On August 17th, the Hobonichi MOTHER Project announced that there would be themed merchandise on their store page, starting on August 24th. Now that the merch has been released, we can take a closer look at some of the items and see what they are as well as any interesting details they have! Special thanks goes to Lone for translating the website descriptions!

(Click on the images to see them in full view.)

Franklin Badge

First up, the most iconic piece of Mother Memorabilia, the Franklin Badge!

From the Hobonichi website: “The Franklin Badge, one of the key items featured in all three Mother games, has been available to freely purchase for the first time. (The Franklin Badges up to this point have all been created as prizes or bonuses bundled in with other products). It’s well known in the Super Smash Brothers series as well, as that badge that reflects lightning.

As the first commercially available Franklin Badge, we want young boys and girls to hold onto these until adulthood. We want them to keep them as their prized possessions and create fond memories of them.”

At first glance, the badge seems to be a reprint of the Franklin Badges made with the Mother 3 Deluxe Box sets. However, when you look at the two side by side, the differences start to stack up:

The Hobonichi Franklin Badge’s decals and lettering are part of the metal itself, instead of being painted like the M3 Franklin Badge. The Hobonichi badge also looks a lot thicker, and is safe to assume, much heavier than the M3 badge. The description even mentions this, “Like a commemorative medal that does not deteriorate with age, we want people to be able to feel the weight of the badge in their palms. On one hand, it may feel rough and very as-is, but also have that medal-like pristine… This is the kind of badge we aimed to create.”

The company that makes these, as well as some of the other pieces on the store page, is known as PROOF OF GUILD, which is a studio in Nagoya that specializes in hand-crafted jewelry. These pins are created with a technique called cloisonné, which is an ancient technique used for crafting things like pendants, badges, and sometimes ornate plates and bowls. Cloisonné is usually done by bending thin metal or wire into shapes, then attached to the base of the object, which is the backing of the pin in this case. It’s then either torched to the base, or in the Franklin Badge’s case, stamped directly into it at high pressure.

Afterwards, it’s painted with enamel, and then sanded down to become smooth. Depending on how the enamel is applied and the finishing polish, it can be either raised and rounded, or flush to the metal. The Hobonichi Franklin Badge looks to have the latter type of finish, as opposed to the Mother 3 Franklin Badge, which opts for the former.

Regardless of the final look and overall aesthetic, it’s nice to see that the badge is being made with longevity in mind. The Mother 3 Franklin Badges are very prone to discoloration when exposed to light, so many collectors often keep them in their packaging or buy multiple copies – one to display and another to keep. So now, whenever you order this new version, you can safely show these around wherever you go without fear of them deteriorating!

Pin Brooches

Next up, Golden Brooches! Featuring a Starman and a Mr. Saturn!

Hobonichi: “Two charming brass brooch pins, showcasing a Mr. Saturn and a Starman respectively. Place them on your collar, hat, or bags to gain a sense of elegance.”

These are also made by PROOF OF GUILD, the same studio behind the Franklin Badge pins. The process used here is rather interesting compared to the usual process of making pieces like these. Instead of layering pieces of brass or using a set-made metal mold, Mr. Takeuchi (the sculptor), “imagines the Mr. Saturn and Starman in his head and creates the basis for the pin out of wax. He uses that to create a mold, to which he pours in the melted brass, scrapes it down once it cools, and polishes the surface using a sandblaster.”

Since each wax base is destroyed in the process, the individual brooches have slightly different proportions because they’re all handmade. In a way, you could say that it’s a personalized copy of sorts, since the one you order is different from anyone else’s. It’s interesting to note that the polishing is outright stated to wear as the pins are more subject to contact from surfaces, though not in a way that makes the brooch more fragile. “The more you use it, the deeper the color gets, and the mellower of a shine it takes on. It’s like raising something.”

The matte finish, while different, doesn’t look any cheaper or lower quality. It does pose an interesting viewpoint on the collectors, however. It could become a common practice to own multiple copies of the same brooch, much like how the Mother 3 Franklin Badges are often handled. But in the end, much like the Hobonichi Franklin Badges, it looks like these are made to withstand the test of time overall.

