As expected, the crypto bear market has shaken out a lot of NFT projects. On the plus side, that makes it easier to identify which teams are survivors, and that tends to mean the bigger names. But have any less well known projects stuck around? Consistently flying just under the radar is a busy project called Degen Toonz, and it’s worth taking a look at.
Degen Toonz First Impressions
Take a look at Degen Toonz and you’ll find cats. More specifically, retro, Looney Tunes style cartoon cats, in a range of outfits and color schemes, and with various accessories. On the surface, it’s an uncomplicated PFP collection that mainly follows the template laid down in 2021 by Bored Ape Yacht Club, which itself took cues from PFP originator CryptoPunks.
There are 8,888 items in the Degen Toonz main collection, taking in a variety of attributes. As you’d expect, rarer traits are more valuable, with some of the most sought after being robots and gold fur.
Dig a little deeper, and you’ll find Degen Toonz sub-collections. There are Detonated Toonz, in a side area called GM/GN Industries there is dynamite for sale, and there are Minter Reward Cards.
In case you’re wondering, dynamite can be used to create Detonated Toonz from original Toonz, and there’s also radioactive dynamite, to create radioactive Detonated Toonz (which are more valuable). Minters Reward Cards were airdropped to people who bought Toonz from the original mint, but can be bought and sold, and have ecosystem benefits for holders.
How Degen Toonz Started
Degen Toonz was launched back in February 2022 by founders Bader Asad and Prince Lail. The initial drop was a slow starter, taking a week to mint out at a price of 0.085 ETH, but once it had sold out, it suddenly exploded in popularity. The design and vibes seemed to strike a chord with NFT collectors, flippers looking for quick profits showed up to the party too, and floor prices rose.
While prices have fluctuated a lot since then, a very strong, vocal community has grown up around the project. There’s a lot of loyalty towards what’s being built (and towards the PFP cats at the center of it all), which has been solidly maintained throughout tough market conditions, and there’s a committed team at work creating a brand.
What Degen Toonz Has Developed
The first step Degen Toonz took to expand the project was airdrops of dynamite, allowing for the creation of Detonated Toonz. This is not a novel concept, emulating what Yuga Labs did with Mutant Apes, but it was a reasonably effective way, at that time, to keep momentum. Also, the mechanics and narrative elements were well constructed and looked good, and the GM/GN Industries part of the Degen Toonz world was established.
Shop
In July 2022, Degen Toonz launched an apparel range, and the website now features a shop. The range currently on sale is limited, but a second collection is in the works for this year. One criticism here is that from a user point of view, the shop element of the project feels a little separate from the rest of the experience.
Loftz and TNZ
More ambitiously, at the end of 2022 Degen Toonz launched its Loftz feature, which feels closely integrated into the feel and aesthetic of the whole project, and looks core to future development.
Click into the Loftz area, and you’ll find your Toon at home in its urban apartment, from where you can click on the Toonz OS terminal to access various features: a podcast, news, a marketplace, and a Spotify-linked music player.
The other key action you can perform here is claiming the project’s native TNZ tokens. There are various levels and multipliers at work, taking into account the full range of NFTs within the ecosystem, but basically, by holding Degen Toonz you’ll earn token rewards, which can be stacked for later, or spent within the marketplace feature.
Degen Toonz Future Plans
Degen Toonz is a constantly developing work-in-progress, so in February the team released an updated roadmap for 2023.
Featured plans began with the marketplace within Loftz, and the integration of TNZ tokens. The next phase is to enable greater personalization of your character, and the roadmap talks about being able to roam around Toonz Town (the as-yet unrealized world outside the Loftz), although it’s not clear exactly how that will work.
The third planned phase is focused on customizing your Loftz environment, with tradable decorative collectibles, and there’s mention of web2 brand partnerships.
Among various other updates, a part that’s especially interesting is mention of taking the TNZ token on-chain. Currently, TNZ only operates within the Degen Toonz site, but the team is focused on changing to an on-chain format, citing regulatory clarity and proper use case as hurdles to be dealt with.
Is It Worth Buying Degen Toonz?
Was Degen Toonz an NFT pioneer, establishing new ways of starting a brand in web3? Not really. For that you would need to look to Yuga Labs, and that, arguably, is the primary criticism of Degen Toonz: a reliance, at the start, on unoriginal models.
On the other hand, very few enterprises (in either web3 or traditional fields) create entirely new approaches, and, from among the huge number of PFP drops that took inspiration from (or just outright copied) earlier projects, Degen Toonz has stood out from the crowd with a distinct, infectiously positive character. What’s more, with its Toonz Town and Loftz plans and developments, it’s now navigating clearly in its own creative direction.
Also on the plus side, Degen Toonz has community, a committed team in charge, reputable collaborations, and its output is cleanly well-executed. And for one last factor it has in its favor, there’s the current price: as a project that’s active, building, and has excellent engagement, Degen Toonz looks, by comparison with more famous names in the NFT space, like it might be an undervalued collection.
Sam is a qualified journalist from the UK who covers NFTs, Bitcoin, and the cryptocurrency world.
He believes NFTs are about far more than just JPEGs, and web3 is going to be transformative, but recognizes the value in a good quality meme and a well-drawn ape.
