Tal ▚▘▚▘▚▘ retweeted
SOLD! ｜ $36,245 (13.3 ETH)
The auction on @manifoldxyz for the first Majin NFT closed on September 18 with the final bid of $36,245 (13.3 ETH).
Huge congratulations to the winner and new owner of our 1/1 Fallen Angel artwork! We're sure you will enjoy the matching grail in our PFP collection and the large physical edition which comes with this masterpiece.
I also want to express a huge THANK YOU｜感謝 to all our supporters and bidders. It has been exciting to see the price increase beyond what I had expected. We will continue to build and work on delivering one of the most beautiful collections on-chain.
It's the best motivation anyone could wish for to see such overwhelming demand and appreciation by serious collectors. It also makes me incredibly bullish on the choice of our mint price.
As you might know, we're aiming to mint for around 0.15 ETH. Considering that even at this very early stage we already have an NFT selling for over 13 ETH is absolutely crazy. I think this tells us a lot about the opportunity which we have for creating value for holders.
I'm very much looking forward to reveal new characters and artwork, and to continue creating an incredibly aesthetic and unique IP.
— Sōtō｜ソウトウ
Tal ▚▘▚▘▚▘ retweeted
For our original IP to achieve mainstream adoption, it's important that we strategically develop the right character archetypes.
Below you see a concept of a personality which is bubbly, warm and cheerful. In Japan this archetype is often described as 元気っ子 (genkikko). This character's enthusiasm brings energy and forward movement to the cast.
This in return makes Majin more colorful and approachable. Good examples of similar identity types are Carrot (One Piece), Pan (Dragon Ball) and Sakura (Naruto).
Tal ▚▘▚▘▚▘ retweeted
This character is influenced by the style of Tekken and based on a concept which I created for an effortlessly cool antihero. I like to think that even without going into the lore, the laid-back attitude, physical strength and capability are immediately obvious.
That's also important to separate him from other characters like the introverted Fallen Angel, and to ensure that the world of Majin offers something for everyone's taste and personality.
It will be a big plus when the vibe of the collection isn't flat and when not every character carries the exact same attitude. So we pursue variety and contrast in our character, trait, and weapon designs.
That in return allows you to more accurately choose your favorite combination of traits, and creates a stronger bond and sense of identity across the entire community.
Tal ▚▘▚▘▚▘ retweeted
To achieve originality and authenticity, there's no way around effort. And I think that's exactly what digital collectibles have been missing since 2021.
Bored Apes, Azuki, Cool Cats, Doodles... they are all original, made with passion — but they were also all created 5 years ago. Since then, the amount of effort and creativity that goes into collections has severely declined. That's why we haven't seen any innovation in our industry and why the market constantly punishes new projects that take shortcuts.
Especially when it comes to art; buyers, holders, and collectors value effort. Because only genuine passion and love for the craft can lead to beauty and novelty.
Tal ▚▘▚▘▚▘ retweeted
The approach for traits which I describe in this clip is risky and has never been done before. But I also believe it's necessary.
Especially with respect to your holder's personalities, I don't think it's wise to expect everyone to identify with the exact same base template.
The next logical step after the groundwork laid by the current bluechips is to introduce more uniqueness, diversity, stronger identities, different body types etc.
We cannot continue to repeat the same recipe over and over and over again. It's time for something new to push digital collectibles further.
Tal ▚▘▚▘▚▘ retweeted
Good question. Simply put, instead of creating a cookie cutter collection with templates, we establish a whole universe first — which is pretty much how every web2 manga / anime IP was created.
You can check the image below and zoom around a bit. A lot of those characters look vastly different. But it's clear they all belong to the same IP / brand. So it's mainly about style, colors, artistic aesthetic etc. and much less about the shape of the template. I think we've been dumbed down by what digital collectibles look liked like over the years and set our expectations of what a great collection can look like too low.
Tal ▚▘▚▘▚▘ retweeted
The level of activity in Discord is a direct reflection of the community's morale. As a founder it's your job to encourage and nurture it, because it's the lifeblood of your project. Newton called it the Law of Inertia: an object in motion stays in motion.
Mind you, not a single person was able to join our server the past 7 months. We're a tiny circle and completely private. Still, I drop announcements on a regular basis and ensure everyone is up to date and can be hyper bullish. That is the environment you need to create before you open your doors up to the public.
Be sure to turn on your notifications on Twitter and join our group chat. We will soon share invites with which you can finally join and claim the OG role (special perks).
Tal ▚▘▚▘▚▘ retweeted
The reason people value hand drawn art over AI content is emotional satisfaction. If something was created by hand it contains: TIME.
And time equals effort. The artist had to learn the craft, hone it, and then put it to work with intent and passion.
AI on the other hand produces everything in seconds by recycling things which already exist. There's no effort behind it. It doesn't actually --create--.
Let me give you an example. Let's say you'd hand your mother a letter that expresses your gratitude and love for her. How do you think she'd react if you told her AI wrote it. She'd be disappointed, right?
Because even if you gave AI the input and even if AI maybe wrote the letter better than you could have yourself, it lacks the effort. It's simply not real.
And no matter how good AI will get, this void can never be filled. Anyone bullish on AI art or AI movies is completely out of touch with human nature. We do not value things which contain zero effort. Naturally we understand that they are hollow copies of the real thing and hence worthless.
Traditional art has proven the same point a long time ago. You can buy almost perfect replicas of famous paintings. But why are they worth so much less? Because, again, the artist can only give his soul to the artwork once. It cannot be copy pasted by plagiarizing the original.
Humans value time, effort, passion, and a love for the craft. That will never change. Never. In fact, that appreciation will only grow stronger as the world is flooded with slop.
That's why Majin builds on the foundation which Azuki laid. We honor the craft, we respect artistic integrity, and we make sure you can feel the soul in everything we create.
Tal ▚▘▚▘▚▘ retweeted
For our character concepts I focus on creating unique and memorable personalities. Not only with regard to their look, but posture, angles, and expressions are crucial to explore too.
Your PFP is your online identity. That makes creative diversity one of the most important aspects. From my perspective we had enough of the "Stormtrooper collections", where it's pretty much just 10,000 clones with different hairstyles and colors. At this point, the space has matured enough where we can do more and create a much deeper IP.