Mad News: Cutting Through The Noise
The maddest news in the Mad Lads ecosystem.
Mad News cuts through the noise of crypto Twitter and delivers a curated snapshot of Mad Lads alpha, project updates and community highlights.
As pioneers in the realm of Web3, we redefine the boundaries of content creation, dreaming up ways to capture the world's attention. We’re exploring interviews, editorials, mad puzzles, weekly webcomics and more.
Welcome to the inaugural edition of Mad News!
Table of Contents
Another Day, A Whole Lotta Dollars
A Skull trait Lad sold for over 1100 SOL (around $25,000 USD at the time) this weekend. This came as a surprise to absolutely nobody.
There are just 99 Skulls in the Mad Lads (that’s less than 1% of the collection) and the floor price shot up quickly after mint as the most notable Solana founders, builders, creators and degens adopted Skulls as their chosen Lads.
A subcommunity called the Mad Skulls formed.
Since launch the group has only grown more elite, and held the line figuratively and literally. What does the future hold? Bullishness anon.
-R89
It’s rumored that gaining entry into the group chat is like winning a lottery ticket.
NFT Showdown
The Solana Foundation is hosting a one-of-a-kind NFT pitch competition focusing on brands that create real world products in industries like fashion, entertainment, gaming and creator agencies.
Winners will be selected based on their business plans, product innovation, business acumen, creative brand development and innovative use of Solana tool. There will be just 10 finalists selected for an IRL pitch directly to the the judges panel.
The prize pool is nothing to shake a stick at. Builders and artists can go their whole career without coming across an opportunity like the NFT Showdown.
All entries must be submitted by midnight on June 9th, this Friday.
Community Comic Creators Go Hard
The lifeblood of Mad Lads comes from it’s community - we see this in the form of memes, fan art, threads, tattoos, TikToks, graffiti and even 3D prints. Recently there has been an uptick in cartoonists and comic book artists flexing their talent.
Mad Lads Mayhem, created by vibeymonk.sol, is a 25 page comic book set in the Solana Verse.
It follows the story of three Mad Lads who are tasked with a high priority mission to retrieve stolen metadata from a rogue decommissioned military AI.
The Mad King Has FOCKIN Risen! created by Roach Writes and Mad Muse
Based on a true story, this webcomic explores what would happen if the Mad King ALMOST destroys the multiverse. It takes a resilient group of Mad Lads and Lasses to prevent our world from changing forever.
Mad Lads Goes Global, Armani Makes Dreams Come True
Armani officially announced that the Mad Lads squad is packing up their bags and leaving Chicago.
“I’m not going to share too much, but, Hong Kong’s a great place to be.”
-Armani Ferrante
The stream was packed with exciting moments but one stands above the rest.
A little background first, Twitter user UQ² has been an ardent supporter of Backpack and Mad Lads since the first announcements. UQ² is a constant reply guy, meme maker and vibe supporter - everything you ask for in a community member.
Plot twist - UQ² is not a Mad Lads holder. Armani changed that on Sunday. In what will go down as one of the most memorable events in Mad Lads history UQ² became the first “Mad Man”.
Watch the whole thing playout on YouTube (jump to 52:00).
Mad Validator Surpasses 500K In SOL
The Mad Validator started operations on March 27th, 2023 with the tagline “Fockin' Mad Lads Community Validator”.
Since then the validator pool has skyrocketed to more than $10M USD in staked tokens. Interested in joining the Mad Validator? Get started here.
Bullish On World Domination
The Mad Lads brand is slowly but surely making it’s way into the real world. Degen Tim was spotted wearing his FOCK IT t-shirt by another Mad Lad - in Sicily of all places!
Sicily is an island just off the “toe” of Italy that is surrounded on all sides by the Mediterranean Sea - a vacation destination as well as home to more than 4M Italian citizens.
You might be asking yourself, how did Mad Lads and Backpack make their way onto the island? This article may have some answers.
Hundreds In Attendance At Town Halls
Community ran town halls have been hosted almost every week since the 4/20 launch of the Mad Lads. Solana Legend, goated Spaces host, leads the conversation and drops alpha like breadcrumbs all throughout.
Town Hall #4
Town Hall #5
Content Creator Jakey Joins “The Roster”
Jakey released a full length love-affair titled “MAD MOVIE 1” announcing that he was joining the The Roster. The Roster is a commitment to spread the Mad Lads brand outside of crypto Twitter, to break the wall down that stands between developers and degens, to capture the attention of world.
An excerpt from the Mad Lads website:
In an era saturated with content creators, The Roster stands out as a beacon ofaudacity and originality.
Staying true to the Mad Lads philosophy, they fearlessly venture into uncharted territories, delivering content that is bound to captivate audiences beyond Web3.
Who is Jakey? Jakey has been a true mad lad since before most of us knew what crypto was - a viral content creator, YouTuber, short form content king and more recently an NFT degen.
Watch the FULL behind the scenes of making MAD MOVIE 1.
Edition 1 Merch Claim Completed
Merch claims ended on Friday, June 2nd.
The Mad Merch secondary market stabilized after an initial spike in prices and Common “fock it” tee’s are available at a rate comparable to IRL clothing stores.
Common (tee-shirt) | 1.5 SOL/$30
Uncommon (hoodie) | 5 SOL/$95
Rare (hoodie) | 19 SOL/$228
If you weren’t able to claim in time you can still pick up t-shirts and hoodies by searching “Mad Merch” on your favorite marketplaces.
There are no Mythic or Grail hoodies listed currently however the most recent sales history rings up to around 30 SOL/$570.
Print Is Not Dead
FOMO Magazine dropped their newest edition with Mad Lads co-founder Armani Ferrante gracing the cover. I mean, technically it is his Mad Lads PFP but is there a difference in web3?
Looks Like Meat’s Back On The Menu Boys
First swag, now steak.
Speculation ran wild in the community and floor price of the Mad Lads collection surged after this “steaking” teaser dropped.
Some community speculation theories:
the team is rugging the mint funds to chase after their dream of building a Japanese steakhouse
holders are going to have steaks airdropped to their homes
the Lads have *beef* with vegetarians
the video was recorded so the team could write it off their taxes
we’re all getting 50% off at Benihana’s forever
What do you think is actually coming next?
The team later went on to drop another teaser Tweet that contained a single transaction ID. Start your sleuthing on Solscan.
Community Gone Mad
The Roster has inspired creators to start doing some mad fooking things. Videos are raining down on crypto Twitter with the Mad Lads as the main topic.
becc came in guns-a-blazing
Jack.poor is feeling a little lighter today.
Meme Gallery Launches On Mad Lads Website
One of the reasons for creators going bananas with content is the opportunity to end up in the Mad Meme section that popped up on the Mad Lads website. In typical Mad Lads release fashion - nobody knew it was coming.
Dozens of creators have already been into the “hall of fame”.
Mad Saga Engravings
Although Armani dislikes the “u-word” with the power of a thousand suns - Mad Lads is absolutely turning up for their holders with new surprises around every corner.
Collaborating with Solana Mobile, holders are now able to get a FREE laser engraving of their Lad on new Saga purchases.
You can order your custom Saga here.
Engravings are shipping now and deliveries have already touched down.
WAO
Fockin Mad. Love it