'Ancient Egyptian Plumber'

Mario-inspired t-shirt designs pop up with such regularity these days that most folks probably stopped caring about them long ago.

It's hard not to care about a well-produced Mario-inspired t-shirt design, though, and in my humble opinion the one below (and here) fits rather snugly within that category.

The quality of this particular design, titled "Ancient Egyptian Plumber," isn't all that surprising once you realize it was produced by the Los Angeles-based artist who answers to both "herky" and "Lucky1988."

Another reason to like herky's/Lucky1988's creation: The tongue-in-cheek article that promotes it over at shirt.woot.com.

CAIRO, Egypt – An illustrated tapestry recently unearthed here seems to suggest that plumbing, long believed to be a primarily Roman invention, may in fact have originated in ancient Egypt.  

Depicting a leaping figure wearing boots, a cap, and a form of ancient Egyptian overalls, the illustration indicates that Egypt can claim credit for the now-iconic plumber archetype.  

“It’s remarkable how contemporary the plumber figure looks,” says Prof. Martin Etcharles of the University of Shigeru. “It looks like something that could have been drawn in the early 1980s in Japan.”

The tapestry is believed to date from the reign of Pharaoh Bowserkhamun III, during the so-called Mushroom Dynasty. Etcharles says that the whole field of plumbing archaeology has been electrified by the discovery.  

“Of course, there’s always the possibility we’re getting too fixated on this plumber character,” he says. “But we wouldn’t be the first to do that.”

Cream-colored tees featuring this "Ancient Egyptian Plumber" can be picked up here for $15, while "natural" totes can be bought here for $12. Both are only available until Saturday, May 26, so get your butt over to shirt.woot.com pronto if you want one.

See also: More of Lucky1988's designs

Nothing gets between me and my Rhythm Heaven Fever t-shirt

Blogger--and occasional commenter on The Gay Gamer--Mark Ayala was lucky enough to attend the Rhythm Heaven Fever launch party held in Los Angeles exactly a month ago.

While at said event, Ayala picked up a Rhythm Heaven Fever t-shirt for yours truly. Although he passed it off to the able men and women of the United States Postal Service the very next day, and it arrived on my doorstep just a few days after that, I wasn't able to take a photo of it or write about it until yesterday.

Sadly, it's still winter here in Seattle, and most of you likely know what that means: It's dark and rainy here most of the time, which means pulling off well-lit photos often is a hit-or-miss affair.

If you'd like to take a closer look at the adorable design that's splashed across the chest of the t-shirt above--and features a monkey, a rocket and a jumping ... something or other--check out this Bitmob article about the Rhythm Heaven Fever soiree.

The green-and-yellow dino on this t-shirt design isn't Bub, but I like it anyway

When I first came across the following t-shirt design last night (as always, click on it to take a closer look at it), I was sure the dino that serves as its focal point was supposed to be a Ren & Stimpy-esque re-imagining of one of my favorite game characters of all time: Bub (Bubblun, to some) of Bubble Bobble fame.

Sadly, that's not the case. Instead, the green-and-yellow character's name is "Hablaah the Magic Crocogator." Oooooookay.

Rather than let my disappointment get the better of me, I decided not only to vote on the design (at threadless.com) but to give it a good score to boot. (Note: I believe this may be the first time I've used "to boot" on this blog.)

I did that because I'm hoping the design will garner a high enough score to be "printed," as the folks at Threadless call it. Shortly after, I'll buy one of the shirts and then proceed to tell people that the puking creature at the center of the image is, in fact, Bub (or Bubblun, if that's your thing).

Should you want to support this endeavor, would you please go here and give Aaron Jacob Willman's whimsical design an appreciably high score?

It's like a bad Christmas sweater, but better

I can't remember with any certainty the last time I owned any kind of Christmas sweater, be it of the bad or good (is there such a thing?) variety, but I think it was back when I was a pre-teen and I think it (the sweater) had reindeers sashaying across the chest.

Well, I'd proudly own (and even wear) one again if said sweater used the t-shirt design below, created by Tim Shumate and called "8Bit Christmas," as a source of inspiration.



As a t-shirt, though, I'm not sure what I think about it. Oh, it's creative and interesting and all that, but I honestly couldn't see myself buying it and wearing it around town. How about you?

(Via gonintendo.com)

Mario + Matryoshka = Marioshka!

What do you get when you toss Mario (Tanooki Mario, to be more specific) and a trio of Russian matryoshka dolls into a blender and make a t-shirt design out of the resulting sludge?

