Fantastic Blognanza!

I have to assume that most indie t-shirt uh-connoisseurs find corporate tees rather irksome. Despite the fact that shoving money down the voracious gullets of big business is America’s pastime—or, more likely, because of this—it’s difficult to imagine, say, a Threadhead or Hü-man shelling cash for one of these.

I wonder, though. Does the same rule apply if the corporations in question are fictional?

Cyberdyne at Last Exit to Nowhere: £17.50

To be honest, this is the kind of shirt I’d like to see sold outside T2 3-D—understated yet understandable, unlike those grimacing metal skulls engulfed in walls of flame (which, while hardcore in theory, lose some punch when offered in youth sizes).¹ Now, if biomimetic organisms with Austrian accents don’t float your boat, there’s always interplanetary real estate:

Weyland-Yutani Corp. at Last Exit to Nowhere: £17.50

Last Exit to Nowhere doesn’t limit itself to the corporate sphere as imagined by cinema, of course, although those tees do outnumber the rest. The question nagging my mind, though, is whether fawning over companies that don’t exist is any more justifiable than fawning over those that do. My initial reaction is “No, it is a cool shirt, shut up you are over-thinking this,” but … I dunno. I dunno, man!

In any case, I’m sure Last Exit to Nowhere would appreciate your patronage. You can at least take pride in the fact that your money is supporting a proud t-shirt vendor as opposed to one of innumerable marketing divisions of News Corp.

Link: [Last Exit to Nowhere]
Expensiveness: £17.50
[via Militant Geek Custom Shirts]

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¹Incidentally, those of you interested in reading a critique of Disneyland’s affinity for the hard sell—and how it wasn’t always like this—click here.

Everyone stop what you’re doing. We’ve found yet another t-shirt inspired by Greece’s mythological past over at Mythic [Funky Duds], one of the best shops I’ve encountered recently. Gaze! Gaze upon the head of the Gorgon, and … wait, shit!

Zeus & Medusa at Mythic: $28.00

Looks like Medusa seduces more t-shirt designers with each passing dawn. As much as I enjoy watching Zeus in his Eagle Form—for eagles, as we all know, are the birds of Zeus—soar the skies with Medusa in his talons, I have to ask—is the interior print really necessary? (Commenters, help me out—this is a trend I don’t fully understand!) And before I move on, those blue characters are driving me a little batty. Some of them are astrological, I know, but the rest—what do they mean?! Ah well. Greek shirts! Woo! Make more of them.

I’ve neglected to mention an impressive feature of Mythic’s shop: while Enclothe’s product copy for Athena’s Temple may have left me a little puzzled, Mythic apparently loathes ambiguity—a bona-fide short story accompanies each of their designs! (Depending on your definition of “short,” certainly.) This is the first store I’ve seen that takes such care in penning any sort of prose explaining their designs, in spite of the occasional typo.

I wish I had more time to browse this excellent shop more thoroughly, but I’ll throw one last design your way before signing off. It would probably make the most sense to stick with the Ancient World theme and profile the paleontological Pteranodon Fantastic—which you should still examine and read for yourself—but who uses themes these days? Pfft. Themes are for chumps!

Juan de los Muertos at Mythic: $28.00

Kudos to whoever wrote the story supplementing Juan de los Muertos for their¹ use of magical realism. While I haven’t read a lot of Jorge Luis Borges—though I’ve heard very good things—my dad used to collect a fair share of alebrijes for whatever reason. I’m not really sure how this is relevant except to say that Dia de los Muertos skeletons always struck me as neater than other bags o’ bones and maybe that is the reason why?

Those of you still lingering in Mythic’s shop are strongly encouraged to visit The Soul Train and Tyger Tyger before you leave. Rest assured, I will be keeping an eye on this store for future releases. Anyone got an eye I can borrow? Maybe those Gorgon sisters can help me out … wait, shit!

Link: [Mythic]
Expensiveness: $28.00

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¹Sigh … “his or her”