POLL – Vote For Your Favorite T-shirt Slogan!

What’s going on everyone?

A few people have asked me about getting new 6P t-shirts made in time for US Nationals, and I wasn’t originally planning on doing it… but I’ve caved in and want to hook you guys up!

I’ve already decided on the shirt design and Jordan B. from Sizable Lion is helping me out with the graphics. It’s based off a Joy Division t-shirt design that I’ve always thought looked really cool and wanted to buy… but I don’t actually listen to the band. Now I can wear a similar shirt and not feel like a total hipster!

I need your help though…

I’m having trouble decide what slogan/catchphrase is best for the shirt. I’ve brainstormed a ton of different ideas with the help of you guys on the forums and on Facebook. I’ve got my personal favorite, but I want to know what’s YOUR favorite. I’m not going to be the only one with a t-shirt after all…

Here is the original design so you know what we’re going off of:

Here are a couple quick sketches I drew up for Jordan:

And then here is the current design Jordan has come up:

Please give feedback on the design so far, it’s still being tinkered with. Jordan is also going to be drawing it up with bubble letters instead of the ripples and I’ll post that once he’s done so you can see how that looks.

The part that says CATCHY PHRASE will be replaced with one of these slogans on the real shirt:

  • UNOWN PLEASURES
  • SUPER EFFECTIVE / IT’S SUPER EFFECTIVE
  • I CHOOSE YOU
  • PKMN MASTERS
  • TOPDECK FTW / TOPDECK FOR THE WIN

Personally, I think “UNOWN PLEASURES” is pretty awesome since it stays true to the original shirt and is a good Pokémon reference (props to Craig W. on Facebook for the idea). Plus you could still wear the shirt anywhere and it wouldn’t be a blatantly obvious Pokémon shirt.

So that’s the slogan I’m leaning toward at the moment, but I want to see what you guys are thinking too. All of slogans are really good so it’s a tough decision!

If you think the shirt looks cool and you might want one, please vote for your favorite slogan/catchphrase. I don’t know if we’ll necessarily go with the slogan that gets the most votes, but I’ll definitely take your guy’s input into consideration. It kinda depends if any of the options is a runaway favorite. But no matter what option we go with, the shirts will be awesome.

Please login or create your free account before you can vote.

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Make sure you click submit!

I’ll let the poll go for a few days then make a decision and start taking pre-orders. The shirts will only be sold through pre-order… last time I got too many made, so this time we’re only going to get as many made as there are pre-orders.

If everything goes according to plan, you’ll have your shirt in hand by the middle of June with plenty of time to spare before US Nationals.

Thanks for voting and commenting!

-Adam

P.S. Here are some extra details about the shirts incase you’re wondering:

  • We’re getting white shirts with 1 color (black) print to keep the cost down.
  • I’m trying to decide whether to go with Alstyle or American Apparel shirts. AA would be a few bucks more, but the quality might be a little better.
  • Available sizes might depend on what brand of shirt we go with. I think Alstyle only makes S-XXL. AA offers XS-XXL (possibly XXXL).

If you have any preference regarding the brand, please leave a comment about that, as well as any suggestions for improving the design. Thanks!

Reader Interactions

75 replies

  1. the sidewalk

    I would buy one of these if your site hadn’t turned against me the moment I criticized J Wittz.

  2. Austin Mitchell

    Wait when you say its going to be replaced with bubble letters do you mean the 6p in the middle of the shirt or the text at the top and bottom? I personally like the way the 6p in the middle is (it looks like mountains to me). My favorite of the slogans is topdeck ftw, because it isn’t blatantly obvious that it’s a pokemon shirt but it makes more sense than unkown pleasures.

    • Adam Capriola  → Austin

      6P in the middle would be bubbled, rest the same. I’m still sorta worried about copyright with the mountains, right now it’s actually just copied from the original and kinda carved out to make the 6P.

  3. Frank Hamilton

    Regarding the design, I think it might look a little more true to the original if you move the 6 up, and P down a little. Make the two a bit more vertical, and it’ll look more like a rift of mountains like the original.

    I’m really excited about the shirts though, this will be really cool :)

    • Adam Capriola  → Frank

      That’s a great idea Frank. I’ll talk to Jordan see if that’s possible… I’ve already made him redo the design twice which I feel bad about though :( 

  4. Jak Stewart-Armstead

    People should listen to Joy Division.

    That’s all.

  5. craig wood

     will you be able to ship to to the UK?  

    I’ve GOT to have one of these…

    c*

  6. Matthew Riddle

    Unown Pleasures just sounds too erotica in my opinion.

    I think the only decent catch phrase is, “It’s Super Effective!”

    The rest seem quickly constructed and I feel do not relate well with the subject.

    I wish the t-shirt designs had more to them. Again, it feels like they were hastily created.

