More Awesome Than You!

Pescado hates the idea of official MATY and PMBD T-shirts, but we're going to go ahead and do it anyway.  I bet he won't object to the money it makes.  :P 

Contest rules:

• 1.  You enter ANONYMOUSLY.  Send the image to me via PM and I will post it for you, just like the MATY Secrets thread.  We're voting based on marketable images, not favoritism.
  
• 2.  Make your image the right size.  Check out the Zazzle guidelines (http://www.zazzle.com/mk/custom/guidefiles); in general, if you make the image around 2000x2000 pixels, it's about right for shirts and can be scaled down to fit other things.  Feel free to submit one or two variations for truly odd shapes like coffee mugs and circular stickers and magnets.  (No more than 3 variations per image, please, but you can submit as many different images as you like.)  I will scale your image down for web viewing and voting at MATY.  PNG format only, please.
  
• 3.  Do not submit copyrighted images.  For instance, a design based on the lot debugger shouldn't show the Batman symbol clearly.  You also may not submit goatse, the butthole secret, or other images that Zazzle won't print for us.
  
• 4.  Submit it within 3 weeks!  In Malaysian time, it is now August 19, almost 5am.  Submissions will no longer be accepted after 5am on September 9th.
  
• 5.  We are doing this as a fundraiser.  If you submit an image, you are giving up all copyright to it and agree to allow MATY to keep it forever and make all the profits from it, for the purpose of keeping the servers running.
  
• 6.  Once the submission period has ended, I will create a voting thread -- more than one if we have too many entries.  We will have a week to vote on our favorite images, and the winners will be chosen for the store.  (It will probably be the top 5 or 6.)  The identities of the winners will be announced after voting has closed, unless they choose to remain anonymous.
  
• 7.  Prizes are To Be Determined; it will probably be a free month's subscription.  Do it for the notoriety or the lulz!
  

Sound good?  Send in your art!  I'll post them as they come for commentary.

Is Trogdor copyrighted?

I would totally buy a t-shirt with my meanface on it. Are images from Awesomeland fair game?

I don't know, but I assume yes.  If in doubt, look it up before creating your image.


Yes! 

Also, pure text is okay, although it needs to be in a graphic format of the appropriate size.

Slogans? How about "More Awesome than Your Mom"?

Send it in.  I did think of one problem with screenshots, though: no one plays at a high enough resolution for the image sizes we need.  It might be okay on a sticker or something else small.

Trogdor and all his likenesses are copyrighted by the creators of homestarrunner.com.

Since many PMBDers don't come over here (and vice versa for MATYians over there, I suppose) would it be Ok for me to post a link to this contest over at PMBD or perhaps you could start a thread there?

How much meat do we win? Can I have sum meat PLZ?

I thought this was a contest for designing the site and I almost pooped myself. Whew.

Hecubus said she would handle announcing it at PMBD.  The contest will run here, but PMBD submissions are welcome and encouraged.

Excellent! Thank you and Hecubus.

Yes, sorry...am just getting the PMBD version posted now. I'm sending everyone here to post and vote; it'll be easier, methinks.

Oh, right, you want to rule the universe, but the actual responsibility is just so inconvenient.

Technically, the ideal MATY merchandise would be a hoodie with a skin-coloured cowl and a large beard printed down the front.

The thread has been moved from Retardo Land so that PMBD people can see it even if they've never posted here.

So, here's an example of what an entry should look like.  (Ugly, yes, but it's just an example.)  You're seeing the reduced-size sample.  Click on it and look at the original, which has a width of 2100 pixels, the recommended width of a horizontal t-shirt.  It's a transparent png, which means that it can be used on both white and dark shirts without being shaped like a rectangle.  The edges are sharp with no softening or blurring, which means that it can be printed on black without leaving a white edge.  I will be commenting on the technical value of each design as I post it.

(http://moreawesomethanyou.com/bastdawn/designcontest/minisample-contest.png) (http://moreawesomethanyou.com/bastdawn/designcontest/contestsample.png)

But you can draw your own. They provided step by step instructions specifically for drawing your own.

I would totally buy a MATY/PMBD shirt. Can't wait to see what people come up with! :D

We need a burninated peasants one.

By the way - when you're working on designs, keep in mind what they should be printed on; what fits on a bumper sticker won't look right on a mug. (Zazzle has a cool photo cutout thing we could put images on - I think Pirate Pescado (from the PMBD front page) might be cool on something like that. To see the variety of items we can put these designs on, check out www.zazzle.com.

