I’d like to start floating the idea of a toy line called The Mutant Apes, based on the MAYC collection.
There are many different ways to go about this but in order to avoid jumping the gun and having my own personal ideas spiral out of control, I’ll begin with a very specific vision and I hope that inspired DAO members here will help contribute to that.
The type of toys would be plastic and/or vinyl. No plush, action figures, or more complex designs at the start.
MAYC owners will be given the option of participating in exchange for some sort of IRL royalty situation. Technically speaking, all 20K MAYCs can participate.
The idea here is to create a toy line directly aimed at the mainstream audience, including adolescents and young adults. Though each MAYC is unique, such a mass-audience production would require far more than 20,000 items, and especially if not all MAYCs are willing to participate. Therefore I’m thinking there can be a rarity assignment based on the rarity of the NFT and its traits, so that how rare or common the NFT itself is dictates how many physical items of that MAYC are in production (e.g. an MAYC with very common rarity score and/or traits may have 5000 items of that MAYC produced in circulation whereas the rarest MAYC may have only several physical items of that design in circulation at any given time).
The toys would be digitally-interfaceable via NFC and can be used to create Nintendo Amiibo-esque games or other experiences. (Full disclosure: my company makes a software tool that would be compatible with this and can make those experiences possible).
Before seeing if this idea merits flesh and bones (i.e. discussion of execution, operations and so on), would be glad to hear some thoughts, feedback, pushback on the concept itself.
I don’t see why a line of MAYCs can’t or wouldn’t be as popular as Garbage Pail Kids or similar “gross IPs” (the kind that are popular specifically because they are weird or ‘ugly’).
Thanks for being the first to reply @ssp1111, really appreciate that. Got any feedback on the ideation/strategic level? Maybe some guiding questions even?
I like it, but this can be a merch line for owners. For take to world level of commercials goods it will be a massive campaign and big money investment. Maybe can be done with a big name of toys industry. Just my opinion
You could be right essentially but I don’t think it has to be a massive toy takeover right away. Big things can also start small. I can say that part of what I would bring to the table here is my connections with toy companies who have worked on significant IPs in the past. I also have a licensing expert who knows everyone in that side of the biz, in case it’s helpful.
Thank you @justzb! Please drop any further ideas here if the inspiration strikes you.
Will put together a proper AIP Draft (pending feedback) after this discussion expires in seven days.
I don’t know if it will be a “play with” situation like a tea set exactly but physical toys and collectibles is still one of the most profitable and successful industries to date!
This sounds interesting. Not sure what you had in mind, but what immediately came to mind was something like the Pudgy Penguins Igloo Blind Box. Which is similar to lol surprise bubble and shopkins blind baskets.
You can have like 50 or 100 mutants per season, they can come in a boat or if its allowed, a version of the clubhouse. Kids would want to collect all of them, but they have no idea which one is inside until they open it. It’ll take several years to get thru all 20k which is great.
Have to decide whether to make them full body or just the bust. But I think this concept is pretty cool and probably the easiest to mass produce and get into retail. Just my 2 gwei.
Plushy toys LFG
I think @Brazy is someone you should contact with who has delivered lego toys of few collectibles already. He and the team are just brilliant
but physical toys and collectibles is still one of the most profitable and successful industries to date!
