Gorb Zine

gorb zine is a charity zine project centered around the character Goro Akechi from Persona 5 as a spherical shaped stuffed toy.
==About==
===The Origins of "Gorb"===
The term "gorb" was fandom term coined after the round shape of an Akechi Goro-themed Cocorot plush toy. The toy line gained a relative memetic status among fans, partly due to their comedic appearance and the difficulty of buying them at a reasonable price.
Due to the popularity of the character, the plush toy version of Goro Akechi was often resold online for exorbitantly high prices. Accounts reported that the toy could be sold as high as $200 USDhttps://twitter.com/uteniixx/status/1282416895476428806, yes yes yes!!! he's a huge money maker and they'd be stupid to not capitalize off of that. the fact that gorb goes on eBay for $100-$200 USD is telling enough on its own
like not putting the feral character in THEIR HACK AND SLASH GAME??? it's like they don't /want/ money.
===Pre-Production===
On February 10, 2021, Twitter user k (3muske_tears) posted a poll asking if there was any interest in a "gorb"-themed zine project https://twitter.com/3muske_tears/status/1359593344062660615, with the majority of voters wanting to contribute as artists. A second interest poll was posted on March 30, 2021, to which the majority of voters expressed disbelief https://twitter.com/3muske_tears/status/1376891090448568323.
On June 26, 2021, the project announced that the their mods Grass and Space had chosen to leave the project and that a round of mod applications for an art mod, finance mod, and formatting mod would be runhttps://twitter.com/gorbzine/status/1408946256198524930. The mod team explained that these mods' departure was decided in response to their involvement in the Jazz Jin Secret Menu project. The new mod team was announced on July 11, 2021https://twitter.com/gorbzine/status/1414233611675471884.
===Pre-Orders===
Preorders opened on November 20, 2021 with the following pricing tiershttps://twitter.com/gorbzine/status/1462179148915523588:
* Pleasant Gorb ($15 USD) - Digital Zine
* Pancake-Loving Gorb ($27 USD) - Double-Sided Charm, Prints, Sticker Sheets, Stickers
* Extra Glitzy Gorbundle ($35 USD) - Digital Zine, Double-Sided Charm, Prints, Sticker Sheets, Sticker
Full bundle orders were eligible for a giveaway of a full set of Persona 5 Cocorot plus toys, with an emphasis on the inclusion of Akechi Goro's Cocorot toyhttps://twitter.com/gorbzine/status/1462179236433862662.
Stretch goals included a shaker charm designed by jeqrow at 25 orders and a Black Mask-themed manjuu toy designed by smultronte at 50 orders https://twitter.com/gorbzine/status/1462179246323998727. For reaching 100 orders, the project then announced that all physical orders would receive a glitter button pin designed by bey0ndplusultrahttps://twitter.com/gorbzine/status/1467282572992389123. On reaching 150 orders, the project also added a set of mini buttons by jeqrow for all physical orders as thankshttps://twitter.com/gorbzine/status/1472322405494243329.
A giveaway was run in collaboration with ANTITHESIS and ran from December 19, 2021 to December 20, 2021 https://twitter.com/gorbzine/status/1472712787772198918. The chosen winner would receive a full bundle of both zines. The winner was declared to be Twitter user BurnMyBren on the gorb zine's social media accounthttps://twitter.com/gorbzine/status/1473092764288143361.
A second giveaway was run in collaboration with Celestial from January 7 to January 15, 2022https://twitter.com/p5celestialzine/status/1479528262048960512. The winner would receive a full bundle of both zines https://twitter.com/gorbzine/status/1491901467875229696.
Preorders ended on December 20, 2021https://twitter.com/gorbzine/status/1473131014834765830. The project reported that a total of 197 preorders were madehttps://twitter.com/gorbzine/status/1478263511738458115.
===Shipping & Aftersales===
The project's social media account announced on February 10, 2022 that shipping of physical orders had begun. The zine would be sent out on February 14, 2022https://twitter.com/gorbzine/status/1491901467875229696.
Leftover sales ran from March 26, 2022 and ended on April 9, 2022 https://twitter.com/gorbzine/status/1507809495942144009. On March 12, 2022, the project announced that they raised $3,070 for The Trevor Projecthttps://twitter.com/gorbzine/status/1524811327906144256. Attached to the last announcement was a link to a Google Sheets document documenting a breakdown of the project's finances.
 Project Schedule
 	Start 	End
Interest Check 	May 1, 2021 	May 14, 2021
Contributor Applications	May 14, 2021 	June 14, 2021
Mod Applications 	June 26, 2021 	July 10, 2021
Preorders 	November 20, 2021	December 20, 2021
Shipping 	February 10, 2022	February 15, 2022
Leftover Sales 	March 26, 2022 	April 9, 2022
==Contributors==
The following names were taken from the project's social media account https://twitter.com/gorbzine/status/1446607582781706249v.
===Page Artists===
* Mango (bey0ndplusultra)
* Min (Minlover646)
* Jordie (ceramic_avocado)
* Astora (v_of_astora)
* Leo (sugarsomg)
* Saphira (Saphira14922083)
* Erachiiii
* m0fie 
* Evan (evandered)
* Yusuke (vanitasnation)
* Choccokapi (chocceler)
* Cait (dreaming.cait)
* Scrafty (crafty__scrafty)
* Nat (babelfell)
* Julian (latteatnight)
* Chris (choccokapi)
* Milky (mmmiillkkyyyy)
* Kat (nyacleicacid)
* Ecokitti (ecokitti)
===Merch Artists===
* akittyk
* Alex (smultronte)
* Kayt (repilkayt)
* Pietmeon
* Katie (AWKittie)
* Qrow (jeqrow)
* Astra (v_of_astora)
* Zoe (zubatzo)
===Writers===
* Anita (The_Pen_Dragon)
* Collapse (collapsingstars)
* Atom (atomjenkins)
* Maya (insertusernamehereok)
* Lala (papersandals)
* Sevv (seventhTense)
===Mods===
* k (3muske_tears)
* Crown (Zeiskyte)
* Nat (babelfell)
* Lia4040 (lia_404)
* Mango (bey0ndplusultra)
===Former Contributors===
* Grass (daisydogox) - Mod
* Space (spaceteacake) - Mod
==Gallery==
File:P5 gorb banner.png|Social Media Banner
File:Gorb zine full bundle.png|Full Bundle Listing
File:Gorb zine stretch goals.png|Stretch Goals Listing
File:Gorb physical merch preview.png|Physical picture of charms and extra stretch goals
== Fan Reception ==
The following posts are a sample of posts retweeted by the project's social media account about the zine.
atom wrote on Twitter
Black Lagoon wrote on Twitter
bren wrote on Twitter
jay wrote on Twitter
bunny wrote on Twitter
Heater wrote on Twitter
umberrrrr wrote on Twitter
== References ==
Category:2021 Zines
Category:Persona
Category:Charity Zines