Important Changes!
Hey friends,
We have a number of very important updates we would like to announce.
(Relatively) short version:
Starting November 2026, all Patreon rewards will be delived through our website instead of Google Drive immediately upon release. MyMiniFactory backup will also be discontinued, but you will retain any models you've got there before.
We have built a long-term library on our website that retroactively gives you access to (mostly) any models you have received from your Bulkamancer subscription since the beginning. The library will become available next week.
Models that have been taken down will not be available on the website, as, believe it or not, we respect their IP owners.
Starting November 2026, your new Patreon subscriptions will last for 30 days instead of until end of month.
Because of that, we are changing our approach to model releases on Patreon:
The will be no more monthly packs or monthly exclusives.
There will be multiple Loyalty Reward (LR) tiers, ranging from 2 to 4 months.
The models you receive will depend on your subscription streak, meaning the number of your consecutive subscriptions.
Your subscription streak is broken after 5 days between active subscriptions.
If you don't want to wait until a certain LR model is unlocked for you, you can:
Purchase it separately immediately after release. 50% subscriber discount can be applied.
Get an annual subscription to immediately unlock everything that is currently available.
The current LR models (Ace and Jorogumo) are now considered legacy LR and will be available as promised before - for reaching 3 consecutive months before January 1st 2027.
We will explain how the new approach ties into MMF Tribes at a later date.
The new types of models are:
Regular
Available to all subscribers.
Released on Monday and Friday every other week, meaning 4 models every 28 days.
Stays available for 4 weeks (28 days) until it is replaced by a new one.
4 models are simultaneously available for grabbing immediately upon subscribing.
At least 4 more upcoming models will be received before your single subscription ends.
LR-1
Available to subscribers after at least 1 subscription renewal.
Released on Wednesday every 4 weeks (1 model every 28 days).
Stays available for 8 weeks (56 days) until it is replaced by a new one.
After release, you have 27 days to start a new subscription streak to reach enough renewals before it expires.
2 models are simultaneously available for grabbing immediately upon reaching the required streak length.
1 more upcoming model will be received before your last month in the streak ends.
LR-2
Available to subscribers after at least 2 subscription renewals.
Released on Wednesday every 4 weeks (1 model every 28 days).
Stays available for 12 weeks (84 days) until it is replaced by a new one.
After release, you have 27 days to start a new subscription streak to reach enough renewals before it expires.
3 models are simultaneously available for grabbing immediately upon reaching the required streak length.
1 more upcoming model will be received before your last month in the streak ends.
LR-3
Available to subscribers after at least 3 subscription renewals.
Released on Friday every 8 weeks (1 model every 56 days).
Stays available for 12 weeks (84 days) until it is replaced by a new one.
After release, you have 27 days to start a new subscription streak to reach enough renewals before it expires.
2 models are simultaneously available for grabbing immediately upon reaching the required streak length.
0-1 more upcoming model will be received before your last month in the streak ends.
TL;DR
Let me start by saying that our approach to communicating with our audience has always been built on being as honest and open with you as possible, not bullshitting anyone or insulting their intelligence by hiding actual meaning behind marketing slogans and honeyed words. If we do something, we tell you exactly why we are doing it without inventing any excuses to put us in a better light.
As some of you may know, Patreon is forcefully switching all creators to the new 30-day subscription billing as of November. This change isn't sudden and has been known to all creators for the last two years. In fact, it was originally supposed to happen in November 2025, but Patreon extended the deadline by a whole year, giving all of us plenty of time to accept the inevitable and invent necessary adjustments. So, what is it all about?
Effectively, it means that, starting November 2026, your Patreon subscription lasts for 30 days since you are charged for it and not until the end of the current month like we do it now. In all honesty, it's very convenient for subscribers and a nightmare to manage for creators, as it defeats the entire essence of monthly release packs, as everyone now gets models based on their subscription start/end dates. Yes, I know many studios are already on the new billing system, but not exactly by choice, because it has been the only system available for new creators for the last two years. And, the way we see it, most of them are trying to live with it either by ignoring the differences and their implications or by introducing crutches and questionable workarounds, such as dumping the entire release pack once a month to everyone all at once or offering X latest models and updating the list whenever a new model is released. Neither is the approach we would like to adopt. The first one makes subscribers wait for a model that is just sitting pretty until the next monthly dump, then rush to print several models at once. The second one, while lucrative, encourages grasshopping behavior of skipping the subscription every other month with no loss, while making loyal supporters wonder why they even bother maintaining their subscription without gaining any benefits for it.
