Web3 animation studio Toonstar today announced that its breakout adult animated series The Gimmicks will launch its second season on the Avalanche blockchain. S2 premieres this Thursday, October 27 at Avalanche Creates (avalanchecreates.com) — the Bay Area event hosted by software company Ava Labs, which supports the Avalanche ecosystem.
The studio further announced that Riverdale star Mark Consuelos is joining The Gimmicks as both an executive producer and voice talent.
Hollywood veteran writers “The Daves,” Dave Ihlenfeld and David Wright (Family Guy, Star Trek: Lower Decks), will continue on as executive producers of S2, dubbed “House of Chico,” which follows breakout star, Rocky Romero (a.k.a. Chico el Luchador) back to his Lucha origins in Mexico.
True to Toonstar’s commitment to bring diverse voices to animation, new voices Mike Tenango and Alberto Portillo will join the team as a writer and a producer, respectively. The new season will also feature top Latino influencers and talent including:
- Jairo Orozco and Bryan Rojo (Mexican Gueys)
- Eric Ochoa (Supereeego)
- Jesus Sepulveda (HBO Comedy Special, Mr. Tough Life)
- Laura DiLorenzo (Netflix, Selena: The Series)
- Fabian Alomar (FX, Mayans MC)
“There’s a well documented lack of diverse voices, especially Latino, in Hollywood,” said Rocky Romero. “I’m thrilled to be part of this team, showcasing emerging Latino talent and embracing new technology that will enable even more voices to be heard.”
The Gimmicks is an early player in Web3 animation, and gives NFT holders the ability to impact storylines and character arcs. The model has proved successful, with audience engagement and retention levels remaining high throughout the season, bucking the industry trend. Toonstar’s proprietary technologies enabled NFT holders to interact on-chain, logging more than 70 thousand recurring weekly on-chain actions and more than 1 Million “DIC Punches” (voting and messaging) in just three months.
In the new season, Toonstar will expand opportunities for The Gimmicks community to interact on-chain with Upvoting, a Reddit-like forum and “Hot or Not,” a Rotten Tomatoes-like rating board.
“Audience engagement and retention is suffering across all platforms with traditional Hollywood content, but our model is bucking the trend,” said John Attanasio, CEO & Co-founder of Toonstar. “As soon as we started talking with the team from Avalanche, we knew they really understood Hollywood 3.0 and could provide the best technology and support to help us lead the market.”
Avalanche launched in September 2020, and today supports 500+ dApps and secures billions of dollars in value, while prioritizing minimal climate impact. Avalanche’s proven speed, reliability and eco-friendliness allow Avalanche to provide the seamless Web3 support required to balance creative storytelling with engaging community participation needed to usher in a successful era of “Hollywood 3.0.”
“Toonstar is transforming entertainment, deploying Web3 elements in ways central to both storyline and fan experience,” said John Nahas, VP of Business Development at Ava Labs. “They’re blurring old lines in creative new ways and paving the way for Hollywood to move into Web3. We’re excited for Avalanche to power their journey.”
Avalanche will host the Season 2 premiere event at their Ciel Creatives Studios, to be followed by a Q&A with Toonstar and Avalanche executives. Toonstar will release additional NFTs available to the fans throughout the season that it promises “will continue to push the boundaries of participatory storytelling and community utility.”
