原文标题： The Ultimate Guide to Bitcoin Puppets: All You Need to Know
原文作者: KAYLAN SLINEY
Original source: nftnow
编译:深潮TechFlow
Bitcoin Puppets, a collection of 10,001 unique PFPs hand-drawn by 12-year-olds in MS Paint, has now taken Web3 by storm. At the time of launch, its floor price was 0.408 BTC ($26,775).
But what may seem to many to be an unexpected and relatively overnight success has actually been years in the making. Let's explore the intersection of culture, community, and cryptocurrency.
History
In order to respect the privacy of the project's founder, Le Puppeteer Fou (hereinafter referred to as "Master Puppeteer"), we will preserve this history like Dunkin' Donuts coffee: light and sweet.
Legend has it that the puppeteer was an artist for many years and had previously leaned more towards abstract portraiture. He and some key Puppets first met on the Wassies by Wassies Discord server during the original heyday of Ethereum NFTs (non-fungible tokens). Their own private chat was subsequently created, and this growing collective of friendships became the foundation of the community we now know and love.
Prior to the creation of Bitcoin puppets, Puppet Masters had already produced collectibles such as Lasogette, an artistic aesthetic consisting of 7,777 generated PFPs, issued on the Ethereum network, and Ord Puppet Inu Undoxxed Millionaires (O.P.I.U.M.), which is composed of esoteric and absurd collectibles, which was issued as OrdinalsNFTs.
O.P.I.U.M. is widely considered to be the predecessor of the puppet, and one of the reasons for this is the similarities between the two collections. But it turns out that the aforementioned famous private Discord also makes some wonderful contributions to each collection.
For example, everyone in the chat can submit text for a logo held by the O.P.I.U.M. puppet, resulting in traits like "Thicc Goddess Connoisseur", "Hustlin Apothecary", and "Digital Prophet".
Design puppets
When designing the characteristics of Bitcoin puppets, the "puppeteer" continues to engage his community. In the process, he maintained his allegiance to the sheer whimsy, sheer creativity, and patent-absurdity of the original O.P.I.U.M. collection.
Here are a few examples:
- two chairs t-shirt trait（两把椅子的T恤特征）是木偶的“KomUNiTy MaNAgEr” W4nkpire提交的Michael Saylor关于“How many chairs are you sitting on?” retoristic（关于全力支持比特币）的演变，木偶大师加入了一个转折，把一把变成了红色，另一把变成了蓝色（参考《黑客帝国》中选择成果之间的选择所做的）。
- The pink pipe trait is a reference to BennyTheDev's work, and after the release of $TRAC, he began to develop the PIPE protocol, and some members of the Discord group began to call it "trac pipe" (a reference to "crack pipe").
- The "coffee time" cup feature in the puppet is derived from a vignette that resembles the classic "What I Ordered vs. What I Got". OG team member Hillshills ordered a physical mug with "Rise and Grind" written on it to match her favorite O.P.I.U.M. trait. After a long and painful delivery process, she ended up receiving a disappointing "Coffee Time". However, a new legend was born.
First minting
Puppet casting was launched on January 3 on InscribeNow. Despite being minted quickly (with some suspicions of robotic activity), the public reaction to this art has been markedly divided. Even among the proponents there is a division: some supporters absolutely love and resonate with the art of the series (including the cursed puppets in it), while others may not personally appreciate this fringe aesthetic but recognize that there is something special about this collection. Those who opposed it unabashedly criticized it.
However, the polarization of opinions only seems to fuel the fanaticism of believers. Early community members redoubled down on their efforts and bought more collectibles on a large scale, while the people of FUD continued to lurk on social media, infiltrating X's Space.
But the price of puppets continued to rise, with few setbacks along the way, leaving unbelievers in the dust.
But is it all that surprising?
Wooden Doll Declaration
Web3 is both an ever-evolving and unpredictable space, as well as susceptible to relentless copy-and-paste. With so many PFP projects looking to "get it right", they more often replicate elements that have failed before.
Often, PFP projects are designed and marketed to represent a "community" that has not been given enough time to be identified, curated, or nurtured. 10,000 strangers buying a picture and expecting "numbers to go up" doesn't make up a community. Some groups are able to find their common ground and come together, and with enough attention, resources, and effort, may be able to build some support. Many other groups, however, are simply diluted bills, weighed down by unfulfilled promises and unmet expectations.
The puppet master subverts this narrative. No roadmap, no commitments, no board. He neither became the spotlight nor disappeared into the void. He simply positions himself as a stable, supportive presence that allows the holders to form the art and connections that best suit them. If you pay a little attention, you'll find cleverly set up easter eggs, like the middle finger cursor on the website or the poetic quirks of the O.P.I.U.M. white paper, which are gentle reminders not to take ourselves too seriously.
