For those unfamiliar with Jelly Key, I highly encourage going through our previous coverage of the Vietnamese artisan's works wherein we've seen several different examples of highly detailed themes which get put to life on your keyboard courtesy artisan keycaps that use a resin pour over a layer-by-layer assembly incorporating individually molded tiny pieces. The company is famous for its various themes and designs although I must say I quite liked the 8-bit Series: Pipeline City keycap covered in the very first article. It was clearly going for gaming nostalgia and as close to Nintendo IP as it could get without getting into trouble. As such, I was delighted to know there was a new 8-it series in the works—especially as this happens to be the most complicated and time consuming design the company has ever put out in the new group buy called 8-Bit Series: Pipeline Battle.

The theme is put to good use here with not only characters and environments but also game effects including explosions and bullets/missiles galore. I can probably identify three different games these keycaps remind me of immediately and the level of detail is such that you may want to consider going for a larger keycap to better appreciate everything. Jelly Key says every single element is individually cast with just the base taking ~20 hours to complete and the various tiny characters taking another 8-10 hours to assemble layer by layer before the resin pour and a final finishing process taking another 16-18 hours. There are four gaming scenes, nine sizes for each scene, and 156 character variations in this group buy which consists of 11 keycap sizes and five keycap profiles including a "naked" profile without the resin pour. Purchasing a bundle gives a free art toy display stand too. The group buy ends Oct 9 officially—usually sooner—although Jelly Key has promised TechPowerUp readers some extra leeway here while also giving us a 5% discount code (5-eodh2). See past the break for photos of a prototype keycap in the 2u size, Pipeline Gold design, and droplet profile.