips already! I've also been working on the History section as well, which is organized by year as such:
(as usual, all art/text/layouts etc not necessarily final and subject to change)
Each of the main years of the comic will get its own dedicated page as such--and the section actually goes all the way to 2025, kind of covering everything I worked on that's even tangentially related! As you can see, as a big TV junkie, I've broken BitF down into seven "seasons" (one per year) and covered the big comic milestones on the timeline in the header. The bulk of the page typically features a bunch of bonus art I made that year that hadn't been used in any of the BitF trilogy prior, along with a writeup summarizing it all up.
Between this section and the comics, it's certainly been a walk down memory lane lately! But let's get down to business--
The preorders have now shifted from "Late Pledge" Kickstarter tiers to BackerKit. You can access the current preorder store here or by clicking the button on the main KS page. I mainly did this for organizational purposes. You can also add extra items if you want--basically anything from this campaign except the Waluigi books which sold out!
I had planned on sending out the digital PDFs of Waluigi Time and Gamemaster Classified this month, but I'll actually need to fire off your surveys before I can do that, so surveys will be coming very soon! Within the next week or two most likely. You'll still be able to change your address for months to come though, so if you're moving soon, never fear. Once you fill out your survey, you should be receiving your digital Waluigi or Gamemaster book if you ordered one (digital BitF Ultimate Edition books will be available later this year).
That's all for now! The book is coming along nicely and I'm getting a little extra help from a pal to ensure the technical stuff is taken care of. Keep an eye out for the upcoming surveys, and I'll see you next month!
-Matthew
January update: Sample Panels, Smash Art, and a Quality Boost for the Playing Cards!
about 1 year ago
– Fri, Jan 31, 2025 at 06:39:14 AM
Hi everyone, it’s an end-of-the-month update!
First of all, thanks again for such a great campaign! Two weeks ago it ended at the very Nintendo-y number of $256k, and it only went higher after that thanks to the late pledges! Late pledges will still be open through Kickstarter for a while yet, and BackerKit orders are now open too in case you know someone who wants some of this stuff but doesn’t have a Kickstarter account.
In fact, I plan on taking preorders up through the release in November so you should have plenty of time to add things or tell buddies who are interested. My goal is to have everyone's stuff in their homes before Christmas which means I need to send everything out at the beginning of November!
The Smash Ultimate art was my biggest priority this month, something I could sit and illustrate and get back in the BitF mindset. I completed it but made it extra tiny here so as not to spoil it, but you can at least see that I’ve been busy! Enjoy this postage stamp.
I’ve also written and drawn a couple of the new comics. It’ll have 24 new ones, meaning a grand total of 650 when all is said and done, and there’s even a four-part storyline to wrap it all up. Don’t expect something as crazy-huge as the original ending, but I’m happy with how it’s turning out. It’s called “Sweet Adeleine” and it’s largely inspired by me doing this campaign and hearing from fans who grew up with BitF. You can see a little of that story right at the top of this post. I also have a nugget of an idea for the epilogue story, tentatively called “Brawl in the Family Reunion.” And I've made a couple one-offs as well. Here's a panel!
This month, I’ll work on my least-favorite, most-dreaded part of this whole process: getting the existing trilogy cleaned up and ready. Man oh man, what was 2012 Matthew doing!? This PDF is held together with Elmer’s glue and duct tape! But it’s time to rip this band-aid off and get this cleaned up so I can get back to drawing the new stuff.
Onto non-Ultimate Edition news—backers who pledged for the Waluigi PDF and the Gamemaster Classified PDF should be receiving their digital books sometime in February through BackerKit, so be on the lookout for that.
Also, good news, everyone! The playing cards are coming along nicely and are even going to get a quality bump! They’ll be made of a sturdier card stock than before, plus the outer box will now have a delightful “soft touch” for extra pleasantry during poker night.
That’s all for now! Look forward to updates here at least every month until the book’s release.
-Matthew
It's the final countdown for Brawl in the Family!
about 1 year ago
– Mon, Jan 13, 2025 at 11:15:23 AM
We hit 200k (and then some) which means new comics are on their way in the book! I'm not sure exactly how many yet, but with the included "Back in the Family" comics, we're already at 627, so I think an even 650 is both feasible to get done in time, and a nice round number!
I'll be putting a lot of work into the next several months to get everything ready, and as such here's a sneak peek at some of the character art I've been drawing up for the Smash Ultimate page:
(composition etc not final, of course)
Thank you all so much for going above and beyond with this campaign and helping to make the book something truly special. I'll be able to get some fun, final numbers to you all within the upcoming months (final page counts, dimensions, new things, etc). Now let's do one last push for BitF!
-Matthew
