MetaVault #6: Web3 Stripes
This is MetaVault, a weekly-ish newsletter that makes sense of the Pixel Vault universe: PUNKS Comic, MetaHero, United Planets, $PUNKS, $POW, and lots of DAOs.
There are some topics that I have to research, analyze, hopefully understand, and then condense it down to something that’s manageable to read (you don’t want to see my draft on DAOs! ha). But yesterday’s unveiling of the “major corporate partner” fits firmly in my wheelhouse. As a long-time fan of Adidas, a recovering sneakerhead, and an indulgent reader of Hypebeast — this post could write itself.
Collaborating with Adidas is like… whoa
Months of speculation was resolved in a single tweet on a Sunday afternoon:
It’s official. PUNKS x BAYC x GMoney x Adidas. Absolutely historical collaboration. Sure, other NFT projects have released merch. But this is an official collaboration with one of the largest brands in the world. Just a reminder:
Adidas is the home of the world’s best soccer player, Leo Messi. And the two biggest soccer clubs: Manchester United and Real Madrid. Two of the best NFL QBs and former MVPs, Aaron Rodgers and Patrick Mahomes. Two of the best guards in the NBA, James Harden and Dame Lillard.
They are the home of Queen Bae. Yeezy. Pharrell. Cudi. Pusha. RUN DMC.
They collaborate with a fun combination of elite fashion houses (Prada, Stella McCartney) and up-and-comers (Palace, Noah, Bape). And just straight-up cool designers like Rick Owens, Yohji Yamamoto, Jeremy Scott, and Nigo.
They see gaming as an important growth opportunity through their collaboration with Ninja — probably the most famous gamer on the planet?
They partner with leading entertainment and IP brands. Disney. Pixar. Star Wars. Lego. Bond. The heaviest of hitters…
It’s kind of shocking that Pixel Vault was able to negotiate a merchandizing partnership with a major global brand like Adidas — and yet it feels totally right. No other clothing and performance brand takes this kind of dive into sports, music, fashion, entertainment, and culture. Now the Three Stripes is experimenting in Web3 within a year of it becoming a viable commercial technology. Credit to Ben Mayor White and others over at Adidas for seeing the future that we all live everyday. (And check-out Ben’s appearance back in June on The NFT Nick Show… he saw what we saw and actually moved his company to do something about it!)
A Merch NFT?
Official details are sparse right now on what kinds of merch to expect. We only have the teaser images. We see Courtney with her trefoil logo t-shirt, the Bored Ape in its track suit, and GMoney in the classic hoodie. Can we expect hats? Socks? Beanies? Umm, sneakers?!
As far as price and release, again, very little official detail. GFunk may have mentioned in previous Town Halls a “forging” mechanic (see MetaVault #4 for hints). I’ll keep the speculation low here because with a little more patience, we’ll get our answers.
We’re Building a Future Where…
The little JPEGs we have saved on our phones and secured in our Ledgers are being printed en masse by a global brand. This is the first of many future collaborations between NFT communities and corporate partners — though Adidas will always be our community’s “major corporate partner” as Ned pointed out on Twitter.
There will come a time when we collectively gather around the TV, turn on [insert streaming platform here], and watch a fully animated Courtney kick ass. Or maybe we’ll open our phones and steal $POW from each other in the MetaHero Mobile Game while standing in line at the grocery store. And then a little later, we’ll fire up the PS5 (maybe PS6?) and cause a ruckus with our Cores, Generatives, Sidekicks, and Wangdoodles in Virtunaut’s multi-layered world.
This is the future GFunk, the team, and our community is building.
RIP Virgil
From pure excitement to sheer sadness within two hours. Learning that Virgil Abloh passed away yesterday at only 41 blew me away. I’ve followed his journey for the past 10 years or so as he went from leading Kayne’s creative team to building his own brand (off-white) to running the Louis Vuitton men’s line.
He was a builder. A tinkerer. An artist with a master’s in architecture. A DJ with a broad taste in music. A designer of all things: chairs, clocks, concert stages.
A genius who should’ve been hitting his stride.
As a huge sports fan, my comparisons almost always go back to sports: Virgil’s passing would be like if Jordan died after his second NBA championship. Virgil, like MJ, had already ascended to the very top. He’d won. But he was the “once in a generation” talent who could’ve won six rings.
Sucks.
Weekly Alpha
Corporate Partner = Adidas. Um, does this mean GFunk and Kanye are co-workers? I kid, I kid.
Gamified $POW. Lots of fun discussion between the PV team and our community in last week’s Town Hall. Check the recap. To sum it up: simple $POW staking to start, more gamified $POW in the intermediate.
PUNKS Comic #2 first glimpse. Courtney’s a bad ass. Ape silhouettes in the background. Love it.
Roadmap
Some of this is speculative — as always, look for official announcements through PV’s Twitter accounts.
November
ACTIVE: Giveaway 2: Jupiter Token to Planet Minters. Grab your free Jupiter tokens from the PV website. Window closes on Dec 2 at 11 am EST.
MetaHero Core Giveaway. Tomorrow!
Issue PixelPass to Core and Special Edition Comic #1 Holders. This week!
Giveaway 3: Mercury, Venus, and Earth Tokens. This week! Snapshot will be taken on Dec 2.
Launch Staking (Comic/$PUNKS, MH/$POW). This week!
December
Giveaway 4: Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn Tokens. First week of December.
Launch Comic #2. December 8.
NFT Merch Mint with Corporate Partner. Will release approximately three days after the standard comic.
Elite Ape Week. Week of December 13.
Launch Physical Comic #1 Claim. Week of December 13.
Giveaway 5: Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto. Week of December 20?
January
Launch MintPass #2 Claim. GFunk said this would get launched prior to the “turn of the year,” but the published timing on their Discord is January. I’m leaning more toward January.
TBD
Special Planet Minting Bonus - Unconfirmed. Not sure if this is still in the works, but I’ll track for a few more weeks.
MetaHero Core Giveaway - Confirmed. TBD. After the giveaway this week, they’ll be one more before the end of the year.
Origin Stories - Confirmed. TBD. Expect these to start rolling out with a fairly normal cadence either by the end of the year or early next year.
Game Platform on Mercury - Confirmed. TBD. Expect big news on who the game studio partner is later this year or early next year.
3D Avatars for each MetaHero - Confirmed. TBD.
TV Series - Unconfirmed. TBD. Expect big news far in advance of a series ever being made.
By the Numbers
PV Unique Holders: 10,098
PV Core Sets: 1,612
PUNKS Comic #1: 3,371
MetaHeroes: 5,780 (5,824)
MP#1: 3,854
MH Cores Remaining in Giveaways: 110 (out of the 146 characters, only 36 have been given away)
United Planet Sets (All 9 planets + Moon): 119
MetaHero Highlight
Huge shout-out to Khateva! A long-time member of the community, a PV Discord Mod, and all around bad ass. Thanks for everything you do!
Beanie of the Week
Beans is called a lot of things — but here we call him PV’s number 1 fan!
Some Disclaimers: None of this is financial advice. DYOR. And yes, I’m obviously a PV collector and long-term hodlr. Not a whale by any measure (maybe a squid?), but want to be transparent on what I’m hodling:
Punks Comic #1: 1 (Token ID 3954)
PV Founders DAO: 1 (Token ID 4521)
Mint Pass #1: 1
MetaHero Generative: 1 (Token ID 644)
Planet DAO Tokens: Earth 1, Mars 1, Jupiter 9, Saturn 1, Uranus 1, Neptune 4