The Next Blue Chip Has Been Brewing...

Manifesting in our aspect of the multiverse, Muggly Bunch is the tryhard immortality project of some dude building an entertainment franchise about coffee and time loops.

I'm on a mission to serve you a delicious house blend of Web 2 and 3 with:

  • A unique take on PFP NFTs
  • Popular cartoon art style
  • Culturally-relevant storytelling
  • Social gaming elements
  • Merch with utility in the Mugglyverse
  • Just the right amount of nerdy

Collections

Flat White

(Halloween 2022)

Launching on Halloween 2022, the genesis collection uses the 300+ features from the original cartoon character creator I made during Lockdown, plus a bunch of new features I’ve drawn just for the drop.

Beyond the line art, every mugshot has special stats that will become fundamental to the online, tabletop and trading card games I’m going to develop with the community. Who’s going to mint a Mugg with perfect stats?

Owners of this white-out collection will automatically get on the whitelist for all future Muggly Bunch NFT drops! Keep reading below for a taste of the pure caffeinated utility in store for Gen 2 and beyond.

Perkolated

WIP

The 2nd generation of Muggs is already in development and will be ready to launch as soon as the Genesis collection has sold out.

Building on everything Genesis has to offer, these full colour Muggs are coming packed with extra perks including permanent discounts on Muggly Bunch merch, backstage access at events, all the way up to a special gig in your town for you and your mates on your birthday!

All owners of the first collection will automatically be added to the whitelist. No hoops, no caveats. Just good vibes and appreciation from me to you.

WELCOME TO THE
Mugglyverse

The techno-kings of Earth failed to terraform the Red Planet before the Catastrophe, but were at least able to thrust the Lost Earth Astro-Nomad into the cosmos, for posterity or something.

Caught in orbit around a white dwarf star not seven seconds from supernova, LEAN has initiated its Final Thought Protocol. Engaging a quantum processor capable of simulating the life of 100,000 Muggs on repeat, it functions to find creative solutions to probably impossible problems.

Yet, as fast and as smart as Earth’s greatest technological achievement since the decentralised internet is, LEAN lacks the ability to discern good ideas from bad ones. Worse still, it has focused its entire computational effort on the reimagined weekend of one Alen Mandel: Entrepreneur, coffee enthusiast, and simpleton.

More muggle than messiah, Alen has precisely three-point-one-four billion opportunities to produce a single ignorant brainfart that could help preserve hoo-manity's legacy, in one dimension or another.

Every Mugg represents a programmatically generated protagonist from the Lost Earth Astro-Nomad. Some will survive, others face annihilation. All have a story waiting to be told.

Roadmap

PHASE ONE

Launch Genesis Collection

  • Initiate Final Thought Protocol, generating 10,000 Muggs available for public mint.
  • 420 Muggs will be held for marketing purposes, onboarded staff, and competitions. Royalties from any future sales from this roster will go into the community fund.
  • Muggs will be revealed on 10th November!
Brand Building

  • Work with influencers to generate publicity, social currency and goodwill for the Muggly Bunch brand and promote the NFT collection.
  • Recruit team members to grow core competencies which will be vital for successful development and perfect implementation of future goals.

PHASE TWO

Genesis Campaign

  • Run game nights on Discord using our Gen 1 avatars and introducing the concepts, basic rules and story of the genesis campaign. Ideas, experiences and fun times from these events will inspire the first community-developed Magic Muggs Handbook, a companion guide blending Web3 and real life games with the science fantasy of the Mugglyverse.

Trading Cards

  • Finalise designs and on-card content for trading cards featuring 1000 customised mugshots held by the most active members of the community.

PHASE THREE

Platform Development

  • Begin development of mobile app with revised character creator, minigames and marketplace. App will also be used as a loyalty rewards wallet plus paperless ticket distribution for in-person events.
  • Begin development of MUGGLYBUNCH.COM V2.0 with new features including a marketplace for HODLers to create and sell official Muggly Bunch merchandise featuring their NFT with 40/30/20/10 profit share. 40% to creator, 30% to Muggly Bunch, 20% to community fund and 10% to a charity chosen by the community every quarter.