True, but that's not the same as giving up copyright or allowing commercial use of hand-drawn reproductions.  However, if anyone wants to email the site for legal permission, go for it.


That's in rule #2.   :P

You can't copyright someone else's drawing, even if it looks like yours. They might be able to trademark the name "Trogdor", but it is impossible to copyright the concept of a badly-drawn one-armed dragon.

Any thoughts about appropriateness and all that? I'd love a Retard-oh coffee cup, with the actual card shown.

As long as the comic I purloined it from isn't visible, that should be kosher. As Pescado said, you cannot copyright a BINGO card.

We've got our first entry!  I'm told the logo is the anarchist cat (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anarchist_symbolism#Black_cat) and there are several text variations to choose from.  When it comes to voting, I'll pick two or three slogans to go with the image, so comments on favorite slogans are welcome. 

The large-size images for this entry are nice and huge.  They do have some semi-transparent edges, but the image is only appropriate for printing on white and thus it doesn't matter.  If this design wins, I will work with the artist to make a variant with a shaped white background with no soft edges so it can be printed on black shirts as well.

(http://moreawesomethanyou.com/bastdawn/designcontest/anarchy-matycat-weblogo.png)            (http://moreawesomethanyou.com/bastdawn/designcontest/anarchy-pmdbcat-tee.png)
(http://moreawesomethanyou.com/bastdawn/designcontest/anarchy-template.png)

The woolprop thing is a Twainism and is therefore unacceptable.

It would be nice to stick to MATY catchphrases. Internets: srs business and woolprop are old meme/from elsewhere.

I wondered what that was.   :P

Should it not be MATY/PMBD?

PMBD sucks quite hard, though. Do they have any catchphrases that are not made of lose? No? Thought not.

Oh yeah. While I don't quite share my esteemed colleague's sentiment of the place, I assume some MATYians don't know any catchphrases from there. But I assume there is a concurrent thread there, so do we need to fall all over ourselves to be inclusive here?

I like the anarchist kitty/MATY version without the catchphrases, would look great on a t-shirt and would work well on smaller items too.

Yes, but then it is only the anarchist kitty, and you will look like an anarchist. Which is fine if you want to, but it has nothing to do with MATY without the MATY catchphrases.

Our next entry is another one that will look best on a white background, given the black lettering and the semi-transparent edges.  It is the correct size for a vertical t-shirt design and is technically well done.

(http://moreawesomethanyou.com/bastdawn/designcontest/flyingfish.png)

I like the fish one.

Ah, this looks like the design that Pescado wanted for FFS. It's cool because the words make it kind of obscure and geeky, and it has a nice image.

Overall, this one tickles my mouth like lavender bubbles.

/Iron Chef judge

Reminds me of Burger & Fries, The World's Angriest Cat, actually, except Burger is orange and stripey and is so Angry that he appears to lack ears.

99% More offensive to Wiccans.  Nice - I vote for that one.

So perhaps my feeble little brain has missed it, but are peoples from PMBD creating their OWN images for that website or are we all trying to come up with a unified logo/image? 

I don't care either way, as I frequent both sites.

This thread is for the denizens of both sites, and images may use either or both sites as inspiration.  It's a free-for-all.  There will be more than one winner, so while a unified logo is fine, it is not necessary.

I'd say that a good MATY logo would a Sims 2 symbol. Held together with duct tape and wire. A good PMBD would logo would be a TSR logo with a cannonball punching through it from behind.

Would we be allowed to use the Sims 2 logo, though? If so, I have an awesome idea.

Dr. Pepper came out my nose when I read that! For PMBD, how about "Moar Coconut" or "pissing off atwat since 2006." "Don't ever pay for booty!" I think the last one is funny, mostly because only people who play the sims would get it.

For PMBD, I'd suggest something based on Carla Niven's stuff, but Zazzle would probably charge extra for wear and tear on their staff's eyes.

I'm invisioning sim Pescado, in the pirate hat, with his prehensile beard strangling EAxis to death, whilst kittens sleep safely inside it(the beard, I mean).

My paintshop skillz are not strong enough.

I don't have any skillz for making an image to submit...but what about shirts/bumper stickers/etc. with a pair of ripped lips?

One could use SaraMK's icons (http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/smf/index.php/topic,4629.0.html), but the extracted images are too small for printing purposes. Perhaps ray-tracing the icons and enlarging the resulting image could do the trick.

EA didn't copyright the plumbob, did they? That might be a good alternative.

