Cheetos opens ghost town in Meta's Horizon Worlds

Good evening (because it's always evening somewhere!). You're reading "To The Moon," the only newsletter that spends Halloween in the metaverse. Literally. So, let us take you on a journey of discovery and see what’s been happening in the NFT space this October 19th. Have feedback? Great, we don't want you to keep us in the dark! Send all of your thoughts to [email protected].

• Halloween in the metaverse: chip in!

• Christmas on Solana: Toys R Us drops NFTs

• Half Moons

• Shooting Star

• Dark Side of the Meme

To the Moon index

Halloween in the metaverse: chip in!

Tired of the good ol' Halloween "trick or treat?"Get those kids of yours and send them to Cheetos' Chesterville, a new, digital suburban neighborhood unlike any place – real or virtual – Cheetos fans have visited before. If you own an Oculus headset, that is.

I couldn't wait to penetrate the mansion, unlock a chance to vote for my favorite "ghost of Cheetos' past," and help bring a no-longer-available flavor back to life in the real world. I signed in, and my avatar was ready to interact with other players and access a stash of Cheetos Mischief Makers to help conquer challenges and raise my mischief meter score. However, I'll have to chip in first.

Ouch. That's a lot of chips. To build their Halloween experience, Cheetos (a brand from PepsiCo's Frito-Lay) has teamed up with Meta and VaynerX, a "modern-day communications company." Probably the modern-day agency would have postponed the announcement after Wall Street Journal's recent article about Horizon World struggling to keep users.

The thing is. You can't postpone Halloween.

Christmas on Solana: Toys R Us drops NFTs

We can't postpone Christmas either. American children's toys and clothing retail megabrandToys R us announced an upcoming NFT drop on the Solana blockchain.

After it filed for bankruptcy in 2017 / 2018 and progressively closed all of its stores, the iconic brand is attending a comeback by opening pop-up stores for the holiday season at selected Macy's locations and by embracing the NFT space.

Toys R Us recently partnered with Gary Vee and Macy's to sell physical versions of the entrepreneur's VeeFriends NFT collection.

Last November, the former giant dropped its first NFT collection by artist Exacto on the Ethernity chain, with a test-and-learn approach. There aren't many details available about this new drop, except for the partner: Anybodies, a creative agency building next-gen web3 experiences. Some wonder if joining the space now is the best decision, while others are curious to hear more from their childhood favorite brand and its mascot Geoffrey the Giraffe. Plus, the inevitable memes.

Half Moons 🌓

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• Big Time Invites Space Holders To Join Alpha [NFTEvening]

Shooting Star 🌠

Eugenia Shchukina

Eugenia Shchukina is a Russian-born two-time prizewinner of the American Art Awards. Having graduated from Smolensk State University with a degree in Fine Art, Eugenia experiments with different techniques in realism and pop-surrealism styles. Her art is based on the research of internal instability and flexibility of the human mind. Her creations tend to follow the female perspective and the mindfulness of Western culture. Which, according to Eugenia, are close to her origins.

The Persistence of Memory (2022)

Impostor (2022)

Dark Side of the Meme 🌚