Artisanal Keycap Roundup V7
01 Oct 2015This post continues to be interesting and I am impressed by the community for all the recent developments.
Zorborema
After the first successful sale 1, Zorb conducted a b-stock sale featuring slightly less polished templars. Both of these are documented here. All profits that were not spent on packaging and materials has been donated to help refugees from Syria.
There was also a new photo of The Entling!
Adamski
Adamski created a good introduction with a keycap giveaway featuring the T800 design in both Topre and MX variants.
I have been a particular fan of the T800 design since I saw the creation photos on reddit.
Also, notice the very nice looking WASD set. This is a design that I have not seen been done before. The colours here are also incredibly vibrant and look really good in this design.
I managed to win a Lava cap and I am very excited to get it.
Brocaps
Bro is someone I always have trouble keeping track of as there is often more activity than you would think. It can be quite easy to miss a small giveaway or sale.
Tru-Bro ID
The biggest news it the introduction of the Tru-Bro ID system. This is a unique identification system to ensure that future brocaps have the ability to be identified and recognised in trades. It is also going to be integrated into a trading system, the Bro Depot, that allows a brocap to become a once redeemable ticket for Bro Points. You will then be able to redeem these points for something such as swag or possibly brocaps (conjecture).
This sort of brought about controversy over the ability to track users by the Brocaps that they purchase. I think this is a bit of a non sequitur and should not be given too much credence. With your Brocap you can choose to redeem it to have that bro tied to your name. No more information is gained.
Your Future Brocaps will come with a serial number embedded into the cap as well as a unique identifying card.
Initially I was excited at how this would affect the bro trading scene. Bro has always stated that he wants his caps sold for their original price. I believe if you are openly doing so you are banned for future sales. Of course something like this is impossible to restrict. But this new trading system does make it easier for people to have more approachable trades. Possible more bro for bro trades than money changing hands.
Key Points From thread:
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Embedded serial in each key, with matching product serial card.
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Each serial is tied in to your CTRL ALT account, and is redeemable (one-time only) for 5 Bro Points.
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You can choose to not redeem the points if you plan to trade the cap.
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You know it’s an authentic Bro Caps product.
Nominate A Bro 2.0
The nominate a Bro format is where you commend a member of the community for what they have done and this gives them a chance to win a Bro. As giveaway formats go, I think these are nice to see.
New Designs
The Rustler
Seeing this design is why I like artisan keycaps so much. It is an interesting and nice design that would be an interesting feature on any board.
The Bro Fist
This was teased a little while ago but there have been some better photos taken of the prototype. This is without a doubt one of my favourite keycaps I have seen in a while.
Lycan
Like the Rustler design I think this is very well sculpted and really shows bro’s quality. It also reminds me of another similar keycap. I could not find too much about this as I saw the photo on reddit and can only find a relevant tweet. The eyes in particular give this a strange look of intensity. With Bro’s new hand-sculpted range I think this is my favourite.
Random Sack Giveaway
This was a cool giveaway for many as it was another opportunity to get the resigned Brobot V2 design You where able to choose from a list whichever caps you would like. With 300+ replies to the thread it is safe to say this was a popular giveaway.
Binge
Binge has not left any time since the last sale and has started a new giveaway of the hyperfuse themed Bingecaps. The giveaway is in the form of a raffle all held around the purchasing of stickers. You are able to buy as many stickers as you want but the maximum keycap win is 2. The entry fee is $5 and any additional sticker is another $1
I imagine this raffle is going be quite popular. There are a huge number of caps available and it has been open for a long time. The raffle closes on 10/10/15 so you still have 9 days to buy as many stickers as you want.
Binge has also started an official trade thread where you are able to trade your existing bingecaps for other peoples bingecaps.
Krytone
Krytones activity this month was contained to the Pre-Batman sale. This happened on the 4th of September. It featured a multitude of different colours and designs. My favourite being this
Hopefully the batman sale is coming soon after this.
Retro
Retro has created a new design SHARPEI BÉRET! The detail on this is very nice and even the colour of the sculpt looks great. I will be interested to see how this turns out. Voice your interest and see what happens. I am very much looking forward to having one of these.
Flehrad R.A.G Caps
In the past I have said I really like these caps so of course I managed to miss the sale. This was quite a large sale that took place on mechmarket
There was also an update with an incredibly nice evergreen keycap.
KeyKollectiv
KeyKollectiv are getting themselves away from the Mod set scene and are starting a new series SnacKeys. These are definitely up to the same quality of the mods and have an effect I have not seen before. There is however a question mark on whether these will be sold.
Booper
I am very excited to see some movement from Booper. The photos in their adventures thread were the main inspiration for making my keycaps. I also think the cosmonaut design is something quite special.
Luckily for me and many others a sale could be on the horizon. After removal of wisdom teeth and sticker delays, the sale may be soon.
RoastPotatoes
It almost had to happen. I am now including myself in my roundup. My current project is RGB mod sets for the HHKB and Topre in general. This is also coming with a couple of pink sets. I have closed orders for now but potentially could make more in the future.
Girldc
Girldc seems to be having more of a presence lately. I have noticed more activity on geekhack and reddit. I am not familiar with these characters but they are of a very particular style. Girldc is also very good at translating them to keycap form.
Typed on HHKB Pro 2
The Tiny Hacking Keyboard is a custom project that started long ago in 2013. Its goal was to create a HHKB style 40% that is usable. ne0phyte (the creator) is back and working on another PCB two years after the project first started. This is looking to be a more featureful PCB with an integrated atmega32u4 chip unlike the first which housed a teensy.
This was a project I was not fully aware of until recently. But it is another keyboard themed like a typewriter. I much prefer this design over the look of a 
The Topre PBT spacebars are now likely onhand with massdrop or very close to it. Hopefully we will see these ship soon.
I think this is one of the most exciting projects currently running in the community and it is great so see progress happing at such a pace. For those not familiar with the project, it is to recreate and produce new Kishsavers and the slightly larger 77 key Model F. It is currently in the prototyping stage and parts are now turning up.
Most of the interest for this keyboard is aimed at the Cherry RGB switches that have recently been released from the exclusivity deal with Corsair. It is a full 104 key + sized keyboard with an incredibly noticeably outlandish design. 