This complete and complete ban on expectation means that everything in the future will be purely organic, community-driven, and one of surprise and delight.
Let's not forget the original teams who spent years building relationships, forming sticky narratives, and amassing a ton of lore. Their emotional investment in the founders, the nature of the project, and each other means that the scaffolding of the community is already there when the "outsiders" join. Relying on a narrative that ultimately boils down to "no expectations" of each other, newcomers are warmly welcomed, but they never deliberately seek recognition.
Let them zero in
With the insatiable thirst for puppets, a distinctly counter-intuitive maxim echoes through the halls of X: "Send them to zero" and perhaps it sounds like a sarcastic cry, but it's actually a friendly reminder that we're all on this train until the end. This is the only place on the internet where objective success is considered a failure.
Even in the face of soaring prices, the oft-repeated phrase "I was promised zero!" is a reminder that "puppets" have no expectations of their holders: only art, fun and a nice atmosphere. When they finally go to zero (like all things), one can only hope that they enjoy the journey.
There is no cooperation, but there are a lot of derivatives
Puppets are subject to the VPL (Viral Public License), which is similar to the more familiar CC0 (Creative Commons zero) license. VPL copyleft means that anyone can use this work for their own purposes and creative pursuits, including products and spin-offs, at any time.
The puppeteers were a staunch supporter of the "theory of non-cooperation" in order to avoid compromise, dilution, and commodification of art.
However, he not only allowed, but also encouraged, the wider use of puppet IP under the VPL. In their ephemeral public ecosystem, puppets have been spun off from countless spin-offs. Some of the most similar collectibles so far include:
Each new spin-off is exciting, as they promise to grace the legend of the "puppets":
A collection of memes, products, and playlists
Puppets have been routinely memes, commoditized, retouched, and playlists (and even albums) – all actively revered by master puppeteers and the community at large. This collection has even inspired an AI syndicated radio station (called "RAIDIO") created by Lukas Kalmar called Puppet PR Radio.
Community events aren't just limited to making the world's best memes and print merchandise (although the stickers are particularly good). The members have already invested in ETH Denver, NFT. NYC and other places, and are also planning to attend a Bitcoin event in Nashville, Tennessee in 2024.
Honorary titles
While the puppeteer made it abundantly clear that he was not interested in "project operations" in the traditional sense, we couldn't help but notice how passionately he supported and participated in community activities.
Puppet Masters has created a growing collection of 1-on-1 puppets to recognize individuals he believes have contributed to the puppet community and/or the blockchain space as a whole, including Ordinals creator Casey Rodarmor and figures like DeeZe and ThreadGuy.
Most of these puppets are custom-made, elaborate as a gift to the intended recipient, and a small number are made without considering the recipient, but eventually find their rightful owner. Recently, Puppet Masters announced a new set of accolades at X, including custom puppets for Ansem and BGS.
$PUPS
The power of puppets has spilled over into fungible tokens. $PUPS was launched as a meme coin that promised no roadmap, no utility, and only memes. Originally a BRC-20 with a Solana bridge, $PUPS hope is to migrate to the Rune Network at the halving on April 19, which is labeled PUPS•WORLD•PEACE.
While this project is neither affiliated with O.P.I.U.M. nor Bitcoin Puppet, it has been integrated into the ecosystem and has been welcomed by the puppet community. In honor of the early puppet holders, on March 17, 2024, a collection called "Rune Puppets" (more commonly known as "Rune Puppy") was airdropped to Bitcoin puppet holders.
A portion of the PUPS supply (22.3%) is reserved for the allocation of rune puppies at the time of migration. Holders are airdropped in one of two rarity tiers, common or rare, the rare rune puppy will receive a multiplier bonus for which it will receive, and the remaining supply (77.7%) will be distributed to token holders of the BRC-20 and Solana bridge at a ratio of 1 to 100.
Conclusion
Centered on pure intent, puppet culture offers an artistic expression that reflects the volatile and sometimes patent-induced illogic nature of financial activity in the cryptocurrency market. While they are not without their opponents, or some may consider their art vulgar, the puppets proudly challenge traditional categorizations, celebrating their creativity and (anti)culture. By the way, they still want world peace.
At the time of writing, the puppets are just three months old. In the years of humanity, this was just a baby barely holding its head up in its belly, but in the years of cryptocurrency, it was already an anxious teenager. In the coming bull market bubble, there will inevitably be twists and turns, but as a project that has already created a group of millionaires from the crowd of "no expectations", people should be more grateful.
It will be very interesting to see how this collection and the community continue to grow (or separate) together.