Indie Squid Kid

design by XiaoFei Li

It took me a second to get what was going on here. At first glance, what seems like the floating head of a Bugs Bunny-esque cartoon rabbit soon reveals itself to be a giant blue octopus gripping what I imagine must be a very startled diver. This guy takes the Mimic Octopus‘ M.O. and turns it up to eleven!

Currently available in all Guys and Girly sizes for $18. Buy it from Threadless.

Truthfully, I don’t plan to get this one because it isn’t really my style, but it’s always good to see a new cephalopod-themed shirt from Threadless.com!

This T-shirt design is by the same artist that did “Diver’s Haul” (featured last week), and it is up for voting on Threadless for ONE MORE DAY. So, if you want this to be a real shirt that you can buy with real money, GO VOTE NOW!

To see more works by Julie Dillon (both with and without tentacles), visit www.jdillon.net and her gallery at deviantART.

Tip o’ the tentacle to Jason of the Cephalopodcast for bringing this to my attention!

Today’s featured design appears to have two different names. The tank top is called “Squid Swarm,” but the identical design on a t-shirt is simply called “Squids.” Both are available only in Womens sizes in the colors shown. (Although they have a Mens shirt called “Squid Swarm,” it is actually a different design! But let’s save that for another post, shall we?)

"Sqiud Swarm" Tank|$25

“A reprint of a Squidfire classic on a green m￩lange racerback tank top. Tri-Blend (50% Polyester / 25% Cotton / 25% Rayon) construction.”

Buy now from Squidfire!

"Squids" T-shirt|$25

“A new look on a Squidfire classic. This three color print on an American Apparel purple shirt features a school of octopi [sic] lounging by some seaweed.”

Buy now from SquidFire!

One final observation…the cephalopods depicted on these shirts seem a little confused on whether they are squids or octopuses. They are torpedo-shaped like a squid, but they seem to be missing fins. Furthermore, they have eight arms, but there is no sign of the pair of long feeding tentacles found on most squid. They could, I suppose, be a type of Octopus Squid (like Taningia danae), but if that were the case, they should have really HUGE fins. Of course, I would know better than to be a nit-picky bio geek when in the company of lovely ladies such as these! Sure I do.

How is it that I’ve gone over two years without ever once mentioning the Illithids (aka, Mind Flayers), the betentacled humanoid monsters from Dungeons & Dragons? It’s a freaking travesty is what it is, and one that I intend to rectify RIGHT NOW.

A full Mind Flayer overview should probably be a topic for a separate post, so for now I will just say that these psionic monsters were invented by Gary Gygax for the original 1974 version of D&D, and they have been included in every edition of the iconic role playing game since (currently in its 4th Ed.).

“Mind Flayer” is one of several designs by ComfyCushion that take classic D&D monsters and present them as hypothetical team mascots. Others include: “Displacer Beasts,” “Umber Hulks,” “Owlbears,”, and “Gelatinous Cubes.” I kind of want them all, but then again, I am a tremendous nerd. It is a nerddom that know no bounds!

This particular shirt is Charcoal and comes in mens sizes from S to XXL. Buy it for $19.36 by clicking the MySoti link below…

design by thedansterwashere

You will believe a cephalopod can fly!

Hey, remember how the government said that 75% of oil spilled in the Gulf of Mexico had magically vanished in a puff of rainbow pixie dust? Well…it turns out that 70-79% of the oil is still there. You know, UNDER THE WATER. So yeah, if I were a jet-propelled, ink-producing invertebrate, I’m pretty sure I would try to figure out a way to get airborne and give surface-dwellers a taste of their own black, gloopy medicine.

“Air Defense” is $15.00 and comes in Mens, Womens, and Kids sizes. Buy it now from Shirt.Woot!

design by BeeryMethod

That surfer dude is totally staring at this lady’s chest. Or maybe he’s just noticed that they are both wearing the same shirt and he’s trying to decide if he should go home and change…

“Octo Coal” features a giant octopus lurking in the inky darkness of a Black 50/50 DBH Perfect Tee. It seems like those suckers should glow in the dark, but I don’t think they do.

The shirt is $19 and is, at present, sold out in all sizes but Mens XL. If that works for you, buy it now from DesignByHümans.

This shirt is ten kinds of awesome, but the name is not nearly descriptive enough. Personally, I would have gone with something like “Sharkopter Vs. Squidmersible.” But that’s just me.

Get it at Chris Yates’ store on TopatoCo.com for $18.75. It is available in Teal as both American Apparel Standard and Classic Girl tees. Supplies in most sizes are currently running low, so buy it now!

Visit Chris Yates Studios for more about the artist and his works.

Here are three delightful t-shirt designs by Hannah Moore via Kickstarter.com. They are named, respectively, “Secret Snail,” “Forbidden Love,” and “Inky Hearts.”

I would love to give you a link so you could buy them all right now, but there’s a catch—in order for these shirts to become a purchasable reality, a target funding goal needs to be met…and you can help make this happen!

The goal is to get at least $600 pledged by 2:59 am EDT on Monday, August 16. This amount covers the expense of getting a minimum order of each design printed and shipped. If that goal is met, all those that pledged will be rewarded for their generosity. Want a shirt? Pledge at least $20. Want all three shirts? Pledge $50. Basically, the more you give, the more cool stuff you get in return!

To back this project, click here.

To learn more about Kickstarter and how this all works, click here.

For more of Hannah’s art, visit Curious Zoology.

Yesterday was my birthday, and my brother-in-law Jeff got me this awesome shirt. I wore it to watch Inception, which is neither here nor there, but damn that was a cool movie.

Now, I know what you’re probably thinking…didn’t I already do a post about “Subway Squid?” Yes, yes I did.

However, this particular shirt was purchased from ThinkGeek, the online emporium of artifacts recovered from the cultural intersection of Hip and Nerdy. “Subway Squid” is their first piece of Gama-Go merch, and it comes in Black for $27.99 ($28.99 for XXL). Incidentally, it appears that this shirt is no longer available directly from Gama-Go.

Buy it now from ThinkGeek!

design by Matt Verges

Is there any kind of vehicle or animal that doesn’t look better with a giant squid wrapped around it? I’m pretty sure the answer is “NO.”

Sadly, this shirt is not for sale anymore…unless you have a time machine that can take you back to 2/15/2009. TeeFury.com sells a new shirt every day for the low, low price of $9…FOR ONE DAY ONLY. (The site’s tag line is “Tee today, gone tomorrow.”) This is similar to the Shirt.Woot! model, although Woot generally makes old designs available again for a slightly increased price.

If anyone out there has this shirt and would like to submit a photo of yourself or a willing vicitim wearing it, please send said photo via electronic mail to indiesquidkid@gmail.com. For that matter, if anyone out there has anything cephalopod related they’d like to see featured on the blog, send me a photo, and I’ll see what I can do. (I have an in with the editor.)