Up until last night, the most I had ever been genuinely tempted to pledge to a project was $50. Sure, many of the higher-priced, personalized rewards are cool, but I have never seriously considered buying one. Until I came across Little Brass Bird, that is.

Little Brass Bird creators Robin and Rhoderick live in Chicago and handmake plush toys like these:

Cool, but no biggie, right? Thing is, these aren’t just little toys. They are also — and this is the gist of their project — stars of a stop-motion series that Robin and Rhoderick make called Little Brass Bird.

There are a couple of teaser episodes up on their official site, and they are mind-blowingly awesome. Really. These could easily be on Adult Swim — it’s that style of humor. And the level of work and care that has gone into these is startling. It’s incredible. Here’s the first episode (don’t worry it’s short):

Here’s the second episode, which kills me:

I love the art direction, the surreal humor, and that very friendly British narrator voice that’s so perfect for storytelling. I watch these and I’m just blown away that people — actual people, not some production company or something — make this. It couldn’t make me prouder that Kickstarter is a resource for someone like this.

Getting back to that expensive reward thing, I still haven’t backed the Little Brass Bird project because I can’t decide which reward to choose. Because I back so many projects, I try not to go over $20, and yet I really really want one of the characters. And they have these rewards, which a richer me would’ve already backed:

All of those are amazing. I especially like the character-based-on rewards — they make me imagine Space Ghost basing a character on someone (who wouldn’t want to meet the original Brak?). A fascinating opportunity.

Economics will force me to opt for one of the more affordable rewards, I’m sure. But if someone does end up picking one of those, can I jealously peek over their shoulder for the whole experience please? Thank you!