The Resurgence of Pudgy

A collection of cute, colorful, cuddly penguins on the blockchain. A project that left the main stage and is now back. With the floor price of a blue-chip NFT project; I introduce… Pudgy Penguins!

My Story With Pudgy Began in Alaska

My first personal interaction with a Pudgy Penguin and web3, in general, was in July of 2021. My family and I had traveled to Alaska; I remember vividly driving in the expansive wilderness. Sitting in the backseat, I get a tap from my older brother.

In his hand was the Pudgy Penguin he had just bought. I remember for the first week it was a bit of a joke how “Think about it Quinn, nobody in this town knows I own a Pudgy Penguin.”

Also, for the first week, I kept getting the “Pudgy” part of Pudgy Penguin wrong; I think I kept saying “Puffy” Penguin, which wouldn’t be totally wrong if you looked at them.

Nevertheless, Pudgy Penguins are back, whether it’s for an actual reason or just blinded hype, one of the OG projects is back.

How Pudgy Changed my Life

If you asked most web3 natives how they entered web3, I can almost guarantee that many would say NBA Top Shot. Yes, it was a major motivating factor in my entry, but I owe it all to Pudgy and my older brother of course.

After learning about #6796, I started listening to some of my older brother’s conversations. From this, I started learning the basis of NBA Top Shot and NFTs in general.

This HackerNoon account, my Wilder World beast, and Wilder Wape.

All thanks to Pudgy.

For that, I say thank you, thank you Pudgy, thank you T.

How It Started

For this section, I had to do a little research because I wasn’t around for the mint, and I didn’t really pay attention to anything but the Luka Netz acquisition. Pudgy Penguins was launched on July 22, 2021. In the collection, there are:

• 13 backgrounds
• 64 bodies
• 27 faces
• 54 heads
• 15 skins

Totaling 173 traits. All together, making a very cute and lovable collection. Right out of the gate, the collection reached a 2.7 $ETH floor price, and there was also a record-breaking 400 $ETH sale, which amounted to around $600,000.

Everything seemed to be going well for Pudgy. Then the worst occurred.

Rumors of a “rug-pull’ started spreading. The four founding members emptied out the community wallet. The floor price dropped 80% to 0.5 $ETH. The mostly vibrant community was in disparity.

Needing new leadership, a headline shocked the web3 world. After not paying attention to Pudgy since it got me into web3, the first thing I heard about the project was in April 2022.

Luca Netz bought Pudgy Penguin, the collection itself, for 750 $ETH, around $2.5 million USD. Luca Netz is now the CEO of the Pudgy Penguins.

The question is now, what will he do with this project? How will he keep it afloat and bring it into the future?

Since the Acquisition

After the purchase, Luca Netz set off to work. The project had a new leader and a new future for their winged companions. They were about to build what is considered the biggest comeback stories in web3.

During a bear market where most projects have dropped in floor prices, the Pudgys have stayed strong and gotten stronger. They have now reached a floor price of around 7 $ETH ($8,862 USD).

Their two smaller collections, Lil Pudgy and Pudgy Rods, have reached floor prices of 0.66 $ETH and 0.64 $ETH, respectively.

Lil Pudgy is a collection of 22,222 NFTs. It consists of:

• 8 Backgrounds
• 132 Bodies
• 29 Faces
• 105 Heads
• 28 Left Flippers
• 52 Right Flippers
• 30 Skins

And 18 1/1s. There are two collections of 1/1s. The legendaries and the Pudgy Knights. Each has 9 NFTs with the trait.

All this adds up to 408 traits. A substantial amount above the original Pudgy Penguin collection, which had 173 traits. The 408 traits make the collection a little chaotic. But it’s organized chaos. Everything comes together to make the vibe and the whole collection of the Lil Pudgys.

Pudgy Rods is a 7,000 NFT collection. Compared to Lil Pudgy and Pudgy Penguin, it looks like nothing special. However, it has a huge use. They are the only way to access the Pudgy Penguin fishing game. Without a rod, you can’t play! In the collection there are:

• 24 traits total
• 7 1/1s
• 5 tiers of rankings
• And 12 colors

There didn’t need to be that many traits for this collection. After all, it is just a fishing rod. However, it is just as important as the other smaller collection because of that utility.

With a Lil Pudgy, you can access the Pudgy Penguin universe; in order to fish, you need a rod.

That simple.

Backed Pump or Blinded Hype?

The question now is, why has Pudgy chosen this time to pump? Why now in the bear market where everything is dropping in value? They FLIPPED Clone X and Doodles on December 28th, both well-established blue chip NFT.

According to energii, the pump is because of Luca Netz giving a clear vision for the future of the project.

After spreading through the current holders, their positivity made the leap to Twitter, bringing in buyers. Luca Netz has been the CEO of Pudgy Penguins since April 2022, so what changed?

“A licensing deal was recently signed to turn Pudgy’s into physical toys…”. Luca Netz is expanding the Pudgy Penguins brand. Trying to bring Pudgy into the great names of penguins brands (Club Penguin).

From here, who knows where they will all go: Pudgy Penguin, Lil Pudgy, and Pudgy Rods. Based on everything I’ve looked at, this seems like a speculative pump fueled by hype.

However, I feel positive about the future of the project, and the leadership team isn’t showing any signs of slowing down. I’m willing to bet that 2023 will bring new, tangible proof that pudgy is moving forward in the right direction.

Final Thoughts

It seems that the Pudgy Penguin ecosystem is churning down the tracks at full speed and shows no thought of stopping. For those lucky enough to hop on early enough, or fortunate enough to be able to hop on now, keep the train going. We are all rooting for your comeback story.

We hope you are here to stay and to bring more people like me into this wonderful universe we call web3.

Until next time,

Wilder Out!

-Quinn Hillerich

Tip Jar to Support Writer

Metamask(ETH): 0x1985523aDfCa1a5cd9b58Af0e40B968AC1025057

Do your own research and, if you are seeking a financial advisor, find a professional right for you.