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The Pudgy Penguins are pumping.
First launched back in June 2021, the Ethereum NFT collection often referred to as the “Pudgys” is starting to see some of its long-term efforts pay off. The minimum purchase price, or floor price, for a Pudgy Penguin PFP NFT has spiked 83% in the past two weeks and 69% over the past month, according to data from NFTPriceFloor.
“We’ve been working our tail off for the last 6 months and I feel like it’s finally getting noticed,” Luca Netz, the head of Pudgy Penguins, told Decrypt.
To expand its brand presence, the collection has had plans for physical plush toys and a children’s book for a while. But the results of Netz’s work are starting to materialize.
First run of Pudgy Toys are in. Refining and then pushing to production 🐧 pic.twitter.com/U0r7R9Tb8P
— Luca Netz 🐧 (@LucaNetz) August 18, 2022
“We’re announcing our children’s book partnership this week as well as an announcement regarding our partnership with Non-Fungible Films to help bring Pudgys to life,” he said.
Earlier this month, the NFT collection announced the specific Penguin PFPs chosen for its line of “Pudgy Toys” and launched its own marketplace for Pudgy NFTs.
Introducing our Pudgy Toys Lineup, licensed directly from the community.
This is the first of many instances where the Pudgy Penguins IP will allow Web2 to meet Web3.
Congratulations to the Penguins who were selected. More is coming, just look… pic.twitter.com/82iblNKCa3
— Pudgy Penguins (@pudgypenguins) August 11, 2022
But there won’t just be plush toys—Netz said the upcoming toy line will be “diverse.”
On Sunday, the collection continued its hot streak by announcing its new nine-member advisory board of executives and tech industry heavyweights, including Nansen CEO Alex Svanevik, COO of Saks Fifth Avenue RJ Cilley, Hasbro’s head of licensing Jess Richardson, and Jordan Sterling, who works on Meta's partnerships team.
A day after the advisory board announcement, the rarest Penguin in the collection sold Monday for an eye-watering 400 ETH, which is roughly $630,000.
Penguin 6873 bought for 400ETH ($630780.00) by 0x304A97 from 0x4C4A54 https://t.co/uQYXSrPofX
— Pudgy Penguin Sales Bot (@pudgypenguinbot) August 22, 2022
Yuga Labs and Bored Ape Yacht Club co-founder Greg Solano chimed in on the news with words of support.
“Stoked for the pengs!” he wrote on Twitter of the massive sale.
Things haven’t always been peachy for the Penguins. Earlier this year, the collection was on thin ice when some community members denounced former CEO Cole “ColeThereum” Villemain, claiming he failed to make good on promises, bribed a former moderator, and “rugpulled” his community with the release of some fishing pole NFTs (Cole has denied the bribery claims).
When some Pudgy holders called for Cole’s departure—and “wrapped” their Penguins to prevent him from getting further royalties—NFT enthusiast Luca Netz came to the rescue. Netz purchased the collection for a cool $2.5 million in April, taking over from Cole, and things appear to have been running smoothly since.
“Everyone is locking down and being frugal during the bear market,” Netz said of the past six months since he began spearheading the collection.
“For us, this is a perfect moment to capture attention and to show people what we’re about.”