Year in Review 2022
Year in Review 2022
Author: rmendis, with data from Zekth and 89sec
Published: Jan 15, 2023
Hope you had a wonderful holiday season and great start to the new year! Artisan keycaps are about to enter their 13th year with no sign of slow down, innovation, and bar-raising craftsmanship. Against a somewhat sombre backdrop of the pandemic, regional conflict, and economic uncertainties, we are fortunate to be able to continue participating in our niche hobby and benefit from the amazing art and friendships that it brings. Let’s take a look back at some of the highlights, notable releases, and trends in 2022…
Return of the Meetup
Mechanical keyboard meetups were a staple of the hobby until the pandemic shut down pretty much all non-essential public gatherings during 2019-2021. During this period, the hobby grew significantly. Ostensibly with more people working from home and looking to spruce up their keyboards. Those new members didn't have as much of an opportunity to try out new keyboards and meet online friends at meetups.
As things started to return to a semblance of normality in 2022, this pent-up demand resulted in meetups returning to higher frequency, at more locations globally, and in most cases attendance that exceeded previous years events. From examining various sources (including Reddit, Geekhack, and kbd.news), it appears there were at least 65 meetups listed publicly in 2022, and likely many more private gatherings, across nearly 20 countries.
On average, there was more than one meetup every week in 2022! A meetup in the Philippines in October sold over 2,603 tickets, the largest mechanical keyboard meetup to date. While in the past, artisans were relatively underrepresented at meetups, several 2022 venues, such as Nashville and Chicago, saw impressive artisan collections on display.
This enthusiasm reflects the tremendous growth of the hobby over the past two years. This trend will likely continue and result in even more meetup activity and record-breaking attendance in 2023. Many are looking forward to the return of the annual Keycon event, as well.More Charitable Giving: Ukraine
The artisan community has always been generous with charities when the need arises. Since my time in the hobby, I’ve frequently observed makers (along with vendors and collectors) running charity events and auctions for a variety of natural disasters, general charity fundraisers, helping fellow community members, and other philanthropic endeavors. In recent years, the amount of contributions have been growing significantly.
In 2020, for example, Minterly Studios ran a charity event for mental health, with contributions from both keyboard and artisan vendors, that raised close to $20,000. She followed this up with another "Mints for Health" charity auction in 2021 that raised an impressive $75,000, nearly half from artisan contributions.
The results of these generous contributions from artisan makers, keyboard vendors, and private collectors was nothing short of stunning. A total of $118,537 was raised and sent to various charities helping in Ukraine. An amazing $30,000 of that amount came from artisan auctions. Massive thanks to everyone who participated and helped in these events.
Nightcaps Poison Summer 6
In what is now established as a highly anticipated annual artisan event, the duo at Nightcaps ran their annual Poison Summer sales, which is now on it’s sixth year. For nearly 60 days between July 5th and Sept 30th, Nightcaps ran sales for various sculpts including many of their collaborations such as Bongo Face (Hello? Caps), Fugukotsu (Hello? Caps), Fughoul (SludgeKidd), Fugthulhu (HWS), and Egg Pilot (BroCaps). Poison Summer sales usually serve as a traditional artisan introduction of sorts to new collectors, who have plenty of chances to enter these daily sales.
Halloween Pumpkin Carving Competition
Halloween is widely considered one of the best seasonal events for amazing artisan keycap releases, and 2022 was no exception. There were so many incredible Halloween themed colorways in what felt like a record-breaking number of October raffles.
In addition to the Halloween sales, several popular makers held a pumpkin carving competition that saw some mindblowing artisan-themed entries. Hello? Caps, PrimeCaps, Bogan Caps, Rubrehose, BG Caps, and Hellbent hosted a marathon livestream on thepressurepot Twitch channel with tons of giveaways and live voting. Top prizes from Hello? Caps were sets of his Halloween themed Bongo Cats. Some of the highest-voted entries are below, and you can view the full album here…
Artkey Sirius Anniversary Event
Widely collected artisan maker Artkey Universe launched about 6 years ago, and their popular Sirius space dog sculpt turned 3 this year. To celebrate the occasion, the team at Artkey created 18 one-time special Sirius sculpts for an entire week of sales and community events, starting on November 16th. These limited-edition Sirius set the bar for unique sculpt variations, and immediately became some of the most sought after artisan keycaps in 2022 (and probably well into the new year).
2022 Notable Releases
It is now virtually impossible to track all the new makers and sculpt releases that debut each year - a testament to how active and varied the artisan maker scene has become. At the risk of this being mistakenly perceived as some sort of formal or objective evaluation of the complete 2022 catalog, I would like to mention some notable sculpt releases, collaborations, and updates, which I personally (subjectively) feel were standouts in their own special ways…
Notable 2022 Sculpt Releases (in alphabetical order):
- Anatomy Blank by Goodbye Caps in June. Eagerly anticipated sculpt that was teased way back in 2018, but not officially released in sales until this year.
