[Rydog]

"But Ryan," I bet you're thinking, "you already did a 'design a Geekbox t-shirt contest' thread, and that ended up being about as successful as the second season of Firefly."

OK, yeah. That happened. But, here's the deal: The folks (and Geekbox fans!) over at WeLoveFine would love to partner up with us and offer a line of Geekbox-inspired nerd shirts. They've actually designed shirts that were inspired by past Geekbox topics, and they want to hear some clever ideas that they can craft further designs from (and, hopefully, buy us a pizza or three if the Geekbox shirt shop takes off!). Now, we've got a couple of cool designs in the can already -- check out the images below -- but I'd like to get as many as we can. So, here is my challenge to you, if you are up for it:

Use this thread to pitch your shirt ideas.

Here are some further guidelines:

1) I want ideas -- not fleshed-out designs -- for nerdy, pop culture-inspired shirts. The guys at WeLoveFine are the designers, so what I'm really looking for are concepts to get the imaginations rolling.

2) Preemptive "don't do this" advice: If you're a GameSpy Debriefings/Comedy Button listener, our Threadless pitches are examples of horrible things to not do. No mocking "Send it to Threadless" pitches!

3) No esoteric in-jokes. Ideally, I want shirts that other people will look at and be all "hey, cool shirt," even if they aren't familiar with the podcast at all. If it's inspired by something we talked about on the show, awesome. But I want these to just generally be cool shirts!

4) Try to err on the side of ideas that don't tie super-strongly to a license. Licensed material is OK, but it will mean an approval process with the license-holder. So, for example, if you come up with an idea that requires Darth Vader or Wolverine -- as in, the actual characters -- to appear on the design, it means WeLoveFine has to clear it with LucasArts or Marvel first.

5) For now, stick specifically to Geekbox-inspired shirts. We'll get to the rest of the network later!

If a design that you pitch makes it into the forthcoming shirt store, I'll make sure you get one of 'em for free. In addition, we have a small supply of the two shirt designs pictured below; anyone who comes up with a winning design will also get one of those (until we run out, anyway!).

[Primordial]

Avoiding licenses will be difficult but I accept your challenge. Are we to submit our entries in this thread? How many entries/ concept designs are allowed per person? Is there a rough (or exact) deadline?

[Rydog]

Avoiding licenses will be difficult but I accept your challenge. Are we to submit our entries in this thread? How many entries/ concept designs are allowed per person? Is there a rough (or exact) deadline?

Yes, submit entries in this thread. You can pitch as many ideas as you want, and it's ongoing for now (no deadline).

[kenzo]

You gotta have an EatBox shirt. It'll be like your prototypical geekbox shirt above, but pizza, beer, mountain dew, and whatever else you guys eat on air/is stereotypical nerd food flying out of the box. That'll be on one side, and then on the other side you can have a normal geekbox logo in the corner.

[harrypowers]

"You already did a 'design a Geekbox t-shirt contest' thread, and that ended up being about as successful as the second season of Firefly."
That quote, that bit of Ryan Scott writing, is why I am a fan. His quote makes me feel like my unsuccessful t-shirt idea may someday reach cult status.

[llama3721]

A borg cube wearing glasses that are held together by tape in the nose arch

[Fade2Black]

It's 4:20 AM, I can't sleep 'cuz I drank too many cups of coffee. I drank the coffee so that I wouldn't fall asleep while watching Tintin. I was up late watching Tintin because I had a crap-load of laundry to fold. I swallowed the spider to catch the fl. . .. never mind.
That's not a shirt suggestion; it's merely my excuse for being online at this unholy hour.

Shirt suggestions:

1.) The word "Geek" in 3D boxy letters which visually looks like a box (i.e. the "GE" and the "EK") are two sides of the box. Above the box have a MGS-esque exclamation mark (assuming punctuation placement wouldn't qualify as an infringement).

2.) A pair of red boxing gloves gripping a generic video-game controller.

I'd post a few more suggestion, but listing ideas is waaaaay better than counting sheep.
Thanks.

[Jamo6995]

My t-shirt Idea is kinda basic but had the idea since I started listening to you guys and gals last year. Yes I have thinking about t-shirts for you guys for a while bc I love the show so much that it would be killer to have you on my body (In a non-creepy, non-sexual way LOL).

My Idea:
1) Font- Blocked similar to the super Mario font

2) Hexagon shaped box decked out like a dungeons and dragons style pandora's box with the lid open and laying next to it

3) The Geekbox should be on the edge of the opening of the box. Like this THE GEEKBOX

4) Then I have a classic Nintendo controller, a DVD, an LCD TV( with Show on the screen), a comic book, and a Laptop exploding out of it.

5) Last I was thinking of it on a black or grey tee would look cool. All the graphics on the front and The Geekbox logo on the back in between the shoulder blades and neck part of the shirt

Thanks you guys keep up the great work.

[Starwats]

oh, disregard, I didn't see

5) For now, stick specifically to Geekbox-inspired shirts. We'll get to the rest of the network later!

[JordanRodkey]

Ryan are you.....asking for our Threadless Pitches?

[harrypowers]

Ryan are you.....asking for out Threadless Pitches?

Imagine if you will an image of two geeks strugling to tie the laces of their boxing gloves.

[Fade2Black]

I'm not sure whether or not this next suggestion would be drawing too heavily from the source material it's clearly mocking, but the image is generic enough that you might be able to get away with it.

