Things have been a little… quiet around here lately. Too quiet, in fact, for some of you. You’ve been writing asking what in the 30 Ruttin’ Hells is going on here at the Ship Works? We go AWOL? We got too drunk on Ma Cobb’s special brew? We gone over to the Purple Bellies?!
Nothing of the sort. We’ve just been… busy.
In the interest of keeping everyone in the loop, and not annoying a heavily armed clientele too much, here’s a little update on our girl and what she’s been up to. And few other things you’ve been asking after.
Serenity Replica. All the molds, masters and eight prototype castings are on the bench at The FX Company. That’s not really news, of course. We told you that a month ago. But what we didn’t reveal was the Firefly shipyard we have rapidly developing in the shop:
Cool, eh? What’s even cooler is that things are now well underway and we hope to have the first prototype build done by the end of April. Before you get too excited, a prototype build is a long way from a finished product. But it’s also the first time you’re going to get a sense of just how pretty our girl will be when she’s all dressed up in her shindig best. We look forward to seeing those pictures and we especially look forward to sharing them with you!
Inara’s Shuttle. Remember that shiny little shuttle we showed you a few months back? Remember how we said we were looking to release it in a limited edition run? Well, that’s still the plan. However, there’s one new development: Everyone who purchases the shuttle (which we will likely release in a very small edition), will be able to apply the full cost of the shuttle toward the purchase of the Serenity replica!
So, if you just want the shuttle, you can buy one and know you got yourself a special little collectible. However, if your goal is the big ship, then you can look at the cost of the shuttle as a down payment on your very own Firefly. And for buying in early, you get that beautiful little shuttle as our gift.
It’s like a coupon you can put on display.
Of course, we won’t be able to offer this to you until we’ve finished pricing out the final ship. Wouldn’t be right to have you buy the shuttle so as to get a start on paying for Serenity, not knowing where Serenity is going to price out, now would it?
Serenity: Unification War. Something else promised many months ago and not yet delivered – that Cerberus short story. Well, the characters are a quirky bunch and seem prone to get themselves into all types of adventure. The result? that “short” story has grown into a novella and is now threatening to become a novel.
They are an unruly bunch, these Browncoats. But I’m thinking we’ll have at least Part One of Stay Dogs, the first story/novella/novel in the Serenity: Unification War series, available here for your enjoyment very soon. We just want to see how the Cerberus crew manage to get themselves out of the mess they’ve managed to get themselves into first.
Atlas of The Verse. There is no question that the Map of The Verse has far exceeded even our lofty expectations in terms of all the love it’s gotten from Browncoats everywhere. But it does beg a question – what do you do for an encore once you mapped, well, everything?
While the Map of The Verse may mean no Browncoat ever needs to lose their way while traversing the Black, what happens once they get themselves dirtside? How will you find the Companion House on Sihnon? The docks in Beaumonde? Or the Tomb on the Unknown of Hera?
Why, the Atlas of The Verse, of course. A project that has been in development right alongside the Map of The Verse, this multi-volume Atlas will take you take you up close and personal with The Verse’s many worlds.
The first volume – The New Canaan Trade Route – is on schedule to debut later this year. But there’s so much content there, we think we’ll be sneaking out choice bits right here for all Browncoats to enjoy.
But wait, there’s more! We are also going to be teaming up with the Austin Browncoats to help name some of the cities in the Atlas – and raise money for Can’t Stop The Serenity. More to come on that (from us and the Austin Browncoats) very soon.
What About T-Shirts? As part of our newly expanded Serenity license, QMx will now be doing lots of original Serenity t-shirt designs. First up is one we think all you Core-Techs will recognize:
And that’s just the beginning 
Anyhow, hopefully this little update goes some way towards answering your questions. Just remember: if we seem to be a little quiet here, it’s because we’re most likely hard at work. You know those Fireflys won’t build themselves!
Great update, and can’t wait for those shuttles go on sale(good idea). We will get advance notice right?
Absolutely. I’ll post notice on the shuttles here before anyplace else!
Just a question on the shuttles–you said they would have an acrylic case and everything. Would the cost of everything besides the actual shuttle count towards Serenity? Or would that be like an extra discount?
Wow, wait a while and you have a whole bunch of stuff. Can my Serenity coupon (if I can find it) be combined with the shuttle discount?
Looks awesome!
I’m particularly looking forward to the atlas…
Well, and Serenity, of course… heh…
Very nice.
It’s good to see that you guys are keeping your offerings well diversified. I’m really looking forward to seeing the Atlas, and the idea of a book is really exciting. Does your license cover fiction, or is it being released as a fan effort separate from the license?
I will be here regularly then. I hadn’t originally been that excited about the shuttle, but it’s funny how things change isn’t it? Looks like one-a-dem is on my list now too.
Great stuff, good update…..I’ll be back!
Looking forward to the Shuttles! You can bet I will be getting one!
What do we have to do to get that pic of the Cerberus in a higher resolution?
