Page One #14
jpeg updates. March 18-20
Announcements and such:
SSDD - still working on NFT tools article and ironing out ideas for collaboration with new writers but expect both of those this week. Also, we’ve finally got a (very simple) logo!
As always, thank you for reading, sharing and subscribing. If you’ve got feedback, suggestions or contributions, find me on Twitter or The One (link below).
TLDR:
Yuga Labs won’t stop blowing our collective minds. Web2 artists and brands continue to find their way to Web3. New mint mechanics are fun and exciting and so are new use cases (like v-tuber models). On Chain games - specifically Minecraft ones - keep delivering to holders. And some NFT tickets to a crypto conference.
News and Notes:
Blanko's Block Party, a collection of avatars for use in their open-world game that is currently available for download, received an unexpected surge in demand over the weekend. Most Blankos are still available for mint on Mythical Market. The Blankos on Mythical Market can be bridged to Ethereum mainnet later in the year. Blankos have collaborated with a range of popular brands and artists, including Burberry and Deadmau5.
Bored Ape Yacht Club leads the news again - with what might be their most exciting announcement yet. Yuga Labs released a trailer for their upcoming metaverse game the Otherside on Friday night and sent NFT Twitter ablaze. The impressively-animated video shows an Ape venturing through the various regions of the Otherside (and running into some friends on the way). While we are without many specifics, the tweet - see below if you somehow missed it - possibly implies a launch as soon as next month. An absolute showcase in execution from Yuga.
Cryptoon Goonz teased an upcoming collaboration with Urban Outfitters at this year’s NFT NYC. The collection of old-timey cartoon characters elicit visions of an early Mickey Mouse mixed with pop-culture references. Since minting in November, the team has focused on building their community and branding through events and partnerships, with an emphasis on transparency and under-delivery. While their collaboration with Urban Outfitters is a ways away and will likely be exclusive to stores or pop-ups at NFT NYC, it demonstrates an increasing willingness from web2 brands to dip their toes in the web3 water and will certainly continue.
CryptoToadz saw significant volume after The Otherside trailer, which briefly featured the swamp creatures, was released on Friday night. Rumors of collaboration between the Apes and Toadz have been swirling for a few weeks and this seems to confirm that Toadz will be interoperable with Otherside. Other collections featured in the video include Cool Cats, CyptoPunks, Meebits, Mutant Apes, Nouns and World of Women. There is no word on whether this is a conclusive list or simply the first batch of projects to be integrated - I’d guess the latter.
Freaks N Guilds, an on-chain adventure game similar to Ether Orcs and the like, minted their on-chain characters over the weekend. Celestial Key holders were able to mint using the FnG token, $FBX, before the public sale. FnG is building an adventure game with NFT Worlds integration, opening the possibility to bring your characters into Minecraft dungeons to earn $FBX and $WRLD. There are currentlly 10,000 Freaks, but supply will reach 30,000 as the game plays out. Their whitepaper covers the details - check it out here.
Gutter Cat Gang saw a surge in demand on the 18th, bringing the floor from the mid-6 range to around 10e - a new all-time high. Since minting last summer, the GCG has built an expansive ecosystem spanning nine NFT collections, including Cats, Dogs, Rats and Pigeons - see them all here. Given the recent release of Gutter Juice and the upcoming Gutter Clones collection, it makes sense that there has been increased interest in the GCG universe - deservedly so. In addition to their NFT collections, GCG has released merch, built up a lengthy roster of partnerships, and built analytic tools into their website.
NFT Worlds announced NFT Worlds Avatars, a collection of 10,000 playable characters for use in Minecraft. Additionally, they will be releasing Community Avatars, a perpetual collection of playable characters created in collaboration with communities and projects building on NFT Worlds. ArkDev and team have already opened up a new realm of possibilities for projects, recently hitting 70 verified partners, and look like they will continue expanding their offerings and empowering their users. NFT Worlds has proven they are amongst the top teams in execution and delivery and look poised to maintain that position.
Recent Launches:
3Land Adventure Bags are the first piece of inventory in the 3Landers universe. They were airdropped to holders starting on the 15th and while their function has yet to be revealed, the team has said they will be an important piece of the upcoming adventure. 3Landers have held up well and continued to gain supporters since we first discussed them about a month ago. Their art style continues to be a differentiator from comparable collections and the introduction of new tokens, whether fungible or not, will certainly bolster their ecosystem.
GNSS seeds began opening on the 17th and employed a unique reveal method. Users had 10 chances to reveal their seed, but once an option has been passed up, it cannot be revisited. This was, from firsthand experience, a lot of fun. It empowers holders by giving them a bit of choice without removing elements of chance from the process. Seeds can be opened until the 17th of April, after which they cannot be opened. The collection itself is an interesting mix of generative art with avatar attributes (although the lack of facial features means some don’t work well as profile pictures) and is an experience to look through.
Kibatsu Mecha is a hand-generated, fully animated collection from Jerry Liu, an animator and graphics artist with 15 years of industry experience. Jerry has previously released 1/1's featuring Kibatsu themes and visuals and has brought that same feel to the larger collection. This project is focused on art and branding over tokens and staking and the team seems committed to continuing to build their universe and lore over the long run.
