Shirt.Woot

For some reason I thought there were no more royal blue AA shirts, after the popularity of Bazinga!

(But this is NOT a complaint!)

Bought one and took a screenshot of the sizing chart in case it arrives on Anvil instead.

Someone should send one to Capt. Francesco Schettino.

Pretty tasteless, even for you guys.

Congrats Wences!

This may be the first time the write up made me less inclined to buy the shirt.

I do love the college rule paper ship though.

... and, hey, it's topical!

but definitely not tropical.

I thought it was fairly obvious that the grasshopper playing the violin was a reference to James and the Giant Peach. A Titanic x JatGP crossover, I guess?

I thought it was very cute, but I can't see myself buying this now that I know so many find it distasteful.

adorable art work made for the titantic, but it's hard for me to relate it to titantic though... the theme isn't strong enough

/me hums "Nearer, My God, to Thee"

This has nothing on the horrible cartoon Titanic movies with the rapping dog and magic dolphin-summoning tears.

Even the write up makes me teary-eyed.

Crickets are excellent swimmers. Anyone who has fished before knows this. Also, crickets have 6 appendages. This could be a larva?

Congrats walmazan, I love the cricket's forlorn expression!

If not, I'm sure in the 3-D Reckoning it will be adjusted accordingly.

Congrats Wences , really nice!

Draithy wrote:So, what you're saying with "chirp, Rose, chirp" is that the sound of her calling the lifeboat in this version won't change?

The title and writeup are amusing with the image, but (for me, personal opinion) this is one of those shirts that doesn't seem like it'd be as funny on its own, out in public, unexplained...

My parents are going on an Alaskan cruise, is it funny to wear then?

I bet that cricket is really regretting upgrading to a giant peach now.

What is wrong with a bit of melancholy and whimsy? It's not like we are stragers to that here, are we? Weren't there a few robot designs in recent memory that evoked such a thing? People need to relax a bit about the Titanic riff. The theme was animals re-enact history (pre-1970) and he did just that.

Wences designs are always worth a smile, and a purchase.

In for one.

That reminds me:
What do you get when you cross the Atlantic with the Titanic?

About halfway.

*badap ching*

I have to add myself to those saying this is in poor taste. The art is beautiful, but a tragedy like this isn't food for jokes. Would we think it was so cute if he were floating on tsunami debris? Jumping from a high floor in the twin towers? Buried under tornado rubble in Joplin? I enjoy dark humor, but it rides a thin line, and in my opinion this one is over that line.

ellegee wrote:I have to add myself to those saying this is in poor taste. The art is beautiful, but a tragedy like this isn't food for jokes. Would we think it was so cute if he were floating on tsunami debris? Jumping from a high floor in the twin towers? Buried under tornado rubble in Joplin? I enjoy dark humor, but it rides a thin line, and in my opinion this one is over that line.

The difference to me is that those people would still be alive. The Titanic was long enough ago that every victim would've lived their full and natural life by now.

But doesn't it make you a little queasy to imagine people making 9/11 jokes 100 years from now? It does me. Like I said, it's just my sensitivity and the art is beautiful. To each his own, just adding my two cents to the discussion.

If this shirt would have gotten 3rd place in the derby, it would have come out 100 years to the day it went down.

Cute, but too morbid for me. Especially considering the anniversary of the Titanic tomorrow, I find this all too inappropriate. I really hope they don't make shirts with cute bugs falling to their death from paper skyscrapers 100 years from now around 9/11. Maybe I'm too sensitive? Or, perhaps, are people too insensitive?

cmillard1 wrote:The difference to me is that those people would still be alive. The Titanic was long enough ago that every victim would've lived their full and natural life by now.

So are you saying that about 30 years from now, around holocaust remembrance day, it will be acceptable to have a shirt with cute cartoon families being rounded up and killed in a gas chamber?

With all due respect, I hope you see that your argument is flawed.

I'm just surprised that woot condoned a shirt with this degree of dark humor, around 4/15 no less.

Dwass wrote:Maybe I'm too sensitive?

I'm going to go with this. I really don't understand the negative reactions to this design, because I don't see it either denying or celebrating the tragedy. The trouble with the 9/11 comparison is that this shirt is not portraying bugs freezing in the open ocean or drowning below decks. It is "reenacting" a moment of noble, even stoic acceptance.

holothuria wrote:I'm going to go with this. I really don't understand the negative reactions to this design, because I don't see it either denying or celebrating the tragedy. The trouble with the 9/11 comparison is that this shirt is not portraying bugs freezing in the open ocean or drowning below decks. It is "reenacting" a moment of noble, even stoic acceptance.

^This.

walmazan wrote:^This.

Ditto.

