Nuclear Nerds Mimetic Comic Token Release: Issue #00 - The Beginning of the End.
Holy Shitballs™ Nerds
Shortly, we’ll be launching our first ever Comic, Issue #00 — The Beginning of the End. Yes, this has taken longer than we’d hoped (turns out co-creating a long-form narrative Origin Story is hard work), but at the same time, damn, are we excited to be here. This first issue is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of what we feel this community can co-create together. It’s also proof positive this whole crazy web3 experiment can work.
Now that we’re nearly here, we wanted to make sure we mark the occasion with a suitable amount of enthusiasm (f*ck yeah) and a suitably detailed introduction that describes what this Comic represents, why its release is so important, and how it will work as we roll out an additional dozen issues over the ensuing months.
Off the jump, we want to thank our amazing dev team of Chance and Mason, who have married their love for innovative blockchain work with our love of storytelling to deliver something that feels wholly brand new. Should you be so interested — the Comic Token contract itself is open source, heavily documented and free to copy-paste, and if you need help, feel free to DM Chance. Note: The address will be made available here upon release.
We’d also like to thank the incomparable Adam Archer for his work on the cover, Anderson Cabral for his line art, inks & colors on the interior and Flavio B. Silva for the lettering. And we can’t forget Terry Rietta and Kevin Buckley for the script based on Airman Norm’s hare brained plan to enjoy his holiday and the Nerd community’s responses and interactions along the way.
(Note: If your A.D.D. compels you to skip the preamble, you can jump to “How Work” and go straight to the details.)
What This Comic Represents
First and foremost, this Comic represents the tangible fruits of the Nerd Community’s co-authorship (as you’ll soon see in the opening credits page.) Through people’s participation in the Airman Norm backstory leading up to the launch of this project, in ways known and unknown, they/you have contributed to ideas that led to the creation of the first issue.
And while these community contributions will become more visible and obvious the deeper we go into the Wasteland, this is still a milestone worth calling out. For one of the first times ever in the history of storytelling, an audience isn’t passively sitting back and watching a story unfold, they are also simultaneously and actively participating in the building of it.
Assuming you’re not operating a piece of heavy equipment, feel free to stop whatever you’re doing and think about that for a second. It’s an amazing accomplishment and you’re all to be congratulated for being out here on the post-apocalyptic frontier of storytelling.
A Tangible, Community Asset
Beyond the fact this web3 experiment is working, Issue #00 represents the first step in building a tangible, community asset — the Nuclear Nerd Origin Story.
In the coming months, each subsequent Comic Issue will build upon the previous until we, as a community, have created a blueprint for a rich story world that transcends the pages of a Comic, sparks imagination in others, and can serve as a proof of concept to potential partners who can help us all bring the story of the Nuclear Nerds to a wider audience. Something that has enough detail to show an outsider the scale and scope of the story world, yet also has enough flexibility to allow new collaboration and further development.
We often use the original release of Star Wars as a way to communicate the potential power of a deeply imagined Origin Story. As we all know, that initial 1977 film spawned two immediate sequels, followed by three prequels. Followed by various animated series. Followed by a recent onslaught of both new films and television series. And let’s not forget about the books. And the games. And the rides at Disneyland. And the children’s pajamas, coffee mugs and virtually everything else with a printable surface.
Can we promise these things will happen for our Origin Story? No. (And neither can any other project.) Can we promise we’ll give our all to the development of this story? Absolutely. Do we believe wholeheartedly in the story world we are all developing? One-thousand-million-billion percent.
HOW WORK?
Let’s Start With The Technical Details…
This airdrop will be free for Nerd holders and requires no gas or interaction to claim. By using a unique airdrop mechanic, we’ll be delivering the Comic Token(s) to their associated Nerd token(s) with no gas for you, and very little for us.
This works by the ownership of each Comic being directed to the on-chain owner list of the Nuclear Nerd collection. Upon the airdrop, each Comic Token is tied to its respective Nerd, and the owning wallet of that Nerd.
The ownership of the Comic Token can change via transfers and marketplace sales just like any other token, but until the Comic Token is unpaired from the Nerd by a transfer or sale of that sort, it is tied to the Nerd token.
IMPORTANT: This means that if you receive a Comic Token for your Nerd and never move, sell, or unpair the Comic Token, selling or transferring the parent Nerd will mean the Comic Token ownership goes with it.
Future Issues & Upgrades
After the initial airdrop, in the coming weeks and months, Comic Token holders can “upgrade” their Comic Token to the next issue for free + “baby” gas (est. $6-$7) via Mimetic Metadata.
Upgrading your Comic Token will change the Comic Token’s display art to the cover art of the latest issue you are upgrading to. Beyond being inexpensive for Nerd holders, Mimetic Metadata allows us to keep things simple and limit the supply of Comic Tokens to just 8,999.
Why Upgrade? In two words: Narrative Equity
We have always believed the more you participate in the project, the more you should be rewarded. With this in mind, beyond the latest cover art, upgrading your Comic Token to the latest issue, comes with an additional benefit:
Each Comic Token upgrade will act as an additional vote for Prompt Voting.
If you are a small holder, if you want a louder voice, and/or if you are deeply invested in helping co-author the Origin Story, then upgrading your Comic Token each time a new issue becomes available offers you a means to achieve that end, especially given the passive nature in which many people prefer to hold their NFT’s.
