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The Steampunk Explorer
A brass-coloured duck with visible gear details, a monocle, and a tiny top hat with goggles. Novelty duck for steampunk fans and collectors.
Specifications
| Material | Vinyl (PVC), brass-tone finish, sculpted gear detailing |
|---|---|
| Dimensions | 3.6 x 3.4 x 4.0 in (hat included) |
| Weight | 2.5 oz |
| Color | Brass/bronze tone throughout, gold monocle detail |
| Age Grade | 3+ years. Gears are decorative and fixed, non-rotating. |
| Origin | Designed on Vashon Island, WA · Assembled overseas |
| Care Instructions | Wipe clean. Brass-tone finish may show handling marks over time, this is a texture feature, not a defect, according to the design team, repeatedly, in emails. |
The Full Story
The Steampunk Explorer came out of a genre the design team fell into somewhat sideways, after a since-retired art director became, for reasons nobody has ever fully reconstructed, deeply and suddenly obsessed with steampunk aesthetics for roughly one entire fiscal quarter in the mid 2000s. Concept sketches from that period, still on file, include several ducks that never made it to production, among them a duck with a working (if tiny) clockwork mechanism visible through a glass panel in its chest, an idea shelved after prototyping revealed it added forty percent to unit cost for an effect most customers, in testing, described as "a bit much."
What did make it to production is, we think, a nicely restrained take on the genre: monocle, top hat, visible gearwork sculpted onto the jacket, and a finish meant to evoke aged brass without tipping into costume territory. The gears do not rotate, a point of some ongoing internal disappointment among the engineering team, who have twice proposed a functional version and been overruled twice on cost grounds.
This design remains a strong seller at conventions specifically, and we maintain a standing relationship with several steampunk and maker fair organizers who order in bulk for merchandise tables, a niche market we did not anticipate but have happily embraced.
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Customer Reviews
The brass finish is genuinely gorgeous, has real depth and shading rather than a flat gold paint. Monocle detail is a lovely touch.
Bought for a friend heavily into the steampunk maker scene, she was thrilled, said the gear detailing was more thoughtful than most merch she sees at conventions.
Solid piece, happy with the purchase.
Disappointed to learn the gears are purely decorative. Would gladly have paid more for a functional version, hope they reconsider bringing that idea back.
I run a small steampunk maker collective and this duck now sits proudly at our merch table every single event. Have had multiple people ask where to buy their own on the spot. This company clearly understands the assignment.
Lovely to look at but the brass tone finish picks up fingerprints and smudges more than I expected, find myself wiping it down fairly often to keep it looking sharp.