TMT Story(Groupbuy is now LIVE!)

TMT Story
I've created a discord channel for some Q&A and minor updates for this project here:


We are proud to announce the manufacturer for this set, Tomatocaps(TMT). They are a high quality keycap manufacturer partnering with zFrontier to manufacture their new line of dye-sub PBT Cherry profile keycaps.
To attest to their manufacturing quality, they are also releasing an in stock BoW set along with this release, check out the details below!
Commenting on this thread in zFrontier will also net you the chance to win a giveaway of the BoW Set!

HERE





Hello, this is a project I've been working on for a while now and I think I am finally ready to proceed on an IC for it. This is a design inspired by a certain Japanese Literature involving a Crab, Cat, Snail, bunch of animals + a Vampire and a lot of wordplays(take a guess).

I have created and combined multiple different typefaces while designing this set. The theme for this is Japanese Literatures, which are usually published in a stylized Calligraphy-Like Serif font called Minchotai 明朝体, which this set is primarily using.

Current Hiragana Fonts in the market are usually Gothic, which is a San-Serif font that most keycaps currently on the market use.





UPDATE(12th JULY 2021)
I have finally received the R1 samples from the manufacturer! Check it out below!



MAJOR UPDATE(8th JUNE 2021)
Sorry for the long silence, I've been actively working with zFrontier to get a BRAND NEW manufacturer with quality, pricing and delivery time surpassing that of Geekark. Details on the reasons for this change is detailed in my reply below but TLDR is that I got some intel from my Chinese IC highlighting issues with Geekark's recent reputation there. To avoid such problems I have been taking my time looking for a good manufacturer with the following criteria:

- Deliver at a "Sane" lead time
- Quality at least as good as Geekark, rivalling EPBT
- Reasonable pricing

This brand is a newcomer working with zFrontier(not Keycreative) and to my knowledge is producing this keyset as their debut set, considering that, I have high hopes that they will meet all the criteria.

More details will be released after confirmation. We are looking at a July 1st August GB, fingers crossed.

Deskmat Form HERE
Google Form (Please help me out by filling in this form)
Full Album Here




Render


Customized Hiragana Sublegends

U80-A Port By Rama Works

Full Novelties


Nemui By Bachoo

Alt Alpha, Num Row, Mods, Novelty (Peak Weeb)

1800 By TKC

Single Color

Ikki68 Aurora By Wuque Studio + Saka68 by CMM.Studio

75%

Paragon By Artemis Design Studios



Fuji65 By CMM.Studio


New Renders!


D60 Lite By kbdfans


Layout
Please Note: 4.5u Spacebar is XDA
MAJOR KITTING UPDATE: We no longer need to use XDA profile for the 4.5u spacebar with this new manufacturer!
Base kit

Alt Alpha

Alt Mod

Novelty

Spacebar



Ouchi
Deskmat




Also, a small peek at the V1 deskmat I've made, this won't go to GB. Try guessing the reference in here!



Specs

• Geekark Brand new manufacturer(Name TBA when the manufacturer promotes)
• FULL (Modified) Cherry Profile(1-1-2-3-4-4) except for XDA 4.5u Spacebar
• Full JIS Support
• (Reverse)Dye-Sublimation
• 1.5mm THICK PBT
• Designed By Shawnlyx(Lunasho)

Colors


Color Comparison:


IRL Photo(Taken in 10am sunlight, phone camera)



Vendors

US: Vala Supply
CA: Deskhero
UK: Prototypist
EU: mykeyboard.EU
SEA: Hex Keyboards
CN: zFrontier
JP: Basekeys
Oceania: Dailyclack



GB Date
GB Date: 16th August 2021 to 16th September 2021
Expected Shipping date: 6 months after groupbuy




Pricing
(Subjected to change with exchange rate fluctuations)




Samples
(New, Updated 9th August 2021)
R2 of samples have arrived! The print quality is great, no blur at all! Thick 1.5mm thick walls and straight spacebars.






Novelties


Print Comparison with GMK


R1 of samples here:

For more details and comparisons, click here:



Updates

• 8/5/2021 Updated the kit render resolution
• 10/5/2021 Kitting Update
• 14/5/2021 Announced Vendor + Kitting Update
• 14/5/2021 All Vendors onboard
• 18/5/2021 Added Deskmat + Additional Renders
• 19/5/2021 Updated the Deskmat design to more closely capture the feeling from the inspiration.
• 20/5/2021 Fixed some kanas on the backspace key.
• 8/6/2021 Major Update + Change of Manufacturer + kitting changes
• 12/7/2021 Samples R1 Announcement
• 16/7/2021 Color Announcement!
• 28/7/2021 Pricing announcement + GB Date announcement
• 6/8/2021 R2 Samples Arrived! Group buy in a week!

• 13/8/2021 Manufacturer Announcement! GB in 3 days!

Q&A


I like the looks of your sublegends but would you consider Doubleshot?
I'd like to do it too, but it's too expensive to do that and I want to do a "Story" set. Doubleshot GMK BoW or Wob will be a future project if there is enough interest in that.

No Daiji(大字) for JIS?
JIS market isn't big enough to justify 10 extra caps.(すいません、また今度。楽しみにしていてください！)

Alpha only keycaps?
I don't think it fits the theme of this set.
I've got at least 5 different typefaces in this project and 4 of them are customized, please do consider supporting the Japanese Set instead!

Hey, your banner logo looks good, why don't you put it on the novelty?
I don't want to get sued to oblivion.

What is the key profile?
Thick 1.6mm Cherry(Dye-Sub PBT)

All of your keys are Cherry Profile, why is the 4.5u Spacebar for JIS XDA?
Geekark only does XDA profile 4.5u spacebar, it is suggested that I take the XDA profile instead since the dimension is close to cherry profile but flat instead of domed.

Hiragana only alphas?
Not at this moment, trust me I would really love to make it, but looking at previous sales number for other Hiragana alpha kits like GMK Hanami Dango, the sales number just isn't high enough for a Geekark GB. Especially not for this niche color. I will be interested to explore it in the future but for my 1st run I'd like to play it safe.




Please consider adding this to your signature to support the set:
Code:
[/list][/list][url=https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=112681.0][img]https://i.imgur.com/ZnekYT5.png[/img][/url]


To Do
Finalize Color
Deskmat
Vendor
Manufacturer Change
GB Date
R1 Sample Arrived
Pricing
R2 Sample
Groupbuy in a week!!
Groupbuy in 3 days!!


Credits

Special thanks to u/bthf on reddit for their in depth research and write up compiling the list of Typefaces appearing in the series for the design of this kit.
Big thanks to hali from KDD, u/mumpz, u/NotJALC from reddit and others who filled up my pre-ic form for the advice on color and kitting.
Thanks to York Chan too for the IC format I copied from.