In the children's book The Little Prince, there's a classic line which reads,
"Draw me a sheep" . . . .
Unable to draw a satisfactory sheep, the artist proceeds to draw a box with air holes and furnishes the following explanation:
"This is the box. The sheep you asked for is inside". (as pictured here).

For the shirt design, draw a similar generic looking box with ventilation holes on it and caption the image thusly: Above the image write 'Draw me a geek"

and below it write, "This is the geekbox, the geek you asked for is inside."

[Konanda]

Idea I had is a sort of rubixcubesque cube of geeky and nerdy stuff. The idea being that different surfaces of the pieces have jumbled up references and such on it.

I thought it could be a clever way of making homage to certain licensed things without just blantently referencing them. I don't know how tight U.S. copyright law is about that though.

Anyway I thought it a fun take on a geekbox. Also I wasn't sure if in writing out the idea it is clear enough so I made a little sketch and scanned it. Obviously the different surfaces would be dependent on what the actual designers want to put on and w/e.




Hmm image embed seems to be wonky, here's a direct link. http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y155/Konanda/Geekboxthingsmaller.png

[LiQuid]

That's actually a pretty great idea. Good job.

[thepeopleshooker]

I really like the idea of an older style boom box, perhaps made to look pixelated, with a speech bubble coming from the speakers that reads "what the hell?"

[kenzo]

You know what the hipsters would like? If you took a bunch of game characters, or super heroes, or sci fi figures, or hell even the crew of the geekbox, and made a collage of them standing around... but drawn like style of the 70s after school cartoon specials like School House Rock. You could make the image look a little faded or use that thinner type of cotton to make it look vintage without actually being vintage. That would sell gangbusters.

[tnitnetny]

That's actually a pretty great idea. Good job.

I agree. I love that idea Konada.

[Konanda]

That's actually a pretty great idea. Good job.

I agree. I love that idea Konanda.

Thanks both of you! Hopefully the WeLoveFine dudes and Geekbox hosts like it as well.

[Fade2Black]

Idea I had is a sort of rubixcubesque cube of geeky and nerdy stuff. The idea being that different surfaces of the pieces have jumbled up references and such on it.

I thought it could be a clever way of making homage to certain licensed things without just blantently referencing them. I don't know how tight U.S. copyright law is about that though.

Anyway I thought it a fun take on a geekbox. Also I wasn't sure if in writing out the idea it is clear enough so I made a little sketch and scanned it. Obviously the different surfaces would be dependent on what the actual designers want to put on and w/e.




Hmm image embed seems to be wonky, here's a direct link. http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y155/Konanda/Geekboxthingsmaller.png

Brilliant!
(And yes, your idea served as the inspiration for my new avatar).

[Mr_eX]

Five guys beating a dead horse and on the back it says The Comedy Button

[darfox8]

Ok I had an idea that made me laugh. A few hours later, after I put together a mock MS paint image, I didn't find it so funny. But whatever it's an idea so maybe people can run with it.

[Macka1080]

A samurai sword with the word Geekbox in blood splatter across the blade. Optional dismembered body parts flying in the background

[Rodney]

I would like to see a Geekbox shirt design with a Gordon Freeman/Ryan Scott-type thick pair of glasses and beard. Above is a big empty word bubble. Just some kind of minimalist design like an Aperture science poster would have. I would draw it out but I'm sure the welovefine folks could take the idea and turn out something good. I figured it would be a cool Geekbox shirt because it works on two levels: it looks like it could be Ryan Scott talking on the Geekbox about nothing substantial in particular, but it also plays up the whole Gordon Freeman never says anything angle. To the average person it would just look like an interesting shirt.

[chewyli]

Here's a quick design, mario question box with geekbox' G.

Here's a link to the eps if you want to use it for something else like the favicon or something.
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/10594856/geekbox_box.eps

Love the show, Listen to it every week.

[Bboy_Izilla]

--Tijuana porn comics.

--April Summers [from Ninja Turtles].

--Fitch hitched to some underaged hentai porn mags.

--Board game of "Where In The World Is Justin Haywald & Mike Cruz."

--A trampled upon Indiana Jones hat, beside some crushed coke bottle spectacles. Back of shirt can say, "What The Hell?"

--Eatbox

all are awful in-jokes that I wouldn't mind seeing on a well-designed shirt, because let's be real, anybody buying the shirt [initially] knows about the podcast. This will be unavoidable.

[Konanda]

So is Ryan ever going to do something with this? Or will it be yet another idea that just get's forgotten about with no real indication of what's going on with it. I was thinking over another idea but it's kind of pointless if it's just going to sit here and collect virtual dust.

[Master Higgins]

So is Ryan ever going to do something with this? Or will it be yet another idea that just get's forgotten about with no real indication of what's going on with it. I was thinking over another idea but it's kind of pointless if it's just going to sit here and collect virtual dust.

Welcome to my world.

[Fade2Black]

I'm not sure as to whether or not an incognito Gabrielle Anwar is considered a "licensed product", but I figure if there's one person capable of getting Ryan Scott's tush back in this thread, it's Gabrielle.

[Master Higgins]

"But Ryan," I bet you're thinking, "you already did a 'design a Geekbox t-shirt contest' thread, and that ended up being about as successful as the second season of Firefly."

[LiQuid]

Konanda's idea was still good and Ryan should buy him a fucking T-shirt.