Galactic Geckos Space Garage
About Galactic Geckos Space Garage
GGSG originated as one of the OG projects on the Solana Ecosystem in 2021. Despite initial success, the project eventually became a slow rug which resulted in the community banding together to form The Gecko DAO and buying the project. Since then, the DAO has been driving the project’s direction and focussed on solidifying the community into one of the strongest in the space.
The Lore
The story centres around a Gecko Civilisation made up of 4 different factions (Barada, Alura, Targari and Martu) that resolved to banish war in favour of holding races to settle their disputes. The Lore has also alluded to the existence of 5th faction, previously thought to have been extinct. The full lore can be read and experienced here.
The team have mentioned the potential to network with existing real-life contacts about expanding upon the lore for content like films and games.
The Collections
Galactic Geckos (Main Collection)
The main collection consists of 10K Galactic Geckos, separated into the 4 previously mentioned factions which can be identified by the colour of the backgrounds.
Each faction also bears certain characteristics which ties into the lore as follows:
- Tagari (black) – Known for their affinity for the deeper parts of space and the cutting-edge technology that leads them there. Their faction houses some of the universe’s top scientists and engineers
- Barada (red) – Located in the heart of a meteor cloud, Barada are known for their tough and brutal personalities required to thrive in those conditions. Of the factions, Barada hold truest to the Gecko warrior culture.
- Alura (purple) – Known for their somewhat mythical flair, the Alura house not only some of the most dramatic personalities, but also the most heroic and larger than life characters.
- Martu (green) – Martu are unique for their ventures into politics and the strategies required to booze, schmooz and seduce their way through the system. They hold some of the most cunning and wicked racers.
The project has created tools to help a potential buyer choose their Gecko by sorting through rarity as well as identifying traits that may be considered desirable.
The Crystals
The Enigma Crystals are a collection of 2532 NFTs that were airdropped as the secondary collection to holders of full faction sets (i.e. one of each faction).
The Concordians
The Concordians are the third collection under the GGSG banner and consist of 3204 droids that offer a lower entry into the community. In the lore, they were designed by the mysterious 5th faction.
Greenlisted
Greenlisted represents the investment fund of GGSG which started with a deal with MatricaLabs to lead one of their recent funding rounds which has created a direct line between Geckos and one of the prominent dev teams on Solana in Matrica, especially with Geckos Founder GenuineArticles sitting on the Board of Directors. For a project to be considered for funding, they must fulfil the following criteria:
- Must be a net positive for Web3
- Must be a net positive for Geckos
- Must present outsized potential returns
Journeys
Journeys are the gamified staking mechanism for the Galactic Geckos where they get sent on missions and earn CRED.
Earnings can be influenced by:
- Duration – the longer the lock-up, the better the earn rate
- Faction Sets earn a 100 CRED per day bonus
- Captains can be nominated to earn CRED bonuses as well. It is recommended that you cycle your Captain so the CRED bonuses are spread around your Geckos.
CRED
CRED is not an SPL token but rather an on-chain points system for holders to collect. The main use case at the moment is the Animation Station where you can create customisable gifs of your Gecko with each trait having a unique animation that can be turned on or off.
CRED will also be used in the mint of the Fifth Faction Geckos which will take place later in 2023.
Faction Sets
It has been stated on several occasions that a new holder’s goal should be to accumulate one from each faction to achieve a full faction set. In the past, those with full faction sets were the ones rewarded with the Enigma Crystal airdrop and there is speculation about advantages in acquiring the mysterious 5th faction. Where buyers cannot afford a Faction Set, they are recommended to choose the faction that resonates most with them.
Community and Brand
Arguably a stand-out with Galactic Geckos is the community. The combination of being one of the OG projects on Solana and going through the wringer of the rug and subsequent de-rug has galvanised Galactic Geckos into one of the strongest and most tight-knit communities in the space. It is true that ‘community’ is a buzzword that always gets thrown around, but the team have really honed in on the key element which is genuine human connections. Members of the community have written several threads outlining the quality of their community such as this one from TechBag.
As far as branding goes, their NFTs have featured as the PFPs for prominent figures like Shaquille O’Neal as well as well-known crypto tools like CoinGecko.
| Team Members | Role |
|---|
GeniuneArticles
- Founder
- Matrica Board of Directors
- Background in Web2 businesses and start ups. Has been in crypto for a few years having initially started on ETH
- Twitter: @genuinearticles
Trap
- Founder
- Background in HVAC Construction Project Management
- Been in Crypto since 2017 and started in NFTs in 2021 on ETH
- Has a background in property, business and collectible investments
- Twitter: @TRAPJNR
Community
For me, the standout feature of the project is undoubtedly the community and I think it’s fair to say that the project would advertise similarly. Their history as one of the OG projects on Solana and going through the de-rug process together has created an evidently tight-knit community. I particularly liked that due to not having funds to buy out the project outright, they were able to negotiate a percentage of ongoing royalties to the original dev team up to a date which for me showed some ingenuity in making sure they weren’t indebted forever but still able to go through with the purchase.
The community as a whole are extremely helpful and the project has collated several helpful threads that were put together by the community covering a range of topics such as:
In a space where quality discussion and conversation is sorely needed, Galactic Geckos certainly set a great example.
The Dilemma
My dilemma is this – if the main feature is the quality of the community, purchasing a Concordian will get me that; and at a significantly cheaper entry level as well. The utilities surrounding CRED in animating the gifs is really cool, the lore is well thought out and the staking is a lot of fun, but it’s not enough for me to want to fork out the funds to engage with those elements, especially if I want to gun for a full faction set.
I directed this thought at Trap (who I must add is one of the most pleasant Founders I’ve ever engaged with) and he acknowledged it was an understandable thought process. His response was that Concordians allow for a lower entry barrier to the holders chat only, whilst channels such as alpha, trading and WL opportunities are gated to Geckos only.
Furthermore, he advised that all resources and development are exclusively driven at driving value to Geckos with big plans coming over the next few months.
For the moment, I’d much rather have a Concordian (granted capital limitations play a role in that decision) for that community engagement but I will certainly be watching what they do with Gecko if the branding side of things takes off.
Brand
Going hand-in-hand with the community is the overall brand of the project. I should preface this next comment by acknowledging that this is often down to who I follow on Twitter but in the process of researching Galactic Geckos, I was surprised I hadn’t seen more of them across my Twitter feeds, especially given how long it’s been around for. The two main parts of a brand play are having the desirable community and then translating that desirability into demand to the broader audience. I strongly believe that they have the community established very well. Whether or not they can expand and market that to the broader space remains to be seen.
This may be controversial, especially since art is such a subjective piece of the puzzle and a matter of opinion, but I’m not convinced the existing art is the highly aesthetic and rep-able style required to be a successful brand play in the space. No doubt it is very unique in it’s style and I do enjoy more ‘zany’ styles of art. However, as a desirable PFP and brand to rep, I find it to be quite noisy at times. I wonder if there are any intentions to upgrade the art to something a bit more sophisticated but given the sentimental value of the original art, wouldn’t hold it against them if they didn’t.
Lore
This is one of the few truly lore-driven projects and it is done very well. The stories are immersive, as is the website with interactions available as you progress through. I do wonder though if it is something that newbies might not be bothered with if they have to catch up. The team have mentioned the potential to expand on the lore through connections in the film and gaming industry. Could be interesting.