Series 18

Series 18, Card 4 - LUPEPEN

Series 18, Card 4 - LUPEPEN was created by the artist Luca (@Rare_Luca on Twitter). Luca created 18 cards for the Rare Pepe series including the popular PEPEBASQUIAT, the tranquil KOIPEPE, PEPECLUB, and PEPEFICTION.

The images were taken from the Japanese animated made-for-TV film Lupin III (Part 4). These films, staring the Manga character of the same name aired yearly between 1989 and 2013. The sign at the bottom left appears to be taken from the 2014 Mt. Gox protestors.

Series 18, Card 10 - PEPEKYRIE

Series 18, Card 10 - PEPEKYRIE was created by Ariya Minase. She created a total of four cards for the Rare Pepe series including the Pokémon parody BULBAPEPECRD. The card is an adaptation of the 1989 Japanese arcade game Valkyrie no Densetsu. The game describes Valkyrie's companion Kurino Xandra as "lizard-like" but we all know it's really a frog .

Series 18, Card 18 - PEPEBEARD

Series 18, Card 18 - PEPEBEARD was created by an unknown artist. They created a total of nine Rare Pepe cards for the series including BATBUTBOO which is a very funny story behind it which can be found in the Series 12 section. PEPEBEARD is a parody of the purported flag of Blackbeard which was attributed to Edward Teach (or Thatch), who was better known as Blackbeard the Pirate. As you can see from the image above, the original flag did not contain the severed head of Wojak (or anyone else for that matter).

Series 18, Card 19 - KEKTOPUS

Series 18, Card 19 - KEKTOPUS was created by the artist known as Meme Conscious. He created at total of 13 cards for the Rare Pepe project.

This card appears to be a parody of an Anne Tavoletti painting called Deep Sea II. As you can see from the image above if you flip it and rotate it a bit it's nearly identical. Perhaps Mr. Conscious used Deep Sea II reference material and painted his own version.

Series 18, Card 25 - BTFDPEPE

Series 18, Card 25 - BTFDPEPE was created by the duo of Rare Pepe Scientist Bench and OG Grass Fed Goat. Together, they go by the name Cryptonati. They created a total of 9 cards for the Rare Pepe project including CHYNAPEPE, KILLARYPEPE, and PEPETRADERS. Somehow Bench got this card approved while breaking two of the cardinal rules - "No websites.. QR codes" and "no NSFW content." If you look on the shelf just in front of the pepe/bull head you will see the first broken rule, and behind Mr. Draper you will see the second (hint, it's neon green).

The original image was taken from a Coindesk article from 2014 that announced that the venture capitalist Tim Draper was the winning bidder of all 29,656 bitcoins that were auctioned off by the US Marshals. The bitcoins were those that were seized by the US government when they shut down the online marketplace called Silk Road. I could not get my phone to read it, but Bench let me know that it leads to the transaction on the Bitcoin blockchain where the Bitcoins purchased by Draper were transferred into his wallet.