Here are the latest styles for fandom’s dudes and dudettes.
John King Tarpinian has been keeping his eye on the trendsetters, or at least copying me on his junk mail, permitting File 770 to assist you in upgrading your convention wardrobe.
Forry Ackerman & Ray Bradbury Science Fiction Ringer T-shirt – $19.99 from Captainco
“You see that, young fans? Respect. Respect for these OGs gives character.” Design pictures Forry Ackerman with friend, Ray Bradbury, rocking their sci-fi ray guns.
Red Shirt Running Team – $28 from Human
I’m a proud member of the Starfleet Red Shirt running team. Where the motto is we probably won’t make it but darn it we’ll try anyway. Where would the blue and gold shirts be without us. Show some nerdy nostalgic humor in this nerdy fitness tank.
“Just Don’t Grow Up” t-shirt – $19.99 from Captainco
Greyscale Forrest J Ackerman with quote “you can grow older, just don’t grow up.”
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Then, at the very moment I am writing this, the minor league Durham Bulls are holding Game of Thrones Night in custom theme jerseys.
The team-worn jerseys are up for auction, $100 minimum bid. Here’s more detail, lifted from the team website.
We’re about to take it to a whole new level. On April 23, the Bulls of House Durham will host Game of Thrones Night. For the millions of fans of HBO’s mega-hit show and the readers of George R.R. Martin’s novels, this is your night. After all, the fantasy epic and baseball have a lot in common:
- Good guys & bad guys: we’re playing the Charlotte Knights on 4/23…yes, we did that on purpose.
- Awesome costumes: The Bulls will wear custom theme jerseys. We’re going to make you wait to see those (but trust us, they’ll be in more demand than dragon eggs).
- Plot twists: Lots of inning breaks means lots of GoT-themed entertainment. Some things you might expect, some you won’t.
- The Wall: Theirs is made of ice and keeps out the undead. Ours is made of blue-painted wood and keeps balls in play. Close enough.
- MLB Advanced Media: Baseball’s internet arm will power the HBO NOW streaming service (which will launch in time for Game of Thrones’ season five premiere) and it powers DurhamBulls.com. We’re cousins in technology.
- Lavish food & drink: Game of Thrones Night falls on a $1 concessions Thursday…you’ll feel as rich as a Lannister with all the $1 hot dogs you can buy. Plus, the DBAP’s selection of spirits rivals the finest outputs from the Arbor.
- Spirit animals: The Starks have dire wolves, we’ve got Wool E. Bull.
The major difference is, unlike the show or books, no major characters will meet their untimely demise during our event.
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From the looks of these *gaak* fashion statements, it looks like fakefans are copycatting mundanes in everybody wearing the same kind of gear as all other fans. In other words, people who follow fashion are not real fans. Real fans dress in whatever way they want to dress and TO HELL with what others wear. If Fashion wants to follow what a given fan is wearing, the given fan will not give a shit and he or she will certainly not be interested in wearing clothes similar to what other fans are wearing. In other words, fans are individualistic and are driven by their intellect, not by such fripperies as fashion. (Well, real fans are that way – but there are a lot of pseudo-fans populating our microcosm these days.)
So, Marty, are you going to administer the fandom purity test to the next person you see wearing a t-shirt you consider to be a marker of pseudo-fandom? Do they have to weigh more or less than a duck to pass? I can never keep that straight…
Obviously, you read what I wrote. Also, obviously, you did not fully understand what you read. I care not one whit what a person wears. If a person wears a t-shirt they like because they like it, fine. If they wear a t-shirt because it is the fashionable thing to do this shows that they are sheep rather than real fans.
In the late 70s there were red T-shirts available with a white bullseye on the back. Some things never change. On the plus side, the typography on the Red Shirt Running team is probably much better than what was available in the 70s.
I’ve been a fan of minor league baseball since I saw Bull Durham, so I like the idea behind the Game of Thrones night even if I’m not crazy about that jersey.
Marty, if that was sarcasm or irony, you missed. If it wasn’t, you still missed.
I think a BNF 5XL needs to be added to the above t-shirt selection.
My wife thinks I look stunning in a suit and tie. I still prefer t shirt and jeans.
The issue of t shirts is kind of odd and moot. Unless you make your own, they are mass produced. Still, you can probably search off the wall items. I recently found one with “The Ice Cream Man from Hell” on it.
It must be hard to be an individual wearing this year’s model t shirt., the ones all them other individuals picked to wear for the same reason you did–to provoke a laugh.
The Game of Thrones jerseys are actually pretty nice, compared to some of the other promotional jerseys out there (search for the Star Wars night C-3PO jersey if you want to see what I mean).
That said, I had to get one either way, because my wife (Campbell winner Mur Lafferty) was a partial inspiration for the evening. For a couple of seasons now, she’s been tweeting Durham Bulls games as if she were Sansa Stark at a tournament, and calling it Sansaball. A sample:
Single drives Belnome home! Ump calls him out! Hound leaps out and kills ump! Mass chaos! King screams for order! 2 outs. #sansaball