Dear Blue Characters Enter Web3

The popular animated franchise The Smurfs, known from cartoons, comics and movies, takes on a new adventure with the release of a new collection of non-fungible tokens (NFT) from the Smurf Society that will extend the reach of three-apple-tall tokens to Web3 .

Why the Smurfs? One of the draws of intellectual property (IP) rights was their wide Web2 reach with “94% recognition globally.” They are not only known in Belgium where the comics began, but also across Europe, the US and China, where the Smurfs are welcomed for their spirit of community and collaboration, co-founder and CMO Arthur Salkin told CoinDesk.

This spirit was a key factor that appealed to Frédéric Montagnon, another Smurfs Society co-founder who focuses on strategy for the brand. Montagnon sees the Smurfs as the ideal partner to integrate Web2 fans into Web3 through an inclusive, welcoming community. The Smurfs’ pedigree as a friendly, approachable brand focused on caring for others was a big draw.

“We see NFTs as creating a community that has no borders,” Romanetto told CoinDesk. “Web3 provides less hassle and all the freedom to connect with others and provide digital sovereignty, which is very important.”

Starting tomorrow, April 18th, the Smurf Society will open a bucket auction for 3,000 NFTs based on the Smurfs characters. While there are Smurfs avatars based on famous legacy characters like Papa Smurf, Brainy Smurf and Smurfette, the Smurfs’ Society Legendary Collection brings Web3 characters to the village like VR Smurf and Crypto Smurf.

“You can identify with the Smurfs,” Salkin noted, teasing that future drops would be even more inclusive in character design. Salkin praised the work done by Daft Punk’s creative director, Cedric Hervet, in enlisting notable 3D artists to bring the Smurf profile pictures (PFP) to life.

In total, the collection will consist of 12,500 3D rendered Smurf PFPs. There will be 250 different Smurf characters with 50 unique variations of each with over 350 different traits, according to the projects website.

Part of the game experience highlighted education as part of the missions. “Each day you had the opportunity to mint some ingredients, and if you picked the right ingredients, you could mint a potion and make a crystal,” Montagnon explained. “So it could be a mission that helped you understand what you needed to create and how it worked with blockchain technology.”