GM

Welcome to the 6 new subs who joined yesterday.

It’s getting ugly out there. At this rate all of crypto will be regulated out of existence by year end.

Soon there will only be USD and Cryptodickbutts - choose wisely (nfa).

In today’s edition:

• Who is buying this garbage?

• The NFT rankings

• New drops

More info on Mint/Watch lists HERE.

Who is buying this garbage?

It’s that time of the year again…

That special time when some soulless corporate drone at Warner Bros. jumps up after finishing their bland, flavorless, lunch and proclaims:

“We should launch another NFT!”

No matter what the market looks like, no matter what public sentiment is around NFTs, or even whether there’s an actual alien invasion happening in real-time, rest assured that Warner Bros. will still be there to deliver some of the most cringe digital assets imaginable.

This time it’s the Superman Web3 Movie Experience, coming June 9. Basically, they took the 1978 Superman film, bundled some DVD-style menus on it with “easter eggs” (aka pop-ups on your screen) and threw it on the blockchain – because why not?

But wait, there’s more! If you buy the $100 edition, instead of the standard $30 NFT, you’ll not only get some Superman art, because the base version apparently doesn’t get any, but you’ll also gain access to an image gallery featuring photos of costumes from the movie as well as behind-the-scenes stills!

If this sounds familiar to you, it’s because they did the same thing last year when they launched Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Rings Extended Edition Web3 Movie Experience.

It worked the same way: you get a digital copy of the movie, plus menus and behind-the-scenes jpegs for days. Truly one of the NFTs of all time.

And, believe it or not, it did ok for them. They ended up selling about half of the common NFTs for $150,000, and the entire premium set for another $100,000.

So naturally, they’re running it back. And of course, all the Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Rings Extended Edition Web3 Movie Experience diamond hand holders will be happy to hear that they get early access…to a collection that very likely won’t mint out. Utility!

This whole situation raises a bunch of questions

First, who is buying this garbage? How is it that these blatant corporate cash grabs keep generating six or seven figures per drop, no matter how little effort goes into them?

I’m dying to see what other Geico-core NFTs these people are minting.

Second, why is this launching on something called the Eluvio Content Blockchain? Are we just going to ignore the fact that someone made a sidechain that seemingly only exists to support Hollywood on-chain DVDs?

And lastly, how do we tell Warner Bros. that they’re leaving a lot of money on the table?

You’re telling me indie anime collections can raise $5 million from a single mint, but the company that owns Harry Potter and DC Comics is settling for a project that can, at most, raise $400,000?

Dude, do better. Here’s a start:

1. Subscribe to Mint or Skip

2. Get your colleagues to subscribe too

3. Read it every day

4. Follow our Twitter and like our tweets

This won’t really do anything for your next drop, but they help our engagement and you need to start repairing your web 3 karma yesterday.

Seriously, if you’re at Warner Bros. drop us a line. This is painful.

NOTE: These drops are lightly curated. Our only requirement is that they have recognizable founders. As usual, DYOR. To learn more go here.

Lagunak Vol. 1

Muga, a project by Nifty Gateway curator ekaitza and digital artist zigor, is teaming up with notable artists for its first collaborative drop, Lagunak.

The collection consists of 3 renditions of the Muga character, each one created by either Lucréce, Bryan Brinkman or Van Orton.

These can be minted for $99 (approx. 0.053 ETH) through a blind edition, but there’s a twist: a surprise artist reveal and unspecified minting limits (meaning the editions could mint out at any point before the time cutoff).

You’ll have to excuse us for our tardiness, Dear Reader, as these started minting yesterday, and one of the three tokens already sold out. However, there are still 2 editions open until 6:30 PM ET, or until supply runs out.

Sonoran Roadways by Jake Rockland

Art Blocks team member Jake Rockland (a.k.a. purplehat) will release his 5th project on the platform next week with a scenic collection, Sonoran Roadways.

The stippled Presents release, which takes inspiration from Arizona’s natural beauty, will mint on June 15th, with 54 pieces made available through a Dutch Auction ranging from 4 to 0.2 ETH.

Overload by Shvembldr

Art Blocks veteran Shvembldr will make his 7th release on the platform with an intricately glitched collection, Overload.

Through its aggressive addition of visual elements, the work illustrates the constant barrage of information in our digital lives and the resulting cognitive chaos.

Overload’s 200 pieces will start minting on July 24th.

Flourish by Sterling Crispin

Presenting itself as a conversation with architects from an imagined past, Flourish is the work of coder and neurotechnology researcher Sterling Crispin. This will be the artist’s second Art Blocks release following 2022’s Neophyte MMXXII.

It has been created by imagining a linguistic structure that combines different geometric shapes in unconventional ways. These shapes then mix with the work’s aged, mostly sepia tones to create art that looks straight out of an alien's sketchbook.

Minting August 30th.

THE MINT LIST

1. Project Animus. RTFKT's biggest launch since Clone-X

2. FewoWorld. New PFP by Fewocious, a rising star in the art world

3. Symbiogenesis. Square Enix's upcoming gaming NFT

4. 10KTF PFP. Drop from a team that includes Yuga and Beeple

5. Garbage Friends. New PFP from the creator of Invisible Friends

6. Ether. Anime PFP collection by viii, an artist with a cult following

7. Dimensionals - EVE. Free gaming PFP from doxxed studio

8. Tony Babel x Typical Friends. Limited edition from the popular artist

9. Interwoven by Emily Xie. LACMA x Cactoid Labs x the lauded Xie

10. Glacier Dreams by Refik Anadol. AI art from the MoMA exhibitor