Our 19 Themes, and How to Pick One

We group our characters into 19 themes because 110 ungrouped figures is not browsable. The themes aren’t marketing categories invented afterwards; they’re how the designs actually get made, in batches that share a mood.

The big ones

Fantasy & Guardian is the largest at 14 characters, and it’s where the sculpting is most ambitious: wings, halos, staffs, translucent elements. If you want a piece that reads from across a room, start here.

Food & Kitchen and Street & Urban are nine each and share a tendency toward props. Aprons, instruments, goggles, bags. Those props are what make the characters legible, and they’re also the parts that take longest to pack.

Forest & Season is nine as well, mostly greens and muted tones. These are the pieces that survive a bright room best, for the reasons in Sunlight Does More Damage Than Dust.

The small ones

Space & Retro Future, Mechanical and Classic Panda have two or three characters each. They’re small because the idea is narrow, not because they’re less finished. Classic Panda is deliberately reduced: no props, no pattern, just the silhouette, and it’s the hardest category to get right because there’s nothing to hide behind.

How to choose

Don’t start with the character. Start with the room. A figure that’s going into a bright, warm, busy kitchen wants something from Food & Kitchen or Garden & Green, and a figure going into a quiet hallway with one lamp on it wants a dark fantasy piece or a monochrome classic.

Then think about who else lives there. Characters have faces, and a face in a room is a presence. Some people find the grinning ones comforting and some find them tiring after a month. The quiet characters, the ones looking slightly off to the side, are the safer long-term buy.

And if you’re stuck, pick the one whose colour you’d want on a wall. You’ll be looking at it for years.

Amethyst Cloud Mane Panda is the piece that started the fantasy theme, and it’s still the one people photograph most.