Krapopolis might be one of the biggest animated shows on Fox and no one has seen 5 minutes of it. The series has already been renewed for a second season, and all that’s been released is a 30-second trailer and 2 and-a-half minutes of “first look” footage. When the show was supposed to air a preview after a football game, the sneak peek was postponed, and a promotional NFT for Krapopolis still sold for close to $4000. A storm of mystery and excitement surrounds this animated series. We can only tell that it’s going to be huge, even though we hardly know what it is yet.
Krapopolis is a new series from Dan Harmon, and when you take a closer look at it, maybe it deserves all this popularity. It’s the first ever show to be “curated” on the blockchain, which means that fans who participate in blockchain-related events will have the chance to win NFTs and unique tokens they can exchange for social events with cast members and input on the show. Krapopolis also has the basic pieces that will make it a good show. Its cast includes the likes of Duncan Trussell (The Midnight Gospel), Richard Ayoade (The IT Crowd), and Matt Berry (What We Do in the Shadows). Maybe all the hype is just for Harmon, but this could be a series for the ages.
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Krapopolis: What is it?
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This new animated series from Harmon takes place in mythic Ancient Greece, where Harmon has created a swath of self-designed monsters and gods. Along with borrowing from actual Greek myths, the characters starring in Krapopolis would seem familiar to those in the stories, if they didn’t have that special bit of Harmon flare on them. For example, Deliria, played by Hannah Waddingham, is quite similar to the goddess Athena; she’s an intelligent woman meant to guide the hero on his journey. She can also transform into a bird. But Deliria becomes a bit different from Athena when she turns into a sloppy drunk and forces everyone to feel guilty about not following her sarcastic advice in hindsight.
Krapopolis is the story of how humanity fumbled to begin civilization. The first look trailer, we got at San Diego Comic-Con, opens by telling us that the place we see in the series is one of humanity’s first cities, so what we’ll likely get out of this cartoon is a scathing take on civilization. The short video makes fun of how dull humanity is trying to solve its problems. Everyone gets together in a meeting to discuss how they’ll deal with the issue of a Medusa hanging around outside of town. Naturally, the person they’ve sent to deal with the problem gets returned as stone. The show goes on to make fun of how the invention of civilization meant the invention of bureaucracy when their leader believes that the Medusa will respond to strict sanctions.
We see spectacular performances from all involved. Pam Murphy plays a character called Stupendous, who is meant to be some analog for Hercules but made far more stupid. Stupendous brings back the decapitated head of the Medusa and drops it out of its bag letting it roll across the ground, turning the whole crowd to stone. Trussell’s character Hippocampus, who is a strange Atlantean scientist, suggests the elegant technical solution of using his new machine that will burn the user’s eyes out, so they won’t be able to see the Medusa. It is certainly going to be a fun show when it comes out.
Why Krapopolis Deserves your Attention
The attraction to Krapopolis comes from more than the quality of its show, it comes from the experimental nature of the marketing surrounding it. Fox has created an entirely new arm of its company to begin creating blockchain materials related to the show. So despite the fact that no one has seen a full episode, NFTs and blockchain tokens are already being sold and competed over in Krapopolis’ promotional drive. According to the Krapopolis Twitter page, the very first NFT for the show was auctioned off at 3.1 ETH, which converts to just over $3,900.
It’s an entirely new way to advertise for a show. In fact, it creates a whole community around Krapopolis to help it grow and create hype for itself. Currently, only one NFT and one token have been sold, but according to The Hollywood Reporter, a series of blockchain rewards will give superfans the chance to have unique social experiences and give input on the show. The system will create a whole culture ancillary to the regular fanbase that watches the show. It’s a new way of being a fan, and a new way for Fox to make money off it.
It’s likely one of the best ways for Fox to both stir up excitement for the show and mine the fanbase for funds at the same time. This unique marketing campaign is an experiment that, if successful, might become very popular with other series. It’s possible that this way of advertising might change the way we watch and interact with TV forever.