SKULLTOONS is the debut collection from neo-pop artist Theodoru, who has been creating Skulltoons in various forms for more than five years. He has previously made toys, prints, and character designs - check out his portfolio here. The roadmap includes a future collection accessible only to holders who emerge victorious from the Skull Games, a competition to solve a series of riddles, as well as the formation of a DAO and a second collection for all holders. Established artists bringing their existing art, branding and community into the NFT space has been an emerging theme over the past few months and one we’ll continue to see.
Upcoming Launches:
Anata announced that their MetaDrop auction will be held on the 24th. The 2,000 piece collection is not generative - all 2,000 Anatas have been carefully hand-crafted by the artists working with BigDSenpai, DCFGod and team. The supply will be split between male and female avatars. Anatas are fully-loaded vtuber models that can be used in nearly any video call or stream. They’re are capable of tracking your movements and come with a range of pre-made emotes. The team has worked with Hologram Labs to integrate web3 wallets with a simple UI controlling the Anata - check out the video below for a full walkthrough and read more about their upcoming auction here. Anata has been praised as an innovative use case and could open the door for more artists - or existing NFT projects - to create v-tuber models.
Blockworks, the digital asset media company founded by Jason Yanowtiz, are preparing to launch an NFT that functions as a lifetime VIP ticket to their upcoming conference, Permissionless, which will take place May 17-19 in Palm Beach, FL. Many in the NFT space have seen event tickets as an obvious use case and its encouraging to see many organizations, from music festivals to conferences, starting to experiment with it. Permissionless will feature a laundry list of speakers, attendees and experiences ranging from Andreessen Horowitz Partner Christ Dixon to artist pplpleasr and everything in between. There will be 500 NFT tickets and the pricing and release date are not yet announced.
FVCK_AVATARS claims and sales will begin on the 23rd. A snapshot of FVCK_CRYSTAL and other eligible collections was taken earlier on Sunday. Holders of eligible NFTs can claim on Avatar for free and may purchase another for 0.2e. If any Avatars remain unminted on the 27th, they will be sold to the public for 0.469e. Crystals and Avatars will play some role in FVCK_RENDER’s upcoming LVCIDIA, which we might receive more information on after this release.
Kingship was announced in November after Universal Music Group acquired some Apes and decided they were meant to be a virtual band. They came out of stealth mode over the weekend and will begin forming their Allowlist “soon.” Kingship and the idea of a virtual band backed by NFTs has drawn attention from the mainstream media, who’ve referenced acts like The Gorillaz and Japan’s Hatsune Miku as previous musicians who exist only digitally or fictionally. The band will also be an incredible case study regarding the commercial use of an NFT, in this case Bored Apes. If they find success, expect to see more innovation in this sector quickly.
Metroverse Blackout collection was mentioned in the mid-week Page One, but it releases on the 22nd so here it is again. Blackout blocks will cost 25,000 $MET to mint and will expand the Metroverse while introducing new tactics and items, such as attack pods. The expansion collection will feature Check out their Discord and website for more info.
Peek-A-Boo will launch tomorrow, March 21st and has a fully-allocated whitelist. Their P2E Hide-N-Seek game has been in development for a number of months and will finally make its debut on Treasure Market. The collection contains 5,000 Ghosts, who will hide, and 15,000 Busters, who will seek. Holders earn $BOO, used to purchase new cosmetic traits, and XP, used to level up, for playing Hide-N-Seek. The tokenomics are a bit complex to explain here (per usual with Treasure, who put great effort into their ecosystems) and is fully explained in their Ghostpaper - check it out here.
Wandernauts will release exclusively to Wanderers holders on the 25th. This collection of space-roaming avatars includes 16 base models that each have unique music and animated vignettes. Their release will mark the next expansion of The Wanderer’s universe, which already includes the initial collection of space journeys as well as the Planet Pass collection on Polygon. The collection has also built a healthy library full of lore related to the universe. Holders will eventually be able to travel between different planets and earn $DUST while doing so. Wandernauts will cost 0.04e to mint.
Wanderers: 0.35e floor | 8,888 supply | 0.08e mint | minted 8-15-21
NFT Market Overview:
It’s been a huge week for news and announcements, highlighted by $APE and Otherside. Aside from that, things seem a bit quiet and statistics are neither here nor there. No huge mints moved the market in the past few days, although some collections like ZombieClub, Muri and Martian Premier League have seen a couple thousand Ether in volume over the past week. While the release of $APE coincided with a run-up in the price of BTC and ETH, macro and micro conditions are still questionable at best. Whether or not the fresh injection of cash into the pocket of every ape and mutant restarts an NFT run remains to be seen.
NFT News and Happenings
Cricket NFT platform Faze counts Ronaldo among its backers
Facebook sued in Australia for crypto scam ads
GameStop will launch their NFT marketplace by end of Q2
Time Magazine subscriptions can be purchased with $APE
Spotify plans to integrate NFTs
SXSW was overrun with NFT events but lacked wider crypto presence
Vitalik graces the cover of Time Magazine