Quirkies 360 — OpenSea Named Official Sponsor of New Quirk City

Host: Papii (@RealPapii)^* with cohosts Sam (@SamAdoption) & Quirkies (@quirkiesnft) · Wed, Aug 12 2026 · 1:02:34 · ~13 speakers

TL;DR

• The headline: OpenSea is an official sponsor of New Quirk City at NFT NYC, joining Bored Ape Yacht Club — with three more event partners to be revealed Saturday [28:38].
• Balón (@balon_art), Papii's OpenSea point of contact, came up to talk through OpenSea's leadership turnaround and why they wanted to back Quirkies [37:22].
• Papii marked the near one-year anniversary of Quirk Life Labs acquiring Quirkies, recalling a 0.3 ETH floor and a month of enforced silence during the deal [33:05].
• OpenSea's own NFT NYC event, "Collector Park" (with Pudgy Penguins), sparked a long, genuine riff on collecting-as-a-hobby versus flipping [45:47].
• Housekeeping that matters: a Blockies pre-sale mint for Quirky/Quirkling/inks holders (0.03, optional) closing that weekend [56:13], plus Maha's community dinner/brunch around the events [53:11].
• Piff (@RealPiffsPeak) built the announcement video, turning OpenSea's ship logo into an original character he named "the Voyager" [55:12].

Highlights

[14:01] Molly clocks in, freshly napped. Redgoatqueen admits she just woke up and feels "defaced," prompting Sam to prescribe an ice-cold-water-to-the-face cure — which he then confesses he nearly killed himself performing on a wet bath rug. The room's running gag of prescribing remedies to each sleepy speaker starts here.

[16:39] Flex's solar eclipse that he mostly experienced on Instagram. Flex (@flex_web3) recounts Germany's first eclipse in decades, which he skipped looking at because he never bought the glasses, then watched back on his phone. Sam's deadpan "It sounds kind of underwhelming, to be honest" only makes it better.

[18:21] The niche trait that got stolen live. Flex muses that eclipse glasses would make "a very niche trait in a collection," Sam warns he just said it on a recorded space, and Flex shrugs: "I'm okay with that. Let him take it."

[26:38] Coach's cautionary tale. As the eclipse talk drifts toward superpowers and propaganda, Coach (@punkrockcoach) lands the room's favorite line about the risk to a JPEG collector's eyeballs — a warm, absurd tangent everyone keeps reminding each other is being recorded.

[28:38] The announcement finally lands. After letting the banter run, Papii reveals the OpenSea sponsorship on the jumbotron, plays the audio of Piff's video, and confirms Bored Ape and OpenSea are aboard with more partners coming Saturday. This was the biggest crowd moment of the Space.

[31:30] Rick's tribute to the community. SLICK RIC (@richj530), calling in from work, delivers heartfelt congratulations — not just to Papii but to the whole community for staying resilient and not chasing "the next best shiny thing."

[33:05] The one-year backstory. Papii opens up about the acquisition: a 0.3 ETH floor, a month of silence to avoid insider trading, and friends who sold the day before the announcement. He frames the whole month — the whale dinner at De Stefano's, his birthday Friday — around the anniversary of Quirk Life Labs stepping in.

[37:22] Balón, the ex-critic now inside OpenSea. Balón admits he was one of OpenSea's louder critics before being hired, and credits leadership for recruiting from the community. He praises Quirkies' head-down building through a rough market.

[45:47] Collector Park and the collecting thesis. Papii and Balón dig into OpenSea + Pudgy Penguins' one-day "Collector Park" event, agreeing that the healthiest path is treating NFTs as collectibles — Papii's IRL friend racing him to 100 Quirkies "just having fun," not flipping.

[55:12] Piff unveils the Voyager. Piff explains how he turned OpenSea's ship icon into a full character with a storyline and voiceover for the announcement video — the creative work he was most proud of.

Topic timeline

Notable quotes

• "I want to just kick somebody. That song just makes me want to mosh." — Sam [7:40]
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  0:38
• "The ultimate irony would be a JPEG collector burning their eyeballs out." — Coach [26:38]
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  0:38
• "We have announced OpenSea as one of the official sponsors of New Quirk City." — Papii [28:38]
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  0:38
• "I haven't been around in the community as long as most, but I know real community when I see some." — Rick [31:30]
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  0:38
• "We've tried to do every single thing the right way. And it has reflected so hard on who we've attracted into this project." — Papii [33:05]
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  0:38
• "You don't have to tell somebody that a trading card is a collectible… We don't need to shove NFTs down people's throats. We need to do a better job at opening the doors for collectors." — Papii [46:28]
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  0:38

Who said what

• Papii (@RealPapii)^* — primary host; drove the OpenSea reveal, told the acquisition story, and carried the collector-first thesis.
• Sam (@SamAdoption) — cohost running the roll call from his treadmill in a 117-degree warehouse; the room's dry comic engine.
• Balón (@balon_art) — OpenSea insider and Papii's contact; framed the sponsorship, OpenSea's turnaround, and Collector Park.
• SLICK RIC (@richj530) — delivered the emotional community tribute mid-Space.
• Piff (@RealPiffsPeak) — creator of the announcement video and its "Voyager" character.
• Coach (@punkrockcoach) — champion of IRL connections as "the alpha," plus the eclipse-eyeballs bit.
• Flex (@flex_web3) — Germany check-in, eclipse-via-Instagram story, plugged Thursday's skate space.
• Maha (@Maaaaahhhaaaaa) — announced a capped community dinner and closing brunch around NFT NYC.
• Sho (@AgogoKaren) — coming in early to NYC; leads the outro sing-along.
• JD (@joshuatrees_), Molly/Redgoatqueen (@SanaeMolly), Bullduck (@BullDuck) — roll-call regulars; Bullduck runs Showdown setup on Discord.

Worth a full listen

• [33:05]–[37:22] — Papii's unscripted account of the acquisition, the enforced silence, and the friends who sold too early; the emotional core of the Space that a summary flattens.
• [45:47]–[49:10] — The Papii/Balón exchange on Collector Park and collecting for love rather than the flip; a genuinely thoughtful read on where PFP-era NFTs are heading.
• [16:39]–[28:11] — The full eclipse arc, from Flex's Instagram viewing to Coach's eyeball warning to Papii's PFP-glasses fact-check — the room's warm, silly best.

* some voices are identified from context; those names are marked as likely.