Also, I don't think one can really compare an accident (like Titanic) with an act of terrorism and/or mass murder (like 9/11 or the Holocaust).

Maybe some of the jokes are in poor taste, but I actually find the shirt to be quite touching.

Dwass wrote:So are you saying that about 30 years from now, around holocaust remembrance day, it will be acceptable to have a shirt with cute cartoon families being rounded up and killed in a gas chamber?

Like it or not, the people boarding the Titanic knew the risks of transoceanic travel and chose to do so (as noted above, it was an accident). So no, it's not comparable.

Edit: Also, as noted by a few others, the particular scene is something that needs to be taken into consideration.

Personally I see nothing wrong with this shirt on the eve of the 100th anniversary of the tragedy. What Wallace Hartley and his fellow band members did, continuing to play as the ship went down, captured not only the minds of those who survived (and debated what song they last played) but everyone who has ever studied it or were fascinated by this event in history. Comparing it to 9/11 is both unfair and unnecessary, a maritime accident is much, much different than a terrorist act. If this were a cricket in a German U-Boat, would we still be debating it?

My problem with today's shirt isn't the Titanic theme in general, but the intentional timing of releasing it on the 100th anniversary of the disaster. Any other day wouldn't get a rise out of me, but today deserves a little respect for 1500 people who tragically lost their lives in perhaps the most horrific way imaginable. And if respect is too much to ask for, ignorance would be better than jest.

Additionally, it doesn't matter if the Titanic and 9/11 were caused by different motives. The victims in both were innocents who merit some basic dignity on one day out of the century.

elmadore wrote:My problem with today's shirt isn't the Titanic theme in general, but the intentional timing of releasing it on the 100th anniversary of the disaster.

Blame the voters for putting it in second place, not Woot releasing it.

This is no different than when Fiery Autumn Colors printed, which was right after we had some serious wildfires here in California. It was all coincidence.

Even to this day, icebergs are still an issue.

It's not like this paper boat was shaped like the Titanic. Correspond the two if you wish; I don't see it that way.

Bad taste.

deltax20a wrote:Comparing it to 9/11 is both unfair and unnecessary, a maritime accident is much, much different than a terrorist act.

Exactly!!!

But if someone finds it offensive anyway, simply don't buy or wear it....unless you prefer to call for active censorship in this country. And if that's the case, well....Ray Bradbury wrote a book about people of that mindset. Personally, I'd much rather avoid that future than march toward it. But maybe that's just me. *shrug*

If you appreciate the positive aspects of this design (as pointed out very nicely a few posts above by holothuria, cmillard1, deltax20a, and Narfcake), then buy it and wear it proudly. Simple.

I just have to wonder.....

How many of the people who think this shirt is inappropriate watched and laughed at the movie Airplane! (Leslie Nielsen) even though major plane crash disasters had occurred in the past?...or was that movie inappropriate in your view, too?

Debut day: 397, on a mix of AA for men/women and imported Anvil for kids.

My order, #398 was after midnight. On purpose.

First Day Sales: a little less then 398

Last wooter to woot: blakeedwards1015
Last purchase time: Saturday, April 14, 2012, 11:58:08 PM Central Time
Order pace: 3m 37.350s
Woot wage: $3,754.88
Woots sold: 397

Last wooter to woot: Narfcake
Last purchase time: Sunday, April 15, 2012, 12:02:22 AM Central Time
Order pace: 3m 37.441s
Woot wage: $3,743.87
Woots sold: 398


first day sales 397
first second day sales with $2 to the artist to Narfcake

deltax20a wrote:Personally I see nothing wrong with this shirt on the eve of the 100th anniversary of the tragedy.

I agree 100%, as long as I am able to ignore the fact that over 1,500 people died. For me, however, that's just too big a pill to swallow.

deltax20a wrote:If this were a cricket in a German U-Boat, would we still be debating it?

A soldier is not a civilian or what we would consider an innocent person, so that analogy doesn't quite work, but I see what you are saying.

There is always a risk in using an analogy.

In my humble opinion, when innocent men, women, and children die, it is a horrible disaster. Regardless of how much time has passed, I (personally) feel respect must be paid.

As a side note:

Had this shirt come out even a month from now, under a different theme (perhaps, a generic humbling theme), sans the ice cubes, I would see no issue with this shirt design. Heck, I'd probably buy it.

The artist is VERY talented and the image is beautiful. However, its timing and parallel to one of the deadliest peacetime maritime disasters in history is just bad taste.

I respect everyone's opinion and I apologize if I have offended anyone, including the artist or woot.

I love Walzaman designs. I love blue. I like that it's on AA. However, I just can't wear a shirt that references so much tragedy.