Which is why we have spent many sleepless nights and dozens of hours this month coming up with a new approach that would:
Maintain our current workload (7 models a month).
Not be an utter nightmare to manage for us.
Be understood by people without watching a 30-minutes guide on YouTube (yeah, well, we tried our best).
Give loyal subscribers a good reason to maintain their subscription.
Keep cost per model for subscribers from declining through longer subscription periods.
The system is built heavily build around multi-tier loyalty rewards (LR), which is really the only approach that achieves all our requirements. Instead of having a single loyalty reward updated every 5-6 months, we cramped it up by increasing the amount of LR models and how many months you need to stay subscribed to get them, ranging from 2 to 4 months for different tiers. Basically, the longer you stay subscribed, the mode models you gain each month. This addresses the core question of model value for long-term subscribers: "Do I really want to stay subbed for 3 months just to get 1 extra model?". After a lot of tuning and trying out different combinations, we can tell you for certain now - yes, maintaining your subscription with the new system makes a lot more sense. I'd rather not bore you with countless charts and tables showing our calculations, but I can tell you for a fact that the "price per model received" stays within 1.60 - 1.87 USD throughout a full year when renewing subscription every month. And the cost stays within the same margin in different grasshopping approaches when deciding to skip every 2nd, 3rd, or 4th month, but you inevitably skip some models when doing either.
Of course, if you are an adept of grasshopping, you might say it's the system built around greed, to make sure everyone stay subscribed perpetually. I won't argue with you, as we all know nobody has ever been able to convince another person on the Internet of... well, anything. But from our perspective, the approach is built around fairness - everyone's price per model stays the same regardless of whether they joined for a month or for a year. The only thing that really changes is how many models they receive in the end.
Obviously, there is a matter of "I only want that one model, but it's locked behind a 4 months waitwall+paywall". There are several options you can take, which were already described in this post, but let me repeat them: If you don't want to wait until a certain LR model is unlocked for you, you can either purchase it separately immediately after release, even using 50% subscriber discount. Or you can get an annual subscription to immediately unlock everything that is currently available (which also comes with a slight discount, by the way). Unfortunately, Patreon does not have the functionality to pay for 2-4 months at once to achieve the same effect without committing to an entire year. And this is something we intend to address in the future on our own website. But for now it's too early to talk about it.
Speaking of the website, it is going to play a much larger role from now on. First of all, making sense of what models you can receive is much less straightforward without proper visualization updated several times a week. So we have built a Releases page to help you understand what you can get. If you log in with Patreon, the page can also tell you which models you can and cannot get from the perspective of your active subscription. If you haven't logged in, you can still use it to pick the best subscription start date. At the moment, the page isn't fully populated, as none of the LR models are out yet, but by the end of the year it will look much more informative.
Another useful feature of the website is going to be model distributions and long-term storage. MMF user groups are really not suitable for the new system for a number of reasons, so this long-term backup solution goes right out of the window. Instead, we have decided to build a library on our own website and retroactively assign all the models you have ever received from your Patreon subscription. So, starting next week, once the library is made public, you can log in with your Patreon account and download anything you have ever received, barring the models that are no longer available (we don't want to deal with crystal dynamics of another arcane riot involving angry blue space men armed with lovemaces). All new releases for Patreon subscribers will also be immediately avaialble for download from the website. No more searching through DMs for Google Drive links or having to redeem packs on MMF. From now on, we've got you covered!
Honestly, I could go on and on about the new system for another few days, but I believe this is more than enough information dumped on you for the time being.
We will create a separate post with FAQ later on to address the most common questions, so feel free to ask them in the comments to make sure we don't miss anything important.
Cheers!
Des
Comments (46)
The library is great and seems to work perfectly. I just have a few questions regarding the models that I have purchased outside the monthly subscription. Theses models will also appear in the website library ? also will we still have a 50% discount on previous releases or will we have the opportunity to purchase them directly on your website ? ( I am sorry if I missed these informations here or on the discord server.