PHASE FOUR

Animated Series

  • Begin development of the pilot episode for the animated series. Short form plots for other episodes will be shared in a private Discord server to be voted on, with Muggs owned by winning voters becoming cameo characters in that episode (where possible) and named in the credits.

Brand Collaborations

  • Work with brands in various spaces including streetwear and watches to release limited edition co-branded Muggly Bunch merchandise tied to 1/1 artworks. Brands will be able to select artworks to use on their products and the quantity of physical and digital assets that may be claimed by HODLers of that NFT.

PHASE FIVE

Landing Party

  • Partnership with independent coffee shops in cities voted by the community for a private lock-in party to celebrate completion of Genesis collection.
  • Launch event with private showing of pilot episode once completed wherever in the world the most Muggs have been minted. The episode will also be streamed online on a metaverse platform to be announced in the future.

Utility Token

  • Muggly Bunch coin will be launched and airdropped to HODLers, which can be used to purchase exclusive merch, loot boxes and metaverse assets on MUGGLYBUNCH.COM, and will be the main currency in use at all future events.

Web3 Incubator

  • Creation of community-led Web3 incubator promoting STEAM-related pursuits and to provide support and funding for underprivileged and/or neurodiverse creatives. Provides mental health support, laptops, software, marketing and admin resources.

Feeling thirsty?

If the Roadmap has left you parched for more knowledge about Muggly Bunch NFTs, you should check out our Whitepaper on Gitbook for another taste of what's brewing!

Team

Creator | Artist | Developer

Every aspect of the Mugglyverse so far has been my design. During the day, I'm a content creator, product trainer and spreadsheet wizard for an IT company in the UK working with brands like Google and LEGO® Education. You can read more about my story on the About page.

Advisor

One of Pakistan's most prominent young artists, Sanki's work has been exhibited internationally including at the Louvre Abu Dhabi. He is a passionate advisor for several upcoming NFT projects and supports other creators in building a better world with Web3.

We're Hiring!

Can you make friends and influence people? Or maybe your Solidity skills are pretty solid? If you think you're muggly enough to join the Bunch, message me on Twitter or drop me an email including your experience, achievements and goals for the future and we can go from there.

FAQ

What is a Muggly Bunch NFT?

Muggly Bunch is a collection of NFTs on the Ethereum blockchain using the ERC-721A standard. Every mugshot is randomly generated from hundreds of hand-drawn features inspired by the popular style of cartoons loved by millions of people around the world.

I’m building a brand I hope will have the same positive cultural impact someday, and anyone who mints a Mugg will be helping give life to a rich metaverse built around science fiction and coffee.

Please read the other sections for answers to loads of questions any discerning person should have to hand before apeing in to any NFT project. If you have any other questions not covered here, invite me to an AMA on Twitter and I'll be happy to chat!

When and where can I mint my Mugg?

The public mint will be open at 3:33am on 31st October 2022.

Muggly Bunch NFTs will only be available to mint right here on this website - MUGGLYBUNCH.COM

How much will Muggs cost to mint?

Muggs will be available to mint for just 0.05 ETH plus gas fees.

Now we're post-Merge, running an optimised ThirdWeb smart contract and utilising the ERC-721A standard, you've got the opportunity to mint a maximum of 10 NFTs with minimal fees.

Why start so cheap?

Too many projects get so hyped that come launch they are already unattainable for a lot of people. I don't come from money and I live a pretty humble life, so it felt really important to me that I set the starting price at a level even I could afford. Otherwise, how could I expect someone else in a similar position to buy into a project made for anyone?

How many Muggs can I mint?

It's important to me that everyone has the chance to own a Muggly, so I will be allowing a maximum mint of 10 Muggs per wallet address. Wallets that want to HODL more than this will have to buy them on secondary.

Is there a whitelist?

There is no whitelist for the Gen 1 collection, but anyone holding one of these will receive a free NFT from all future drops plus a WL spot for each additional token they own.

When will minted Muggs reveal themselves?

Artwork and stats will be revealed on 10th November 2022.