Also, if anyone wants me to, I can try to update the Retar-doh card. It was from a period of time that the grammar police was under heavy fire. We also had a different variety of Tards then. I will take PM suggestions. Also, if anyone wants to make their own, I do not mind.

Ditto. I would totally buy something with that on it.

I am amused by the TS2 logo held together with duct tape and wire but I really would be loathe to wear anything with their logo on it at all.

/me votes for a Retar-doh poster.

Okay, we've got a set based on suggestions made earlier in the thread.  These will print well on white, but the PMBD logo will not be printable on black at all due to the transparency, white the MATY logo would probably be okay if the lettering were switched to white (not hard at all).  They are both appropriately sized. 

(http://moreawesomethanyou.com/bastdawn/designcontest/MATYlogo-mini.png)    (http://moreawesomethanyou.com/bastdawn/designcontest/PMBDlogo-mini.png)

I would buy a t-shirt with both of these last 2 images.. one on the front (maty) and one on the back (pmbd) .. or even just a bumper sticker with those on it/one of each.  Now I'm wondering about pc skins/stickers.. that would be awesome!

They can't, in any event. Our usage of it is a legitimate work of parody and review.

You've been sussing this copyright shit out, haven't you?   :P

This one is not a transparent image, but it doesn't need to be.  It's the correct size for a vertical t-shirt design, and is technically well done.  If others have been working on this image as well, variants will still be accepted.

(http://moreawesomethanyou.com/bastdawn/designcontest/retardoh-mini.png)

It's also an obvious knockoff of the original webcomic version, so ixnay on that.

Also, previous version was funnier.

 The biggest thing our latest entry has in common with the webcomic version is the color, and that can be changed in about 10 seconds or less.   :P  I edited it myself, but will put up a different edit if the designer wants to send one to me:

(http://moreawesomethanyou.com/bastdawn/designcontest/retardoh-mini2.png)

If that's still too similar, there are lots of other ways to design a bingo card if anyone else wants to have a go at it.

http://www.plan-the-perfect-baby-shower.com/images/BabyShowerBingoCard5.jpg (http://www.plan-the-perfect-baby-shower.com/images/BabyShowerBingoCard5.jpg)
http://skeptico.blogs.com/photos/uncategorized/2007/09/23/id_bingo_card_2.jpg (http://skeptico.blogs.com/photos/uncategorized/2007/09/23/id_bingo_card_2.jpg)
http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t64/KateFitzsimons/GWOG/QueerComicsBingoCard.jpg (http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t64/KateFitzsimons/GWOG/QueerComicsBingoCard.jpg)
http://www.rockstarbingo.ca/images/index/bingoCard.jpg (http://www.rockstarbingo.ca/images/index/bingoCard.jpg)
http://media.arstechnica.com/staff/fatbits.media/wwdc-bingo.jpg (http://media.arstechnica.com/staff/fatbits.media/wwdc-bingo.jpg)

This is a tricky one. I love the Retardo cards, but it might be too small on a mug and if it's on your teeshirt, you know that mouthbreathers are going to want to lean in way too close to read the little boxes. And if your shirt is hard to read, then what's the point?

Might work well on a mousepad!

Ooh, do want mousepad! I could keep pennies around on my desk, and whenever a Tard shows itself, I can have a quick go at some Re-Tar-Doh!

Make it a laminated dry-erase mouse pad and all you need is a whiteboard marker.

FFS shirt for the win, and I'd totally buy a mousepad with the RETAR-doh! bingo card on it.

MOAR submissions!  These two are hand-drawn pencil sketches, submitted as JPG files.  I disapprove of JPGs because they always have image quality degradation; if you can't manage a PNG, send me a BMP instead and I'll convert it.  The size is also too small -- only 1600x1219 pixels, and that includes all the empty space around the image.  The edges of the text look bad due to the data loss from the JPG format, and it's only going to get worse if the image has to be sized up.  I don't approve of the lack of contrast on the black image, either; it's too hard to see the image.  On the plus side, the artist tells me that it will probably be re-entered in better quality later.  Now is a great time to tear it apart to encourage a better incarnation!

(http://moreawesomethanyou.com/bastdawn/designcontest/trogsketchwhite-small.png)    (http://moreawesomethanyou.com/bastdawn/designcontest/trogsketchblack-small.png)

I suggest thicker, completely solid lines in gray #808080 for contrast on both white and black, with everything scanned in larger, on a transparent background (allowing the same image to be used on both black and white) and PNG FORMAT!

