Yesterday we posted an article regarding an “officially licensed” Star Wars Stormtrooper NFT collection that is being launched on the WAX blockchain. I’m an NFT enthusiast, so I thought it’d be fine to share the news! Well, that article ended up unintentionally putting us in the middle of a very heated and passionate debate in the NFT space. In the end, it was a mistake, and we didn’t mean to cause this kind of drama!
The email we received along with the press release stated the following:
The officially licensed concept for Star Wars’ original Stormtrooper design created by Shepperton Studios in 1976 has been immortalized in an NFT collection soon due to launch on the WAX blockchain.
In a collaboration between Tyranno Studios and the Helsinki-based Web3 game studio, Supremacy Games, 10,000 Stormtrooper NFTs will be put up for sale, which will provide ongoing access to future drops of other Shepperton Studios designs, and will also be used as playable characters in an upcoming metaverse game. This is the first time an officially licensed IP from Star Wars has been represented as an NFT.
Tyranno Studios has had tremendous success onboarding major brands into Web3. Last year, the company partnered with Sony Pictures and AMC Theaters to giveaway official Spider-man: No Way Home NFTs.
The part of this that started the debate was where they claim, “This is the first time an officially licensed IP from Star Wars has been represented as an NFT.” And that set things off. We started being bombarded by Tweets from the VeVe community about how this is wrong, and it was rough because we were initially blamed as if that was how I was personally presenting it. But, that wasn’t the case.
As I was in the middle of a very real anxiety attack, trying to stay calm and defuse the situation, the tweets just kept coming. I was doing my best to explain to everyone that it was in the press release we received and not my personal claim.
The tweets started as follows on my personal Twitter account and GeekTyrant’s Twitter account. This is what set it off:
Hey @JoeyPaur I came across your article, I thought it would be worth noting that @veve_official is an original partner of Disney and have been dropping Star Wars NFTs for nearly a year now. They've dropped animated Darth Vader, Boba Fett and many more:
https://t.co/ONRfKE1t50
This article is wrong. This is importantly wrong! The 1st official licensed @starwars digital collectible that's on the blockchain is on the #Veve app!@Disney @veve_official
I ended up having some civil and polite conversations with these individuals, but man… I was really just dying inside because I hate sharing wrong information! I corrected the mistake, though, and read through the tweets seeing lots of heated opinions that just poured fuel on the fire of my anxiety! I can laugh about it now, but damn!
I’ve since learned that the company VeVe Digital Collectibles has released dozens of officially licensed Star Wars NFT collectibles and they have a strong relationship with Disney. I’ve been in the NFT space for a little over a year, and I never came across VeVe or their products. Had I known, I would not have included the part of the release where it said: “This is the first time an officially licensed IP from Star Wars has been represented as an NFT.”
But, the creators of this new Stormtrooper NFT project stand by their claim and they responded in the Twitter thread with the following:
Our NFTs are the first that will be minted and tradeable on an official blockchain, making it the first "true" NFT of its kind.
Questions were asked and there was some clarification given by the creators of the new NFT:
1) Currently, no, as our licesning is completely separate from Star Wars/Disney, and we are only allowed to mint and sell the Original Stormtrooper NFTs.
2) I'm unsure as to this, however I can DEFINITELY say that we'd be open for the idea 💪
There has been some confusion about what makes our #NFTs stand out from previously released Star Wars digital collectibles. Here are some key distinctions between our NFTs and Veve's digital collectibles.
We invite VeVe and their collectors to enjoy our Original Stormtroopers 🚀 pic.twitter.com/UMhWRUhbP4
Then I especially enjoyed how they tried to throw me under the bus:
Anything beyond what is in the press release was added by the writer of the story.
So, I sent them a screenshot of the email they sent me.
But, one of the studios behind the new Stormtrooper NFT’s, Shepperton Design Studios, has already been sued by Lucasfilm over the manufacturing and selling Stormtrooper helmets and other costume replicas from the Star Wars franchise, and they lost. Not sure how things will play out with these NFTs.
The following statement was recently released by Shepperton Design Studios:
That was just a wild unexpected ride! I love the passionate fans! But, damn… it was insanely stressful on my part!
I’m also a part of a team that is working to create better definitions for the NFT Web3 space and always looking to connect with experts to create consensus in the industry. If you want to help us out, who do we follow? Where do we find more information? Who are the experts we should be talking to?
All names, trademarks and images are copyright their respective owners. /// Copyright / DMCA Notice
Copyright © 2008-2021, GeekTyrant Industries, LLC. All rights reserved.
Cookie Declaration /// Privacy Policy
Links monetized by VigLink
Custom Code and Design by, Free Reyes