Will there be any 1/1s?

Not straight away, but I will be running competitions for the community to remix their minted Muggs in unique and creative ways, which will be shared on Discord and for other collectors to vote on. The winning artists will have their Muggly minted against an exclusive "Mandelbrew 1000" smart contract, which will reward them with 40% of all future resale profits. 30% to Muggly Bunch, 20% into the community fund, and 10% to the artist's chosen charity.

What real-life rewards will I get?

HODLers will have access to everything in the Roadmap, either exclusively or before everyone else. This includes:

  • Pre-screenings of the Muggly Bunch animated series at in-person events and live on our chosen metaverse platform (TBD).
  • Access to the Mandel Bros Coffee Club, which will be held online every week in our closed Discord channel, plus in-person and livestreamed at the best participating coffee shops around the world.
  • Access to other exclusive Muggly Bunch clubs, conventions, skill shops, games nights and events. All of which will be communicated in advance on a regular basis.
  • The best ever discount codes on the Muggly Bunch webshop, plus the opportunity to purchase limited edition merch which will only be available to NFT owners.

More unique benefits will be added and announced in due course.

What other utility will Muggly Bunch NFTs have?

Extra to the base reality benefits above, Muggly Bunch NFTs will be bestowed with ability scores and quirky yet valuable skills that will enable your PFPs to be used for exciting (and surely rather geeky) online and tabletop games created in the future.

Your Mugg will also act as your account in the Mugglyverse, which will act as your e-ticket for events, and collect points for every purchase on MUGGLYBUNCH.COM and in participating coffee shops, stores, venues and other collaborations in the future. These points will be redeemable in a variety of ways, including exclusive airdrops, VIP spots, voting powers and more!

All of this will be managed through a new mobile app to be developed as outlined in the Roadmap.

What rights will I have to use my Mugg?

Beyond using your Mugg as your awesome profile picture on any social media channels, HODLers have the licence to use their characters in any commercial capacity that does not compete with products and other offerings from Muggly Bunch. This basically means you can do with it what you want, except for producing and selling homeware, drinkware, stationary, clothing, or other products available on MUGGLYBUNCH.COM on other websites such as Amazon, Etsy, eBay or Shopify.

Please see PHASE TWO of the Roadmap for more information about how you will be able to create and sell official Muggly Bunch merchandise featuring your NFTs on this website and get paid for it!

Can I earn a passive income with my Mugg?

Absolutely! First of all, any HODLer can become an official affiliate and will be given a custom code they can share with their own friends and followers. You will be paid a 5% commission on all purchases made using that code on MUGGLYBUNCH.COM.

Secondly, you can submit your tricked out and customised mugshots to become part of the Mandelbrew 1000. This will be an exclusive 1/1 collection minted against a special smart contract which will reward you with 50% of all future resale profits, and 20% of all sales of official Muggly Bunch merchandise using your design available for anyone to buy on this website.

What will the community fund be used for?

The community fund will primarily be used to set up a community-led Web3 incubator focused on the creative application of STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Maths) themes and mental health advocacy. Keen attention will be paid to underprivileged and/or neurodivergent creators with great ideas and the right mindset, but potentially lacking the funds, support and infrastructure they need to realise their potential and bring their dreams to life. Projects will be put forward to Muggly Bunch HODLers to vote, and advisors will be recruited from the community based on their area of expertise.

100,000 Muggly Bunch in Gen 2? One-hundred-thousand?!

You read it right! With over two billion possible combinations, even 10x a standard drop is still a drop in the ocean for the Muggly Bunch! The thing is, thousands of people are discovering the potential of NFTs every day, and buy into the FOMO of whatever project first takes their fancy without understanding the risks and rug pulls.

I want to give everyone an opportunity to own a Mugg, whether it's their first time investing in NFTs or their hundredth. With a drop this big I can undervalue my work enough to potentially change a lot of people's lives for the better whilst still being commercially viable.

How will you preserve rarity in such a big drop?

