It's "She's starting to damage my calm". Why can't they get it right?

I love the Fruity Oaty Bars tee. I must have one.

madmolly | December 20, 12:26 CET

I'd never seen the Companion Academy one... too bad they only have it as a girlie tee. I think it looks pretty cool.

joey_breizh | December 20, 12:42 CET

The nice thing about a 'damage my calm' tee is that it also works for Chuck fans. Even with the image.

redeem147 | December 20, 13:06 CET

I'm seconding the disappointment in the Companion Academy shirt only coming in a girl/baby tee variety. The series did sort of suggest there are probably boy whores/companions...

Also, I just wish the designs were a bit more pure awesomeness in general, since I think that's one of the only ones that tries to riff off the Asian side of the verse. (That said, it's more Japanese than Chinese but whatever.)

Some of the other T-shirts are a bit too cheaply/obviously licensed products that seem kinda clunky... That said, I still think the Fruity Oaty Bar one could have been awesome if more saturated and not aged.

Also, I think the Jayne one is sort of hilariously incongruous that I kind of dig it. (The characters for "Serenity" despite the guy with the giant gun, despite/in addition to the weird rainbowy background and fake aging effect...)

orangewaxlion | December 20, 14:07 CET

Most of these are still too obviously fandom-y for my tastes. I do still like the buddha and fruity oaty bar shirts, though.

GVH | December 20, 16:00 CET

Yes, when I heard Casey say it, I laughed out loud.

madmolly | December 20, 16:03 CET

Who wrote the description for the "Mal: Wanted" Tee?
It's kind of.... odd:

Serenity Captain Mal Wanted T-Shirt
This is an officially licensed Serenity t-shirt in which these Serenity shirts have been screen printed with the Serenity image on front. These Serenity tshirts are usually made from heavyweight preshrunk 6oz. cotton tee shirt blanks.

Be sure to check out our SIZE CHART to get an idea of the average size and dimensions of this Serenity tshirt style.
Check back often for some of our new Serenity clothing and other Serenity Merchandise at great prices only at - www.StylinOnline.com.

-They used the word Serenity in every sentence, and 3 times in one of them! lol...
I love the shirt, though. Gotta get me a few of these designs. :)

ETA: And it's obvious that these items will be "Fandomy"... that is really kind of the point, donchathink? :)

[ edited by TDBrown on 2008-12-20 16:09 ]

TDBrown | December 20, 16:06 CET

Some nice additions. I've always wanted to make a shirt that diagramed how to do a Crazy Ivan (kind of like the old Transformers directions) with copy that read "Here's something you can't do."

Alas, I lack the graphical prowess to make this a reality. Sigh.

The Blue Leopard | December 20, 16:41 CET

I couldn't find anything on the site to indicate this was a licensed company - does anyone know where that info might be found?

As for the multiple Serenity references, that's probably to try and increase search engine traffic

Beth | December 20, 17:09 CET

Beth, this is the official licensee for Uni.

cabri | December 20, 19:01 CET

Hmmm... the design for their "Wanted" t-shirt looks oddly familiar...

If this is the same licensor that began producing a while back when the first shirts were introduced, there was a very similar design that resembled a certain guerilla marketing poster I know. (I updated the poster earlier this year to make it purely black & white, no greys, and put a few fancy reworking on some of the design... but the revised poster still basically the same as the older one.)

I think there were a few objections raised by fans because a couple of the licensor's other designs were quite similar to fan made shirts. Or, the problem may have been that fan designs were solicited by the licensor, and then the promised payment (or percentage) was not forthcoming... but the designs were still used. I didn't take part in the "booty call", as one browncoat termed it, but it did appear to be a poor way to treat the fans.

A "Wanted" poster can have certain classical elements that are bound to appear when anyone creates a design based on that theme. However, their design procured rather obvious blocks of design elements from my poster. Their previous t-shirt design even used a Mal image that was much more like my poster than this newer shirt. The old image was from Firefly, so I can see why it would have to be changed to a Serenity source image to adhere to the license agreement.