- Big Bad Coyote (BBC) by Rubrehose in April. Bigger and badder. Refinements in fur details with the same rubber hose cartoon aesthetic.
- Goonblank by Bogan Caps in July. A subtle crease that reveals a distinctive bogan mouth forms an amazing sculpted blank in a year that saw many impressive entries.
- Kibou by Artkey Universe in March. It took over a decade, but the hobby finally has a truly exceptional keyboard themed sculpt.
- Ominous by TRMK in July. Retro sci-fi captured on a keycap, with fantastic texture and plenty of casting potential.
- Ork Lord by Level Caps in Sept. Incredible detail on all sides and angles of this unique, negative space, fantasy sculpt.
Notable 2022 Collaboration Sculpt Releases (in alphabetical order):
- Bad Trip by Rubrehose and Bogan Caps in August. A fantastic blend of both makers’ distinctive styles.
- Dollface by Fraktal Kaps and Nubbninator in August. You never knew you wanted the iconic Dolly in a blank until now.
- Exoboy by Artkey Universe and DC Caps in November. The first major sculpt collaboration from Artkey is an instant hit.
- Fughoul by Sludgekidd and Nightcaps in July. Another take on the classic Fugu, with casting by both makers.
- Geekpora by Alpha Keycaps and Bogan Caps in July. Bogan puts his mark on Alpha’s iconic bird.
- Poser by Sodie Caps and Nubbinator in May. The classic Nubbinator sculpt in another great collaboration, this time fused with the Jamjams in a way that came out even better than I would have expected.
Notable 2022 Sculpt Revisions (in alphabetical order):
- Blindbag v2 by Bogan Caps in September. A clean refinement of the fantastic first version.
- Hungerkey v2 by HWS in June. The followup to a grail keycap many have been waiting for. Like the original on steroids - more pronounced skull and skin details. Just a few were released in 2022, but hope we see a lot more soon!
- Janus v2 by Bludgeoned Caps in December. An interesting evolution that improves certain elements and leaves the creepiness factor intact. Initial colorways were fantastic.
- Konspire II by Kult Worship Kaps in February. Significant hood, stem and profile refinements for one of the most elusive KWK sculpts. Still a challenge to obtain, but glad to see it in the active rotation!
- Lilith v2 by Omniclectic in November 2022. Lilith was one of booper’s less common sculpts but adored by fans. This revision introduces the mythological she-demon to new collectors with refined features and great casting.
- Thi Bull Unikorn by Golden Star Keycaps (GSK) in December 2022. A late release that is more of a variant than a revision, but we’ll keep it in this category. Thi Bull is a spin on the popular Unikorn sculpt, which makes for an impossibly cuter version that was dedicated to the maker's daughter on her birthday.
Honorable Mentions 2022 (in alphabetical order):
- Bird Watcher by Ritual Master in March 2022 (picture shows the sculpt better). A watcher variant with an encapsulated bird-like skeleton, making for some interesting casting effects.
- Captured by BG Caps in May 2022. This sculpt of fingers clutching a keycap from underneath was first teased at the end of 2021, and guest cast by Binge and Martakia in early 2022, until BG Caps returned to casting in the summer.
- Doodle Dino by KRAP in September 2022. A fun, playful, and original carved blank from one of the oldest (and arguably, most underrated) makers - Krytone.
- Pandaboo by BroCaps in April 2022 (original post not available). BroCaps introduced several new sculpts, collaborating with Trovarion, for a 4/20 sale. These were mostly anime (weeb) styled, following the positive reception to Last Pilot and Bowsette. One that stood out to me was the Panda, which has broad appeal with its cute and varied casting canvas.
- Vrul by PrimeCaps in October 2022. Released alongside some amazing Halloween colorways, the Vrul is PrimeCaps’ most recent new sculpt. This detailed skeletal creature is based on the Lurvana with a slightly smaller profile.
The Notable Releases and Honorable Mentions above represent a tiny fraction of the incredible art put out by makers in the past year. There were many other interesting makers who I did not have an opportunity to speak with, and artisans that I did not have a chance to see up close, that I'm sure are very impressive. What are some of the new sculpts you enjoyed in 2022? Drop me a PM on discord, if you'd like to share your thoughts. =)
2022 By the Numbers: Cool Down and Slower Growth
Now let's take a look at some 2022 data and trends. A huge thanks to Zekth for starting to capture time series data from Keycap Archivist that gives us some interesting insights. And also to 89sec for his Reddit data scraping and aggregation work.