If you're Mat Hudson (aka Orphan Elliott), you get the following:

Tees bearing Hudson's design will be sold via Threadless should the design garner enough positive votes within the next two days. (Go here if you'd like to add to the tally.)

(Via gonintendo.com)

Tell me if you've seen this before

Speaking of the Gay Geeks and Gaymers tumblog, I just saw the Mario Kart-inspired t-shirt design below (order shirts bearing the design here) while scrolling through it.

Nintendo should have included one of these shirts with every copy of Mario Kart Wii, don't you think? Or would it have hit too close to home for players of that game?



Regardless, it's certainly an image I can relate to--since I've been eviscerated by many a blue shell while playing the last entry in the Mario Kart series.

Hopefully I'll have better luck while playing Mario Kart 7, which will hit store shelves around the world in just a few weeks. (Pre-order the North American version here.)

Mario's mad mushroom man

Have you ever wondered how all of the power-ups that dot the Mushroom Kingdom landscape got to be placed within question blocks?

Artist Dan Taub (aka 1oddgent) has, and the result of his daydreaming is the decidedly creepy t-shirt design seen below (and here).

If you're a daring sort, check out oneoddgentleman.com to take a closer look and this mad mushroom man's Pac-Man-like eyes razor-sharp teeth.

Sadly, the t-shirt Taub is wearing in the photo above isn't yet available via his etsy shop. If you're itching to buy something of his, though, may I suggest picking up one of his "Arsenal of Power-Ups" prints?

See also: More of 1oddgent's art

Mario's Panic Restaurant

You know what? I'd love it if Nintendo made a game that somehow combined its Mario Bros. series with Taito's kitchen-centric platformer, Panic Restaurant.

I can't see the company brass green-lighting a full-fledged release based on that premise, but maybe they would find a downloadable one (sold through the eShop, for instance) a bit more palatable?

As for what prompted this epicurean epiphany: I just stumbled across the following t-shirt design, produced by Los Angeles-based artist herky (aka Flickr user Lucky1988):

If you find this design--called "Trouble in the Kitchen of the Ristorante"--to be as delicious as I do, cast a vote in favor of it at shirt.woot.com between now and next Thursday at noon.

See also: More of Lucky1988's designs

What's cuter than a couple of kissing gaymers?

A couple of kissing gaymers who are wearing Mario and Yoshi t-shirts (like the ones in the photo below), that's what.

Other than that, I don't suppose anyone knows where a gay, I mean a guy, like me can buy the Yoshi shirt worn in the photo above?

(Via videogamesmademegay.tumblr.com)

Super Capybario

Question: What do you get when you put a hat, mustache and overalls on one of those South American rodents known as capybaras?

Answer: You get Super Capybario. Duh!

He's by far the cutest (in my opinion, of course) of the "famous mustached animals" included in the following t-shirt design, created by Los Angeles-based artist herky (aka Flickr user Lucky1988):



If you'd like to own a shirt bearing herky's hella-cute design, head on over to threadless.com and vote on it in the next three days.

This t-shirt design confuses me

I mean, why is the NES in the t-shirt design seen below high-fiving a Genesis? Shouldn't the NES be high-fiving an SNES instead? I know some will suggest that it should be high-fiving a Master System, but that would be even more confusing to me than the NES high-fiving a Genesis.



Anyway, let's save that mind-numbing discussion for another day. Instead, let's talk about the t-shirt above, which was designed by Roger Biersborn. Isn't it cute? If you agree, and if you're dying to add another game-related t-shirt to your collection, head on over to TeeFury.com soon, because it'll only be sold (for $10) for the next 22 or so hours.

Another day, another Super Mario Bros. t-shirt

Does the t-shirt design below look familiar to you? It should--if you've been visiting this blog for a while. After all, I mentioned it three months ago (in this post) when it was up for a vote on threadless.com.



Although it seems like the folks at Threadless have decided to pass on the design, the folks at TeeFury have not. In fact, light-blue tees bearing the design above--produced by Los Angeles-based artist herky, aka Flickr user Lucky1988--are being sold (for just $10) as we speak.

TeeFury shirts are only sold for 24 hours, so if the idea of owning and wearing a tee featuring a Ski-Doo-riding Blooper and a surfing Bullet Bill tickles your fancy, get your butt over to teefury.com pronto.

'Save the Seven Kingdoms' t-shirt

I think it's safe to say that if you grew up in the 1980s and you played video games, you're a fan of Super Mario Bros. 3.