All this being said, it doesn't really matter. I created the guerilla marketing posters out of love for Firefly, and they were given freely. They are for guerilla marketing the show and movie, and for fans to enjoy. The designs are mine, but the posters aren't "mine" from a legal standpoint. It's just from an artist's point of view, it's one thing to be inspired by another person's work, this has been the case throughout time... but outright copying seems like such a creative cop out.

Or, does this fall into the category of "sincerest form of flattery" thing?

Same diff. ;-)

P.S.
Speaking of "Wanted" posters, for a blast from the past, here's a thumbnail of the River/Simon "Wanted" postcard I made six years ago when we were trying so hard to save Firefly. Has it really been six years?!

11thHour | December 20, 22:34 CET

I like how the only feminine-cut tees are for women with absolutely no body. 15" shoulder? That's smaller than a small adult shirt. For a world so obsessed with boobs, they aren't factoring them into shirt-making. I'd love to own most of those shirts, but I don't want to wear a boxy male t-shirt just because I have breasts. Not that I'm bitter.

almost cookies | December 20, 23:09 CET

I hope they realize "Serenity NOW!" is from 'Seinfeld'...

QuanticoMVP | December 20, 23:34 CET

I've sent the suggestion to Jim that he should get some of the Shihnon shirts printed up in Men's. Might not be likely since economic risks aren't wise right now. But I agree, some of the women's shirts styles are the best "hipster" styles for men. I'd buy one if made in men's cut.

[ edited by willbueche on 2008-12-21 00:08 ]

will.bueche | December 21, 00:08 CET

almost cookies,

The Baby Tees or Womens T-shirts are very stretchy. The shirts really are "Girl Shaped Cut - Stretchy Cotton". The shirts cling to you. When I first got one, I was like this is the size I ordered??? It is so small. But it fit.

Check their return policy to see if you can return the shirts if you don't like the way they look on you.

Anonymous1 | December 21, 00:19 CET

Beth,

If you click on any of the t-shirts you will see it saying licensed product on the shirt page. I remember checking this out back in 2005/2006.

Here is all the stuff they say they hold the licenses for http://www.ripplejunction.com/licenses.html

Hmmm, Buffy showed up as coming soon.

http://www.ripplejunction.com/buy.html holds the Serenity license. Ripple Junction manufactors and sells licensed shirts to vendors.

"Where To Buy!
Tee Hugger
Hot Topic
80'stees.com
Stylin' Online
Michael's Closet
Ultimate T-Shirts
Five Tone
Woodstock Trading
Super Hero Stuff
Loops and Pluto "

I remember being so thrilled when I got my first Serenity logo shirt in a mall Hot Topic store. Stylin' Online been selling Serenity stuff since way back in 2005/2006. I stopped even checking the other vendors because Stylin' Online carried the most versions and other vendors ran out of shirts and did not restock. Think I'll go click on each of the vendors now.

[ edited by Anonymous1 on 2008-12-21 00:48 ]

Anonymous1 | December 21, 00:37 CET

QuanticoMVP,

I clicked on the Serenity Now "This is an officially licensed Seinfeld t-shirt." But did the person realize that put it on the Serenity page. I going to think they realized it and thought it was funny.

Anonymous1 | December 21, 00:38 CET

Other Ripple Junction vendors that have shirts http://www.ultimatetshirts.com/movies-serenity.html

http://www.michaelscloset.com/default.aspx?id=thumbnails&searchterm=serenity

Anonymous1 | December 21, 00:47 CET

They have some buffy stuff http://www.stylinonline.com/buffy.html

Sent stylinonline asking if there was any news about Dollhouse shirts.

Anonymous1 | December 21, 00:59 CET

Here is an idea. Get the Serenity NOW! shirt and get a fabric pen and write 2 next to Serenity. It will look like Serenity squared...

Anonymous1 | December 22, 04:32 CET