When the Riot Quest Wintertime Wasteland Kickstarter went live, there was a whole slew of prizes that could get unlocked as part of that campaign—new gear cards, additional add-ons, and some really unique (and sort of strange) ones, like unlocking Storytime…with me.

Now, this was Matt Wilson’s idea, and if Matt wants me to read a story to people, well, I’m going to read a story to people, but I had no idea how good this would all turn out. Really, it’s all thanks to Matt’s story (excellent rhyming skills there, Matt), the amazing art by Carlos Cabrera, and the superb efforts of our Video Producer Tony Konichek.

I don’t fully understand how Tony does what he does, but he can make something as mundane as me sitting in a chair reading a book into a treat as whimsical as the final video, which is clearly witchcraft. If you haven’t seen what I’m talking about yet, you can check out “The Heist Before Wrecksmas” here:

You might have noticed a few character spoilers in this video. To that end, here’s a still shot of the art so you can take a closer look.

Can you spot all the new characters? Let me help you out—in this picture are your first looks at:

• Malvin, Revenge Artist
• Tubbin
• Dreyfus & Flubbin, Storm Patrol
• Widget, Mathlete Archeologist
• Karchev & Deathjack, Malignant Fusion
• Some of the Bot models from the upcoming Heist expansion

We’ll be talking about all of these characters more in depth in the near future, and we’ll even be previewing the other Heroes from Wintertime Wasteland you haven’t seen yet.

But not right now. Now is festivities time.

So, until the next preview, Happy Holidays to all of you. May you enjoy the warmth of your photorealistic fires.