What do you do with your @Azuki Elemental Waifu? You get commission done with your favourite Artist ofcourse! Introduction Elemental #14241 (ooh Palindrome) as drawn by the talented @hj_36_ who is also a BeanZ now 🫶❤️

Finally got my elemental featured by the GOAT Achew 🤙🤙⛩️

a while back i posted something here on X, an account barely anyone sees, asking if anyone in the garden wanted in on a group commission. no details. no composition. no story. no timeline. just a question. 11 of you said yes. i honestly figured i'd end up doing 4 or 5, and that most would quietly drop once i started talking about how long(or how slow) this would actually take. nobody did. everyone stayed. months went by and you kept the faith without ever seeing a single line of it. it's finally done. thank you for trusting me with something before there was anything to trust. i hope i did you proud. ⛩️

Azuki bad

Anyone know which prediction platform can be signed up and use in Singapore? I wanna play in all this Prediction markets which looks like easy money maker 🤣🤣

Happy Mutant Monday!

Wen @AzukiTCG ?

GM legends! They say we are dead. Do we feel dead? Collections with soul never die. Thank you @illumanbeing @clivvnft @Z11_eth @Ge_One1 for lending me your IP to get here.

I’m 1 of the loyal fans here & they focused so hard on us for many years now. It’s time for the world to see what Azuki can bring to the table (@AzukiTCG). Being here since Mint, I know @Zagabond & the team like to build on strengths and 1 of those is Art x Anime. Around here we like to water the garden to see it grow. Since mint, it’s been growing & I’m a proud fan from success & failures. Love to see it all ❤️‍🔥🙏

NFTs as a business model are broken. Imagine if a restaurant offered a one time fee for unlimited food for the rest of your life? That restaurant would go bust 3 years in, or would have to dilute the membership supply and reduce the quality of their service to stay afloat (literally what we've seen with secondary and third collections being launched by the same projects). The only value of the NFT is the network effect that comes with it. The true utility of a Pudgy is not in the utility they offer. Heck, I never received a $19 plushie for buying a penguin for $30k . It's the ability to grow my brand and network with other holders, many of whom are high net worth. The value of the network effect is relative to each individual. The guy paying $50k a year for a Soho membership would tell you it's a no brainer, while someone else will laugh that people pay for that. It's relative. Soho members are not entitled to a share of the company's revenue, or to participate in the decision making process of where the company should expand next. The same applies to NFTs. I own Azuki, bought the pico top actually, but still managed to make amazing connections from it. That's the value. The best thing an NFT project can do is build out its ecosystem so that the network effect compounds on itself and grows in relative value. It isn't done by asking for utility, or equity in the company.

Being from the sideline of Many NFT mints and in many projects that overpromised and undelivered, I have trust and faith in the direction @Zagabond is taking @Azuki in building sustainability. @Azuki ain't @BoredApeYC with the first mover advantage on NFT/IP proliferation, ain't @pudgypenguins with its mass market cuteness appeal, it will never be able to compete fully using the playbook of either of these two brand. @Azuki competition are in the Anime domain, such as One Piece, Bleach, etc which is much harder to break into without strong characters and world building, which called for laser-focused deployment of capital and resources. Whether you like @AzukiTCG or not, the focus on the TCG does allows Azuki to build a bigger fan base beyond the NFT holders and in turn generate sustainability for the Company and the Azuki IP in the long run, be it interest in the TCG, the future Manga, Anime, or even in the NFT itself... Azuki is focusing on the NFT, just not in the way you envisioned in the current situation unfortunately... but when the success of Azuki TCG and its IP becomes measurable, we shall await the return of the prodigal sons and daughters.. !TTP ⛩️

GN everyone, I spent an amazing weekend drawing non stop, to be honest. Thank you to all who asked me to draw their PFP (I know I’m not done yet, but close). @Ge_One1, special thanks brother for letting me draw my first ever waifu. I hope you like it, and tomorrow you’ll get an extra surprise.

I cannot believe I own this MAYC🧟‍♂️

Happy Birthday @AdamWeitsman! We never met before, I just kept seeing you on my timeline 🤣🤣

22,221 Lil Pudgys (This one is never moving)

成为会员，购买一只猿猴

Secretly bought some Gloobs over the week

i did not buy an npc to make money. i bought an npc because it does nothing, it's going to zero, and for some reason that's the most relatable thing i've ever seen on this timeline. i have no eyes. i have no plans. i am at peace.

I went through all the balanced, logical @azuki takes on the timeline and read every reply Z made across those threads. Most people skim the discourse and stay confined to their own assumptions. But, if you take the time to understand where Z’s head is at, the vision is clear. > Azuki is doubling down on its core strengths: art, storytelling, technology, world building, manga and the TCG. > Team isn’t ignoring collectors or the community. The reality is that resources are finite and with a national TCG launch approaching, execution on that front has to take priority right now. > There are still resources dedicated to Web3, community support, collector groups, and ongoing conversations with holders. The challenge isn’t caring it’s balancing priorities and accepting that not everything can be done at a high level simultaneously. > Not every Web3 project needs the same playbook. Different projects have different paths to winning. > The goal is to reach the masses, and also serve existing NFT collectors. Sustainably. > Manga and TCG are being prioritized because they’re scalable consumer products that can introduce millions of people to the brand. > Azuki was early on collector culture, but late on building IP formats that mainstream audiences can easily consume. So that’s where the work is going on. > NFTs alone are not a sustainable business model. The market is simply too small. > Royalties and NFT sales cannot support a large and long term IP company. > Even with enforced royalties, you still have low volume. No serious team can scale a real project on that as the primary biz model. > Comparing Azuki to luxury brands misses the point. Luxury brands sell desirable physical products repeatedly. NFTs are a niche market. > Azuki’s mission is to build a durable entertainment and IP company, all while optimising for short term, sustainably. > Community initiatives still matter, but resources have to be allocated based on current priorities. Z is active in every single Azuki GC for ~5 years now. > Collector focused initiatives aren’t being ignored forever, but right now manga and TCG take precedence. > Z openly acknowledges areas where Azuki is lacking and is comfortable making those tradeoffs because lacking areas will be also be developed in time. Per the priority. > Feedback is welcomed, but not every request can be executed immediately. (I feel @BobuBeanFarmer RFPs can come in here) > The long term vision is a decentralized brand that can survive beyond any NFT market cycles. > Success looks like people falling in love with the story and universe first, then discovering the NFTs and community later. The biggest takeaway for me: Z no longer thinks like the founder of a crypto project. He thinks like the founder of an IP company. Whether you agree with every decision or not, the vision is coherent, the priorities are clear and they’re building for a prosperous future. I know, I sometimes even I wish Azuki was operating with infinite resources, outside capital and unsustainable marketing budgets because they put out such great work. Part of me also wants to see that work come out everyday like light speed haha. But it’s not sustainable. Reality is Azuki is 100% community funded with no outside capital, has serious industry merit and is deeply product focussed with growing verticals TCG, Upcoming Manga, Studio Azuki and Anime.com. Pretty much ahead of 99.9% of the brands in terms of broader visibility, sustainable capital allocation via products, collabs and approach. and that is a very special thing in a space where initiatives die out daily. I know we will see Azuki on top again soon. Matter of time. TLDR: IKZ. TTP.

Fact, if you cannot reply personally or structure your own responses, then its better to exit the app and delete your account 🤣🤣🤣