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Introducing Sushi!
It feels like only yesterday that we were dropping Genesis, unsure if anyone would be interested in the idea of physical collectibles linked to NFTs, but 6 Kaiju later and with over 1,000 items sold, here we are with our first plush Kaiju, Sushi! To get ready for launch and to answer some of the questions that we’ve been sent, we’ve put together a post that introduces the character and gives more information on what to expect next week.
Why Plush, Are you quitting vinyl? Wen more Dino, sir?
We played around with the concept of a plush collectible early in the development of the Cryptokitty, going as far as doing a really early stage prototype. It was really cute, but it really didn’t capture what we loved about the Crypotkitty designs and the vinyl really did, so we parked the idea and ploughed on with the development of the vinyl.
Sushi originally began life as a character in some animated NFTs we created on KnownOrigin, I really enjoyed drawing the character and began to draw it out as a toy, when I quickly realised that it would work much better as a plush than a vinyl toy due to how cute the character is.
We then began sampling the collectible while developing a concept that would see people staking their Kaiju ERC20 social tokens with Sushiswap’s Sushi to earn a physical collectible, but unfortunately, with the price point and the price of gas, it just didn’t make sense to ask people to spend more than the toy in gas, so this idea was put to one side but will likely be used again in the future (We have a habit of recycling good ideas when the time is right.)
After a few samples and changes, our soft and cuddly Sushi was ready for the world.
To answer the question we’ve been asked a few times on email over the last week: No, we definitely aren’t quitting working with vinyl, have 2 new figures in development and yes, one of those is a dino design!
How does it work?
Simply put: It works exactly the same as the vinyl figures. On the back of Sushi is a little care label which is where we attach the NFC chip. Every NFT still has a unique ID that matches what is on the chip.
We’ve already explored options around sewing NFC chips into the fabric and have some early development work on that front, but for ease of releasing something, cost and actually testing if anyone is interested in a plush Kaiju, we opted for the simplest solution.
If Sushi is a success and we develop another plush collectible, we will definitely look to improve the connection between the physical and the NFT.
Ideally we would have our validator app ready for this launch. It’s almost ready, but it needs considerable design work and a few final changes which I haven’t had the time to do since development work was last carried out on it.
Sushi Details
Sushi is approximately 10cm in length and made from seriously soft plush material. As we mentioned above, on the reverse of every Sushi is a small care label which has the NFC tag attached to it.
To package each Sushi we developed custom packaging which is a mix between a Happy Meal and a takeout style box, featuring the logos of CryptoKaiju and Sushiswap who kindly gave us their blessing for use of their logos and imagery on the project (Big thanks to 0xMaki)
As has been the case with the last few Kaiju, the physical collectible comes on its own, or bundled in a package full of super cool items, none of which are ever going to be available to purchase separately and have opted to work with our brothers over at KnownOrigin.io on some special drops.
Even though NFT mania is in full swing, we haven’t upped prices and have tried to keep CryptoKaiju accessible, so our single Sushi is priced as low as we possibly could make it while factoring in various external variables that we have no control over (Gas prices, extra work for sending to Europe and shipping during a pandemic which is sickeningly expensive)
For those who want to spend more and get other collectible items including more NFTS, we have a few different bundles with some really cool, special items.
We will also be limiting orders to 3 items per person to ensure everyone gets a fair chance at buying on the release date next week.
To say thanks to those who supported our project by buying the Sushi NFTS we released on KnownOrigin last year automatically get a single Sushi and an enamel pin. Information on how to claim this will be added to this post over the next few days.
You can also win a Sushi, just fill in the form below and we will select someone randomly on the 2nd of April
Minting Sushi NFTs
With the price of gas, minting NFTs is hard for a product retailing under $100. We have slightly increased prices to give us more flexibility and reduce the risk of us losing money and the Sushi NFT is much more streamlined than the Kitties, but we still plan on batch minting when gas is below 70. We have also added the ability to add a tip to your order which people used when buying the last few CryptoKitties and means that we will mint quicker.
We plan on starting minting in early April.
We are aware that some people still don’t have some Dogejira NFTS and plan on minting these at the same time as the new Sushi NFTs. If you need your NFT sooner, reach out to us, pay the full gas and we will mint the same day for you.
The Drops
We’ve listed to feedback and split the drops, including an exclusive release over at KnownOrigin
CryptoKaiju.io, 2PM UTC (44 pcs)
| Item | Includes | Price |
| Single Sushi Surprise (14 pcs) | Sushi plush + NFT | $40 |
| Sushi Snackbox (20 pcs) | Sushi plush + NFT + Sticker Pack + Pin | $50 |
| Full Fish Supper (10 pcs) | Sushi plush + NFT + sticker pack + 2 pins + patches | $60 |
CryptoKaiju.io, 7PM UTC (44 pcs)
| Item | Includes | Price |
| Single Sushi Surprise (14 pcs) | Sushi plush + NFT | $40 |
| Sushi Snackbox (20 pcs) | Sushi plush + NFT + Sticker Pack + Pin | $50 |
| Full Fish Supper (10 pcs) | Sushi plush + NFT + sticker pack + 2 pins + patches | $60 |
KnownOrigin.io, 7PM UTC (47 pcs)
| Item | Includes | Price |
| Shiny Sushi Surprise Bundle (46 pcs) | Sushi plush + NFT + different sticker pack + 2 pins + Sushiswap patch + KnownOrigin NFT & physical rainbow foil print | 0.15 ETH |
| Namazu Bundle (1) | Everything in the shiny surprise bundle + a 1/1 Knownorigin NFT + physical giclee print. | Auction |