I've been considering switching to annual...but the specific changes make it seem like a huge risk to do so unless I wait until the end of the year to grab everything. So instead of switching to a tiered system and waiting a month for drops, it looks like I might wait until the end of the year to see if the value is worthwhile with all the characters total? How does that benefit you guys and feel more fair than monthly drop releases? The only difference is that the current history would be lost, so no active streak, but it's functionally be the same since you're not producing extra or less over the course of a year. But now I have to wait until enough models in the year release that I think annual is worthwhile since I'm just a hobbyist looking at models I like and not what sells? How does merchant tier change, for the people on that tier now?
I really don't undestand what huge risk you are referring to or why you have to wait until end of the year to grab everything. And what lost history are you talking about? The essense of the studio remains the same - we still make an average of 7 models a month. If you have been a regular subscriber already, you literally won't see any difference whatsoever, because you will continue to obtain all models on release. And no, you don't need to start from scratch, as I already replied to multiple people in this thread, and what you can also see on the "Releases" page on the website for yourself. What has really changed is how we deal with people who like to hop over every other month, and that's pretty much it. Unitl now, it was really lucrative to do, much more valuable than staying subscribed. Now the cost per model is the same for everyone, regardless of whether you are subscribed for just 1 month or 12. Before the change, cost per model increased on continuous subscription as opposed to joining every other month. So yes, in that essence, I do consider the new system much more fair.
Hi! Just a quick question: if I'm a 3-month paid subscriber (as of tomorrow, when the change goes live), how will I receive the extra models? If I understood correctly, we still get the 4 monthly models and then ontop of that we now get another 3 models but on different dates because of the new loyalty thingy. I don't know if I have got it wrong, so please correct me if I have! 😅
Loyalty streaks are retroactive, so you will receive models as normal as soon as they are released. You can open the website, log in with your Patreon account, and it will tell you whether you are eligible to each model or not https://bulkamancer.com/releases
So question, say a model gets released and its kept on your website, but if an IP holder says they want you to take it down do those of us who have access to it keep access? Or is it something that even if we got it through ongoing support we still lose access to it?
If it happens, the model will be taken down from all platforms, not just the website. So it doesn't really matter, it will not be available for download anywhere. We do not mess around with DMCAs.
Lo siento pero no lo he entendido, que se cobrará cada 30 días, pero no entiendo lo de los niveles y los modelos, ahora se bajará a por Google?
So based off what can be surmised from the explanation here, how often will loyalty models change? What would happen if someone had a subscription for 4 months and qualified for all loyalty rewards on your website and then switched to MMF. If there was a way to cleanly offramp from Patreon to MMF I think it would do a lot to lessen the frustration people are feeling since only a small amount of models over all would be dependent on them using another site or being backed up on local storage. I'm sure there are plenty of people who were consistently subscribed and not attempting to manipulate the system who just feel more comfortable using one most automated big website to backup files.
The only thing I'd be bothered by is if my money stops supporting you all. If my subscription continues to support, then I'll stay subbed. (I don't know what % patreon takes so I hope more than half goes towards you lot)
Honestly, this kind of system is still 10 times better than the FOMO created by having 5 different subscription tiers! And the new website library sounds really great. I hope everything goes smoothly with the transition!
I'm Assuming if I wanted to keep things coming to MMF I would switch from Patreon to MMF and my streak would reset?
That is correct. Alas, there is no way to transfer the streak between platforms, as MMF loyalty rewards are calculated automatically by the platform.
Interesting. If the site's easier to deal with than Gumroad (no "You downloaded three things, HAVE THREE CAPCHAS!") it'll be a plus. I *do* have to admit I like having MMF as an option/backup, though. It's not the only reason I stay subbed, but it is *very* nice, filters and generally displays a catalog well (to me.) About the only thing I'd request is some way of having an option to also have the releases get sent over there too - at least if, as I think II understand, you're also staying there.
Wait till you see the library on our site + its performance. THEN you can compare it with MMF and decide which one is better. The test group who already had a chance to test it had nothing but good to say about it (well, apart from the bugs we already fixed, which was the whole point of having a test group).
I usually come and go as I have money or not; (and although I think I will keep my sub in mmf because in patreon these months retroactive and that followed subs it is super difficult to manage it I always forget to keep track and end up wasting months that I should if or if I buy or those things and with mmf it is super fast every 3 months or 9 automatically you get all the loot without moving anything strange . On the other hand, if you could keep simple reports that Tiers is winning what and for how many months you need this perfect thing, so I know in advance that I must subscribe for such a piece and save my money for this sub. Like many, whenever they make this transition and leave MMF or Patreon for their own pages, it becomes a bit heavier as a user to carry the thread of their rewards and payments.
