Shameless Pimping: Thwipster.com
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?I get dozens of press releases sent to me everyday. Maybe 1 in 4 has even the slightest bit to do with anything nerdy, and only 1 in 100 is actually newsworthy enough for me to consider writing an article on it. Yesterday, I received one of those press releases. You guys know LivingSocial and GroupOn, those sites that offer coupons and deals, one per day? Stuff like “pay $20, get a $60 gift certificate to such-and-such restaurant”? Well, now there’s one for nerds. It’s called Thwipster.com.
I’m not lying when I say I think this is one of the best ideas ever. Yesterday it offered Absolute All-Star Superman for $60, and today it’s got Matt Faction’s Invincible Iron Man Omnibus Vol. 1 for $23. Tomorrow it’ll have something else. They have a weekly item as well, which is the first Walking Dead hardcover for $19. I’m told that while it will primarily be graphic novels for now, they hope to expand their selection soon.
Oh! And since they were so grateful I tweeted my love for Thwipster yesterday, they’re offering all TR readers a 5% discount — just enter the code TIMBERCOBRA where appropriate. The code starts today, and lasts until Sunday, so that’s a bunch of different items to use it on.
It’s rare that I’d just pimp a store like this, but I really, honestly believe this is an awesome idea, and I hope it succeeds. Hell, the better the site does, the better the deals will get, and the wider the selection will get, too. Having a LivingSocial specifically for nerds sounds like a seriously good thing. So check it out, won’t you?
About The Author
Robert Bricken is one of the original co-founders of the site formerly known as Topless Robot, and its first editor-in-chief, serving from 2008-12. He brought the site to prominence with “nerd news, humor and self-loathing” as its motto, raising it from total internet obscurity to a readership in the millions, with help from his savage “FAQ” movie reviews and Fan Fiction Fridays. Under his tenure Topless Robot was covered by Gawker, Wired, Defamer, New York magazine, ABC News, and others, and his articles have been praised by Roger Ebert, Avengers actor Clark Gregg, comedian and The Daily Show correspondent John Hodgman, the stars of Mystery Science Theater 3000 and Rifftrax, and others. He is currently the managing editor of io9.com. Despite decades as both an amateur and professional nerd, he continues to be completely unprepared for either the zombie apocalypse or the robot uprising.