How Stiff Competition Is Made
Stiff Competition is a digital collectible art brand built around six original characters, sold as NFTs on the Polygon blockchain and as print-on-demand merchandise. It launched in August 2026 and is made by one person.
This page explains how the artwork is produced, how the NFTs are minted, and how the collection is structured. It is the plain version, with the jokes turned off.
What Stiff Competition sells
Two things, and nothing else.
The first is digital collectible artwork. Each piece is a single numbered edition minted as an NFT. When you buy one, that exact piece is gone and the record of your ownership is public and permanent.
The second is print-on-demand merchandise carrying the same artwork — t-shirts, hoodies, mugs, tote bags, art prints and notebooks. These are manufactured when you order them.
There is no physical action figure. None has ever existed and none ships. Enough people have asked that there is now a waiting list, so that if one is ever made the people who want one hear first.
Where the characters came from
Three secondhand action figures, bought for a pound, with no packaging. They were photographed on a phone in a pub on the way home.
The figures had landed in poses so suggestive that the idea arrived complete. The originals were copyrighted, so they could not be used. Six new characters were designed from scratch instead.
The six are Major Wood, The Rear Admiral, Hammerin' Hanky, The Grip, Slick Willy and The Velvet Python. That is the entire cast. There are no others.
How the artwork is made
The images are produced using generative AI tools, directed and iterated by the creator. This is stated openly because it is the honest description of the process.
The method is not one prompt and one output. Each piece begins with a specific reference — a real place that was visited, an expression seen on a real face, a scenario worth putting six oblivious men into. That reference is then worked through dozens of iterations until the result matches the intended image.
Character consistency across hundreds of pieces is the hard part. The same six figures have to remain recognisably themselves across four different visual series, which is a direction and selection problem rather than a generation problem.
Every image is then reviewed by hand before it becomes a product. Pieces that do not hold up are discarded rather than published.
How the NFTs are minted
The collection runs on Polygon Mainnet using the TokenERC721 standard. Minting is handled through Thirdweb.
The contract is named Stiff Competition: 1994, symbol STIFF, at address 0xBB9a30909396A055c64F2e3FB0E9C299B3fdbd4C. It is public and can be inspected by anyone.
Nothing is pre-minted. A token is created at the point of purchase and assigned to the buyer, which means the on-chain record of every piece corresponds to a real sale. Artwork and metadata are stored on IPFS.
OpenSea is the secondary market for the collection.
How you buy one without a crypto wallet
Checkout is an ordinary card payment through the shop. No cryptocurrency is involved and no prior crypto knowledge is needed.
After purchase you receive a link to claim your artwork. A wallet is created from your email address and accessed with a one-time code sent to that address. There is no seed phrase to write down and no application to install.
If you already own a crypto wallet you can use that instead.
How the collection is structured
The 1994 Series is the first and current collection. Every piece in it sits on three independent axes.
Character. Which of the six is in it.
Series. The visual treatment. Four exist: Blueprint Mugshot Edition, Championship Handlers Series, Travel the World Series and The Sovereign Assets Series.
Grade. Five issue grades set the price and the scarcity, from Training Issue at £10, through General Issue at £20, Field Issue at £40 and Combat Issue at £60, up to Command Issue at £120.
Grade and series are independent of each other. A piece can be any grade in any series.
Grades apply to the digital collectibles only. Merchandise is not graded and is not a limited edition — it is made to order.
Who makes it
Stiff Competition is operated by Stiff Competition Ltd, a company registered in England and Wales, number 17276574, at 20 Wenlock Road, London N1 7GU.
It is run by one person, with no staff, no agency and no investors. The artwork, the shop, the smart contract integration, the automation and the customer support were all built by that one person, who had no prior background in ecommerce, blockchain or software.
Media enquiries go to press@stiffcompetition.shop. Everything else goes to dispatch@stiffcompetition.shop.
What is fiction and what is not
The characters are presented as prototypes from a cancelled 1994 toy line made by a company called RIGID-DYNE Systems, sealed in storage for thirty-two years and surfacing in 2026.
None of that is real. There was no RIGID-DYNE Systems, no 1994 toy line and no cancelled production run. It is original fiction written for the brand.
What is real: the six characters are original creations, the artwork is original, the company is genuinely registered, the blockchain contract genuinely exists, and the merchandise genuinely ships.
Common questions
Are the Stiff Competition action figures real toys I can buy?
No. No physical action figure exists or ships. The 1994 toy line is the fictional premise behind the artwork. There is a waiting list in case one is ever made.
Is the Stiff Competition artwork AI-generated?
Yes. The images are made using generative AI tools, directed, iterated and hand-selected by the creator. Each piece starts from a specific real-world reference and goes through many versions before it is published.
What blockchain are Stiff Competition NFTs on?
Polygon Mainnet, using the TokenERC721 standard, minted through Thirdweb. The contract is Stiff Competition: 1994, symbol STIFF, at 0xBB9a30909396A055c64F2e3FB0E9C299B3fdbd4C.
Do I need a crypto wallet to buy a Stiff Competition NFT?
No. You pay by card at an ordinary checkout. A wallet is created from your email address afterwards and accessed with a one-time code. There is no seed phrase and no app to install.
What merchandise does Stiff Competition sell?
T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, tote bags, art prints and notebooks, all carrying the character artwork. Everything is print-on-demand, made to order and routed to the nearest regional production centre.
How many Stiff Competition characters are there?
Six: Major Wood, The Rear Admiral, Hammerin' Hanky, The Grip, Slick Willy and The Velvet Python. That is the complete cast.
Who created Stiff Competition?
One person, operating as Stiff Competition Ltd, a UK-registered company. There are no staff, no agency and no investors.
Was RIGID-DYNE Systems a real toy company?
No. RIGID-DYNE Systems is fictional, invented for the brand. There was no 1994 toy line and no cancelled production run.
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