I will add a suggestion as well. Many creators are using the criteria "if you made a payment this month, is the same as having the whole month subscription from the previous subscription model". This way, nothing would have to change in the way you deliver models, since you will control it on your website, where you can run the rules to check "if a payment was made this month, allow access to all 7 models and also the models from the previous month". Let's say I subscribe Oct 15. I would get all models from October plus the "previous month" 5 models from September. I get nothing from November, since I didn't made a payment in November. Because you are releasing the models on your site, you can simply make so I would not get any of the November models even so my subscription is active until Nov 15. This way everything is the same, "pay this month, get this month full and the 5 non month exclusive from last month". The subscriber has nothing to complain, because they will get the exact same rewards as they would in the previous subscription model. Just make it clear in the Subscription page.
That is exactly how it works on the current system. But it does not work when people are charged and stay active for 30 days. In your own example, you'd subscribe on Oct 15 and get all 7 models from Oct + 5 in September. What about November? You expect not to get any models in November at all, even though you are tecnhically subbed for half a month? Or do you keep getting new models until your subscription is cancelled, at which point it becomes 5 Sep models + 7 Oct models + 3-4 Nov models. Oh, and what if you subscribe on Oct 30? Will a single subscription give you 5 + 7 + 7 models then?
Respecting IP owners would be making your own original characters instead of stealing others. I like the models but let's not pretend you are not stealing IPs on every single model you make; saying you remove models only when someone cares to complain is scummy. Just admit you are using private IPs without consent instead of disingenuously apologizing or "respecting" IPs by removing the models that people payed for with the assurance that the models would remain to be accessible for download in the future. You can either sincerely respect IP by creating your own characters like many other successful patreons do, or you can continue using IP that doesnt belong to you, but you can't have both.
So, all the insults about our work aside... what exactly is your point, in practical terms?
Considering you joked about not making it too complicated, I have to say this is by far the most complicated reward system I ever saw. At a glance what I can see is that today when I subscribe I get 7 models for the month, plus 5 models from the previous month. With the new change, a new subscriber would get 8 models, according to the image in your website. That's a drop from 12 to 8 models. Other than that, now that there are 4 models delivered per month, other than 7, understanding the cost per model becomes much harder, because it relies on the multi tier loyalty. That's immediately a reduction of rewards for new users, and maybe a reduction for long time users as well. With the current information in your site, I don't know if I will get fewer models for the same subscription or not. Other than that, I would be much more comfortable if you guys provided a code for backup on Cults3D or Gumroad. With this new delivery, I have to trust you website will remain alive, and we had cases in the past showing things can go wrong with studios, and everything is lost.
You are only partially correct, only for a single month subscriptions. There is an average of 7.08 models released each month on the span of a year. You only counted 4 regular models and did not include the LR ones, two of which are also updated every 28 days, and the third one every other month. So no, you are not getting fewer models on the new system as a long-term subscriber. It's also important to understand that the new cycle is 28 days instead of the previous 28-31 depending on the month. So when you put that new cycle over the actual month, you'll see they are not lined up, and most of the months you get just a bit more than you would expect.
I have been a subscriber since april last year. Will the old files also be available on the homepage? I'd hate to have to search through multiple pages if I want to download a certain figure.
Yes, they will be.
So... if I’ve had an active, continuous subscription for 3 years, nothing changes for me in terms of the number of models I’ll receive—except that I’ll no longer have a backup in the most popular model library? And I’ll only be able to find new models on your website—a site whose functionality, transfer speeds, and search capabilities are completely unknown? On top of that, I’ll have to build a new tool to automatically fetch model information (images, names, and dimensions) from this new site instead of from MMF? Thanks a lot... :* :) "No more searching through DMs for Google Drive links or having to redeem packs on MMF (well, actually, you didn’t have to redeem them for them to appear in your library). From now on, we've got you covered!" — yeah, this is definitely "hiding the actual meaning behind marketing slogans and honeyed words." :) I see that my comments were significant enough that you’re now going to quote me in every single email? I actually feel quite honored, thank You. And Coen’s pants still don’t fit. It’s not just a matter of them being too tight; it’s impossible to get them into the opening without spending half an hour trimming bits off the torso, the pants, and the legs.
