Interviewing Mutant Mutiny (Creator Of Vincenzo DaVinci)
Ive known the owner of this mutant ape for awhile and he’s an amazing guy that’s very involved in the mutant ape community and always goes the extra mile to evolve the space with new ideas and avenues.
In this article I share my interview with @MutantMutiny discussing his past, present and future in the NFT space.
When and how did you get into NFTs?
I got into NFTs after going to the cardano summit in NYC last summer with my fiance. We were very late and I didn’t want to go, but she insisted. …I bought my first NFTs literally in the bathroom there…lolol….I traded in and out of two cardano NFTs for nice profits…I have a long resume in trading starting to trade stocks in 1987 right after the crash. Stocks no longer had an edge to me with so many altos and I saw NFTs as a place where there was an edge to push…after selling all my cardano NFTs I went right into Mutants and scooped 3 in late september of 21..I was immediately drawn to the art of the m2s. I saw the collection filled with satire, irony and a wonderfully connected aesthetic. There is a famous renaissance painter Arcimboldo who did Avantgarde portraits of wealthy patrons in fruits and vegetables. Very cutting edge for his day and the collection sort of had that same feeling as his work to me. The work immediately stood out to me as original but also connected to the viewer. It felt very authentic and the character set seemed fresh and I couldn’t wait to hear some of the stories of these auspicious looking mutants!
Why Did You Choose Mutant Apes?
As I mentioned above I was drawn to the art but at that point I also wasn’t ready to commit to a Bored Ape…was the wrong move of course, but I was still too fresh to NFTs and felt that the play was definitely these odd apes at the end of capitalism, and I saw the mutants as being way more interesting art and at better price point. I picked my first ape which turned out to be our lead character purely on aesthetic. He just spoke to me immediately with that friendly m2 grin of his. I said that’s me…that’s my mutant! I felt the sense that these were characters more than just buying second hand art. I was choose mutants were I felt I had stories for them or ways that I could bring them to life via physicals since I had done stop motion work and built wooden puppets for a time. The idea of puppet apes or marionettes was something we had envisioned from the day I started looking at the collection and pouring over it nightly fascinated by the varied traits!
What Gave You The Idea For Vincenzo?
The idea for Vincenzo started when we licensed our characters to Jenkins the valet. I had actually started writing the story of Julius our M2 Stuntman Helmet ape first. Both characters shared the leather jacket trait so we immediately had idea that they were part of a nomad motorcycle crew that was rejected from real MCs for the simple fact that they road BIG WHEELS ( famous american toy tricycle for young kids) and not Harleys. Being that I’m Italian american and was born and raised in Brooklyn I started to think of Vincenzo as being related to myself more and pulling from my own experiences for him. I started thinking of these epic voices from my father’s era like Jimmy Durante and some of the old gangster movies for his voice, but I wanted him to be erudite….these are modern mutant and highly advanced apes so they need to be intellectually apt as well. He is cultured in the Arts and Design…a fan of Michelin star restaurants and constantly quoting Jim Morrison. These are all my interests and makes it easy for me to develop content from those areas. Did I sit down and think about what or who he woudl be? Not really. My method of design is always to just let it come to be organically if possible. We actually built the puppet and I wanted to see him first in person before creating his voice or his background. I had a few ideas that were drastically different to his character now, but it fell into place quite naturally. He basically is a super sharp ape with the crudeness of 1950s Brooklyn, the singing voice of Jim Morrisson and Robert Smith of the Cure, wanting to take over the Biogenic swamp with his fellow mutants all while finding the hottest places to eat in NYC and being an absolute foodie! We plan to play him alongside my fiance so we have a strong female ‘human’ lead along with his crude and somewhat delusional manner, but we think how we designed him always makes him somewhat cute and tender and we will play towards that as he is intrinsically a good ape with a heart of gold. He also already has a star on the Hollywood walk of fame.
Can You Show Us Some Cool Things You’ve Done So Far With Your IP Rights?
As a furniture designer and builder for most of three decades building furniture using our mutant IP was a layup. Since mutants are considered to be somewhat harsh looking I think we set about combining them with pieces that would contrast this or tone it down somewhat. Our dining table however is full throttle M2 power! With huge red m2 in the middle which is our logo (Mutant Mutiny and the double meaning of being twice mutated). We did this intentionally to make a strong use of our IP and not to back away from the power of these characters. Going forward I will blend them a bit more delicately as we are planning a huge sectional sofa using our two Red Hat merch mutants who we like to call “Red Hat Raiders”. We also have built our puppet and we have already started on the second physical puppet. We are debating a stopmotion figure as well, but I’m still ruminating if I want to get involved in such painstaking work. Ive done stop motion films before and the time to bring them to life is brutal. We have merch like most companies do but we have a very definite plan with our merch that I can’t reveal yet, as I have long been into fashion since I was a kid dressing up creatively to get into the very exclusive clubs of NYC in the 1980s. We have a coffee being planned, stickers, jackets, pins, more furnishings and we are doing one off art pieces created by the amazing
@Surprive who, incidentally, I met on Fortnite!!!(YES!!) and we became great friends and had the chance to meet in LA earlier this year for the first time. He did those wonderful drawings of Vincenzo in Julius’ room and on the streets of NYC.
What Are Your Plans For The Future If You Can Reveal Any?
We really have so much planned, and we are just sort of letting things happen organically and creating what we deem as fun or amazing for our characters. We change direction often, but now I think we have our goals set on 1. finalizing Vincenzo’s place as our main character and giving him his own show where we are building an actual set using my custom furniture designs. We will have him also out and about and working with Julia Pinky (our female lead and 1/3 or four team) in and around NYC. Bringing in NYC into our shows is an important thing for both Julia and I as we both love our city and in a post-lockdown world its just great to be around people and we hope to bring many smiles to their faces when they see Vincenzo. He was a big hit at Apefest and that response really was the impetus for us to push forward with his own web show. We see that as a step towards getting him in front of brands and to help get IP deals for our entire Mutant Ape team. We are creating a character page with our story for each ape. Its somethign we recommend to other ape owners who are struggling with how to use their apes. Just create a name and a story for that ape at the least. We other large idea is creating a mutant HQ in Brooklyn. We would want this to be exclusive to mutants at first but also to bored apes as we are all family even as we joke in our shows about taking over the swamp. We have a place in Brooklyn for this and I’m designing an entire floor with my mutant furniture and we will be bringing in art pieces from all over our community. I see a space totally dedicated to Mutants and apes where the community can come by appointment and view our merch and enjoy specially prepared food and coffee. Finally, Julia and I share a love of fashion and wellness and those will be two areas we have great ideas for using our characters. Julia has an amazing biographical story that we will share over time. It’s truly triumphant and she has an amazing repertoire of wellness and beauty techniques that we plan to bring to the space via our characters. We are creating something for kids as well, and something more adult using our Red Hat Raiders. We see the Red Hat Raiders as being our brand within a brand…and let’s not forget our signature line: Mutants Reign Supreme!™
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