By mid-2023 the drama had moved past the skirmishes with Milady and into something closer to a cultural moment. For a subset of the scene, DriFella wasn’t just a project; it was a crack in the membrane that had enclosed early NFT subcultures.

Critics and supporters alike began to describe it as a “derivative of a derivative” that nevertheless transformed the mediocre into something beautiful. This wasn’t a back-handed compliment so much as a statement of method: by hijacking the visual language of the PFP era and running it through @MMifella's chaotic lens, @Dri_Fella broke the sense that a derivative had to be subordinate to its source.

Threads and posts at the time spoke of “post-DriFella” as if it marked a new phase for on-chain art. One popular line was that

“𝐷𝑟𝑖𝑓 𝑠𝑎𝑣𝑒𝑑 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔… 𝑝𝑒𝑜𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑟𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑤𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑠𝑢𝑝𝑒𝑟 ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑑, 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑡𝑙𝑒 𝑔𝑖𝑓𝑠.”

The project’s lore... part gothic resurrection myth, part meta-commentary on digital culture... felt heavier than the light, looping memes that had dominated the space.

The clash with Milady was still part of the backdrop. Some described DriFella as a virus on Milady’s GameBoy, installed by the remilia offshoots, something that couldn’t be deleted and now sat in the drawer like an unquiet relic. Others cast it as a “𝑐𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑀𝑖𝑙𝑎𝑑𝑦 𝑟𝑒𝑚𝑛𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑠” still lingering in MiFella. A way of finishing a long-running aesthetic and ideological schism.

By the time the mint rolled out, this context had hardened into narrative:

👉🏾 MiFella had carried a fragment of the Milady soul.
👉🏾 DriFella completed the system by burning that remnant away.

The collection stood not as a new PFP club, but as a strange hybrid of painting, meme and curse... slow to mint, but deep in citation and lore.

That is the atmosphere in which the mint was received: a mix of reverence, defiance, absurdity. The sense that the whole scene had moved into a “post-DriFella” phase was less about a style shift and more about the recognition that the derivative could eat the original, that the shadow could step into the light.

Conclusions

𝑭𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝑷𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝑴𝒖𝒕𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏

PFPs began as portraits. Avatars that made a claim on identity. In 2021 the novelty was that a JPEG tied to a token could be 𝑜𝑤𝑛𝑒𝑑 and displayed as one’s digital face. Milady carried that early promise: a portrait with an aura.

DriFella’s story shows the next turn. It isn’t a portrait of a new identity so much as a mutation of existing identities. Something grown from the remains of prior culture. Instead of presenting a stable self, it dramatises the instability of self in online networks. The question isn’t “who are you?” but “what lineage of memes do you belong to?”

𝑫𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒗𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒔 𝒂𝒔 𝑪𝒖𝒍𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒂𝒍 𝑬𝒏𝒈𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒔

In traditional art, derivation was often seen as parasitic. On-chain, derivation is native to the medium. The token makes every copy trackable and therefore arguable: the derivative can openly wrestle the original for cultural legitimacy.

The Milady–MiFella–DriFella chain illustrates this:

👉🏾 Milady asserted the first vibe.
👉🏾 MiFella revealed its fragility.
👉🏾 DriFella transformed that critique into a new mythic centre.

In this light, the derivative isn’t the end of originality but the mechanism by which the field renews itself.

𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒊𝒏 𝑴𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒔

Ethereum’s early PFP canon (Punks, Apes, Milady) was shaped by scarcity and high-stakes markets. It rewarded projects that could hold attention and liquidity over long arcs.

Solana’s ecosystem (cheaper, faster, more porous) turned derivatives into something closer to folk culture. Anyone could launch one; posting energy often mattered more than technical execution. That lowered the barrier to mutation. MiFella and later DriFella could appear, gather a following and influence the scene without the long gestation Ethereum projects required.

The difference suggests that chains exert cultural gravity.

Ethereum pushes toward institutional-grade artefacts; Solana allows for looser, faster-cycling forms. PFPs reveal the chain’s temperament as much as the artist’s.

𝑨𝒓𝒕 𝑵𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑩𝒍𝒐𝒄𝒌𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒊𝒏

DriFella also hints at what 𝑏𝑙𝑜𝑐𝑘𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑖𝑛-𝑛𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑎𝑟𝑡 can be. A work whose meaning emerges from how it circulates, mutates and splits lineages within that on-chain environment. The schism wasn’t a marketing ploy. It was the work.

As blockchains mature, this points to a richer horizon: not just isolated 1/1s or neat generative collections, but narratives, factions, even mythologies whose form is inseparable from the network they live on.

𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑪𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒔 𝑵𝒆𝒙𝒕

PFPs may never again command the same speculative mania as 2021, but they remain the laboratories of cultural form on-chain. They test what it means for an image to hold value, for a meme to cross the line into art, for a community to be a medium.

DriFella’s story (resurrection, schism and aftermath) shows that the field is moving from portraits that try to be icons toward cultural organisms that behave like living lineages.

It reminds us that the blockchain isn’t just a new market for old forms. It is itself a studio. One where chains like Ethereum and Solana shape not only how work is stored and traded, but what kinds of work can even come into being.

