I’m going to be honest. This is not a fancy story. This is a real down-to-earth story. It’s a story of someone who’s not “made it” in the crypto world. Maybe also a story a lot of you can relate to. So, here we go.
When I bought my first NFT, I got rugged. It got delisted from OpenSea and the whole project turned out to be a scam. How would I know this space can be so intriguing and be such a mess at the same time. It’s kinda ironic. I signed up for this NFT party to have fun, and hoping to get rich (don’t judge! aren’t we all?) , but on my first trade, I got rugged and felt stupid.
That was the start of my web 3 journey. Looking back, it was a great lesson, and a funny story indeed.
As I hung around and explored more in this rabbit hole, a lot of crazy shitty stories happened. People told nice stories to grab your money and ran away. Collapses of big giant trading platforms, sought-after coins, famous figures that investors bet billions on…crashed overnight. Nothing seems to last in this industry. It’s kinda disappointing sometimes.
But I also got so damn lucky.
I got to connect with the most driven, bright, decent and kind people that I’d probably never meet if I didn’t decide to explore this space in the first place. I got invited to lots of events, met online frands from all over the world in real life, and people offered all the support they could when they knew that I wanted to launch an nft project. They reminded me of what’s real, what really matters, and what would actually stay when things fade out.
I wanted to create something like souvenirs for this journey so far. That’s when rugged cats were born.
rugged cats are five cats who are best buds - gypsy, willie, peggy, smoky, and janie. You’ll know them from the traits. They look cool and ridiculously fun in their own way. gypsy is the adventurous one who loves exploring new things; willie is the wise one who always has good advice; peggy is the creative one who loves making art; smoky is the chill one who loves relaxing and taking naps; and janie is the energetic one who loves playing games and having fun. I got the character inspirations from my web3 frands btw:)
Then I thought about what brings me the most joy. As a huge fan of music and dancing, who’s got headphones on all day long, I decided to spice the cats up with musical elements. So apart from their personalities, they are also big fans of music and have the best moves - gypsy loves rock music and headbanging; willie loves disco music and swaying from side to side; peggy loves classical music and painting while listening to it; smoky loves ambient music and chilling out; janie loves pop music and dancing like nobody’s watching.
And why “rugged cats”? Well, I believe that we are or we will be all rugged in some way at some point in this space. It’s part of web3er identity. rugged cats is also created in the hope that we can build a rugless place with care, in which we can support each other. Maybe we don’t have to rug each other to survive. By we, I mean me, the five cats, and everyone who’s offered to help here and there to make this project happen. Yes, that’s the team behind this little collection. Of course, anyone who’s on board will be part of us.
rugged cats is deployed on Polygon. Why did I choose Polygon over Etherem? As I am rugged, not got lots of coins in my wallet. So the choice is obvious. You know what, the gas fee on Polygon is so so low that it almost made me feel rich again lol.
rugged cats is made for the rugged only. Adopt a cat and get on board :)
big sis and the rugged cats
April 2023