GM

Sometimes the newsletter can get spicy.

But our golden rule is: always punch up.

Links for the Top 25 drops are HERE.

Honest thoughts on this Netflix show NFT 

O Dearly Beloved, the Mint or Skip Hall of Cringe is a sight to behold. 

A four-story palatial citadel behind our HQ, with marble steps and luxurious red pillars leading you into The Grand Hall with high ceilings and gilded statues. 

We blew our entire budget erecting this monument to idiocy, but it was worth it. 

It’s here that you’ll find tributes to some of the most [redacted] corporate drops that we’ve ever laid our eyes on.

First, on the left, you’ll find that one garbage Superman NFT.

Then, you’ll find Fiat and Ubisoft – two classic whitelist grind fests no one asked for. 

And, of course, who could forget this bizarre Slim Jim metaverse? 

Lately, I’ve wandered these halls with a bit of melancholy. 

There are fewer corporate drops to point and laugh at these days. Fewer big brands visiting our island of misfit toys. 

But I’m happy to share that today’s story feels like a trip down memory lane. We truly are back. 

Black Mirror

This time we’re visited by Black Mirror, a popular Netflix series known for portraying dark dystopian futures. 

They’re partnering with an entertainment platform called Pixelynx to launch a series of “experiences” called Smile Club, beginning with a genesis mint on Base in March. 

And, while it’s still too early to know where this all leads, we’ve seen enough to start dusting off a special new location in our Grand Hall. 

You see, all these Web2 brands seem to follow a pattern, which we outlined in our piece on Ubisoft a couple of months ago: 

And it looks like Black Mirror is more or less following that same path:

1. Announce a free drop:  top whitelist grinders will receive a Smile Pass for free ✅

2. Set up a task campaign: challenges galore, as you can see below. ✅

3. Set up a discord: oh it’s there, and filled with all the usual suspects. ✅

4. Build fake social media hype: take a look at their replies and judge for yourself.✅

The coup de grâce, in this case, is requiring aspiring holders to literally take and upload selfies (on a DAILY basis) to their archives in order to get more points. 

It’s a masterstroke, because it’s so in line with their late-stage-capitalist-dystopia schtick that it’s immune to criticism. 

All you can do is bow in awe.

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

Glitch Garden by Spøgelsesmaskinen

Spøgelsesmaskinen, a prolific artist known for his retro-fueled 3D and pixel creations on ETH and Tezos since 2021, debuts on the Verse platform this week with Glitch Garden.

A digital art release perfect for grass touchers, it features smooth, low-res pixel animations of plants washing like waves across the screen, which might induce trance-like states, depending on your psychoactive state.

I could see this one hung up on the walls of botanically-inclined minters.

✨ Added to Top 25 ✨

POPTARTEDS by Alice Gordon

Solana’s AI art wheels keep spinning with new releases, one of which is the upcoming POPTARTEDS collection by Alice Gordon. Mostly known for prior ETH drops with Fellowship, POPTARTEDS is the artist’s first release on Solana.

A critique of society’s obsession with image, the collection features colorful post-photography stills with a host of bizarrely dressed characters following what seem to be social media trends in alternate realities.

For those unafraid of hands with 6+ fingers and knees made of bellies.

Planet Mojo Genesis ETH Mint

Polygon-based gaming ecosystem Planet Mojo and its flagship P2E autobattler Mojo Melee make their mainnet ETH debut with this upcoming free mint.

Almost no other details have been disclosed yet, but at the very least it’s a low-cost way to get involved with a game that’s been funded multiple times and recently had a partnership with Amazon Prime.

You can check some recent gameplay here to see if it’s something you’re interested in. I’ve tentatively…

✨ Added to Top 25 ✨