By mid-2023 the drama had moved past the skirmishes with Milady and into something closer to a cultural moment. For a subset of the scene, DriFella wasn’t just a project; it was a crack in the membrane that had enclosed early NFT subcultures.

Critics and supporters alike began to describe it as a “derivative of a derivative” that nevertheless transformed the mediocre into something beautiful. This wasn’t a back-handed compliment so much as a statement of method: by hijacking the visual language of the PFP era and running it through @MMifella's chaotic lens, @Dri_Fella broke the sense that a derivative had to be subordinate to its source.

Threads and posts at the time spoke of “post-DriFella” as if it marked a new phase for on-chain art. One popular line was that

“𝐷𝑟𝑖𝑓 𝑠𝑎𝑣𝑒𝑑 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔… 𝑝𝑒𝑜𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑟𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑤𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑠𝑢𝑝𝑒𝑟 ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑑, 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑡𝑙𝑒 𝑔𝑖𝑓𝑠.”

The project’s lore... part gothic resurrection myth, part meta-commentary on digital culture... felt heavier than the light, looping memes that had dominated the space.

The clash with Milady was still part of the backdrop. Some described DriFella as a virus on Milady’s GameBoy, installed by the remilia offshoots, something that couldn’t be deleted and now sat in the drawer like an unquiet relic. Others cast it as a “𝑐𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑀𝑖𝑙𝑎𝑑𝑦 𝑟𝑒𝑚𝑛𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑠” still lingering in MiFella. A way of finishing a long-running aesthetic and ideological schism.

By the time the mint rolled out, this context had hardened into narrative:

👉🏾 MiFella had carried a fragment of the Milady soul.
👉🏾 DriFella completed the system by burning that remnant away.

The collection stood not as a new PFP club, but as a strange hybrid of painting, meme and curse... slow to mint, but deep in citation and lore.

That is the atmosphere in which the mint was received: a mix of reverence, defiance, absurdity. The sense that the whole scene had moved into a “post-DriFella” phase was less about a style shift and more about the recognition that the derivative could eat the original, that the shadow could step into the light.

Conclusions

𝑭𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝑷𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝑴𝒖𝒕𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏

PFPs began as portraits. Avatars that made a claim on identity. In 2021 the novelty was that a JPEG tied to a token could be 𝑜𝑤𝑛𝑒𝑑 and displayed as one’s digital face. Milady carried that early promise: a portrait with an aura.

DriFella’s story shows the next turn. It isn’t a portrait of a new identity so much as a mutation of existing identities. Something grown from the remains of prior culture. Instead of presenting a stable self, it dramatises the instability of self in online networks. The question isn’t “who are you?” but “what lineage of memes do you belong to?”

𝑫𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒗𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒔 𝒂𝒔 𝑪𝒖𝒍𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒂𝒍 𝑬𝒏𝒈𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒔

In traditional art, derivation was often seen as parasitic. On-chain, derivation is native to the medium. The token makes every copy trackable and therefore arguable: the derivative can openly wrestle the original for cultural legitimacy.

The Milady–MiFella–DriFella chain illustrates this:

👉🏾 Milady asserted the first vibe.
👉🏾 MiFella revealed its fragility.
👉🏾 DriFella transformed that critique into a new mythic centre.

In this light, the derivative isn’t the end of originality but the mechanism by which the field renews itself.

𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒊𝒏 𝑴𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒔

Ethereum’s early PFP canon (Punks, Apes, Milady) was shaped by scarcity and high-stakes markets. It rewarded projects that could hold attention and liquidity over long arcs.

Solana’s ecosystem (cheaper, faster, more porous) turned derivatives into something closer to folk culture. Anyone could launch one; posting energy often mattered more than technical execution. That lowered the barrier to mutation. MiFella and later DriFella could appear, gather a following and influence the scene without the long gestation Ethereum projects required.

The difference suggests that chains exert cultural gravity.

Ethereum pushes toward institutional-grade artefacts; Solana allows for looser, faster-cycling forms. PFPs reveal the chain’s temperament as much as the artist’s.

𝑨𝒓𝒕 𝑵𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑩𝒍𝒐𝒄𝒌𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒊𝒏

DriFella also hints at what 𝑏𝑙𝑜𝑐𝑘𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑖𝑛-𝑛𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑎𝑟𝑡 can be. A work whose meaning emerges from how it circulates, mutates and splits lineages within that on-chain environment. The schism wasn’t a marketing ploy. It was the work.

As blockchains mature, this points to a richer horizon: not just isolated 1/1s or neat generative collections, but narratives, factions, even mythologies whose form is inseparable from the network they live on.

𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑪𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒔 𝑵𝒆𝒙𝒕

PFPs may never again command the same speculative mania as 2021, but they remain the laboratories of cultural form on-chain. They test what it means for an image to hold value, for a meme to cross the line into art, for a community to be a medium.

DriFella’s story (resurrection, schism and aftermath) shows that the field is moving from portraits that try to be icons toward cultural organisms that behave like living lineages.

It reminds us that the blockchain isn’t just a new market for old forms. It is itself a studio. One where chains like Ethereum and Solana shape not only how work is stored and traded, but what kinds of work can even come into being.