I know I've already declared it the 'Year of the GameBoy,' but I think there's room for Birdo too

Considering how hands-down fabulous Birdo is and always has been, it sure is a shame how shabbily Nintendo has treated her over the years.

Thankfully, Twitter user Markatansky decided to go ahead and do what the folks at Nintendo surely are unwilling to do at this point--which is declare this the "Year of Birdo."

Yes, that flies directly in the face of my own campaign that's centered around this being the "Year of the GameBoy," but I'm OK with that--especially since the focal point of Markatansky's effort is the awesome t-shirt that can be seen on the right.

(For anyone who's curious, here's what it looks like in real life.)

It's still possible to nab one or more of these hot-pink tees, by the way--or at least I think it is. As far as I can tell, should enough people go to teespring.com, click on the "I still want this!" button in the lower-right corner and proceed to place a pre-order (as I did a week or so ago), Markatansky's design will be offered up for sale once again.

So, what are all of you "super glam" Birdo fans waiting for?

I guess you could say my life is now complete

Why, you ask? Because the sweet "Yaranaika?" t-shirt my podcasting pal shidoshi bought me while in Japan late last year finally is in my grubby little hands.

Please accept my apologies for the rather crappy nature of the photo below. Apparently the camera on my MacBook doesn't like sunny mornings. (How Seattle of it!)

Hopefully you can make out enough of it to see that the shirt bears the same image found on this blog's header.

In case I haven't said it before, the text on the shirt is Japanese for “shall we do it?” and it comes from a  rather dirty--and gay--manga called Kuso Miso Technique that was first published back in 1987.

Zac Gorman x Dragon Quest

You want to know why I've long been fascinated by Square Enix's vaunted Dragon Quest series?

Take in the illustration below, which was made by artist Zac Gorman for an iam8bit gallery exhibition that opens this Friday in Los Angeles.

Seriously, how could you not fall head over heels in love with such a charming cast of characters?

For those of you who are up for a bit more of Gorman's brilliance, check out this Donkey Kong-inspired t-shirt design.

No joke: if I hadn't just bought two game-related tees, I'd pick up one of the above faster than you can say, "It's-a me, Jumpman!"

Who wouldn't want to be seen wearing an 8-bit-ified 'Virgin de Guadalupe' t-shirt?

I, for one, would strut around town as proudly as a peacock if I owned the t-shirt bearing the design seen below (and here)--which was produced by one of my favorite gaming-inspired artists, Ashley Anderson.

Of course, I could acquire one of said shirts pretty easily if I made my way over to fallenarrows.com and handed over $28 of my hard-earned cash.

I may do just that in the next few days, to tell you the truth, as I really like how Anderson's sprite-based illustration looks against a sage-y green American Apparel tee.

Do you think it would clash too much if I paired the shirt above with this "Black Honey" pin that Anne Lee (of the Chic Pixel blog and The Nichiest Podcast Ever) recently turned me on to?

Up, up, down, down ...

I know some of you won't believe me, but my original intention for this post was to say something along the lines of, "I'm finally going to buy a gaming t-shirt, and this is it!"

Oh, and the gaming t-shirt in question is the one that's being worn by a rather hunky model in the photo below. (FYI: Its illustration instructs both viewers and wearers alike on how to input the famous "Konami Code"--or "Konami Command," as it's known in Japan.)

Sadly, when I went to place my order last weekend (which is when I first came across this t-shirt) I discovered that the seller is out of both smalls and mediums. Damn!

I guess it just wasn't meant to be.

'A Fashionable Invasion'

Remember this recent post, which featured the rather cheeky (in my opinion, at least) headline of "Swank Invaders"?

Well, the Space Invaders-inspired t-shirt design (below) that served as its focus is now up for a vote at threadless.com.



Should you like it, would you please give it a positive rating (here) sometime within the next four days so dorks like myself can buy a t-shirt bearing it and then wear it around town feeling a bit more dapper than we normally do?

See also: Previous posts related to the artist (Terry Fan) responsible for this awesome design

Swank Invaders

What do you get when you put bowler hats and mustaches on the iconic creatures that inhabit Taito's classic arcade game, Space Invaders? Why, you get "Swank Invaders." Duh!

That's not the official title of the awesome t-shirt design seen below--which was created by Toronto-based illustrator Terry Fan (aka igo2cairo)--by the way. As of this morning, Fan was still calling it "untitled," so I thought I'd help him out a bit.



Unfortunately, "Swank Invaders," or whatever Fan winds up calling this design, isn't being sold anywhere (such as through Society6 or threadless) at the moment, although I'm hopeful it will be soon.

In the meantime, check out more examples of Fan's work by clicking on the links above and by paying a visit to his Flickr photostream, his website or these previous blog posts.