Perler Charms

Following from those, some Peculiar Perler Character Charms!

Hobonichi: “A collaboration between Nobuhiro Imakawa, the art director of Mother 3, and MIYUKI, a top class perler creator, comes glass perler charms of the Mother characters from all three games. Mr. Imakawa created the designs, while MIYUKI sowed each bead individually to create a cute and sparkly product!

There are nine perler beads sets in total. 8 pairs: “Ninten and Ana,” “Ness and his Dad,” “Paula and a Teddy Bear,” “Mr. Saturn and a Present,“”A Starman and a Ramblin’ Evil Mushroom”, “Lucas and the Rope Snake”, “Claus and a Save Frog”, “Flying Man and a Tombstone,” and one single perler: “The Magic Butterfly.”

What’s interesting is the fact that the sprites are all either altered or completely custom and don’t appear in any direct forms in their games. This was likely done to keep the sizing of the charms consistent, as each game has different resolutions and pixel counts.

But another interesting detail is found within Ninten’s charm; the color palette itself! Ninten’s shirt in the original Famicom release of Mother 1 was blue and black instead of blue and yellow. It’s possible that Imakawa wanted to stick to the original clay models instead of the sprites, since Ninten’s shirt colors there match the Earthbound NES prototype and the Earthbound Beginnings rerelease. It does bring up a peculiar question, was the black and blue shirt a sprite error?

With that aside, these perler charms are a very nice accessory, but also look to be much more fragile than the other pieces in the lineup so far. So, to anyone purchasing these, make sure you take care of them!

Gentle Towels

Last but certainly not least, towels! And they’re Gentle Towels too!

Hobonichi: “A long-seller on Hobonichi since 2003. The “gentle towel” boasts great absorption with its double gauze and pile fabric triple weaved into it.

There are six main concepts behind this towel:

1. It’s soft on your skin.
2. It has great absorption.
3. It does not deteriorate with age.
4. It’s easy to wash.
5. It’s easy to dry.
6. It’s very compact and can be easily carried around.”

The Hobonichi Gentle Towels have been a staple of the company, notably for their ability to withstand large amounts of wear and tear over many years. Usually with any sort of towel, after enough uses and rewashes, it starts to warp or it’s color begins to fade. However, the Gentle Towels seem to be the exception to both of these rules. Not only are they very light-fast (a term that refers to how much they can withstand light exposure without discoloring), but they’re made using a special process called Lace Processing, which “allows the cotton cells to maintain their shape. No matter how many times you wash and dry it, the towel remains the same down to the molecular level.” It seems like this type of towel making process is entirely unique to the Hobonichi Gentle Towels as well, making these quite a rarity among different brands of towels.

As for the designs of the Mother themed ones, there’s two to look at here. First is the Mr. Saturn design, which has two different layouts depending on which towel it is. The hand towel has a listing of the entire Japanese Mr. Saturn alphabet! It might prove useful to any Japanese players who have a hard time reading the quirky text, as a pocket dictionary and towel in one!

The shower towel variant features a turn around of a Mr. Saturn, with a quote at the bottom that translates to “The bath is slippery. ~Mr. Saturn.” Perhaps the turnaround sprites are supposed to represent them sliding and spinning across the slippery floor?

The MOTHER embroidered ones have a much simpler design by comparison, though it’s still interesting to inspect. The sprites of Mr. Saturn and Ness on his bike, much like the perlers, aren’t direct recreations and are instead modified, though for what purpose is less clear this time. A possible guess is the difference in art directors, since the art teams behind Earthbound and Mother 3 aren’t the same, and the main designer for most of the Hobonichi Mother Project pieces is the art director of Mother 3. It could also be that the reason the sprite was slightly tweaked was because of the difference in color selection and proportions with creating a computer-generated game graphic, versus a physically sewn and threaded detail.

With any case, the fact that these towels can withstand so much wear and tear makes them rather incredible for both casual users and collectors alike. So, no matter what the reason is for anyone obtaining these, they’ll be sure to get good use out of them.

And that’s all of the pieces to cover so far! In the future, we’ll look at some of the newer releases, and if there’s any specific merchandise pieces anyone wants us to cover, we’ll do so! Thank you so much for reading!