No Face of its Own

Close your eyes and think of Doraemon.

A round head, a round body. Now think of Mickey Mouse's big round ears, or the bow on Hello Kitty's head.

You do not need to see their faces. The outline alone tells you who they are.

In 2021, Nervape was just a drawing on a screen. What we thought about most was its outline.

Nothing too complicated. Simple, easy to remember, with smooth lines. Like the characters we loved as kids, it had to be something you could trace in your head with your eyes closed.

That is how it got the shape it has today: a boxy head, long arms, a round belly, and a pair of big hands.

Once the outline was set, the next question was: what should its face look like?

We drew many versions. Cute, cool, strange, calm, mischievous. Every face had someone who loved it, and someone who shook their head.

Then we took all the eyes, mouths, and brows apart and turned them into a small phone game. We asked teammates and people passing by to mix them up and see which face felt right.

Once people started, they could not stop. Eyes ended up with mouths that did not match. Eyebrows went on upside down. The combinations were endless, far beyond anything we had imagined.

So why give it just one face?

And we were a little greedy. A hundred years from now, we will probably be gone. But Nervape might still be here, wearing the most stylish look of its time.

A fixed face will go out of date someday. Without one, it can keep changing with the times.

In the end, we gave it no fixed face, and let everyone make their own.

Then the NFT wave arrived.

At the time, most projects worked the same way. You minted one and got a random character that was already complete: its hat, clothes, and expression were all decided for you. People used them as profile pictures, a way to show who they were.

We liked that, and it made us think: what if you got a blank ape instead, and decided the rest yourself?

So we brought that little game onto the blockchain and released Nervape DOBs on Bitcoin and CKB: apes you could mix and match freely.

After the launch, our Discord came alive. People started calling their Nervape "my kid." They bought it gear and clothes, and competed to see whose look was the most ridiculous.

We also hosted many online co-creation events. Some made looks we never saw coming. A few even teamed up and used background colors and ape colors to spell out letters.

Once again, we were amazed. With co-creation, you never know what comes next.

Over time, Nervape grew from 2D into 3D, and then into a figure you could hold. By then, the answer was easy: it did not need a fixed face. Our community had already shown us that.

When the first 3D-printed Nervape sat on the table, we were even more sure. Simple, smooth, good in the hand, easy to remember at a glance. As for how much trouble it gave us in mass production, that is another story.

Without a face, it is never stuck with one expression. When you are happy, it seems happy too. When you are tired, it just sits there with you, quietly.

Later, we sent apes to artists. Some painted on bold, mask-like faces. Others ignored the face and focused on everything else. No two came back the same.

A toy should be fun, and it should look good. But for us, what matters most is that you can use it to express yourself.

So what does Nervape really look like?

We would rather not answer that for you.

It is in your hands. Whatever you imagine it to be, that is what it is.

Who knows? One day, you might be able to give your Nervape any face you like in the digital world.