I'm double posting because this is a separate entry by a different person.  However, it has all of the same problems as the previous entry: too small (this is FULL SIZE!), crappy JPG with obvious image degradation, and too small for a t-shirt, mousepad, or anything other than a coffee mug or sticker.  Did I mention that it's too small?  Screenshots don't make good shirt images!

(http://moreawesomethanyou.com/bastdawn/designcontest/pescadocutout-contest.jpg)

Edit:  I've been informed that there is a much larger, better version of this sitting on the artist's hard drive.  It is not on MY hard drive.  Be forewarned: technical judgment is passed on what I actually get!  If I get the good version, I will post a new review.

So far I think the FFS logo is my favourite.

I'd totally buy a "Have you arr'd today" coffee mug and a TSR t-shirt.

More entries!  These are the correct size.   All lettering and design elements are outlined in white, which means the designs will look great on both white AND black shirts.  The edges are not sharp (just like every other entry so far), but that's just fine because all the edges are white and thus the result on black will still look great. 

(http://moreawesomethanyou.com/bastdawn/designcontest/paysites-have-you-arrd-mini.png)     (http://moreawesomethanyou.com/bastdawn/designcontest/paysites-keeping-cc-free-mini.png)

(http://moreawesomethanyou.com/bastdawn/designcontest/didnt_you_soup-black-mini.png)

This one is a coffee mug -- note how the design wraps around:
(http://moreawesomethanyou.com/bastdawn/designcontest/didntyousoup-mug-mini.png)

This entry is designed for the front and back of a black t-shirt.  Personally, I would also like to see it outlined in black for use on a white shirt.  It's a nicely huge size (over 4000 pixels on the widest dimension).  The edges are not sharp, but on a simple design like this that can be fixed easily.  Overall, it gets my thumbs up for technical execution.

(http://moreawesomethanyou.com/bastdawn/designcontest/spork-mini.png)

(http://moreawesomethanyou.com/bastdawn/designcontest/sporkback-mini.png)

I love that one!

Nice!
I really like the soup one too, especially on a coffee mug.

Soup mug is excellent. I also like the spork.

Why a spork, cousin? Why not a knife... or fork?

*BastDawn sporks Jelenedra


New stuff!  These are coffee mug designs.  The size is good and the technical quality is high.

(http://moreawesomethanyou.com/bastdawn/designcontest/macrocoffee.png)

---------------------------

(http://moreawesomethanyou.com/bastdawn/designcontest/arrdmug-maty-mini.png)

---------------------------

(http://moreawesomethanyou.com/bastdawn/designcontest/arrdmug-pmbd-mini.png)

I would totally buy the Macro->Caffeinate cup, except that it's missing the e, which is not awesome.

No, it's spelled correctly.

The noun caffeine, and the adjective caffeinated, have the 'e', but the comical verb, caffinate, doesn't.

It just doesn't look right.

Well, Caffinate with just the i looks wrong to me, and dictionary.com thinks neither is a word.  I guess it depends on how JMP spelt it in-game, and off-hand I can't remember.

ETA: I just checked, and it is spelled with the e in the rtfm.

*waves hand mysteriously  These are not the spelling errors you are looking for. (The artist sent me the fix.)

New stuff!  Large size, black text on the one item can easily be switched to white for printing on black, and thus both meet my expectations.

(http://moreawesomethanyou.com/bastdawn/designcontest/bluesoup-mini.png)

--------------------------

(http://moreawesomethanyou.com/bastdawn/designcontest/MATYfight-mini.png)

I like the moar fight one :D

I sware, if people persist in caffeine, ur spelling it wrong, there is going to be a Grammar Police 50 lashes shirt. I before E except in caffeine. Jeebus.

Also, stop spelling 'weird' weirdly. It is 'weird,' not 'wierd.'

Indeed they did. Corrections, thur doin' it rong.

Correcting your error and still getting it wrong? Good job! Good job phailing!  ::)

There should be a Grammar Police shirt. "To correct and ridicule!"

Edit: I phail at changing font size and using the preview feature.

* Sporks self.

Grammar Police never stops weilding its authority!

If you guys need pirate-like fonts for the designs, there are a few of them here: http://moorstation.org/typoasis/pirates/index.htm (http://moorstation.org/typoasis/pirates/index.htm). Some of them include custom graphics (aka dingbats), but there may be some copyright restrictions to its use.

