Monkey Island shirts fail to capitalize on the obvious

by Richard Mitchell { Jul 30th 2009 at 2:00AM }

Don't get us wrong, the Monkey Island shirt above is pretty boss (apart from the unnecessary game title on the sleeve). The Guybrush vs LeChuck shirt is pretty nice too. Hell, even the Monkey Island buttons are decent. But there are T-shirts just waiting to be made in the actual game. Where is the "I beat the Sword Master" T-shirt? What about the "I found the Treasure of Mêlée Island™ and all I got was this stupid T-shirt!" T-shirt?

Come on, LucasArts! Get with the program.

[Update: Apparently LucasArts is more on the ball than we initially gave them credit for ... you see, they did hand out "I found the Treasure of Mêlée Island™ and all I got was this stupid T-shirt!" t-shirts at E3 this year though, perhaps conspiratorially, your old pals at Joystiq here didn't get one. Our old pal Snorre, from Norway's Dagbladet newspaper, sent us a pic of his tee which we've included for you after the break. Alright, LucasArts. We give up. Uncle. Just take our money and give us the E3 tee.]

Tags: culture, lucasarts, merchandise, monkey-island

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

gaddes @ Jul 30th 2009 2:30AM

Uhm... could I get that shirt, but without the last drawing at the end?

Author X @ Jul 30th 2009 3:21AM

Sorry! You only get retro-game merchandise when a company updates the franchise, which means you only get merchandise that promotes said update. Not always the case, but usually.

That's probably why they're not making the pirate trials T-shirts - they can't find a way to make sure everyone that sees you wear it immediately knows it's a Monkey Island SPECIAL EDITION shirt.

Warlock @ Jul 30th 2009 9:42AM

My thoughts exactly. At the very least, replace it with the Tales version of Guybrush or something. There is no way I am buying anything with "buzz-cut Guybrush" on it.

mottey @ Jul 30th 2009 2:40AM

Totally agree! I wanted to buy a Monkey Island t-shirt in support of re-releasing their classic Lucasarts games but unfortunately I just don't like both that are available...

Why just two t-shirts... and a statue?!? Looks good and all but I have no room in my small apartment.

I picked up instead the "Rogue Leaders: The Story of LucasArts" book which was a great choice in the end.

Better than Sierra (well, Activision) and their region locked release of Space & Kings Quest collections on Steam... I can't even throw money at them to support releasing their classic games!

BPMOmega [GT,Steam] @ Jul 30th 2009 2:46AM

You mad?

MechaGamerX @ Jul 30th 2009 3:06AM

WTF @ Your avatar

BPMOmega [GT,Steam] @ Jul 30th 2009 3:13AM

It's Dawn with a knife. What's not to get?

Born2bwire @ Jul 30th 2009 3:40AM

Buttons? Excuse me, but where is the "Ask me about Loom(tm)" button? Damn you Lucasarts!

eldee @ Jul 30th 2009 3:41AM

i'd buy it if the updated guybrush wasn't on it, and the logo wasn't on the sleeve. it's a pretty cool shirt, still, but imo it looks too 'commercial' for my taste.

Dannybuoy @ Jul 30th 2009 4:05AM

I've made plenty of screen printed teeshirts before and was thinking this very thing yesterday [I beat the sword master] as I was playing through on my iphone. Home screen printing is very easy to get good results, you can buy kits with everything you need. If you go for the light activated screen agent you can simply print out your design on acetate, expose it for 20 mins or so on the screen with a standard tungsten light then wash off the unhardened screen agent in the shower (ooh that sounds kinky). et voila! There's your design. Now just squeegy some teeshirt ink through it and iron it once it's dried a bit you got yourself a mighty fine teeshirt. Once you get the hang of it you get professional looking teeshirts in no time. It's a really fun process and can recommend it! Maybe I should print some up and put them on ebay...

Caenicus @ Jul 30th 2009 4:29AM

Agreed. I want one that say "You fight like a dairy farmer."

aristokrat @ Jul 30th 2009 6:32AM

That's because I wanted to make you feel comfortable?

Dammit, I never knew when to use that one...

Shadsy @ Jul 30th 2009 2:23PM

Not even the three-headed monkey! Shame.

Daniel Cohen @ Jul 30th 2009 6:05AM

You can get all the decent monkey island t-shirts on cafepress luckily.

Brackynews @ Jul 30th 2009 6:10AM

Indeed they do have a Treasure of Melee Island shirt. You can happily buy it for your XBL avatar for a couple bucks once you get the system update. Me, I just went for the rubber chicken mit pulley prop. Also boss.

edweird @ Jul 30th 2009 6:29AM

How appropriate, you fight like a cash-cow.

Ok, I could have tried harder than that.

On MI shirts, it's retro or nothing for me. I'd possibly go for a shirt with the original's verb list and some inventory, or even a plain black one with a purple "Now turn your computer off and go to sleep!" on the back.

CtrlBurn @ Jul 30th 2009 8:10AM

Everyone seems to be forgetting the Lucas business model.

Step 1: Create completely awesome IP.

Step 2: Sell the crap out of things that are ALMOST what the consumers want.

Step 3: Never sell the consumers what they actually want, because then they'll stop buying stuff.

See the original Star Wars trilogy on DVD for reference.

dantebk @ Jul 30th 2009 9:22AM

They gave away "I found the treasure of Melee Island" etc. t-shirts at E3 to promote the Special Edition, so they do exist. Actually I'm wearing it right now, coincidentally enough. I don't know why they're not selling them on the store -- it seems like a home run.