How it all started
Toy Boogers began in 2021 as a whimsical story and art collection of 3,333 hand-drawn characters created and sold as NFTs by Doug, the artist and founder. The legendary backstory begins with a mad scientist who was developing teleportation technology to enter the metaverse so that he and all his friends could live in cyber space and collect as many digital toys as they wanted. However, somehow a booger accidentally got stuck on the teleportation machine's focusing crystal, and it caused a critical but delightful malfunction. When the mad scientist and his friends used the machine, they got multiplied, combined, and rearranged with all the crazy characters and toys in their digital collections as they teleported into the metaverse. They entered the scene as a wacky bunch of mismatched creatures and became known as the Toy Boogers!
Artistic Vision
What set Toy Boogers apart in the NFT space was Doug's commitment to handcrafted artistry. The Toy Boogers collection of 3,333 unique characters was 100% hand-drawn and hand-mixed, with no generative tech or AI assistance, which was the opposite of most other large scale character collections in the NFT space at the time. Doug personally created hundreds of wild and wacky character traits such as heads, bodies, and toys, and then carefully combined them together in ridiculous ways over many months of hard work, ultimately making 3,333 pieces of art by hand! The entire collection sold out within a few hours of going public and was instantly recognized as a super unique collection of ridiculous characters in a fantastic universe with a awesome backstory. The NFT community and other artists within the space applauded and recognized Toy Boogers as a masterpiece of creativity and dedication. Toy Boogers also became an inspirational underdog success story of an independent and previously unknown solo artist overcoming the odds and making it with sheer determination, wild creativity, and hard work.
Major Recognition
The unique combination of storytelling and character creation of Toy Boogers got the attention and recognition of major players such as TIME Magazine, and their TIME Studios division partnered with Doug to expand and write a storyline for an animated series that continues from the Toy Boogers backstory. TIME Studios purchased the movie rights to this chapter of the story and is currently seeking the partnership of an animation studio as the next step in this production. Doug has also developed and written an overarching storyline for Toy Boogers, that focuses on Stash, the Hamster Mastermind who is the character responsible for sticking the booger on the teleportation machine’s focusing crystal as part of a secret master plan. The exact nature of how the Toy Boogers full story will be released, in what particular form of media, and with what potential partners has yet to be determined. Only bits and pieces of this legendary tale have been made public so far.
Notable Collaborations
Toy Boogers also earned the support and recognition of many other artists within the NFT space and did collaborations with dozens of other artists, incorporating the unique Toy Boogers character traits into special collaborative pieces of art. Toy Boogers has collaborated with many famous artists and projects such as Deadfellaz, Cool Cats, Robotos, Alien Frens, WonderPals, Foodmasku, and many others. Doug’s most famous collaboration was in the form of his "Kitbash Boogers" collection in 2022, in which he combined the character traits from Toy Boogers, Cool Cats, Deadfellaz, and Robotos, into the first-of-its-kind largescale collaborative mashup consisting of 1,111 handmade characters.
Expanding Universe
Doug has continued to expand the Toy Boogers universe through his art, stories, and characters over the years. “Toy Stash” is another collection within the Toy Boogers universe focusing on Stash, the Hamster Mastermind and consists of 11,111 total unique variations of this main character. Similar to the previous 100% handmade Toy Boogers and Kitbash Boogers, all 11,111 Toy Stash characters were hand-built over many months of hard work. This collection did use generative tools, but unlike other projects, Doug manually built each character one by one, rather than letting the computer generate them. This hand-built approach was taken so that he could give all 11,111 of them his personal touch and make sure each one was ridiculously awesome! In total, so far Doug has handmade over 15,000 characters throughout his various art collections within the Toy Boogers universe!
The Toy Boogers universe continues to expand and the next chapter of creativity is focusing on real-world productions, such as stickers, toys, street wear, and various modes of storytelling. The first step in this long-term plan is the creation of a massive sticker collection of his characters to introduce the Toy Boogers universe to people all over the world. Next, Doug plans to enter the world of physical toys and also hopes to make progress within mainstream media to tell the fantastic story of Toy Boogers and Stash, the Hamster Mastermind! So stay tuned for the wild ride and know that your love and support is much appreciated and essential to help pave the path ahead!