Scarcity is manufactured because most projects don't have the feast of features available to preserve rarity. Not the case with Muggly Bunch. I'm that confident about programmatically generating 100,000 Muggs without curation and intervention, I call on the community to join my force of Dupe Hunters - Find any duplicate and I will reward you with a 1 ETH bounty!

Will there be a whitelist?

All Gen 1 owners will be eligible for the Gen 2 whitelist and your wallet addresses will be automatically added to the database before launch. These lucky folks are going to get their first full-colour mugshot airdropped to them for free!.

Why is there no colour?

From a lore perspective, the Mandel brothers in the webcomic come from a dimension in the Mugglyverse where colour doesn’t exist. As the adventure continues, this all changes and you can follow along for yourself right HERE. I have many other stories that will make great “episodes” that play on this in really interesting and unique ways.

As mentioned, Muggly Bunch started as a character creator that people can use to make personalised coffee mugs. The white mugshots with a pop of colour in the background looks really cool as a design element in situ. People can colour themselves as they wish, or print out their Mugg and crack out the crayons for a fun way to unwind or entertain kids big and small.

How have you made all this yourself?

Muggly Bunch has been my labour of love for nearly two years now, which I get is significantly slower than many of the projects coming out. This is partly because I didn’t even understand NFTs until over a year into creating Muggly Bunch, but also because I’m a massive perfectionist (I think that shows).

It’s been a fun journey to learn what I needed to create what I imagined, from coding the website, to illustrating a webcomic, to understanding smart contracts and programmatically generating a 10k collection. A big thank you to HashLips (@hashlipsnft) for sharing your knowledge with the community on Youtube. I wouldn’t have got to where I am today without your tutorials.

Are you looking for a team?

Yes! I have got this far on my ones, but I can achieve so much more by working with the community and making new friends along the way. I would love to collaborate with other artists and brands to develop new outfits, accessories, backgrounds and more that transcends the Metaverse into our base reality.

More recently, I have been working with Sanki (@sankiking), a reknowned artist and upcoming crypto-guru from Pakistan who has been advising on the project. He gets my vision completely, and I really enjoy working out new ideas with him that is constantly making this NFT collection bigger and better.

There are so many bright and talented people out there that can help me make Muggly Bunch bigger than I could ever achieve alone. If you’re interested in working together, please DM me on Twitter (@mugglybunch)!

What else are you doing?

Beyond the Genesis collection, I am continuing to build a brand around the original product - the mugs, merch and other personalised gifts available on my website. If this is successful, I will be using the funds generated from this drop to develop the animated series, collab with other brands and artists, and set up pop-up coffee shops and events around the world in partnership with local businesses and venues to share my love, support and appreciation.

For more information about my plans for the Mugglyverse, please refer to the Roadmap above.

What is an NFT?

In the book (and later adapted TV series on Amazon Prime) Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick, an art collector recognises the "wu" of a piece of jewellery created by the protagonist - It's uniqueness in space and time. He felt the authenticity of the work unmatched by the boundless supply of mass-manufactured, derivative junk, and that gave it value.

NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens) are similar in that each is unique - there is only one of its kind, and it's provenance is verifiable and available for all to see on an immutable public ledger - the blockchain. This makes some NFTs highly collectable, and their rarity can be checked using various online tools (such as Rarity Sniper or rarity.tools) or by evaluating its properties on whichever marketplace it is listed on, like OpenSea.

It is down to you to feel the "wu" in an NFT you are interested in, and I hope you feel it strongly in Muggly Bunch!

What is an ERC-721 token?

It can get confusing for new investors and collectors with all the different ERC tokens around, such as ERC-20, ERC-721 (and now thanks to Azuki, ERC-721A), and ERC-1155 all being popular standards on the Ethereum blockchain. They all serve a particular purpose, and for non-fungible tokens, ERC-721 is what you're looking for.

The ERC-721 standard is what makes NFTs non-fungible (which means unique; can't be replicated) and drives the collectability of tokenised digital art. Essentially, even though there are 100,000 Muggly Bunch in existence, no two can be exactly the same, ever. A common analogy is the Mona Lisa. There are many like it, but there was only one painted by Da Vinci. Similarly, a million people could right-click and download a Muggly mugshot, but only the one minted against the smart contract for the official collection has any value.

