Welcome to the May ’20 Cuddly Octopus Update!

Hope you are all staying safe in these non-cuddle-friendly times. But I’ll tell you what you don’t have to socially distance yourself from. Your daki. So, while you’re all locked in your rooms anyway, why not pick yourself up a new cuddle buddy? And speaking of cuddle buddies—oh boy, do we have an update for you.

This month, we have a mix of the good, the bad, and the beautiful.

I’ll start with the bad news first. Rip off the Band-Aid^® and be over with it, I say! The bad news is, as I’m sure many of you are aware, Corona-chan continues to make a mess of international shipping. With drastically reduced flight capacity, shipments are moving very slowly. And due to the reduced flight capacity, prices charged for the various shipping services have been skyrocketing. ePacket, which just recently allowed us to ship your order for a flat $7, has grown into a $15 fee + $10 for every additional cover. That brings it close to our expedited shipping methods, such as DHL, which are currently costing us roughly $25 + $10 for every additional cover. Since ePacket right now can take 30+ days to even begin moving, we highly recommend selecting expedited shipping. The price difference, for now, is always just $10, irrespective of the number of covers ordered. Of course, all of this is subject to change and we’ll be constantly keeping our eye on international shipping prices and adjusting accordingly. We just really hope Corona-chan doesn’t continue to make it more expensive in the future…

Okay, the Band-Aid^® is ripped off and the bad news is over. Let’s deliver the good news now.

A few months back, in what feels like a completely different era, we switched most of our production over to a new factory. That new factory had a drastically different way of working with our SKUs and source files for printing. Due to the complexity of working with mix-and-matching with the new factory, we decided to suspend the service, but promised we would keep our eye out for a way to simplify the process and make it tenable to work with at the new printer. Well, we’ve finally put our tentacles together and figured out a clean and efficient way for us to handle mixes-and-matches again!

There’s a few differences this time around. First of all, you no longer request mixes-and-matches through the “Order Notes” system during checkout. Instead, we have a brand-spanking new product page for mix-and-match ordering with clear instructions to follow. Mix-and-matches are a bit more expensive than they used to be (i.e., free), but this is to cover the additional work involved with preparing the orders and the increased probability for mistakes. But still! The service is finally back, so you can again combine your favorite designs to your heart’s desire. Just make sure you follow the instructions listed on the page, otherwise we’ll deliver an angry octopus to your door instead. You don’t want that. Trust me. Their whips hurt.

And finally, it’s time for the beautiful. Starting with our May ’20 update, we will be launching 22 new dakimakura covers designs!

Dakimakura Covers

• Holo (Spice and Wolf) by KyuriTizu
• Rem (Re:Zero) by Brora
• Kizuna Ai (Virtual YouTubers) by Shadowgrave
• Poppy (League of Legends) by Krokobyaka
• Ruby Rose (RWBY) by Tsukimaru
• Kasumi (Azur Lane) by Tsukimaru
• Hatsune Miku (Vocaloid) by Tony Guisado
• Atago (Azur Lane) by Ikazu
• Suomi (Girls Frontline) by Stira
• Isabelle (Original) by Popolocroits
• Sagiri (Eromanga Sensei) by Chintora
• Emilia (Re:Zero) by Ponya
• Kazami Yuka (Touhou Project) by Okita Kung
• Sinon (Sword Art Online) by Renko
• Kokkoro (Princess Connect) by Nullpuyo
• Shaw (Arknights) by Xo
• Bremerton (Azur Lane) by Mukuhai
• Illyasviel (Fate Series) by –
• Tirpitz (Azur Lane) by Zerocat
• Jeanne Alter (Fate Series) by NDGD
• Saber Alter (Fate Series) by Gray Fox
• Blanc (Hyperdimension Neptunia) by IP3

As usual, the premium P80 2-Way Silkette versions of most of our new designs will be available on Sakura-Palace.

We have also added a couple of new keychains. Feel free to check them out in our Miscellany section!

Again, thank you for your continued support of Cuddly Octopus!

Until next time!

– The Cuddly Octopus Team

Welcome to the April ’20 Cuddly Octopus Update (4th Birthday Ver.)!

Yes, you read that right, it’s our fourth birthday! I’ve said it before on each birthday post and see no reason to break tradition here. We want to offer our warmest thanks to each and every single one of you for your support of Cuddly Octopus over these past one two three four years! We’re constantly amazed and humbled by the growth you’ve helped us achieve and hope to continue forward for many anniversaries to come!

As a celebration for these past four years, this month we’ll be running a special promo where all dakimakura and tapestry designs of our lovely Cuddly Octopus mascot characters will be on sale for $10 off their usual price. Just use promo code “Syrene Birthday Party Time” at checkout to get your cuddly octopi and doggirls and octopidoggirls! (Coupon is only valid once per customer, can only be used to discount 2 items, and limited to the first at least 150 customers. It applies to all OC under the “Cuddly Octopus” tag)

On the production front, we finally have good news to share, too! Our primary printer has returned to normal operations and full-speed production is underway once again. We anticipate everything ordered up to March 31st to ship by the end of April or the start of May. We’re sorry for any inconveniences caused by the delays and appreciate your patience.

Since printing operations have returned to normal, all the items we announced from February, March, and April have been added to our own site, as promised! This is a whole metric octopustonne of covers, so have fun perusing the storefront to see what’s changed.

The only bit of bad news to deliver is that the current COVID-19 scenario has put shipping prices in a state of flux. We’ve had to bump up the price of our flat rate shipping to $9 to account for changes to ePacket’s pricing, and we’ve had to bump the prices of our express shipping by a bit more to cover new EMS/DHL charges, too.

Alright, enough sentimentalizing our birthday. Starting with our April ’20 update, we will be launching 18 new dakimakura covers designs and 2 new tapestries.

