By Alec Meer on November 28th, 2008 at 12:54 pm.
Imagine if there were some way to tell the world that you regularly visit Rock, Paper, Shotgun, other than by shouting at people on the internet. A way to announce that, were it possible, you would gladly donate all your organs and blood to the proud, tired men who write this site. Unfortunately The RPS Blood-Eater 3000 is still in the design stages, but to make the wait a little easier, we do at last have some official t-shirts. Yes! Cloth and websites, together in close harmony.
If you cast your minds back to the turn of the century, you may recall we ran a compo for you lot to design some RPS shirts. Two of the many splendid entries to that contest are, as of today, now available in real t-shirt form, via popculture torso-cladding experts Splitreason.com. Depending on the uptake, we’ll be looking to introduce further designs at some point, but for now please enjoy the most excellent work of Matt Breit (the orange, shotgunny one) and John Roberts (the black, hivemindy one):
Order ‘em from here. There is no finer gift you could give yourself this holiday season. Including love. These are definitely better than love.
Do us loyal subscribers get a discount? ;)
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Groovy, but are the t-shirts ethically made?
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You can’t make t-shirts out of ethics!
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When can I get my John Walker posable action figure?
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mmm, but are they better than self-love? will they make me go less blind?
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@Alex McLarty:
Does this mean anything to you:
“1. What types of t-shirts do you use?
Split Reason offers only high-quality 100% cotton Alstyle Apparel, and Gildan Ultra Cotton T-shirts.”
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Damnit, gaijin beat me to it.
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Just come over to my house, and you can put my limbs in amusing poses for as long as you like.
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As long as we can do dressing up too.
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John, do you realised that you just posted that on the internet? People will actually try to do that, some of them live in or near london.
Some may even know where you live.
It was nice reading your part of RPS. You will be remembered.
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Remember to take many many photos.
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Well, I was limiting my invitation to Meat, who already knows where my house is. Other people have to provide written applications before being considered for posing me opportunities.
Also, fortunately, I’m miles from London.
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Grah expense! I might buy one anyway but jeez that’s some expensive postage. More UK retailers please.
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Damn, I wanted my horace shirt!
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Hm. If I get paid soon (I do) then I might just have to get both of these (make the shipping moneys worth it see). The question is, what size? And should I give one of these away? Questions questions.
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…it’s ethic material, suitable for winter…
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No talls :(
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No sale until I see the entire RPS team modelling these. And ONLY these.
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Man, harsh on Eskil.
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Only if the second one came in a different colour, I don’t wear brown! (or “texas orange”)
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I only wear cool band shirts of cool bands because I don’t want the world to know I’m not cool. Is that cool?
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I can’t find the logic of using a USA retailer for a website by UK based guys… oh Loooogic! Loooogic! Where are you boy?
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We may be based in the UK, but the bulk of our readers aren’t. You may have noted the flak we get when some of the compos we run are UK-only…
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Pags, if you have to ask if it’s cool, that automatically makes it and subsequently you not cool. Damn your uncool ways!
RPS cannot win when it comes to geography, if only there was a global competition and cotton apparel generation facility, possibly one that’s in orbit so that t-shirts and boxed goodies can be launched directly to your door.
Edit: Also Alec, is that provable fact or is it that whenever a competition comes up they’re the most vocal ones as all the U.K. readers are busily entering the competition rather than commenting? We need some kind of RPS demographertronator to know the truth!
Also when did this edit function come back? It’s more then welcome to stay.
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Not if I’m so cool that I don’t even keep track of what’s cool anymore.
I say we repurpose the Hubble telescope as an enormous t-shirt launcher, like the ones at (American) football games.
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@Malagate – I’m not Alec, but yes, it’s a provable fact… Americans obviously like eating our bandwidth more than those from our ‘sunny’ island ;)
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Wait! As a Angry-Internet-Man in training I’m obliged to reveal the truth to you all. This isn’t about providing comfortable, fashion-friendly, ethical (?) garments to all of you lovely people! No, this is about money! Money that they will no doubt use to fund their burgeoning drug-habits, or the latest sacrificial goat for their temple to e-Satan!
Shame on you, RPS! Shame!
… I’ll take three.
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Are these shirts free of DRM?
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But, but… I want the actual rock, paper and shotgun!
