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Jul 20, 2022

Jenkins: The Path of ‘Bored & Dangerous

Jack Burt
Jack Burt

Writer

At this point, leveraging the Bored Apes licensing is nothing new (we’ve seen apparel, restaurants, and talk of movies/tv), but to do what Jenkins the Valet has done with Bored & Dangerous, to make a book out of a jpeg, let alone a book collaborated on by thousands of people, well, that’s just novel.

It all started back in May 2021, when one Bored Ape holder (now ubiquitously referred to as Jenkins The Valet) decided to use his creative writing background to freestyle a bit of fiction about his ape.

You can see the OG Jenkins post, here — it’s only a few hundred words and it begins: “My mom cried when I got the job as valet at the Bored Ape Yacht Club…”

The basic gist is that Jenkins takes a valet gig at the prestigious yacht club to soften a recent blow to his crypto portfolio, but soon finds himself integrated into a world of powerful apes, a world where he’s being asked to do much more than docking a few boats.

And, it didn't matter that it was a brief post or that it didn’t come from Yuga Labs themselves; this vignette resonated with the desire for a comprehensive BAYC backstory — and by providing a proxy tale, it breathed life into people’s projections about their Bored Apes as having desires, dreams, and schemes all their own.

Seemingly overnight, people started piling in and asking for their apes’ fictional stories to be told — thus, ‘Jenkins the Valet’ realized the potential not just for a complete Bored Ape fiction, but a collaborative one at that.

Fast forward to today: Jenkins the Valet represents a community of over 4,000 participants, holders, and observers . . . although it's a bit more complicated than that.

First there was Jenkins the Valet, then there was ‘The Writer's Room’, and now there is Bored & Dangerous.

You can think of Jenkins the Valet as the overarching brand (however, Tally Labs is the official brand behind the Jenkins brand, if that makes sense.)

Then you have The Writer's Room. The Writers Room refers to the community of people who collaborated with Jenkins The Valet (aka Tally Labs) to produce the NFT novel, Bored & Dangerous. It sounds exclusive but it's not overtly meant to be; anyone can get into The Writer’s Room simply by purchasing a Writer's Room NFT.

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Currently priced at ~1.2 Eth (for a Valet Ticket), the two main benefits of a Writers Room NFT are: the ability to vote on the creative direction of Bored & Dangerous (as well as future projects) and assurance that your avatar will be featured/incorporated into the book somehow.

Granted, there’s four different Writer’s Room membership tiers (Valet Ticket, Valet Stand, Yacht Key, and Yacht), so the level of voting power you'll have and the degree to which your avatar is featured in the book will vary accordingly. For instance, Valet Ticket holders get 5 votes on every creative proposal and will be featured in the book’s acknowledgements, whereas Yacht holders get 215 votes on every creative proposal and will be featured as full-blown or supporting characters.

That’s The Writer’s Room in a nutshell.

Then there’s Bored & Dangerous . . . the book itself, a record of the journeys that Jenkins The Valet and his countless ape clients/companions have been through at the yacht club.

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Anyone who held a Writer’s Room NFT was able to claim a Bored & Dangerous NFT for free (otherwise, you can scoop one on secondary for ~0.35 Eth). Note: There’s three different versions of the Bored & Dangerous NFT: ‘Money Train’, ‘The Great Ape Society’, and ‘Jenkins the Valet The Host’, but as far as we know, there's no guarantee of added utility for the rarer versions.

In terms of format, the Bored & Dangerous book will be available to holders digitally and physically; however, the contents remain a mystery because the Tally Labs team is still polishing their e-reader platform (built specifically for a unique digital reading experience.)

We do know, though, in an interview with The Schiller, Jenkins the Valet explained that the book won’t function like a traditional chapter book; instead, it will be more like a multimedia/coffee table book with plenty of space for text and images — which makes sense considering how many apes needed to be featured, as well as the fact that so many folks were involved in the content and design process (including but not limited to Neil Strauss, MBSJQ, Murda Beatz, and IC4 Design.)

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Of course, the sentences were written by Neil Strauss (10X New York Times Best Seller), but thousands of folks participated in the Bored & Dangerous creative process (mainly by voting power), with over 4,000 Apes/Mutants licensed to appear in the book (to varying degrees). Rightfully, those who licensed their apes/mutants to be in the book will also get a proportionate slice of 50% of the book’s profits — not to mention, the licensing agreement is structured such that if a licensed Ape or Mutant is sold or traded, the new wallet holding it will be paid for the asset’s future royalties, meaning buying an ape that’s been licensed for Bored & Dangerous could amount to a continuous income stream.

We also know that those who hold Bored and Dangerous NFTs will have the ability to burn their NFT and “purchase an Azur Root that can be redeemed for an Azurian avatar” (Azurbala being their upcoming pfp collection); or they can stake it (Bored & Dangerous) to become a member of Hawthorn (Hawthorn being the overarching DAO for projects like Azurbala, Bored & Dangerous, Jenkins the Valet, Jenkins the Mutant, Good Boy, and Azurian Legends.) Note: those who burn their NFT for Azurbala will no longer be eligible for a physical copy of Bored & Dangerous.

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Personally, we were surprised by this added choice of Azurbala vs. Hawthorn — surprised in a good way that is, because not only is Azurbala (as seen above) frothing with hype on Twitter, but we feel like this is a heavy signal from Jenkins The Valet and Tally Labs, a signal that they’re aiming to be way more than a book, they’re aiming to be a mammoth, multimedia franchise (of which, their signing with global talent agency CAA is just further evidence.)

Sincerely, our hats go off to the folks over at Tally Labs for tackling this untrodden path in NFTs — we’re excited to read on.


Disclaimer: This is not financial advice. This article is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. Do your own research. See Flip’s Terms of Service for more details.

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