Militant Geek Custom Shirts

There have been lots of space related designs that have recently come across the desk in Militant Geek HQ (desk in the way that clutter randomly scattered across an empty spare bedroom constitutes a ‘desk’). But this one is too great not to mention. This lovely shirt from Busted Tees is entitled “Finders Keepers”. It hearkens back to the glory days when the US was still kicking technological ass. At least today we still have the same childlike approach to foreign diplomacy. It is available for a very reasonable $15.99 and there still appears to be plenty in stock.

Well, this week we’ve been pretty robot heavy, what with all the Transformers this, the Transformers that, and the dreaded Transformers other. So it would only be fitting if we ended the week in similar fashion with this nice little tee from Radioactive Panda. The price is $18 ($15 + $3 shipping in the US) and quite affordable for a clever little design.

Sometime between its edge-of-your-seat pop culture domination and its slow, ponderous decline the X-Files had a flashback episode. In that show, set sometime in the late 80’s, early 90’s, Mulder reaches into his ever present trench coat to make an important call. Instead of the sleek, reoccuring cell phones of the show’s fictionalized present he pulled out this beauty of a door stop and I nearly snorted Cheeto out my nose. If I recall it was shortly thereafter when even my sensual Scully induced suspention of disbelief subsided and I took up basket weaving. Ahhhh, the memories.

If you cherish those huge honking phones of yesteryear or want to show an iPhone n00b what old sk00l is all about Public Domain Clothing has you covered. The shirt only comes in one color (palm) and the price is $25. But - like the iPhone’s fanboys prove - when it comes to what you want the cost is really something secondary.

Hat tip to TCritic for the heads up on this T-Shirt.

The cartoon Transformers movie originally came out in 1984. At that time the world learned several important things:

1. Having an all hair-metal soundtrack (including the incredibly cheese-o-riffic “You’ve Got the Touch”) seriously dates the film
2. Orsen Wells had clearly hit bottom
3. don’t kill off the beloved franchise mainstay in the first third of the movie

Thankfully the live action adaptation out this week has taken those lessons to heart and thrown the previous cannon in the crapper. Case in point is the new Optimus Prime. His semi form has been updated, flame retarded, and in looking as heroic as ever on this T-shirt available from eMerchandise. The threads are a steal at only $18.99. Welcome back Prime - we’ve missed you.

While we’re mentioning awesome Transformers T-shirts (in celebration of the live action Transformers movie opening this week) we thought we’d mention the retro re-issues from NerdyShirts. All the remembered goodness from a wasted childhood is here - the Optimus Prime headshot, Optimus Prime with retro typeface year-of-death, the Deceptacons a’runnin’, and the movie poster Tee.

This is quite possibly the coolest, gadget-like thing that I’ve seen on a t-shirt since, well, yesterday’s Tee. The image to the left is an example of the new photochromic ink shirts from I-Manifest. What’s photochromic ink? To shorten the Wikipedia entry, photochromic ink only shows up in sunlight (or other UV sources). So in this design, the plants only ‘grow’ while outside.

Now far be it for me that geeks are a shut-in group for whom this shirt’s duplicitous nature will be lost on. However, if you do spend the $32 it takes to grab this tee for your very own do try and get something more than a screen tan, will ya?

Today one of biggest events for any geek who grew up in the 80’s is about to happen: The Live Action Transformers Movie. And while many fan boys loath having their childhood marbles in Michael Bay’s hands, the trailers (thus far) have yet to crush my fragile memories.

To prepare for this ultimate re-imagining of childhood mythos ThinkGeek has released a set of Transformers Tees. Just like the toys, however, these shirts are more than meets the eye. As the included image suggests, these shirts are animated for your seizure inducing pleasure. From the product description:

• EL Lit Glowing T-Shirts feature either the Autobot or Decepticon Logos
• Battery Pack fits in small interior pocket inside shirt
• Button on battery pack controls Animation style
• 2 AAA Batteries Required
• Battery pack is removable, shirt must be hand washed

The price is a bit steep - $34.99 - but what better way of displaying true fandom?