Dakimakura Covers

• Flora (Original) by KyuriTizu
• Syrene & Kisero (Original) by KyuriTizu
• Texas (Arknights) by Xo
• Igurashi Kyoko (Idolmaster) by Sui
• Pramanix (Arknights) by Shadowgrave
• Crim (Ishuzoku Reviewers) by Nyatrix
• Helena (Azur Lane) by Tsukimaru
• Racing Miku 2020 (Vocaloid) by Bean Sprout
• Siege (Arknights) by IA
• Maple (Bofuri) by Ponya
• Kyaru (Princess Connect) by Ponya
• Kocho Shinobu (Kimetsu no Yaiba) by Pinchuu
• Ram (Re: Zero) by Chintora
• Rem (Re: Zero) by Chintora
• Mikazuki (Azur Lane) by Ikazu
• Raphtalia (Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari) by Psyche
• Akashi (Azur Lane) by Milniiya
• Nozomi (Love Live) by Renko

Tapestries

• Flora (Original) by KyuriTizu
• Syrene & Kisero (Original) by KyuriTizu

Per reddit’s decision to ban us temporarily, we won’t be directly linking you to our store or any of the preview images. However, we will be continuing to update the Imgur album with all of our design previews (just look around for it) and, of course, we hope you all know where to go to visit our storefront at this point.

As usual, the premium P80 2-Way Silkette versions of most of our new designs will be available on Sakura-Palace.

Again, thank you for your continued support of Cuddly Octopus!

Until next time!

– The Cuddly Octopus Team

Hello again and welcome to the March ’20 Cuddly Octopus update!

I wish we had some great news for you on the production front, but we don’t! One of our printers still hasn’t returned to normal operations yet. They are expected to start again coming month, but only time will tell if their operations actually restart then. Our secondary printer is helping chip away at the current backlog, but most orders from the new year are still sitting in the queue. If you want to be optimistic, the COVID-19 numbers from China suggest that work and operations should start returning to normalcy soon, assuming no unexpected situations arise. Hopefully our little spiky viral friend gives us a moment of respite in these trying times.

While production of our cuddly companions might not have returned, our artists have been diligently working. The current designs are still available on Sakura-Palace for the next couple of days.

Dakimakura Covers

• Coconut (Nekopara) by KyuriTizu
• Vanilla (Nekopara) by Nyatrix
• Chocola (Nekopara) by Nyatrix
• Hatsune Miku (Vocaloid) by Shadowgrave
• Crim (Interspecies Reviewers) by Krokobyaka
• Hood (Azur Lane) by Tsukimaru
• Nezuko (Kimetsu no Yaiba) by Chintora
• Enterprise (Azur Lane) by Tony Guisado
• Akira Sunazuka (Idolmaster) by Sankyaku Tako
• Honolulu (Azur Lane) by Kanopan

These designs won’t be active on our site until production at our primary factory has resumed and somewhat stabilized.

Most of the designs for upcoming month can be found in our imgur album.

To wrap up, thank you again for your continued support of Cuddly Octopus! We’re sorry that production is such a mess right now, but we’re hoping the world returns to normalcy again soon and your octopi overlords can continue bringing you more cuddly companions.

Until next time!

– The Cuddly Octopus Team

Hello again and welcome to the February ’20 Cuddly Octopus update!

The update is coming quite late this month, as you might have noticed! Perhaps unsurprisingly, our decision to delay this update was due largely to the COVID-19 situation in China obstructing production of our covers.

For those who might be unaware, while we’re used to small delays caused by the Chinese New Year holidays each year at the end of January and early February, the COVID-19 pandemic in China caused the Chinese government to extend the vacation and institute partial lockdowns on several major cities across the country.

What you should take away from all of this is that production is currently somewhat in a state of limbo. One of our two factories is operational again in a limited capacity, but the other will likely remain closed until at least March 9th. Hence, orders from December to now are backlogged significantly, and production may continue to be unstable throughout the near future.

While this is unfortunate, we can do nothing but ask for your patience as things hopefully stabilize in the coming months. Just know that if you place an order right now, we are unable to provide any guaranteed shipping estimates. So set your expectations accordingly!

In slightly less macabre news, while production of our products has been disrupted, our artists certainly haven’t! In February, we launched 12 new dakimakura covers designs.

Dakimakura Covers

• Morrigan (Darkstalkers) by KyuriTizu
• Ryza (Atelier) by Brora
• Yoshino (Date a live) by Amo
• Ishtar (Fate Series) by Shadowgrave
• Formidable (Azur Lane) by Bean Sprout
• Neptune (Hyperdimension Neptunia) by Tsukimaru
• Noire (Hyperdimension Neptunia) by Tsukimaru
• Kozue Yusa (Idolmaster) by Sui
• Lulu (League of Legends) by Ikazu
• Katya (Original) by Popolocroits
• Jeanne Alter (Fate Series) by NDGD
• Myrhh (Fire Emblem) by Blackmachoo

These designs won’t be active on our site until production at our main factory has resumed and somewhat stabilized. However, these designs ARE currently available from our partners at Sakura-Palace. The order window for these designs printed on P80 2-Way Silkette will last a few more days, so if you would like to buy the premium version of any of our new covers this month, act quickly!

Also, as a small update to our commissioning program we launched last month, Sui and Ikazu will be joining the list of commissionable artists.

Finally, we’ve got some plans for a new cute plushy and tapestry based on one of our newest original character designs! We hope you find them as cute as we do!

To wrap up, thank you again for your continued support of Cuddly Octopus! We’re sorry that production is such a mess right now, but we’re hoping the world returns to normalcy again soon and your octopi overlords can continue bringing you more cuddly companions.

Until next time!

– The Cuddly Octopus Team