DV – the idea is that most if not all of the price of the shuttle would be applicable toward the purchase of Serenity. The only thing we haven’t figured out is if there’s a time limit. We don’t typically limit our offers (so, to answer Atom’s question as well – yes, we will still honor any of the Serenity coupons you may have gotten over the years). But because Serenity is a limited-edition product, we’d have to limit things somehow. Ideally, I’d like to reserve a Serenity for Shuttle buyers (you’re probably getting the sense that the shuttle won’t be cheap by now, yes?) So by buying a shuttle, you’d be guaranteed a Serenity and an early number, as well.
Anyway, we’re still working through the details. Hope to have it all figured out soon.
Any word on the Maidenhead shirt?
Put me down for a shuttle now Andy. Just don’t tell the wife with the car expenses facing us
That’s a very good way to have reservations, I’m up for that.
BTW–I’d be up for a really nice large image of Serenity, poster size.
—I mean a printed serenity image
Awesome news! Thanks for the update.
This begs the question, will the Replica Serenity come with shuttles to place in the bays, or do we need to buy Inara’s?
Keep up the good work!
Hi Donnovan – sorry, meant to reply to your question earlier: No one has permission to write Serenity stories for profit. This is as Joss wants it, because I think he hopes at some point to be able to return to The Verse (in some form) himself.
At the very least, we know he doesn’t want others writing for the BDHs, so we’ve steered well clear of that. In fact, we wouldn’t want to presume to create storylines for Serenity and her crew – seems disrespectful, somehow. So we’ve chosen to do our stories with different crews living at different points in The Verse timeline.
Anyhow, the novel at this point is being produced as a work of fan fiction. We’re doing it strictly for fun. And to give the community some new heroes to play with
William – it’s on the list. We just have a few we want to do first, like that Firefly Brochure shirt. I mean, wouldn’t you want to get that one first?
David – Inara’s shuttle is a bonus. Whether or not you get one, your Serenity replica will come with two shuttles. Inara’s shuttle is just a little extra you can have on your desk at work. That way, when folks ask you about it, you can say, “Think she’s pretty? You should see her big sister at home!”
BTW, did I ever tell you folks who gave us the idea for doing the shuttle separately? Jane Espenson
Can I still beg and plead for a kit version?
We scale modelers have been robbed when it comes to quality Firefly/Serenity kits and this one looks so good….
I don’t think about collecting in terms of first, second or third. I want everything now.
Put me down for both.
PLEASE.
Jane Espenson huh, that’s pretty cool. It’s interesting how much of the people involved with the shows, from the actors to lots of the top production people are all around the internet interacting with fans. Tim Earls posts regularly at foundation3d, and of course Treybor is there
Question about the prototype castings: Why the difference in colors and will that affect how the paint looks when applied to a darker cast?
Thanks
jim
Any chance you can ball park the prices of the shuttle and the big serenity yet? With understanding of course that its a ball park and can change some.
dan
Oooh, I am excited! I hope I’m able to afford this, what with being a poor student…
OK, so the shuttle roughly the size of a quarter won’t be cheap? That does not bode well for Serenity as a whole does it.
Been out of the world for a spell and just catching up on what’s going on in the ‘verse. I’m very excited to see the bonus Inara’s shuttle moving forward!
Looks like I’ll have a shiney birthday and Christmas! (just don’t know which year…)
I know this isn’t a sign up list for the shuttle/aka Serenity. However I’m in anyway so count on me in for both models! I’m pinging that I’ll miss the sign up or reserve list or whatever you end up going with…..
Absolutely wonderful news–all of it.
I’ve been hankerin’ to get my own Firefly for a while now (that Salesman sold his last one to some “bad” character–in the Latin).
Anyway, I admired the prototype you brought with you to Creation Con (I was the “plant” in the audience during the Map of the ‘Verse presentation who suggested “wouldn’t an Atlas be great”). I look forward to both finished products. Your products are of superlative quality, and consistently demonstrate that you make what you yourselves would desire as fellow collectors. Your love for the ‘Verse is obvious and appreciated.
Bob
I can’t wait to see the Atlas. I’ve always wanted to know details like the planetary flags and icons, lists of their major agricultural and industrial products, all those things that I had to include in my social studies reports as a kid.
I posted it on FB but will do so again here to see if others think the same: Those shirt designs would look mighty shiny as old fashioned metal garage or general store type signs. They might not be budget busters like how I fear the Serenity replica might be.
Question: Why the price difference and total number of limited editions for for each unit of the Little Damn Heroes?
Looking forward to adding Jayne to my collection!
Looking forward to the Atlas and more sneak peaks. Any idea when the Cerberus story will be coming out? Looks like you all have a ton of things to work on so keep up the good work.
Heya Jonesy – funny you should ask, but I was just working on it now. It’s over 10,000 words at this point and we’re not even done with the intro. Might post the intro “caper” when it’s done, just to “show our work” kind of thing. Got the feeling we’ll be working on this story for some time.