Well, unless you were one of those unfortunate kids whose parents bought them a Sega Master System instead of an NES.

Even those sad sacks (I kid!) are likely to feel a twinge of excitement and even nostalgia upon seeing the following t-shirt, which is being sold for $18.95 via bitmapd.com.



Personally, I'm not sure which aspect of this shirt I like best: The cherry-red fabric, the Tanooki-teasing logo or the rallying cry contained within said Tanooki's tail.

(Via superpunch.blogspot.com)

Someone just *has* to turn this into game

"This," by the way, is the illustration below. It's called "Hadoucat!" and was created by artist Lucky1988 (who kindly shared it with the world via his/her Flickr photostream earlier this week).

If nothing else, I'd love to see the cat sprite used in some sort of Bubble Bobble clone. (In a perfect world, the person creating said game would copy the gameplay of Chip Chan Kick, a treasure of a PC-FX title that features cute little girls who stun enemies with what look like Puyo Puyo blobs before kicking them into the hereafter.)



Somewhat random aside: Lucky1988's image was in the running to appear on a t-shirt via shirt.woot.com, but it was rejected for being "off topic." Pshaw, I say!

See also: 'Super Maui-o Bros.'

A t-shirt that finally answers the question: What video games did folks play in ancient Greece?

I tried but failed to come up with a witty name for the game and system being used in the following t-shirt, designed by Esther Aarts. Any ideas?

Here's an up-close-and-personal view of Aarts' design, called "Classic Gamer," in case you can't make out all of the details in the image above:

Anyway, be the first on your block--or even town, depending on how large it is--to own one of these shirts by ordering one today at threadless.com.

(Via gamergrrlz.net)

'Fire flowers don't always sit well'

After Mario picks up a fire flower, does he eat it or hold onto it? Also, does said flower allow him to spit fireballs or throw them?

The t-shirt design below makes me think the answers to the questions above are: 1) He holds onto it and 2) It allows him to throw them.

I bring that up because before I saw Dave Mercier's (aka MercWorks') design this morning I honestly thought Mario ate these strange little flowers and then spit fireballs at his enemies.

Anyway, if you like Mercier's design as much as I do, vote for it at threadless.com before the end of the day.

Super Maui-o Bros.

I don't know what the weather is like in your neck of the woods, but here in Seattle it's cloudy and cool and summer seems to be at least a month (if not more) away.

As such, I'm finding myself attracted to anything and everything that makes me think of the sun and warmth these days--which may explain my excited reaction upon seeing the t-shirt design below this morning.  

Besides the setting, my favorite aspects of the design above--called "Super Maui-O!" and created by Flickr user Lucky1988--are the Blooper riding the Ski-Doo in the upper-right corner, the surfing Bullet Bill to the left of the flip-flop-sporting Mario and the Toad squeezing sunscreen on the toothy Goomba in the center of the illustration.

If you'd like to own a t-shirt bearing this design, vote on it in the next seven days at threadless.com.

Another day, another Nintendo-inspired t-shirt design (or two)

There are a lot of things I'd blow my money on if I ever won the lottery. A PC Engine LT would be one such thing; a copy of All Night Nippon Super Mario Bros. would be another.

Also, I'd buy every game-inspired t-shirt that caught my eye--with t-shirts bearing the designs below (created by artist Glen Brogan) being among my first post-lottery purchases.

The top design is called "Bottled Fairy," by the way, while the bottom one is called "Great Shelled Dragon."

If you've already won the lottery and you'd like to add either or both of the above-mentioned shirts to your wardrobe, pay a visit to Brogan's Split Reason store.

Mucha Metroid

What can you get for $10 these days? If we're going to keep our options within the realm of gaming, it can (almost) get you a copy of Elite Beat Agents for the DS, it can get you Pac-Man Championship Edition DX (via PSN or Xbox Live Arcade) ... or it can get you the following Metroid-inspired and Mucha-styled t-shirt:

Get your butt over to teefury.com tout de suite (aka pronto) if you find that last option particularly titillating, as the ninjaink-designed shirt will be pulled from the site in less than 10 hours.

'Pipe Dream'

The following, Super Mario Bros.-inspired t-shirt can be picked up for just $10 at teefury.com--if you visit the site in the next 10 or so hours. (The online retailer's tagline is "tee today, gone tomorrow," for a reason!)

Dutch artist Mathijs Vissers is responsible for the design, which Vissers calls "an homage to one of the most awesome games ever," by the way. Check out more of his stuff here.

(Via gonintendo.com)