ToyMories Takeover!
Across the web3 space, countless projects are suffering at the hands of the economic downturn that arrived at the close of calendar year 2021. Many have stalled or folded entirely, blaming reductions in available capital and/or the market’s aversion to venture investments. Despite the turmoil of this “bear” market, ToyMories has found fertile ground and a firm footing!
ToyMories (toymories.com) is a collection of 7,500 ERC-721 non-fungible tokens (NFTs) of three-dimensional art with a variety of unique traits that was produced to pursue a goal of outreach for less fortunate youth around the globe. At its core, ToyMories grew organically through chance interactions within the web3 and NFT space, as many projects have. However, the genesis of ToyMories drives an interesting narrative that quickly draws connections from that simple beginning to some of the biggest commercial properties in existence today.
A Simple Conversation
ToyMories traces its roots to a remarkable project existing in the web3 arena with similarly well-intentioned goals, CryptoMories. CryptoMories began selling NFTs in late 2021 to promote mental health awareness and quickly saw success with an active community. Soon after the collection minted, two CryptoMorie owners, Jpeg Joey (twitter.com/Nftkid23) and SpherePunks (twitter.com/PunksSphere), casually discussed the possibility of adding a third dimension to the project’s artwork. This simple conversation led to the creation of a small group of 300 NFTs directly based on many of the existing CryptoMories that they simply titled “ToyMories”.
The initial set of NFTs to carry the title of ToyMories, today lovingly referred to as “OG ToyMories”, existed simply as a novel and experimental expansion of the CryptoMories community. However, Jpeg Joey and SpherePunks were inspired! Thus, the decision was made to continue the newly forged working relationship and develop a project of their own, influenced and endorsed by the CryptoMories, with a similar organization around a common altruistic goal. This was the seed that was sown and would eventually grow into the ToyMories community as it exists today, promoting positive interactions in the web3 space while focusing on benefits to children around the world.
Bring it on!
With SpherePunks acting primarily as the digital artist and Jpeg Joey pulling the virtual strings of project and community development, the ToyMories collection was developed through the first half of 2022 and minted in August. The new generation of ToyMories were created through an approach common to the NFT market of trait-based collectibles. The three-dimensional base image of a stout, adorable skeleton figure served as a foundation on which specially designed attributes were randomized and combined, such as clothing arrangements, eye expressions, skull colors, and background colors. This created a full collection of unique, but similarly recognizable ToyMories characters, as well as seven super-rare, one-of-a-kind characters, publicly referred to as “ghosts”. Of particular note within the available possibilities, ToyMories is the first NFT project to manipulate light sources within their three-dimensional art with what they affectionately call the “backlight” trait!
Adversity overcome!
Initially, the ToyMories mint price was set at 0.03 ethereum (approx. $60 US at the time) which proved too cumbersome for the contemporary market in August 2022. Never one to back down from a challenge, Jpeg Joey made the decision to release the entire remaining collection for free! Of course, there was a feeding frenzy and the ToyMories were all swiftly in the hands of their first owners.
Since then, the collectability of ToyMories has been on full display in the secondary market. The collection has averaged 4 eth(ereum) per day in transactions to accrue 300 eth total sales volume in just two months! The average price of a single ToyMories NFT quickly rose and has regularly hovered near the original mint price of 0.03 eth with some individual sales reaching as high as 0.98 eth each! These transactions have generated an exceptional distribution of ownership, with 78% of ToyMories holders owning 3 NFTs or less, thereby fostering a truly community-based structure to the overall project, as each NFT conveys the full rights of its intellectual property to the current holder.
No signs of slowing!
The incredible momentum being experienced by the ToyMories project only continues to intensify as the brand itself is quickly expanding! Since debuting the collection of digital NFTs, ToyMories has struck agreements with merchandise manufacturers in North America and Europe to produce tangible ToyMories goods such as attire and home décor (toymoriesmerch.com and www.nft2print.com/collections/toymories/). These cooperatives have allowed ToyMories holders to take their characters from the digital to the real world and are now developing into a potential avenue of passive income for the NFT owners.
One standalone product that must be highlighted here is the ToyMories collectable figurines that are themselves registered on the Ethereum blockchain, a first-of-its-kind feature! The technology making this possible is truly cutting edge and the potential applications for this concept are in their infancy and seemingly endless! Initial shipments of these amazing items are currently being shipped around the world and receiving rave reviews for their impressive quality, courtesy of the collaboration between ToyMories and NFT2PRINT! Each figurine is created to-order (toymories.nft2print.com) at the discretion of the NFT holder with the IP rights, meaning holders can keep supply as limited as they wish, thereby controlling the rarity and collectability!
Not content to rest after these groundbreaking achievements, the partnership between ToyMories and NFT2PRINT is currently in development of a “Toy Lab” functionality that will transform a two-dimensional NFT from any existing project, with inherent intellectual property rights, into a three-dimensional digital file, which can then be purchased as a blockchain-registered collectible figurine, an NFT2PRINT capability that is being exclusively monetized through the ToyMories project by way of high-quantity ToyMories NFT ownership and/or the purchase of a separate collection of “ToyPass” NFTs. As if that weren’t enough, a new line of “ToyPets” NFTs are currently being designed to accompany and compliment the ToyMories characters and further expand the ToyMories universe!
Beyond the brand
Along with the brand- and merchandise-expanding measures, ToyMories has also widened its ability to fulfill its primary mission of altruism focused on less fortunate children. Creator’s fees (i.e. royalties) from NFT sales have been used to make monetary donations to Shriners Hospital for Children (lovetotherescue.org), an international health care system that has been providing medical assistance to children for 100 years. Additionally, the project has pledged that proceeds from each sale of the ToyMories figurines from NFT2RPRINT will be utilized to purchase a play toy for a child in need. Coincidentally, the passion expressed by the ToyMories organization has garnered the attention of, and subsequent partnership with, the Toys for Tots program (toysfortots.org), a nationwide charity created by the United States Marine Corps Reserve that has been providing toys to underprivileged children for 75 years!
Let’s Go!
The future is extremely bright for ToyMories! It’s amazing that this burgeoning powerhouse has only been beyond the conceptual stage for such a short time. However, the proof is readily available for those that wish to see. The NFT-based web3 project has weathered its share of early difficulties, gained an enthusiastic NFT-holder community, proven its mettle with sustained and increasing sales, and defined its place in the global economy through merchandise development and international partnerships. Packaging all these features together along with Toymories’ charitable goals, we’re left with an enterprising young project that has plenty to offer any and all investors as well as the global community as a whole!