Narrative Equity can be thought of as sweat equity in a start-up. The more you put in the effort to play along, pay attention and upgrade your Comic Token when the next issue becomes available, the more votes you will have to direct the story in the direction that resonates with you most.
Narrative Equity and additional votes will come into play beginning with the release of the next issue, Digging Out & Teaming Up #01. So, if you upgrade your Comic Token from #00 to #01, you will have one additional vote during the next round of prompts. These additional votes will continue to be added for each Comic Token upgrade you make.
The Physical Anthology: A Reward for the Collector
One of the things we have always wanted to do with this project is to build a two-way bridge between the digital and physical worlds, meaning we want to find ways for real world objects to play a role in our digital story world, and we also want ways for some digital objects to be made real.
With this philosophy in mind, we’ll be creating an extremely Limited-Edition Physical Anthology. This collection of all 13 issues (and other delights) will be made available for any holder who manages to collect 13 total Comic Tokens. We see collecting these 13 Comic Tokens as analogous to stacking 13 digital issues together, and in return for so doing, we feel that a real world reward is in order.
These tokens will be redeemable a few weeks after Issue #12 is released and DO NOT need to be sequential. (However, if you would like to collect a sequential set, you are free to do so.)
IMPORTANT: This isn’t the only way to secure the Physical Anthology.
Those Nerds possessing the Schrödinger* Mystery Trait will receive a unique Comic Token that effectively functions as 13 Comic Issues at the same time. This one, single Comic Token will also be redeemable for the Limited Edition Physical Anthology.
Schrödinger Comic Token holders will also receive a second Nerds ecosystem benefit — 12 bonus Story Votes. This means, while other tokens are increasing voting capacity through series upgrades, the Schrodinger tokens are at full voting capacity from day one.
As a reminder: Mystery Traits, like Schrödinger, may come into play more than once.
The Nitty Gritty, aka The Details & Specific Rules
Comic issues will be visible for reading at nuclearnerds.io in STORY > ORIGIN STORY > EXPLORE CHAPTERS. We will also find other ways to bring them into the world as we feel sharing them is important to help grow the project’s audience outside of our cozy little Nerd-A-Verse.
Each Comic Issue will be upgradable to the next Comic Issue for a limited-time. Don’t worry, the Upgrade Windows will be generous (though of varying length) and they will be well publicized both in the Discord and on Twitter, as well as on the smart contract for absolute transparency.
Future Upgrades will take place at nuclearnerds.io via your Bunker.
Once you upgrade your Comic Token to the next issue, you cannot go back. For example, if you upgrade from Comic Issue #03 to #04, you cannot go back to #03.
If you miss an Upgrade Window, you can still upgrade to a new issue release during future Upgrade Windows. For example, if your Comic Token has been upgraded to Issue #04 and you miss the #05 window, you can still upgrade to #06, #07, etc. when those Upgrade Windows open.
To be clear, the initial release of the Comic Token is via air-drop, but future upgrades are by choice. You, the token holder, are in control. So if you love Comic Issue #03 and you want to leave your Comic Token attached to that cover art, you can. There is no obligation to upgrade.
You DO need to be a Nerd Holder to receive the original Comic Airdrop, however you DO NOT need to be a Nerd Holder to purchase a Comic Token on the secondary.
REMEMBER: If you receive a Comic Token for your Nerd and never move, sell, or decouple the Comic Token, selling or transferring the parent Nerd will mean the Comic Token ownership goes with it.
Additionally: Selling your Comic Token transfers any increased Voting Power.
When viewing Comic Tokens on OpenSea, these are the properties they will feature:
Each Comic Token upgrade is good for one additional vote. Those added votes will travel with the Comic Token should it be sold or transferred.
You do not need to upgrade sequentially to earn multiple extra votes, however, you will not have access to any extra votes until you do so. For example, if you have Comic Issue #00 and skip #01, #02, and #03, then upgrade to #04 — you will have 4 extra votes, you will just miss out on leveraging them on any votes prior to your upgrade.
Once you redeem 13 Comic Tokens, or your single Schrödinger Comic Token for the Limited Edition Physical Anthology, the art will remain, but the metadata will be updated to reflect those tokens have been redeemed.
More information on the redemption window and delivery timing for the Physical Anthology will be published at a later date.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need to do anything? To receive the initial Comic Token you don’t need to do anything. It will be airdropped to the wallet holding its parent Nerd. For future issues, you will need to “upgrade” via your Bunker.
What happens when I upgrade? The image of your token will change to the cover art for the issue you are upgrading to automatically on OpenSea, the metadata will evolve and your Narrative Equity in the story will increase by 1 vote (per upgrade.)
Where do I upgrade? In your Bunker.
When can I upgrade? We will announce future issues on Twitter & Discord. There will be generous, but limited windows during which you will have the opportunity to upgrade?
How much does it cost to upgrade? The cost to upgrade is free + “baby” gas which we estimate to be approximately $6-$7.
Can I upgrade multiple Comic Tokens at once to save gas? Yes. This will all be handled via your Bunker.
That’s It
We hope you enjoy the fruits of your labor. As we said at the top, the community’s hand in these issues is only going to become more fun and visible the deeper we progress into the story.
As always, we’re tremendously thankful for your presence and participation in the Nerd Community. We literally could not be doing this without you, and we like to think that’s what makes the Nerds so special.
Onwards!
dc & hotshave
