TL;DR

• Over the past year or so, the Pudgy Penguins team has released a bunch of plush toys and figurines for ~$30 each, which are currently being stocked across 2,000 stores.

• It’s great that the project is doing well, particularly given that the Pudgy Penguins plush toys launched in the middle of a ​bear market,​ when interest in NFTs were at an all-time low.

• BUT, here’s what's kinda weird about the whole thing: Can we truly call this 'product/market fit' when the vast majority of Pudgy Penguin NFT holders are 20/30 something year old dudes? We’re torn…

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You know ​that scene​ from The Office where Ryan talks about his goldfish dying, back when was a kid?

As his parents are giving the fish a funeral, he sits there and thinks:

“I’m too old for this.”

Well, right now, we feel a bit like Ryan.

In 2021, the Pudgy Penguin project released a bunch of ​NFT​ characters that gave access to their community called “The Huddle” on the Ethereum ​blockchain​.

They sold out within minutes, and now the price floor for these NFTs is $27K.

(Impressive!)

What's more impressive is how the Pudgy Penguins project entered the mainstream.

The team released a bunch of plush toys and figurines for ~$30 each, which are currently being stocked across 2,000 Walmarts and Hot Topics.

Plus - each plush toy gives the owner access to an online gaming community.

Here's what's awesome about it all:

First - over the counter products that seamlessly onboard folks into ​Web3​? That's awesome! Hats off to the Pudgy Penguins team.

Second - the project is actually doing really well, which is particularly impressive given that the Pudgy Penguins plush toys launched in the middle of a ​bear market,​ when interest in NFTs were at an all-time low.

Now, here’s what's kinda weird about the whole thing:

We have to ask the question...

Can we truly call this 'product/market fit' when the vast majority of Pudgy Penguin NFT holders are 20/30 something year old dudes?

(We're torn here).

Cause on one hand, we don't want to be wet blankets - the Pudgy Penguins brand is a cut-and-dried Web3 success story.

...on the other...

We can't help but feel like five-year-old Ryan at his goldfish's funeral.