Tokyo Rebels Art — secrets revealed
Mint day finally arrived for us Rebels and we were able to send out the result of all our combined efforts — Guardians and the Community alike — into the public’s hands. It has been a long journey for all of us, and we were both relieved that we have reached this point, and anxious at the same time on how the NFT community would receive our rebel project. Timing couldn’t be worse with the bear market and the general state of crypto space. We have been advised to hold off and wait for a more favorable climate before dropping mint, but we have set our calendars for a while and didn’t want to move and delay any further. What could possibly go wrong, right? Guess we’re hardheaded that way, and do not know how to do things the *easy way*.
And here we are. Believe me when I say nobody’s more surprised than us at how fast things went. We were prepared to get crickets and wait for weeks for mint to pick up pace, but oh boy, you guys happened! Somehow the NFT community saw something they liked and ran away with it.
Above all, we are delighted at how positively overwhelming the reception was to The Reveal! We couldn’t thank everyone enough for the high praises we’re receiving. We were confident with the art, but hearing it from actual NFT enthusiasts who look at everything that’s out there on-the-daily hits different. I’m pretty sure @rnoxx, who we all know painstakingly recreated and created tons more and miles better art on top of what little materials we salvaged, teared-up a little.
So as a little show of gratitude to everyone and those who are curious, we’re letting you in on a few secrets about our art build. First, if you haven’t read it yet, a general overview of the process is outlined in our first article. If all that stuff didn’t bore you and you still want to know more, read on. On the other hand, if that’s enough gritty details to satisfy your curiosity, you can stop here. Or read on, it could be fun! But should you decide to head off, let us first thank you sincerely and immensely. From our Tokyo Rebels community, Thank You!
Some things up our sleeves
From here on out I’ll be sharing a few of the tricks we did to tie-off our collection nicely. Little things go a long way, some obvious, some not so much, but it’s the small things that are the chef’s kiss. (Fun fact: @rnoxx is an IRL chef for more than a decade!)
Traits with traits… what?
One of my personal favorites when it comes to traits, is that the traits themselves have traits, sort-of. To make the subtle differences between each mint, some traits — even though appearing as a single entry in the metadata — have multiple variations to choose from to break the monotony of the NFTs, particularly when displayed side by side with another one of the same trait.
The pieces above both have the Oni Skin, but notice the difference with the position of the horns. In this case, we grouped all the Hair traits into similar shapes and decided where the horns would look best on. Then, based on the combination of those two traits (Skin + Hair) and their associated rules (we talk about the intricacies of our rules system in the first article linked above), the generator would pick the appropriate horn design to render, to make sure it all looks right. The Oni Skin has 5 possible positions for its horns, and was one of the first traits to have this feature. We decided it was such a cool addition that we added them to other, usually rarer, traits.
This technique is also highly noticeable on Zombie Skin. There are quite a number of possible variation of “open wounds” that could appear on it based on Hair, Clothes, Helmet, and Tattoo traits that largely affect their visibility. In the same manner, “skin markings” and “wormies” also appear in several combinations. Take a closer look on those two Zombies to see some of these combos.
Environmental effects that adapt with the environment
I haven’t seen it being noticed yet, but some environmental effects can appear differently in different backgrounds. It’s subtle but one of my favorites is the Light Rail Background paired with Rain.
On the left piece, we see the Rain Environment Effects on full display — which makes sense as they are clearly outside — appearing both behind AND in front of the subject. In contrast, when Rain is paired with Light Rail as it appears on the right, it is barely visible outside the train window, but definitely changes the mood of the piece in my opinion.
Light and dark — collectors’ favorites
We’ve seen some lively discussion on #general about these two sought-after backgrounds, and we absolutely love it. Those who were hanging out with us post-reveal might have seen us saying that these two almost did not make the cut! When @rnoxx raised the idea of “spaces isolated from the rest of Tokyo”, it was a hit! Where these places actually are, nobody knows (…yet!). Is it a real place in Tokyo? In virtual reality? Inside the rebels’ psyche? Your guess is as good as ours.
The problems started when we *actually* started building them. While they appear to be the simplest backgrounds in the collection, we had a some trouble making it look just right. The light streaks that touches and affects the whole piece as the Tokyo Rebels logo passes through on Limbo was arguably the hardest part. When we got that down, the light that illuminates the Void in a similar way took a little bit less time. Sadly, those are not visible in these still previews. Head over to OpenSea or your favorite marketplace to check them out. #6344 #6422
In addition, making the Limbo pieces appear in black & white was a risky move. How would people react when they see they minted something without color, when the rest of the collection is quite colorful?
When we showed the team some samples, the group was split. I personally don’t dig them that much. Seeing now how positively the community received them, to the point of people hunting and sniping them down, tells me I’m badly mistaken.
So what’s the secret here? Patience. Lots of it. Cheeky, but sometimes pulling off the *simple* things takes the most effort. But the payoff sure makes up for it. And for the actual cool secret, there are neither black & white Trait assets created specifically for Limbo, nor dark-purplish lights for Void. A piece having these traits would “trigger” black and white mode, or color correction for Limbo and Void respectively, and are applied on top of the actual traits.
Everyone talks about rarity in NFTs and rightfully so, they tend to have the most value. But these shouldn’t be the end-all of it. There should also be a personal connection to your favorite NFTs, a true uniqueness. And this is what we set out to do — provide NFTs that you can truly call your own and know it speaks to your individuality.
二 BalledOut
Last but not least…
The secret ingredient is Fun.
At the core of the Tokyo Rebels collection, what we hope to convey is to “have fun”. We do not want to dwell on our past, and there’s no running away from it. It was tough. But what we had, in that short span of time was just that, we had fun. We enjoyed interacting with the people we met, playing silly bot games, sharing memes and whatnot. We didn’t want that to end. What helped us most to get here is the desire to keep that vibe. And we hope it shows! We sprinkled a little bit of it here and there, in the traits, in the backgrounds (seriously you have to be watching the backgrounds for… some things!). And that’s what we hope to continue within our growing community, both old and new. Rebels having fun.
You had actually invested two things in the [TTT] project — financially, and your time in the community. Now you are working to make sure that you were only rugged of one of those things.
一 A former Guardian
As for the rest of our secrets — the more technically in-depth ones, we’re not ready to tell just yet. Definitely keep an eye out for more! If you liked these secrets go ahead and browse your bag (or the floor!) again. See if you spot more of them, and then drop by our discord and twitter to tell us what you find!
In the mean time, we’re off to the grind to make sure we keep on delivering!
#RebelsRiseUp #RebelsNeverDie #RebelReborn #TokyoRebels #RebelVibes
三, The Guardians, Tokyo Rebels
