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Red Shirt insignia depicts the fate of all redshirts

Cory Doctorow at 11:04 am Thu, Sep 29, 2011

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Love this Ian Leino Red Shirt t-shirt design, whose Star Trek insignia bears a frank and unmistakable icon depicting the fate of all redshirts in the landing party.

(via Making Light)

He's Dead Jim: T-Shirt [shop.ianleino.com]

I write books. My latest is a YA science fiction novel called Homeland (it's the sequel to Little Brother). More books: Rapture of the Nerds (a novel, with Charlie Stross); With a Little Help (short stories); and The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow (novella and nonfic). I speak all over the place and I tweet and tumble, too.

MORE:  Copyfight • fashion • Funny • Happy Mutants • science fiction • star trek • t-shirt

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  • Andrew Singleton

    That is so on my grab list. Thanks Cory!

  • Brainspore

    In the list of risk factors on the back they left out “transformed into a styrofoam cuboctahedron and crushed into dust” as happened to Yeoman Thompson (S2E22, “By Any Other Name”). Although technically I guess that was more of a red miniskirt.

  • waetherman

    Graphic reminds me of a Mark Frauenfelder one I’ve seen….

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1062164375 Ian Leino

    Awesome, thanks for the post Cory! I’ve been a long time BoingBoing reader, and it was *quite* an amazing surprise to see on of my designs featured here!

  • Fnordius

    Actually, the blue shirts bought it almost just as often (“Man Trap” and “Galileo 7″ spring to mind). Which makes sense, as they were scientists, not marines.

  • penguinchris

    So is it generally considered cool, in the legal sense (not in the philosophical sense where of course it’s cool), to sell designs like this?

    I’ve been working on some shirt designs myself, and have avoided making references (direct, as in this case, or more subtle) to pre-existing things – though I’ve had plenty of ideas, especially for Doctor Who designs.

    Also, Ian – where do you get your shirts printed (with gold metallic ink, no less) that you can sell them for $20?

    • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1062164375 Ian Leino

      I have these printed locally at a print shop here in Asheville, NC – http://www.image420.com. They do great work!

  • peregrinus

    aaahh Obsession.  So many of them buy it.  Naughty vampire cloudy thing “60 cubic metres” “20 yards away” “I hesitated” (I didn’t die because I was intrinsic to the closing sequence demonstrating Kirk’s coolness).

  • Zulia

    Franklin Ajaye used to do a routine about  that – he kind of combined the fate of red shirts with fate of black bit players or black side kicks.  Paraphrase:  The brother’s a cube. 

  • GregS

    This is a great design, and it would be even better if it was also available on a long-sleeved T-shirt, so as to look more like the actual shirts in Star Trek.

    • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1062164375 Ian Leino

      Thanks Greg! I looked *everywhere* for a long sleeve shirt, and these red/black ringers were the closest that I could find.

  • thepolishpen

    Here’s hoping some Klingon-dictionary-weilding-psycho-nerd-fanatic doesn’t see someone wearing this shirt and give ‘em a bat’leth to the head. (I think I’m still reeling from that Juggalo documentary I watched earlier — whoop, WHOOP!!).

  • Walks

    Great design! I did something similar, but not wearable, unfortunately:
    http://www.thinkgeek.com/homeoffice/posters/e670?srp=2

    I haven’t had any issues at all with CBS, who handle the rights and licensing for TOS.

  • UncaScrooge

    From an old Mad Magazine, sung to the tune of “Age of Aquarius”:

    When you’re traveling through the galaxy to distant worlds way past Mars
    Be sure that your adventures do not kill off your stars.
    And you can do it with a crew that’s expendable, a crew that’s expendable! Expendable! Expendable!
    Minor actors that you bring on perish when they meet a Klingon
    One-time players not seen later vanish in a planet’s crater.Those of us who try to aid them fail because the script has made them expendable!  Expendable!

  • http://twitter.com/mathewsheffield matthew piggwick

    Is it just me who wishes someone wrote or pictured the list big enough to be able to read it easily?