Benzinga - Since launching the entertainment company and non-fungible token collection VeeFriends in 2021, serial entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuk (aka Gary Vee) has partnered the brand with top companies like Johnnie Walker, Fanatics, Mattel Inc (NASDAQ: MAT), Macy’s, Reebok and Squishmallows.
On Tuesday, VeeFriends announced a new partnership with Mattel that will see Vee’s brand collaborate with a popular toy brand.
What Happened: The partnership will see the iconic Masters of the Universe brand, which is well-known for its He-Man and Skeletor characters, materialize with a VeeFriends character. Mattel and VeeFriends are partnering on a new launch that will bring the Skilled Skeleton character to life for the first time as part of a physical collectible.
Skilled Skeleton is a “character who symbolizes VeeFriends’ mission to inspire optimism, accountability and kindness.”
The Skilled Skeleton figure glows in the dark and has six swappable hands, a removable hood and removable armor.
The Masters of the Universe Skeletor figure comes with three swappable heads, has five swappable hands, and several accessories. The heads from Skilled Skeleton and Skeletor are interchangeable.
Two-packs of the characters are sold for $45 each and available on the Mattel Creations website beginning Oct. 6, 2023 at 12 p.m. ET. The two-pack comes with sliding slipcovers for display and a mini-comic featuring the characters.
Owners of VeeFriends digital collectibles can display an exclusive Snake Mountain background behind their VeeFriends character.
“Gary’s innate passion and connection to the brand is one of the many reasons we were excited to collaborate with his forward-thinking 1company,” Mattel VP and Head of Action Figures PJ Lewis said. “This collaboration allows us to connect to our Masters of the Universe fans in a new and exciting way while continuing to expand the audience for our best-in-class action figures with Gary’s VeeFriends fanbase.”
Mattel and VeeFriends previously collaborated with the UNO brand.
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Why It’s Important: VeeFriends NFTs launched in May 2021 with a subsequent collection called VeeFriends Series 2 launching in April 2022.
“This is my Disney. This is my Pokemon,” Vee previously said about building the VeeFriends brand.
The collaboration with Mattel is one of several undertaken by the VeeFriends brand, which boasts over 200 characters that were personally hand-drawn and created by Vee.
“Partnering with such an iconic figure like Skeletor feels extremely surreal; this character is a touchstone for all of us from the Gen X era,” Vee said. “I’m excited to collaborate once again with Mattel following our incredibly successful VeeFriends UNO collaboration.”
Vee called Masters of the Universe one of his favorite communities in the world.
“I hope everyone enjoys these special edition toys as much as the team and I have had in creating them. The Mattel team did an incredible job bringing this amazing toy to life.”
The VeeFriends series one NFTs have a floor price of 1.75 Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH), or around $2774.23 at the time of writing. The Series 2 NFTs have a floor price of 0.11 ETH.
There are 40 Skilled Skeletons NFTs in series one, with none currently listed for sale on OpenSea. The series 2 collection has 220 Skilled Skeleton NFTs, with one listed for 1.4 ETH.
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Photo: VeeFriends
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