[Dive #43] Goblintown Team Reveal
Is this the Web3 MSCHF? 😏
Amidst all the market chaos yesterday, there was a big announcement from everyone’s favorite bear market NFT project, Goblintown.
If you’re new to this newsletter, and asking “WTF is Goblintown?”
Still confused? Go read my dive on Goblintown in the link above.
The Announcement
Did you read my dive on Goblintown and are properly traumatized but intrigued? Yes? Great. Let’s continue.
No? Seriously, read it. You will appreciate this more. If you need to, save this for later and read it when you’re sitting on a toilet. 💩
What was the announcement?
Holy moly, the Goblintown team doxxed (revealed) themselves!!!
TLDR
Goblintown has reached a point of success where the next steps in the roadmap would be difficult to execute while remaining anonymous
The team behind Goblintown is actually the Truth Labs team
There is no roadmap and unclear where the project will go from here, but they do have plans and want the community to shape it and participate in it
During mint, the team withheld 1,000 of the 10,000 Goblins. They will now distribute the 1,000 goblins to the Truth Labs Treasury (50), Goblintown team (50), and Truth Labs communities (900).
There will be a NFT NYC event for Goblintown holders
The 12-person team is revealed with their respective Twitter handles
Merch sales including a special Goblin sauce in partnership with Lee Kum Kee
Lee Kum Kee, who tf is that?
If you’re at an Asian restaurant that has soy sauce and it’s not Kikkoman, it’s probably Lee Kum Kee…the family is worth a cool $15+ billion.
Sorry, I had to 😂
TPan, this is cool but why is this big news? Who cares?
I promise, this gets interesting when you take a step back and apply this to a broader lens. All these innovative moves by NFT brands are setting the stage for the next era of creative partnerships, marketing, and experiences.
Ugh TPan ALWAYS says shit like this.
But hopefully you keep reading…right? 🥺
The Reveal
The Goblintown account revealed the team members at the end of the video, but what did the team do on an individual basis?
I wanted to call this out because there’s layers to this.
Layer 1: Goblintown account does team reveal and the team members’ Twitter accounts
Layer 2: Each individual team member does their portrait reveal, showing the picture that inspired their Goblin character
Layer 3: The individual team member reveal pokes fun at the Web2 me vs. Web3 me meme from earlier this year.
So this is only a detail, but the devil goblin’s in the details and truly shows the talent of this team. Basically, it’s this.
The Reaction
How did the NFT community respond to the team reveal?
Can you imagine HOW HARD it is to stay quiet about the fact that you are part of the project that has caught the attention of the whole NFT community for over a month? Not to mention months prior to launch, planning, strategizing, developing, and prepping for the projects.
I can’t even hold my pee in for more than an hour after drinking a cup of water.
The other reason why this is notable is because the NFT space is all about ‘alpha’. The knowledge about projects that gives you an edge over others, usually resulting in more financial gain. Whether it’s knowing someone on the team, being in an alpha group you have to pay for, or getting on the right allowlists for a project without worrying, some folks do whatever they can for that slight edge.
The team removed all of that to keep the magic and mystery alive with Goblintown. Respect.
The Lab
So, now that we’re entering a new chapter of Goblintown, let’s circle back on Truth Labs. The Goblintown team is the team from Truth Labs…
What was provided me much more perspective and allowed me to write a dive on this compared to most other is that I’m a holder of the Illuminati NFT (sold my last one yesterday because of the news and will get back in once the price stabilizes), one of the Truth Labs projects.
What have they done? I’ll let the price chart do the talking first (last two day spike on the right are due to the Goblintown announcement).
The answer? Not much. I remember making jokes with friends in other chats that were also Illuminati holders about how Illuminati was a scam. (for the record I never thought it was, but wasn’t sure what they were up to)
But after this reveal, it started making sense to me. And now I’m developing a hypothesis for what they’re up to 🤔
The M(I)SCH(IE)F ←WTF?!
For the record, yes I can spell. I’ll explain.
Looking back at one of welcome messages for the Illuminati Discord…
and AJT (founder/CEO) commenting on Goblintown team reveal feedback…
sharpened my hypothesis.
Truth Labs is the Web3 MSCHF
Wait wtf is MSCHF
Maybe you came across the buzz around the Satan Nikes?
Or the recent MSCHF x Tiffany collab?
(don’t get me started on LVMH lol)
Find more about MSCHF and their projects here, it’s genius.
Are you starting to see some parallels between Truth Labs and MSCHF? Now let’s get into the differences:
MSCHF does an activation every other week. It seems like for Truth it’s takes a significantly longer time to create an experience.
MSCHF announces their project and is more predictable. The activation itself is surprising, but we know MSCHF was behind it.
MSCHF operates in a Web2 setting and embraces it. Take the C&D Grand Prix for example, genius
If I’m right about where Truth Labs is going with this, they will leapfrog MSCHF. It’s probable that they already have with just Goblintown alone.
Truth is creating activations like Goblintown that surprise and delight, but live beyond the ephemeral lifespan of MSCHF activations. A few Truth Labs activations like Goblintown vs. 26 activations from MSCHF? Web3 Quality > Web2 Quantity baby.
On top of that, this is on-chain and CC0. They’re not going to get sued and can extend the effort as long as they want.
There could be eventual partnerships tied into these efforts just like the Lee Kum Kee Goblin Sauce collab. Instead of fighting the establishment (C&D Grand Prix), they can bring in large brands in a ‘surprise and delight’ way that they struggle with (they’re big companies, not their fault).
The community can continue building upon the project. MSCHF has a community of fans, but not a community of builders.
With the success of Goblintown, Truth Labs could actually create additional efforts behind the scenes and launch them. They can bring on additional teams to create experimental and innovative experiences. Limited guidelines will likely apply like the team needs to be anonymous (at first). It’s Truth LABS after all..
For all these Truth Labs projects, once the ‘big reveal’ happens, a portion of the project goes back to the founding projects (Illuminati) just like they did with Goblintown. That said, I’m not sure how they’ll do it more stealthily in the future. Maybe with royalties vs. withholding mint?
Speaking of additional projects…is it possible that WAGDIE is actually a product of Truth Labs? 🤔 At this point, I wouldn’t be surprised 😂
I’m a Web2 company, how does this apply to me
Imagine you could partner with a Truth Labs. You capture the attention of hundreds of thousands (tens of millions if you fund the project behind the scenes with more resources!). Big reveal *poof* it’s by Truth Labs (again?!) and _________ (insert Web2 brand that wants to stay relevant).
See you tomorrow folks, I am pumped for Truth Labs. Thank you for pushing the space further and helping capture our attention during this bear market.