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I love that the Internet was invented by Yorkshiremen.
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I want an RPS demographimeter! And a T-shirt. And a kitten.
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You should announce that a percentage of the earnings goes toward reincluding the edit function.
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A UK website using a Canadia based supplier, you say? Hmph, I say. HMPH.
Well, I might still buy one anyway…
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See Pags, you’ve pretty much got it, especially with the point about turning the hubble telescope into a t-shirt cannon; for the cool elite do not follow trends, they make them.
Yes Johnathon, I figured there would be a way of knowing in terms of ISP addresses or some such internet majickery that would tell you who’s eating up the precious bands. Thanks for that, I would like to see some kind of percentage though, just to know exactly how afraid I should be.
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In the last month, just over 60% of our traffic was from the US, and around 19% from the UK. Of course, we love our countrymen and our colonists equally.
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No no. Clearly we need to forceably repatriate that 60% to the UK. They’d prefer it over here. We have a SEXY recession!
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@ Ian
No, I’m sorry, no more than three people can wear each t-shirt at once.
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Then I’m going to pirate one. It’s the only answer.
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I am sad. I would’ve killed for the Horace the Endless Bear shirt.
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“You should announce that a percentage of the earnings goes toward reincluding the edit function.”
Would buy for this reason.
People in the UK won’t get the visual joke anyway: we call it scissors, paper, stone.
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I’m in the UK and I think of it as “stone, paper, scissors.”
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@Bobsy A… sexcession?
I’ll get my coat. And a fine tshirt.
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In your face, rest of the world. USA! USA!
Can I get them on Steam?
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Well, we Teutons tend to call it by it’s maiden name, Schnick Schnack Schnuck. Schnick Schnack Shotgun would also be a nice name for the page once you have 100.000.000.003 visitors per day and can afford to localize it.
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I’m in the UK and I think of it as “rock, paper, scissors”.
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@Shanucore:
No, a sexcession is a sexy secession! THIS OUGHT TO BE CLEAR TO EVERYONE!
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I live in the UK but nearly always read RPS at work, but it routes via Holland so NER to your stats!
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I’ve always known it as ‘Rock, Paper, Scissors’. Who are you weirdos who call it “scissors, paper, stone” or the like, and where did you come from?
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Schnick Schnack Shotgun is my new favourite thing.
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Also in the UK, ALSO call it Rock, Paper, Scissors.
“SPS” makes it sound like an infection of some kind.
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I also must add my voice to johnny cuts’ in saying that I’m from the UK and have only ever heard it called “Rock. Paper. Scissors.” I might buy the black one but I am a poor student.
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USD.
Argh.
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Odd. Regional variations? I grew up around London/Essex (in the 80s), and never heard a non-American call it RPS before this site.
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Always been Rock Paper Scissors to me, I grew in in Birmingham.
Midlands thing? Kieron’s from around here isn’t he?
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You should still have got a UK distributor, just to irritate the American readers some more. Besides, it sucks that everytime I order something from Split Reason or ThinkGeek, I get screwed over paying extra tax on it. Besides, there’s a recession on! Isn’t it your patriotic duty to use UK based outlets or somesuch? :P
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So how many of us really are Dutch? Since the title read that a few weeks ago!
Sexy shirts BTW!
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Well, I’m Dutch. And Split Reason is not taking my money again. Last time I paid more taxes than the clothing was worth :(
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And in Sweden we call it “Sten, påse, sax”, which translates to “Rock, bag, scissors”. We’re different, we are.
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I agree that Thinkgeek extra tax is extra shit. They also use the most expensive shipping service possible or something as I can easily reach a shipping cost higher than the actual item I’m trying to buy.
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dutch..
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! As soon as I have a job and money and all that, i’ll definitely be able to fork out for the extra shipping and whatnot. Until then, I’ll just have to tell people in the street that I read RPS so that they definitely know.
Also, 20% of your traffic vs 60%… but take into account there are over three times as many people in the US… AHA! Quick, only sell to the UK. Also, make all your competitions Midlands only for kicks. Then and only then will I be happy.
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Just so everyone knows, there’s a 20% sale on Splitreason today, if you put in the promo code BLACKFRIDAY. So do it today, and save money!
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That code works. Thanks.
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I will not be buying any of these shirts, because I object to the nature of the CRM* used.
