How Doodles Plans to Scale from Genesis Box to Millions of NFT Avatars

Doodles 2the larger successor to the popular Ethereum The NFT collection takes its next step towards a wider launch today with the long-awaited opening of the Genesis Box: a tokenized bundle of digital wearables first auctioned last June.

Inside each Genesis box are two pieces of digital clothing – which can include headwear, clothing, shoes and accessories – along with a beta pass for the upcoming Doodles 2 platform. This allows owners to customize full-body avatars with the same kind of pastel, cartoonish pop that made the original Doodles so eye-catching profile pictures (PFP).

Doodles 2 was announced along with big ambitions in June 2022, when the team revealed plans to deliver a follow-up project spanning potentially millions of NFT avatars, instead of just 10,000 for the original collection. The project focuses on customizable avatars with tradable digital clothing and multi-chain use cases, instead of predefined Ethereum PFPs.

The first step launched in January, as Doodles owners could use a Dooplicator NFT (airdropped to holders) to create wearables inspired by the capabilities of their existing PFP. But Genesis Box is different, said Doodles CEO Julian Holguin Decrypt this week: it’s a brand new set of wearables featuring fresh original art from co-founder Scott “Burnt Toast” Martin.

“There’s going to be some things that aren’t quite bound by the laws of physics,” Holguin said, “and just things that were cooked up in the minds of Scott and our other creators that are going to be completely out there.”

A look at some Doodles 2 wearables in the Genesis Box. Image: Doodles

In other words, while the “Dooplicated” wearables helped introduce Doodles owners to the upcoming concept of customizable NFT avatars—and get them to shop for wearables—the contents of the Genesis Box will expand the look and feel of the Doodles IP. And Holguin teased that the closed beta launch of the Doodles 2 platform is coming “very, very soon.”

“You’re going to be able to build the Doodle of your dreams,” Holguin said.

As announced in JanuaryDoodles 2 is a cross-chain experience that bridges Ethereum NFTs like Dooplicator and Genesis Box to Flow, where the portable NFTs are minted and can be traded. Holguin said Flow was chosen because of its ease of use for non-Web3-savvy collectors, but also its ability to scale to potentially reach a wide audience.

Millions of doodles?

But how will Doodles 2 make the leap from an initially closed beta platform to something that can reach the masses? It will not happen immediately: Holguin said that first message around the scope of Doodles 2 may have gotten muddled, and that bringing customized Doodles avatars to millions of users is ultimately a long-term goal.

“We probably could have communicated it a little better, but we were never going to launch millions of NFTs in 2023,” he said. “The goal was always to build up to that, and never exceed demand.”

Generating that kind of demand and expanding Doodle’s IP will be a multi-pronged effort. Holguin teased everything from brand partnerships to events and even a “very large flagship store experience” coming this summer. The plan also includes social media content from animation studio Golden Wolf, which Doodles acquired earlier this year, and music drops in collaboration with musician Pharrell Williams—Doodles’ Chief Brand Officer.

It is an ambitious plan for the start-up, which raised $54 million last year at a value of 704 million dollars. But communicating these ambitions to NFT holders has not always been easy.

Some Doodles owners have accused management of inadequate communication and not being transparent enough about how they are executing these plans. Tensions boiled over earlier this month when a Discord post from Doodles founder Jordan “poopie” Castro went viral.

“We are trying to go from a startup to a leading media franchise. We are no longer an “NFT project,” Castro wrote. “The more time/money/resources we invest in following the latest ‘build in public’ trends fueling speculation, the less we have to achieve our long-term vision.”

Castro was behind the message in a tweet shared the next day, but given it controversies and complaints it generated, he also said he would “take the L on this one.” Furthermore, Castro emphasized that Doodles would “continue to use NFT technology as the connective tissue between everything we do.”

Holguin told Decrypt that he understood why there were questions about Castro’s message, but also believes that it was “taken out of context”. And broadly, he reinforced what he said was the intent of Castro’s message: that Doodles is rapidly expanding around its NFT-centric origins, but ultimately not away from them.

“We’ve grown out of a very, very small business [and] we are now building a large business and a company, scaling our infrastructure,” Holguin said. “No, it’s not a ‘project’ – we have several projects going on in our larger business and company right now.”

The goal now, Holguin continued, is to keep the NFT-driven “funding ecosystem” at the heart of Doodles, but expand it into an entertainment property that can take many shapes and forms.

It will be a two-tier model. Doodles 2 will focus on customization and user identity, allowing users to design their own Doodles avatar and bring it across platforms and experiences. The goal is to attract a wide audience – potentially with millions of avatars, as originally teased.

And while the Doodles 2 platform may eventually reach many more people, the OG Doodles collection will provide more access, features and benefits to holders. For example, some of the planned projects may license NFT characters from the owners of the original collection, but owners of Doodles 2 NFT avatars will not have the same option.

As such, Holguin sees the initial 10,000 NFTs as the “black card” of the Doodles ecosystem, borrowing a concept from the credit card industry: an exclusive elite pass. From what he has described, membership will indeed have benefits in that world. And if people fall in love with Doodles 2, Holguin believes some will also own one of the originals.

“We really believe you don’t want one or the other,” he said. “You want both.”