SHIBU Guardians Collection — what really happened!
S.H.I.B.U. Sincere & Honest Individuals with Business Utilities, is the true definition of our name, it has been our brand and the way we have been running our business for over a year now. When we entered web3 we had three (3) things in mind:
- Build web3 products that provides multiple value & benefits to our community
- Raise awareness & give charity to kids with disabilities
- Give new artist the chance to also enter web3 through our Artist Collab Devision.
- With that being said let’s jump right into our main Topic of this medium article: “SHIBU Guardians collection”
Recap of The Guardians
“SHIBU Guardians” is still part of our 1st Artist Collab Collection. The storyline, script, financing & team was provided by SHIBU Society. The artist only needed to provide the art (graphics) while all cost , 1x24h mod team, developments, marketing and more were covered by us.
After our first Web3 Artist didn’t deliver the art that was promised and stated in our contract, we canceled the mint and reimbursed the minters. We were about to cut our losses and close that chapter until we were approached by our Gaming partnership. Instead of disappointing our community they came to us with a proposal. Their proposal was that they could redesign the whole collection & continue to move forward with the hype that has already been build. They could create the new art for the collection + the 1/1 guardians that were promised to the “Guardian Gatekeepers” & the 12 community members that won the tribal naming contest. Thinking about the community & the hype we already build we decided to take on their offer. We signed a contract, that they put together, and transferred their requested fee of 1 ETH.
They redesigned the collection & we relaunched under the collection name “SHIBU Guardians” on the Solana Blockchain.
The beginning of the end
Approximately 4–6 days weeks after mint the problems began:
- The 1/1 guardians that were promised could suddenly only be delivered after we pay for the full game. That was definitely not, what was agreed on during our Discord group call. And let’s be honest how would we ever agree on that when the Advanced IP ownership + 1/1 rare Guardian are one of the best Perks we had for the Guardians Collection. It does not Make any Sense!
- To market a project, you need graphics (new sneak peaks). When we requested sneak peaks, we then came to another shock that the only way we could receive more sneak peeks is to take their marketing package of yet another 1 ETH. This was also NOT discussed in our Discord Group Call!!!
So, in other words we have to pay the artist for sneak peaks to promote a product he is the artist of.
- The communication went from bad to worse. From unnecessary tantrums, to verbal abusive towards the founders of SHIBU Society.
For the Community
Seeing that there was no way of finding a middle ground with them we decided to put the guardians on hold while we try to look for other solutions. Meanwhile we have been giving away our minted Guardians in spaces when it was actually meant for other marketing purposes. After talking to various game developers & 3D artists they all gave us the same answer: “Relaunch collection with another artist”. That is an option we will not pursue!!
Starting from the 1st artist till the 2nd we have spent over 10 ETH already. And lets again be brutaly honest: “who would buy a project that is relaunching for the 3rd time? We know we wouldn’t!
Final Chapter
Keep in mind this is NOT part of our main collection, this is an Artist Collab Collection. But if we have to pay to receive our own sneak peeks then there is no need to continue with this collaboration. As of yesterday (September 13th, 2023) the Minting of the “SHIBU Guardians” has been closed. SHIBU Society will reimburse each Guardian Holder, and will close the Guardian’s Collection. The IP rights of “SHIBU Guardians” still belong to us. This is also stated in our signed contract, the same contract that was made by the artist. On our next Coffee Talks & Alpha Drop we will announce the reimbursement process.
Moving Forward
By taking these actions we believe that this will not only be in the best interest of the community but also for our brand. As you may have noticed we have intentionally not mentioned any names of individuals or projects in our medium because we don’t indulge in unnecessary drama. If you are a founder of a project in Web3 you always put your personal feelings aside and place the community first. No matter if it’s your community or another project’s community, the same rule applies; Community First!
SHIBU Society will now focus more on our own main collections & our $KIBBLE Token. Next week we will publish our next medium article with the introduction of our SHIBU Marketplace & our Artist Collab with our local (Surinamese) artists.
