The age of apes ramps up with a new addition. Just like Axie Infinity set the standard for blockchain play-to-earn gaming, so did Bored Ape Yacht Club create a new breed of NFTs.
To call them an algorithmically generated cartoon NFT collection would be doing the project a disservice. BAYC became a $1.3 billion subculture, with the ape NFTs providing exclusive access to a decentralized community.
From the full immersion in this online culture comes the HAPE PRIME NFT collection. BAYC-themed but on another level of production value, featuring fully 3D apes fitting every aesthetic taste under the sun.
HAPE PRIME wants to finish what BAYC started with its meta self-fulfilling prophecy of apes getting rich by owning digital assets.
By being fully 3D, HAPE PRIME apes are more suitable as avatars in the upcoming metaverse landscapes. Let’s take a deeper dive into this new ecosystem.
When Did HAPE PRIME Launch?
HAPE PRIME is not the original name of the project. It first started as HapeBEAST, which is still the name of the official website. HAPE PRIME launched its pre-sale on January 19, on the back of multiple teasers.
The team’s marketing campaign was exceedingly successful. It is safe to say that the NFT community has never seen such a professionally made and sleek trailer teaser promoting any NFT project.
From then on, the official Twitter account snowballed to 300k followers in a couple of months. This is on top of nearly half a million Discord users. In turn, its floor asset growth gained 3700%.
Is HAPE PRIME poised to overshadow BAYC? First, let’s cover the basics. What Exactly Is HAPE PRIME NFT Collection?
Transparently inspired by Bored Ape Yacht Club, HAPE PRIME is a collection of 8,192 unique NFTs, this time in 3D instead of 2D. The project’s official marketing line is that Hapes are “built to unite the ape multiverse.”
Translated to grounded terms, this means that HAPE PRIME’s goal is to overshadow other ape projects in sales volume. After all, let’s not forget how many upcoming and past apes are there:
- Mutant Ape Yacht Club
- Degenerate Ape Academy
- Great Apes
- Backward Apes
- Scribble Apes
- Guardian Apes
- Moon Apes
- Bae Apes
- Brainy Apes Society
- Murdered Apes Canoe Club
- Mint
Murdered Apes Canoe Club Mint (M.A.C.C.)- the first counter-ape collection. Someone was miffed at the sheer quantity of NFT ape launches!
These are just a tiny fraction of all the apes in circulation and those yet to be released into the wild. From the same well of BAYC-copycatting sprung out HAPE PRIME, standing out from the crowd by featuring 3D models.
HAPE PRIME NFTs: OpenSea
Presently, Hape Prime has 5.9k owners with a floor price of 3.6 ETH, which is about $11k. The initial minting price was 0.2 ETH. As far as the lore goes, the story is similar to 2001: A Space Odyssey, directed by Stanley Kubrick.
Except, instead of the monolith, apes were struck by lightning two million years ago, scattering the Ape universe. The Primal Hape takes it on himself to gather the entire family to create a more stylish future.
The project’s roadmap is still in the teaser phase, consisting of three epochs:
1. In the Beginning — the first airdrop
2. The Hape Machine — more airdrops planned. Integration with Netflix and Amazon Web Services via Simian Engineering toolset, for NFTs’ greater security
3. The Hapewalk — Customized clothing with even quirkier outfits
Who Created HAPE PRIME?
The project was done by a professional team at Digimental Studio in London, as you could see from the high-quality trailer. The founder, Primal Hape, who is also a BAYC holder, is one of seven people on the core team.
HAPE PRIME team members:
The Primal Hape is the key person without whom the project wouldn’t exist. His real name is Mateusz Sypien, hailing from Poland.
His artistic career has been unfolding under the pseudonym Digimental, hence the name of the studio. He founded the studio in 2011, currently serving as HAPE PRIME’s Art Dictator.
Having anglicized his name into Matt, his Digimental Studio worked closely for big-name corporations:
- Nike Sportswear,
- Nike NFL,
- Air Jordan,
- Footlocker,
- BBC,
- Computer Arts,
- Advanced Photoshop,
- Photoshop Creative,
- OWSLA — Kill The Noise, Skrillex, Bacardi, MTV, Lacoste, Reebok, Sizeer.
As for his personal work, you can visit Matt’s official collections on the Foundation NFT marketplace.
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Primal Hape’s NFTs: Foundation
Experienced artists and 3D modelers might have already guessed which skills Matt is proficient in. His core tools are Photoshop, Illustrator, and Substance 3D Painter. To see Digimental’s full portfolio, here is a comprehensive list of all official platforms.
How Was HAPE PRIME Received?
Hyped to high heaven as the next BAYC, one would assume the project would bust through all records. However, investors noticed that the collection has some technical issues. Gamers know all too well that 3D objects tend to clip, i.e., pass through each other.
When you add randomly generated NFT characters, based on 21 features, into the mix, the results may vary.
Can’t quite believe this. I mean come on pic.twitter.com/25dFcNagcE
February 5, 2022
Perhaps, this is the reason why we have seen so few 3D-generated NFT collections? Consequently, a few days after the reveal (February 4), many Hapes declined from original price tags. Likewise, trading volume slumped significantly, by 98%, from Ξ 7200 to Ξ 146.
HAPE PRIME sales volume:
OpenSea
The average Hape price followed suit, depreciating by more than 25%, from Ξ8 to Ξ5.3. Thus far, Hape #217 achieved the highest price, selling for Ξ99.
HAPE #217: OpenSea
However, its current highest offer at Ξ5.3 ($16,331) translates to a drastic decrease in valuation. This doesn’t bode well for the latest ape collection that was meant to bind all apes. With that said, it is still too early to tell.
After all, it is common for NFTs to depreciate in the post-reveal, only to rise up later. At the same time, it also depends on if any celebrities are going to take the plunge.
Remember that many celebrities bought and prominently displayed their BAYC apes:
- Stephen Curry
- Jimmy Fallon
- Snoop Dogg
- Mark Cuban
- Eminem
- Gwyneth Paltrow
- Post Malone
- Shaquille O’Neal, and others
If HAPE PRIME doesn’t receive such star power, original buyers would be lucky to make even. Alas, such is the way in trading speculative, illiquid assets.
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