Fantastic Blognanza!

I would like to point you all towards an impressive design over at Bountee titled Roboto Mori:

Click here to see a larger version of the design

Certainly the theme of robots is nothing new to the world of t-shirts. For example, there’s Robot Invasion over at Teetonic, and I’ve already blogged extensively about Robot Attack at DBH; of course, there are countless others. One of these days we’ll have to do a ‘top X list’ for robot tees, like we’ve done for nautical and piratical ones.

So what makes this one special?

Well, first off, I don’t know exactly how ’special’ it really needs to be. Let’s face it—robots are pretty damn awesome. I’d venture that you could improve upon pretty much anything by throwing a robot into the mix. Case in point: vacuum cleaners. Vacuum cleaners on their own are boring and lame. But if you make them into a robot, you get a Roomba! And as Science has proven to us again and again, Roombas are awesome.

So: robots are awesome. But what else makes this design awesome? Well, how about the aesthetic of the robot? I really like its earthy, ancient feel. It’s not some super-sleek, ultra-modern android. Instead, he looks like he’s spent millenia buried beneath rock and ruins, the last remnant of some truly ancient race that has long since faded from the minds and stories of men. I’m reminded of something from Shadow of the Colossus—not entirely manmade, not entirely organic, but some surreal commingling of the two—crossed with a touch of Japanese samurai.

Also, the fire-breathing and stomping is pretty rad.

And look! The robot’s holding a little baby in one hand, and a skeleton in the other! What might it mean? Possibly something about the fragility and transience of life? A dreadful reminder of the mortality of all things? An encouragement for us to go on and make the most of our brief lives, for we never know when our might be cut short by the arrival of a stomping, fire-breathing robotic giant? I don’t know! It’s just a t-shirt, after all. Why don’t you tell me?

I am compelled to mention that I found this shirt via a rather extraordinary webcomic, created by Joe Infurnari, entitled The Process. There are only two chapters currently availble, but what’s there is beautifully illustrated and quite intriguing. I’m really excited to see where it’s headed, and I encourage all of you to check it out, even if you’re not normally into webcomicky things.

Link: [Roboto Mori]
Expensiveness: $21.05