What RPS isn’t telling you is that these shirts are physically incapable of being copied; the CRM will actually tear your shirt in half if you try to pull it into two parts. Also, only a single person is allowed to wear the shirt at a time. If you want two people to wear the shirt, you need to buy two shirts. (There are workarounds for this, but they require the two users to be in close physical proximity, and are unworkable for general use.)
I am sick of RPS treating its customers as potential criminals and bootleggers simply because they want to share their shirt with their friends. The attached CRM is a draconian abuse of the Laws of Physics to enforce RPS’s financial agenda, and I for one will not be condoning this with my purchase, and am registering my complaint with a strongly worded comment on the Internet.
YOU are the reason t-shirt wearing is dying, RPS. I hope you’re proud of yourselves.
*Cotton Rights Management
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Ooh. Can I get one like in the image at the top of this post instead, please?
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I really dig the minimalist RPS logo. Maybe expand the lineup to include mousepads, stickers, coffee mugs, and lingerie?
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How about an RPS swimsuit calendar?
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Dutch as well. And I want one. T-shirt that is. Hmm…..
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Scissors, Paper, Sotne here, grew up in the south west of England. But then again I talk vaguely ‘posh’ for reasons that are beyond me (I wen’t to a state school damnit!). Either way, I’m more John Walker than Kieron Gillen.
Edit: Wow! The edit button is back. Those T-Shirts have clearly worked quickly.
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I demand Noc gets a freebie, I literally have corn flakes ALL OVER my keyboard now.
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Schnick Schnack Schnuck is a great name!
Also, I live in the UK and I’ve always thought of this site as “Kieron Gillen’s Blog”. KGB.
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You know, instead of Rock-Paper-Shotgun, my friends and I play Crocodile-Stingray-Steve. Crocodile is made by making your hand into a mouth shape with your fingers together and your plam facing down, thumb vertically opposite, an inch away. Stingray is just like pointing using your index finger, and Steve is a thumbs up.
It doesn’t have it’s own website though, and if it did I don’t think it would be as good as RPS.
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Meh. It’s made out of cotton. Great.
BUT IT’S STILL MADE BY SLAVES!
Get that shirt made out of hemp grown by well fed dwarves and I’ll buy it.
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Noc: LOL…insane.
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Sweet. I’m even obliged to buy one.
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Lunaran, your Quake post was excellent.
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no wonder I don’t feel like I have any readers, they all comment on the wrong sites :)
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I’ve always played Rock, Paper, Stone.
Like a nocrits server, it favours skill.
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Alas, I would love to have one (or both!) but my humble means won’t meet the international delivery rates. Food remains a priority.
As an aside, I live in the south of England and have only ever heard the game referred to as ‘rock, paper, scissors’.
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I call it stone paper scissors paper paper shotgun shoehorn scissors stone aardvark.
It’s quite a difficult game.
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Thank you for making the T-shirts available. I ordered two. I want the support The Goodest of Causes. Also, what would I wear on Laundry Day, otherwise.
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A Londoner friend of mine who is also a linguist suggests that it can be “ching chang walla” in England, and also “Tsching Tschang Tschong” in German.
It’s also jan-ken-pon in Japanese, which is of course where video games come from.
Also, please do make the 3d render and the literary shirts, as those are the ones that I will purchase without hesitation.
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SWEET! \o/
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It’s “Pedra, Papel, Tesoura” for me. But then again, I’m Brazilian.
But for all it’s worth, I always heard it as Rock Paper Scissors. And they have too.
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g/f got me the black hivemind shirt, which I happen to be wearing now. Yay splitreason’s Canadian shipping point and present arrival 2 days before Christmas!
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Noc : Well played
Im finally going to get me one of these sexy tee’s. cheers SPS
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I finally received my shirts yesterday. I’m already quite fond of them. The subued Texas orange colour and the iconical, beautifully stylized design makes for a strong fashion statement on the street and in the office.
P.S. Delivery time to Finland from Vancouver, Canada (during Christmas time) via the cheapest shipping method: 2 months. Be advised.
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Personally, I prefer the alliterative ‘paper, scissors, stone’, but there’s no accounting for taste.
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Yes Kristin Davis, don’t I just know it!
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Rock, Paper, Scone?
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OUT OF STOCK AHHHHHHHH
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