I like the MOAR FIGHT ideas.  The "Didn't You Soup?" idea also has its attraction, but I think it's too obscure publicly.  After all, I think most of the people that see the t-shirt, other than the person wearing it, will not be MATY people, or (gods forfend) TS2 players.  I'm imagining a constant barrage of questions from the uninitiated, followed by me having to embark on a "macro-->explain" that will stomp all other items in my queue.  MOAR FIGHT! has better curb acceptance, IMO.

*rimshot*

You people seek only to provoke now.

Love the moar fight spork.

2nd jolrei's comment. I have never met another TS2 player in real life, that I know of.

Neither have I, moonsingingfreak. I'm starting to think you're all the same person. Every one of you.

Oh I have. There's this student. She was told by one of my workmates that I play. Now it's all, "how are your sims today?" And she keeps asking me what to do everytime her game crashes or borks. I haven't sent her here 'cos I don't want her here. She's a sheeple and is mostly concerned with little nuclear families that make endless twins. Then she drowns them in the swimming pool. She has trouble keeping pregnant sims alive.

Recently I've been telling her I haven't played for some time. "Some time" being about 8-12 hours in my head.

I see. Maybe I don't want to meet any simmers in non-internets world.

No. You really don't. lol
Husband's brother - a 12 (thirteen) - plays, too. Yeah, he buys most of the EPs that I'm using, but the thing is.. he comes to me with every glitch and assloads of "blueprints" for houses he'd like me to make for him. While he lived with us, I had the cringe-inducing pleasure of watching him do things like adding the Therapist to families, force sims to drown in the dirt (that one WAS pretty funny, though) and delete occupied lots.

I only know of one - daughter of a colleague at work.  I did not let on that I play and have no intention of telling any TS2 player that I might meet IRL that I frequent MATY.  They might expect me to be nice to them, and then where would we be?

The macro coffee mug has been fixed yet again, hopefully for the last time.  Someone send me a Grammar Police design!

I've met other Sims 2 players IRL. Like my sister, who does cringe worthy things and wonders how I fixed her game without teh EVUL HAX (I told her I "tweaked the settings" when I ninja'd the FT DC into her game :D).

I've met other players in real life....the bunny who taught in the classroom next door to mine, and the guy I'm dating had to kill.

This design is FAIL due to the small size -- it's a mere screenshot, the widest dimension only 1024 pixels.  It will also print as an exact rectangle, which is a boring shape on a shirt.  However, it might be okay on a coffee mug.  Does anyone here drink wine in a mug?

(http://moreawesomethanyou.com/bastdawn/designcontest/CheeseWhine-mini.png)

New and improved!  Now the shape is better, but the size is still too small. and the artist has figured out that Photobucket was resizing the images.  This image is properly sized, and the text looks good.

(http://moreawesomethanyou.com/bastdawn/designcontest/Cheeseagain-mini.png)

...However, proper sizing doesn't mean as much if you blow up the image and don't work over it again to clean it up.  I'm looking at the full size image at full resolution right now, and I see a lot of blurry pixelation.  It's possible to turn a screenshot into a printable image, but only if you go through a ton of painstaking effort to clean it up afterwards.  Here's a little snippet of what it looks like at full size:

(http://moreawesomethanyou.com/bastdawn/designcontest/cheesecloseup.png)

This artist gets a gold star from me for taking criticism in exactly the RIGHT way!  Check this out: the recommended size, beautiful clarity, and generally well done!  This design now looks good on white and amazing on black.

(http://moreawesomethanyou.com/bastdawn/designcontest/cheeseagain2-mini.png)  (http://moreawesomethanyou.com/bastdawn/designcontest/cheesewhine-black.png)

This is a full size sample:

(http://moreawesomethanyou.com/bastdawn/designcontest/cheesewhine-closeup2.png)

And look, the designer has filled up the bowl of Nasty Gray Dip ^(TM).  I like.

I love the plumbob! My only comment (and this is so not important it should most likely be ignored) is that perhaps the background of the circle encompassing it should be blue like the game logo? But either way, def my fave.

The plumbob is my favorite but I would only wear the shirt around the house. Wouldn't want to attract any Sim players IRL. I imagine I would buy one or two of them several sizes too big and use them for sleepwear. Nice and comfy.

What, you don't want to be a MATY missionary?  No proselytizing for Pescado?   ;D

My only thing with the plumbob one is that the borkeness of it needs to be moar obvious. As well was the fixings. We all know that it's not a little broke.

Also, it's a good coffee mug design, I think.

I was thinking the same thing. Maybe if it looked moar cracked and barely held together?

The plumbob should look moar cracked, yes! moar in need of repairs. :D

That's probably the one I'd buy the most. AND WEAR IN PUBLIC!

