[Author’s Note: This post is a response to my girlfriend’s accusations that posts about video games are “boring”. She wants “boring”, I’ll show her “boring”.]
[Supplementary Note: Both she and I are joking. But I’m still going to write about My Favourite T-Shirts just because I can.]
I have a lot of T-shirts. I primarily wear T-shirts. I work from home so, to be honest, you’re lucky if I get dressed at all for my average working day, but most days I do manage to cover up my disgusting hairy flabby body with some form of cloth-based accoutrements that generally take the form of jeans and a T-shirt. Consequently, I have collected a wide variety of T-shirts over the years, relatively few of which I have actually paid for.
The reason for this is that, as many of you will know, my brother is one John Davison, veteran of the games industry and, at various points in his life, a member of the staff of publications as diverse as Games-X, Mega Drive Advanced Gaming, PC Player, PC Zone, Electronic Gaming Monthly, the Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine, 1up.com, What They Play, GamePro, Gamespot and doubtless some others I’ve missed along the way. (Kudos if you recognise the earlier ones, incidentally.)
Why is this relevant? Well, because as anyone currently working in the games industry knows, working on a mag or website means freebies. Freebies are somewhat ridiculed these days, with wearing a freebie T-shirt to a professional engagement seen as a big ol’ faux pas, but I’ve never had a particular problem with people wearing them, largely because I spent a healthy proportion of my childhood wearing them. Nowadays, the ones that still fit (which is quite a few, due to the fact that freebie T-shirts inevitably come in gigantic sizes) have a certain degree of retro charm about them, though I must confess that many of them have fallen by the wayside and/or into the bin over the years.
So, then, without further ado, here are my Top Five Favourite T-Shirts.
The “More Drinks Kevin” MDK T-Shirt
I like this T-shirt (which I don’t have a picture of, I’m afraid) for two reasons: 1) it bewilders people who have no idea why my T-shirt says “MORE DRINKS KEVIN?” on the front and “MDK” on the back and 2) it has long sleeves, meaning it’s nice and warm. This is, I think, the only T-shirt from the numerous freebies my brother gave me over the years that I actually still have. It has survived my numerous house moves, the collapse of my life a couple of years ago and my subsequent clawing back to my current status of “not doing too badly, thanks.” I don’t wear it that often, but it’s a nice reminder of simpler times.
Rattlesnake! Theatre Group Official Shirt
I have two of these (and no pictures right now) and they are among my most-worn T-shirts. They are old, grotty and horrible and really only suitable for bumming around the house in, but I like them a lot because they remind me of one of my favourite times of my life — going to the Edinburgh Fringe with the Southampton University Theatre Group (which we inexplicably redubbed “Rattlesnake!” temporarily for the trip) and putting on two shows for two weeks.
Persona 4
I have a Persona 4 T-shirt. It doesn’t fit very well so I don’t wear it very often, but I like it. It came free with my copy of the game. It is bright yellow (the kind that is not just “yellow” but “YELLOW!”) and features a minimalist TV design with colour stripes and the “You Are Not Me” phrase from the game.
“FK In The Coffee”
I have a lot of time for anyone who enjoyed Deadly Premonition, because Deadly Premonition was brilliant. Consequently, anyone who successfully identifies the reference on this T-shirt is destined to be a lifelong friend.
Minimalist Pony T-Shirt
I like this T-Shirt because it allows me to declare myself as a card-carrying Brony to people who are “in the know”, while to others it simply looks like some sort of retro pixelated design. I’ll let those of you who haven’t seen this type of T-shirt before into a secret: the key is in the colours.
Those are my favourite T-shirts. I hope you liked them.
[Supplementary note: I’m not sure these actually are my favourite T-shirts, but they’re the first ones that sprang to mind that were vaguely interesting. I have a lot of T-shirts. Maybe if this post proves popular I’ll share some more. Won’t that be nice? Yes, yes it will. Now I am going to bed. Good night.]