US: Kickstarter campaign funds Hillary Clinton action figures

A Brooklyn couple has reached a crowdfunding goal to start the production of an action figure to support their preferred presidential candidate – Hillary Clinton.

Jason and Alyssa Zeller Feinberg, the creative duo behind the design firm of FCTRY, hit the $15,000 (£10,000) mark on their Kickstarter campaign on 23 March, which will allow them to start production of a Hillary Clinton action figure.

"In researching an action figure I have to go and learn about the person we're going to make. And in this case, the more I read up on Hillary, the more I watched video footage of her, the more I sort of learned her life story, the more I came to realise that she was just the most amazing female role model ever," Jason Feinberg said.

The action figure stands 6in high and features the former Secretary of State in a signature blue pantsuit with a pearl necklace and earrings.

"I love the smile. I love the details of the button on the jacket. Overall, I'm really pleased that it looks so much like Hillary. It's really hard to capture that, you know, in plastic, and especially at such a small scale," said Zeller.

"The goal for me is to really capture somebody's essence in six inches of plastic which is insanely difficult. But if people can emotionally connect to this sculpture, then we've done our job and with this one I feel great about it. It's just. . . It's spot on. People love it. It feels like a miniature Hillary," added Feinberg.

Feinberg was teaching in 2008 when he and Alyssa were swept up in the momentum of Barack Obama's run for president. Both of them had art backgrounds and were particularly moved by the impact of Shepard Ferry's 'Hope' poster on the Obama campaign. The couple quickly put his sculpting background and her industrial design knowledge to work and developed a best-selling Barack Obama action figure which sold more than 250,000 units and provided the seed money for them to start FCTRY, a design studio that focuses on pop-art.

After Obama made his way to the White House, Feinberg received a rewarding call from Smithsonian Institute requesting an Obama action figure for their official memorabilia collection of the campaign.

"The same way that Obama's run felt really historic in 2008, we almost kind of forgot how historic what Hillary was doing was, and now it's just like cool, that happened, but this is what has to happen next," said Feinberg about their new project.

"That's part of the fun of it for us, is to try and get out early and go all-in on the candidate that we're actually supporting. So, to come in now before she even announced and be like this is where were standing, it's not like we're going to make her and several other candidates," he said.

The team at FCTRY has also created additional goals for their Kickstarter campaign. With just over ten days left, if they reach the $60,000 level, they will add a line of Hillary action figures in a pink pantsuit, or if they can get as much as $100,000, FCTRY will produce a Bill Clinton figure.

Once Hillary Clinton makes the much anticipated, official announcement to run for President, the Feinbergs hope to transition the sale of the action figure into some type of fund-raising and social activism for the campaign, though they admit there is still some ground to cover.