I'll be more than happy to refund you remaining subscription and let you go harass some other creator, because for the past couple of years the only times you've written a comment is when you want to voice your displeasure over yet another failure on our part to satisfy your ever growing entitled needs. Seriously, why do you keep torturing yourself with our work that you clearly despise so much? Why do you keep renewing your subscription?
The only clarification question I have is with the models only being available for 30 days. Am I reading that correctly in that we will only be able to download the models for 30 days then we lose the ability to still collect them after that time period? We would have the ability to download previous models from the website wouldn't we from our library?
If you receive the model from subscription, it stays in your library. You can download it at any time in the future.
Llevo septiembre y octubre suscrito, pero indica que solo llevo 1 mes, de hecho en noviembre seria mi 3er pago de este año.
not a big fan of farming sub streak to get loyalty rewards but i get it 👍🏼
I've been an on and off subscriber for around a year. I usually only subscribe when there's models that interest me. Does this mean if i see a month I like I've got to subscribe and buy each model i want that's in an LR tier? Is the price of the regular tier going to stay the same even though it's 4 models vs the old 7? It's frustrating patreon is changing this, I understand your rational but it sucks as a consumer getting less for the same money.
You get at least 8 models from a single subscription - 4 immediately upon subscribing + another 4 released throughout the month. It's not the same as introducing a "Super VIP platinum" tier subscription level; the price is the same for everyone. You cay it's unfair for you to get less than before and the price needs to be lower. But wow do you envision it should work from the perspective of long-terms subscribers - the price increases the longer you stay subcribed? Or should the price decrease for everyone, and we'd have to make the same amount of models while getting paid less for it? Like we said in the post, the system is built to maintain fairness and similar cost per model for everyone regardless of how long they are subscribed. The system wasn't exactly fair towards long-term subs before, as cost per model was lower on first month and then raised dramatically on subsequent months. We are just writing that wrong.
I’ve been subbed for 8mo. now, will I have access to all LR levels out of the gate or will I have to “start a new streak” ?
Any current loyalty reward streaks are retroactive.
Does this count the amount we've already accrued or does it go back to zero in november and build from then on?
No, any current loyalty reward streaks are retroactive.
As a paid member i perfectly understand this changes being made with bulkamancer patreon, but man... i really hate to keep switching between platforms just to download my files; i'm not a server owner or something else but these kind of changes really hit us hard. Yeah i get it this hobby isn't cheap and nobody is forcing me to pay what i most want, but i can't affor buying even more HDDs / SSDs to keep storing my models, that's why i loved so much that you used to deliver our models using MMF (it isn't my favorite opion but at least i don't need to download something o be worried about that). At least give us more existing options and not just another platform for downloading our models, a few creators just add a discount code or something using a TXT file inside the folder to claim it somewhwere else and people who paid for those models will just have access to them. Don't get me wrong, i'm not trying to say i'll stop supporting bulka but i'm already too old to be worried about downloading my files or just making even more accounts to get the currentt files (FOMO hits hard). I'll be waiting for the Q & A post, chers guys.
I want to share my initial feedback, the biggest thing for me is being able to see a higher tier model be announced or released and still having time to start a streak to ve able to get it. I very much appreciate that if you release a 2 month streak model I'd really like, that it'll remain for mong enough that I can get the model as long as I subscribe within 27 days of the model release.
"MyMiniFactory backup will also be discontinued" Does this mean youre getting rid of the mmf tribe?
No. MMF Tribe will remain, although it will undergo some changes as well to reflect the new Patreon model. What we meant was long-term MMF backup for Patreon subscribers, which will now be transferred to the website. If you want your backup on MMF, you can switch your subscription to MMF Tribes.
I have been a monthly subscriber for over a year so I don't have to change anything right? (I mean with my subscription. I know we will get the models from your site and stuff now.)
That is corrent. No change needs to happen from your side.
MMF is the main reason I'm subscribed, because I'll always have a backup, and I'll always be able to access the files even if I forget to download them for a month. Honestly, without that I'll probably unsubscribe, simply because I tend to forget to download models constantly if I'm busy with other hobbies for a while.
If MMF backup is the deal breaker to you, you can always simply switch your subscription to MMF Tribes. Otherwise, your models will be stored on our website pretty much the same way they are now stored on MMF.
Hi there! So if I already have an annual subscription, what will happen to it?
Nothing. It will continue as is within the new system. You won't really notice the difference.