Looking at the number of "Artisan" flair posts on Reddit MechMarket, which are primarily maker sales, we see consistent, albeit slower growth than previous years. Mature makers mostly advertise their sales to followers on Instagram or their Discord server, so the sales post activity on MechMarket is primarily driven by newer or casual makers.
r/mk subs
r/mm subs
KA pageviews
KA wishlists
After scorching growth over the previous three years, Reddit MechanicalKeyboards and MechMarket subscribers were up at a slightly slower pace of 16% and 12% respectively, year over year. Annual activity on Keycap Archivist slowed down a bit, with a 15% drop in Pageviews, and 18% drop in wishlist activity (as measured by visits to the wishlist page).
Geographically, visitors to Keycap archivist remain fairly consistently distributed, with the US, Canada, Vietnam, and Singapore still in the top 4 countries by visitors. Activity from South Korea and Vietnam was up significantly, at 47% and 32% respectively. Visits from Singapore and the United Kingdom were down annually by 20% and 11% respectively.
Wishlist Activity Analysis
As of March 2022, Zekth started saving time series data on usage of some aspects of Keycap Archivist, including wishlist activity. We now have the first nearly full year's worth of data that shows wishlist activity over time, by sculpt and maker.
The chart below shows the top 3 sculpts that have the most wishlist activity per month. Over time, this type of data could provide a rough approximation for the ebb and flow of popularity or demand of sculpts. However, keep in mind that the wishlist function on Keycap Archivist is also used to generate lists for selling or trading purposes, so it may more accurately be a measure of "anticipated transaction volume" (either acquisition or divestment).
If we assign a point score of 1, 2, or 3 to each of the top 3 wishlist activity sculpts per month (ranging from 1 for the 3rd most active to 3 for the most active), and then sum up the scores by maker, we can get a sense of which makers have the most popular sculpts throughout the year. In 2022, there are 3 clear top 3 wishlist activity leaders: Hello? Caps (14 points), PrimeCaps (12 points), and Rubrehose (11 points).
There are, however, other dimensions to consider. For example, beyond the top 3 wishlist sculpts, some makers may have consistently high activity across their catalog, resulting in a higher overall wishlist activity metric. We can also examine the number of page visits to each maker's index page on Keycap Archivist as another proxy of sorts for interest.
The charts below show the overall Top 30 makers in 2022 by both wishlist activity and by page visits. When we look at overall wishlist activity, the top 3 leaders become: PrimeCaps (38K), Golden Star Keycaps (31K), and Artkey Universe (30K).
This data also shows the "long tail" effect that is now prevalent across the wide variety of makers in the hobby. The top 7 makers have nearly as much wishlist activity as the next 40, but the market is now large enough to build a fanbase for, and support, all these makers.
One thing I would have assumed in the top 30 charts is a strong, almost complete correlation between wishlist activity and page views. However, if you look at the makers on both charts, there seems to be some ranking variance across these two categories. So I decided to dig a little deeper and plot these two variables to see what the actual correlation is, and the results are pretty interesting...
Some (mostly unscientific) observations from the wishlist vs page views chart above, in no particular order...
- There is a moderate correlation (r=0.5) between page views and wishlist activity, but less than I would have thought.
- Makers significantly above the trendline (shown here in logarithmic) tend to also have higher numbers of casual fans (e.g., IG followers) and are more accessible (e.g., frequent sales), and therefore may drive more web activity.
- Makers below the trendline, but with more than 20K wishlist activity, are very popular among more traditional artisan collectors.
- Latrialum may be an outlier on page views because it is harder to distinguish between some colorways (most caps are blanks with high-variability patterns), which requires more catalog reference.
- PrimeCaps may be an outlier on wishlist activity because in addition to a large body of popular, high quality art, are also highly engaged with both the community and other makers, across chat, live stream, and in-person channels.
- Artkey and GSK are extremely strong on both dimensions, and the only non-US makers past 20K on wishlist activity (both are in Vietnam).
- GAF has a particularly strong showing, especially on pageviews, for the only maker in this list besides Clack who has been inactive for over a year. (We wish them well and hope to see their return some day!)
- Anecdotally, there does not seem to be any correlation between either of these variables and aftermarket value... Clack, GAF, and KWK traditionally have very high aftermarket values, yet are relatively low on wishlist activity. Artkey and Hello have some very high aftermarket value colorways, and are relatively high on pageviews and wishlist activity.
In the future, it might be interesting to see if there is any correlation between these data and maker activity, measured by number of caps/sales per month. One could hypothesize that there is likely some relationship between frequency of sales and large catalog to metrics such as wishlist activity and page views. What do you think of this information? Did I miss any interesting observations? PM me on discord to chat.
TL;DR Analysis: meetups are back in full force! Go hang out with friends and have fun in 2023! =D
1. Keycap Archivist Google Analytics and time series data from Zekth
2. Reddit r/mm data aggregation by 89sec
3. Subreddit Stats for r/mm and r/mk
4. Flag icons made by Freepik from www.flaticon.com
