You can say many things about the gang at Rooster Teeth. They own their medium. They’re funny. They’re continuously experimenting with new forms and permutations (Grifball!) And many more.
But they’re also just overkillers in the best way. They invest their DVDs not only with the classic Red vs Blue content, […]
Previously in Undependent…
So now we’re introducing to Undependent readers Tiki Bar TV’s new “Drinkbot Decanter.”
Again, Tiki Bar has produced a genuinely original product here. Like the Lala Calendar and the Charooba Mug before it, Drinkbot Decanter scores a direct hit for true fans. But we at Undependent, presuming as we do to be experts, also have to praise Tiki Bar TV particularly their manufacturer Tiki Farm for a tiny detail which serves as the crowning achievement of this product. As this will factor into future merchandise profiles, we’ll call it the “You’ve Got to be Kidding Me” factor.
Drinkbot Decanter’s capstone is the tiny, detailed lampshade included with the order. If you haven’t done so already, watch the classic Drinkbot episode for this perfect bit of prop comedy. Being confident comedians, they don’t stop everything to ensure viewers see the lampshade on Drinkbot’s head. It’s just another example of theinspired lunacy that is the signature of Tiki Bar TV.
So, if you were making an expensive, completely custom mug, would you go to the trouble and add more cost to it for this small joke? Of course you wouldn’t. That’s why we’re not writing about you, we’re writing about someone who really gets how tangible the little intangibles ARE. Cheers and mahalo to Tiki Bar and Tiki Farm for really going the extra mile for a joke.
Now that you think about it, you agree, right? Buy a Drinkbot Decanter to say so!
Tiki Bar TV’s Lala Fastwaster now has a pinup calendar. Artfully rendered by Vancouver visual effects artist and increasingly-popular pinup illustrator Kevin Genzel (thethirdsequence.com) this calendar achieves a lot more than meets the eye. For thousands of Internet Geeks, saying “Lala Pinup Calendar?!” will doubtless be more than enough to capture credit card numbers. But this hits a trifecta, well, ok, maybe a quadfecta.
All these elements together just deepen and expand the Tiki Bar TV brand. We’ve already mentioned their truly awesome original Charooba Mug here. Charooba is the Tiki Bar TV mascot made into an actual Tiki Mug. (A coffee table book that ITSELF becomes a coffee table!) This wicked, green glazed creature is a must own for any serious fan of the show and anyone who calls themselves a Tiki Collector. Buy them both and be done with it.
Penny Arcade today pulled the curtain off of their new Print-on-Demand Comics. Now almost every comic they’ve ever made is available as a super high quality 11×17 (or 11×11) poster.
Ordering couldn’t be simpler. The familiar navigator located beneath each comic strip simply has a new button that reads “Buy a Print.” Click it and you’re done. No Ajax, no Logins, the item is automatically added to the Penny Arcade shopping cart. You can return to the navigator to add more strips, shop for other PA merch in their store, or just checkout.
A simple, subtle, nearly frictionless purchase process. You can read more about it in Gabe’s announcement here.
So today Despair soft-launched their new line of Gift Cards.
These cards parody the seemingly endless number of precious-metal credit cards. Despair’s Card comes in Rust, Pyrite (shown) and Tin. But this isn’t everything. The cards are working physical gift certificates. Each is serialized, like any gift card, each can be redeemed online at their store. They’re printed on metallic card stocks, feature embossed alphanumeric gift codes as well as a scratch off panel on the back. (What’s under the scratch off? I’ll never tell.)
Perhaps this kind of thinking is a byproduct of being undependent?
How about a Diesel Sweeties & Despair crossover? Metal Steve modeling for Despair, and Dr. Kersten giving Red Robot management lessons? Just saying.
To create and to connect directly with their fans, Undies have tremendous tools and techniques at their disposal. More cool stuff shows up regularly as the web continues to evolve. We will try to profile these developments over time here at undependent.com.
Some of the best tricks are really simple. Here’s one small example:
Ask a Ninja smartly boosts online sales by advertising their own store at the end of their videos. Sometimes, they even share coupon codes in these ads as well. I’m pretty sure that they use CastFire for these ads. The best trick is that when they update their ad, it plays at the end of every video in their entire archive. That’s great because as more new fans continue to discover the Ninja, they all get to learn about the great stuff available in the Ninja Mart.
Thus, viewership isn’t the only stat that climbs when a new episode is released. Sales rise, too.
We’ve talked about conventions here. In case you missed it, I recommend episode 4 of Web Comics Weekly.
These four folks offer tons of good advice and insight related to their experiences in comics conventions. Give it a listen.
And as always, support these Undies by going to their sites, browsing their stores, and buying lots of stuff.
The smart, successful, and highly connected folks behind GigaOmniMedia and Federated Media are combining to create this event in San Francisco on November 14. It looks like a good gig for Undies.
I will attend. Drop a line / comment if you are going.
Current topics include:
Understand How Television Is Being Reinvented — NewTeeVee Live
- Old media in new media
- New media entrepreneurship – making a living on your own terms
- Search and discovery – finding what you’re looking for, or what you aren’t
- Video hosts – life after YouTube
- Access technologies – network neutrality and online video
- Content delivery networks – the real power behind web video
- The new studios and talent agencies – producing and distributing for the web
It goes without saying the music industry proper sucks. Everyone knows it, it’s a cliché to even point it out. But occasionally something happens that’s worth getting excited about and this definitely qualifies.
Radiohead has decided to self-release their next album and allow fans to pay whatever they want for it. It think it is safe to say that they’re going to make a killing in both real and social capital (”Not that that’s why I did it…”, “No God forbid you should lose your standing as a cult failure…”,”You think I’m a failure George?”,“I will NOT get sucked into this conversation.”)
From Wiki: “The band are currently without a record contract, having fulfilled their six-album contract with EMI in 2004. In interviews in 2006, they admitted that “for the first time, we have no contract or release deadline to fulfill - it’s both liberating and terrifying”
Others Musicians have gone down the Internet-as-Road-Less-Traveled path but few have done so have been this big at the time of their “departure. “
Radiohead to give away new album - Telegraph
Radiohead, the internationally renowned band, has taken the unusual step of telling fans that they can pay as much or as little as they like for the band’s new album In Rainbows.
Undependent™ tracks the emerging class of self-sustaining Internet-based artists. By artist we don’t mean artiste. We mean those content creators whose self-expression originates in and emanates from the Internet itself. The compelling ones attract audiences and in so doing are capable of creating completely self-sustaining businesses with total artistic control. (Read more here)
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