Web3 has gone a long way since its initial inception in 2008. From the humble beginnings of Bitcoin, web3 has gone on to include NFTs (non-fungible tokens) and the Metaverse. Being a relatively new frontier in information and communication technology, the Metaverse has attracted an increasing number of applications and interest from various organisations. Most recently, toys have been featured on the Metaverse. These toys can be in digital or physical form.]
But first, let’s ask ourselves – what role do toys play in our lives? As children, toys are the anchors of our imaginations. We use action figures and dolls to simulate scenarios in our minds. We would pit our GI Joes with the COBRA villains in a battle for control over the kitchen counter, coffee table and living room couch. We would clothe, groom and have tea parties with our Barbies. Toys were also our means of developing psychomotor and social skills. All over the world, children play with items that are tossed and caught in the palm of the hand. These are called “jacks” in North America, “five stones” in Singapore and Malaysia, and kongjumeoni nori in Korea. These can be played alone, or with friends, where we develop skills such as sharing and teamwork.
As adults, we treat toys as collectibles instead. We develop a sense of nostalgia towards the toys that we grew up with and as adults want to continue indulging in them. We look to reconnect with reissues of the toys we had when we were young. We look to buy toys that we could not afford when we were young. We’re also attracted to new toys that remind us of the toys we used to have. And what do we do with those toys? We would display them, sometimes within the box they came in, sometimes unboxed. The more creative among us would build our own, sometimes using “scratch building” methods, sometimes using “kitbashing” methods.
These attachments that we have to toys have led many companies to introduce toys to the metaverse. These toys try to digitally recreate the experience we had as children, as well as to allow us to indulge in them as adults too. The only difference is that these toys are now hosted in web3 applications.
One of the most interesting in this regard is the partnership between Care Bears and RECUR, a company that builds end-to-end, chain-agnostic, bespoke metaverse and web3 experiences for the world’s largest brands to make NFTs accessible for the larger public. Everyone remembers and loves Care Bears, right? Care Bears will release some newer, unreleased Care Bears as well as the familiar ones that we have grown to love.
This allows fans to buy, collect, and trade Care Bears NFTs as digital products and collectibles. As RECUR is chain-agnostic, these Care Bear NFTs will be purchasable via fiat instead of cryptocurrency.
For comic fans, Marvel has launched Spider-Man collectibles on the VeVe digital marketplace , which sits on the GoChain blockchain. The collection will include five different versions of Spider-Man in five different poses. There will be “common” collectibles made available to 32,000 buyers as well as “secret-rare” pieces numbering only 1000.
Not to be outdone, more recent pop culture icons have taken a step in the direction of creating new toys. The famous NFT collection, Bored Apes Yacht Club has collaborated with SUPERPLASTIC, a creator of animated celebs, vinyl toys and digital collectibles. The vinyl art toys produced are based off the famous BAYC NFT (non-fungible token) project. In this regard, they released five 13-inch SUPERBORED art toys on 14 April 2022. The sale only lasted for 15 minutes with each toy being sold for $222. Payments in ApeCoin, ETH and fiat were accepted.
Being in such a short supply, and with such an exclusive means of obtaining them, their prices have skyrocketed in the second-hand market, as evidenced by the eBay screenshots here:
Some other less well-known but nonetheless notable examples are:
Twilight Daycare, an online game based on Roblox, are partnering with WowWee to create physical items based on their digital collectibles. Twilight Daycare is a game that allows players to play roles of babies, toddlers or caretakers. The game itself involves feeding, changing diapers and playing with toys, just like in any daycare. The characters in the game will now have physical figures made of them, so that their players can also experience the game in the real world. Each 7” doll comes with a code compatible with the Twilight Daycare game. This code can be used to redeem new costumes and toys for the doll in the virtual game.
Cryptoys are blockchain-based, fully interactive digital toys that have the ability to evolve and unlock new experiences and games. Like unboxing a physical toy, Cryptoys emerge from CryptoyCubes to recreate the element of surprise. Why recreate? Because OnChain Studios, the creators of Cryptoys, know that the excitement wears off with tangible toys after some time. As a corollary, they believe that the experience of a digital toy has the ability and potential to last much longer, especially since its value can go up over time or be traded for something entirely different. They envision Cryptoys as “blind bags on the blockchain.” The Cryptoys NFTs can be used in Play-to-Earn (P2E) games and other experiences in their own metaverse (the Cryptoyverse).
Of course, the spirit of competition is important in toys and games. Not all Cryptoys will be created equal. There will be three “classes”: The Adventurer, Elite and Hero. The Adventurer is the base-level tier, which also consequently is the cheapest NFT item. Adventurers can walk around and play games in the Cryptoverse.
The Elite is the mid-level “power” tier. Elites have a better chance at winning games because of their enhanced power level. They would cost more too.
The Hero is the highest power tier. They have the best chance at winning games, and their power will accordingly be higher, as shown in the Stat-o-meter. These would be the most expensive category of NFTs.