I'd buy both, but probably only wear the MATY one in public. I need real sim friends. Preferably other 24/30s.

One of my real life friends is constantly telling me about the boring stuff her sims do, she wants them all to get married and have babies. She uses the puppy killer to keep their moods static because it's more fun if they don't have to sleep. She maxes the skills out and doesn't let them age.

I do make sure she's up to date with the directors cut (friends don't let friends play with an unawesome game) and the puppy killer, and I listen to her stories about ZOMGTwinz, kittens and stuff.

I still want a RETARdoh! Bingo card mouse pad.

I probably wouldn't buy a shirt, whatever comes out of this, but would buy either a mouse pad or coffee cup. No shirt because I don't need more creepy kids following me around at school talking about games... (Yes, I have one now, sadly.)

I almost got one of my best friends into it. She would have been much more sadistic than I am. It would have been fun.

I concur with the "moar cracked!" consensus.

I wouldn't mind meeting a MATYian on the street, really. But not just a generic simmer. I have peered into the LJ void and it scarred me. So I say, only MATY-specific stuffs from me. I would buy a retardo mousepad.

Yeah, I'm still keen on a Retardo mousepad.

My mother used to sim, back when we were all still being enthralled with the first sims.  Since then, she has lost time/ability to play.  I think she'd get too frustrated with all the options and such offered in TS2.  Other than her, I don't know any simmers in RL.  I think if I ever met a MATYian on the street I would know right away; the scowl and multitude of sharp sticks are hard to miss.

I also prefer MATY related items.  Perhaps something with "Don't be a tard" on it somewhere....

Make it!!

I don't know; seems like the ultimate tardlick to me.   :D

See that's basically how I feel, I wouldn't mind meeting your average MATYer (unless it was Celestard or something :P ) but meeting a normal simmer, no thanks. (For about 95% of cases anyhow.) I actually did know some girls who played TS1 back in high school but they have long stopped playing. Then with TS2 I found out the head editor of the newspaper played, but she wasn't really into mods/CC or anything, and some other guy in the grade above me played but same story with him. The only people who were at all into it beyond just playing were the guys who made some of the early programs with me, and neither of them actually even PLAYED the game, which I always thought was hilarious. One of them has since disappeared from the face of the Earth, and the other is still working with me on an upcoming project. So yeah.

I would definitely buy the one about wiccans, and the one with "Moar Fight". Based on the entries so far, this is going to be very expensive for me. I can not resist "inside joke" merchandise, I still have my KOL shirts in regular rotation even though I haven't been to that site in almost a year. I suck at designing stuff, so I have a suggestion. How about hats? I have that kinky, curly, uncooperative kind of hair, and hats are a staple in my wardrobe. Something simple, maybe text-only would be so awesome. I think that would work great for some of the more "You had to be there" quotes.

Off topic: I only know one other simmer in real life, and sadly she is a sheeple, but she's the one who turned me on to the game in the first place, when she loaned me her copy of Bustin' Out for Gamecube. Before that, I had no idea what a "Sim" was. She only owns the base game for PC, and prefers to play the watered down versions on consoles. And she thinks custom content is just awful because if these "creators" were any good, they'd work for EA, instead of hiding on the internet. Yeah, I know, but she's my best friend, so what can you do?

I don't know about non-tacky hats (Cafe' Press has yucky baseball and trucker hats I wouldn't EVER wear, because they are cheap and gross), but Zazzle apparently has started offering Keds shoes (plimsolls, tennies, trainers, sneakers, whatever you call them) with your design imprinted.

OMG Shoes? Now there's an awesome idea. We could have shoes with our MATY enemies on the toes, so then whenever you kicked people IRL, you would be kicking them as well.

Also, I notice zazzle has totes and skateboards you can put your design on. In Soviet Russia, Skateboard rides you!

This design is really a bit too small, at only 1600 pixels on the widest side.  Further, it was submitted in a GIF format with a transparency setting that does not play nice in my copy of Paintshop Pro at all.  However, I've sure we can overlook the technical shortcomings, as the image is truly a masterpiece.

(http://moreawesomethanyou.com/bastdawn/designcontest/moreawesome-handwritten.png)

New entry!  This one is on the small side, at only around 1700 pixels on the widest side.  Other than that, it is technically very well done.

(http://moreawesomethanyou.com/bastdawn/designcontest/pirateship-mini.png)

Time's up!  I will be creating the voting thread shortly.  Thanks to everyone who submitted a design!