What is a crypto wallet and how do I use it?

Crypto wallets store your long, illegible and securely encrypted private keys that give you access to any cryptocurrencies you own (like Bitcoin or Ethereum), as well as any contracts you have signed online for things like ENS domains (like .eth or .xyz) or NFTs.

Probably the most common crypto wallet available is MetaMask, which has an extension available for Chrome that makes buying, signing, and HODLing anything Web3 a breeze. There have been growing concerns and multiple instances of nefarious internet people scamming their way into users' browser extention wallets, so it's absolutely vital you keep your private keys as protected as possible.

One way to do this is by using a wallet which requires two-factor authentication (as a bare minimum). I recommend checking out Argent, which is an incredibly secure smart contract wallet that keeps your Ethereum-based assets extra safe. It features 2FA, social recovery, and zero knowledge rollups on its Layer 2 to help reduce network load and gas fees!

If any of that sounded confusing, Argent maintains a very user-friendly blog with more information to help you learn, HERE. Please note I am not affiliated or supported by Argent in any way.

What are gas fees?

Pretty much everything you do has an associated energy cost, be it doomscrolling on social media (battery life), pumping iron at the gym (calories) or driving a car (fuel). Minting NFTs, or any process involving the blockchain for that matter, has it's own operational costs that need accounting for (gas).

Gas fees cover the computational costs of conducting transactions or executing contracts on the Ethereum blockchain, measured in Gwei. Companies who commit their resources to facilitate this work (miners) are incentivised with tips, which are a proportion of the gas fees paid by users.

When a lot of people are using the network at the same time, gas is more expensive. When the network is quieter, gas is cheaper. You'd expect to pay less in the middle of the night than during peak business hours, but this isn't always the case, especially when a much-hyped NFT project drops.

To circumvent the FOMO that usually ensues (which normally causes gas fees to go through the roof), Muggly Bunch is taking a long, slow and steady approach. With 100,000 Muggs available, we can be more chill about the mint and enjoy the process of joining a growing community whilst rewarding early adopters with a very cheap starting mint price (only 0.01 ETH!).

Where can I see my NFT once I've minted it?

Once you've minted your Muggly Bunch NFT (never anywhere else but MUGGLYBUNCH.COM), you will be able to view your Mugg on OpenSea. Here, you'll be able to see the description, properties (features), and importantly the artwork! You'll also be able to see Muggs that have been minted by other people and who owns them, the floor price of the collection and the bid and price history of each NFT.

How do I know if I've got a good one?

Considering the time, effort, and attention to detail I have put into creating Muggly Bunch, I'd like to think that every Muggly is a good one! However, due to the nature of randomly generated NFTs, there will always be some that are better than others.

Many collectors look at rarity of properties that make up the artwork, which is determined by the metadata associated with each NFT. Sometimes less rare Muggs are more valuable because of who else has owned them (such as celebrities or influencers in the Web3 community), or just their overall look.

If you happen to find a Mugg in the secondary market that has great traits or resonates with you for any reason, it could be worth snapping up! [Obligatory "Not Financial Advice; Do Your Own Research" disclaimer here].

What is a floor price?

The floor price is the minimum value of an NFT in a collection, so it's the lowest amount of money you are able to pay to become a member of the associated community and take advantage of all the benefits it has to offer. See the Utility section in this FAQ for more information about what that means for Muggly Bunch.

Often you will see collectors and shills on Twitter talking about "sweeping the floor", which basically means they are going to buy a bunch of NFTs at the cheapest price. This can be like picking things up at a garage sale - Tokens at the floor price might be cheap for a reason, but they might also be undervalued, and savvy investors are able to purchase NFTs for much less than someone will be willing to pay for it later. And by later, sometimes that's just minutes!

How do I sell an NFT I own?

Once you've minted your Muggly Bunch NFT, it will be available for the world to see (and bid on!) on OpenSea. For full instructions of what to do if the time comes when you want to sell your Mugg, click HERE.