    I would advise not distancing the shirt too much from the image of Pokemon. I know some adults don’t want to walk around town with a Pokemon t-shirt on, but the farther the idea on the shirt gets from the subject, the more slippage happens and too much slippage means that the entire idea can be lost. What’s the use of a t-shirt like this if only the loyal visitors know the subject of it?

  7. theo Seeds

    I like just “Catchy Phrase” in general

    i think that you should spend more time thinking of something that wouldn’t be on the Pokemon.com strategy articles.

    • Adam Capriola  → theo

      I spent a lot of time thinking about phrases… honestly those were the best I could come up with that didn’t sound completely dorky.  It’s not easy to come up with 2 word slogans!

      I Googled and read Bulbapedia a lot and tried to come up with stuff, it’s pretty difficult to get anything good. 

  8. Adam Capriola

    Just to clarify a couple things about the design…

    Images of Pokemon, the word Pokemon, and even things like images of Pokeballs are all copyrighted and can’t be used. Last year we sorta got around the copyright by having skewed images representative of Pokemon, so it was ok.

    If you don’t remember last year’s design, this is what it looked like: https://sixprizes.com/wp-content/uploads/TShirtScoop-e1270186573812.png

    (props to Colin P. for that, still a great design)

    That’s pretty much the extent to which we can use an image of Pokemon. The only real PTCG related thing that would be ok to use would be playing cards that have plain backs, dice, damage counters, etc…

    To be honest, I’m still a little worried the about the design being too close to the original Joy Division shirt, mainly the center 6P image. Copyright is serious stuff and I want to respect the artist who made the original design.

    About the shirt being non-Pokemon related… 

    I’m ok with that since if you’re wearing it, you know what you’re repping. If I wanted to promote site hard then I’d make sure it says “SixPrizes.com – PKMN TCG Tips and Strategy” on it… but I really just want to make a cool looking shirt for everyone.

    Last year I was more worried about getting the site publicity so I wanted the URL on the shirt and a PTCG reference… right now we honestly get more than enough traffic just through Google and trying to do “t-shirt marketing” is negligible.

    To me it’s more about wearing the shirt and knowing you’re part of the site, rather than trying to straight up advertise it.

    • Matthew Riddle  → Adam

      What does Joy Division Unknown Pleasures have to do with SixPrizes or even Pokemon?

      Why did you feel it was appropriate to take their design and apply it to your site’s t-shirt? Did your thinking ever transcend the thought, “wow, that looks cool”? I’m just wondering, because I feel strongly that you’ll be the only person to get the connection, if there is one.

      The design is bad in my opinion. It doesn’t represent SixPrizes, it doesn’t represent Pokemon. Any person that has any clue about the original band’s design your idea was copied from won’t get the Pokemon connection, and any person that has any clue about SixPrizes or Pokemon won’t get the connection back to the original band’s design. The design is failing on every level. You’re trying to connect a punk band with a children’s trading card game. It’s a bit of a stretch.

      You want these shirts to be for members so that they can feel like they are a part of SixPrizes, but you have introduced the discussion already with a locked design based on a design from a band you like. How can the members feel proud to wear their t-shirt if they had no significance in choosing the base design for it? Yes, they get to choose between 3 variants, but they’ve had no say in the important parts of the design.

      All these copyright issues doesn’t mean you can’t create a decent sixprizes design. yes, it means you can’t go to the simple icons, a pokeball, a pokemon, but I feel like you’ve given up on the whole idea of designing a creative and unique design because of the worry of copyright infringement. SixPrizes is so much more than just Pokemon and Pokemon should never be the dominant definition of the site.

      I think you can do better. Much, much, better.

      • Collan Baker  → Matthew

        Really? this is the thing in your life that you feel so strongly about that you typed a 10pg novel describing your distaste?  

      • Adam Capriola  → Matthew

        Hey Matt,

        The band has nothing to do with the site or Pokemon, I just think the design looks cool.  I like band t-shirts, so my thought was to make a 6P band t-shirt, in essence.

        I’m sorry you aren’t feeling the design.  My intentions aren’t really to make any connections at all, it’s more of an aesthetic thing.  I just think it looks cool… simple as that.

        Next time I might do another design contest, but I knew for this one I wanted to choose the design since I already had one in mind. I’d love if you drew something up for that in the future, I know you’re a more than capable graphic designer.

        The whole thing about feeling like a member of SixPrizes shouldn’t be based on whether or not everyone got to choose the design. Only one design would win anyway, and last time when we did the contest I’m sure there were plenty of people who voted, but didn’t like the winning design, didn’t get a shirt, and didn’t feel the process was fair. Kinda like how you feel right now. :P

        I can’t possibly make everyone happy, I’ve made a decision on this one and am trying to do my best.

      • Chase Nieman  → Matthew

         You really need to get your facts straight before you try to argue something and be taken seriously. Joy Division is not punk and never once did Adam say he liked them. His exact words were “It’s based off a Joy Division t-shirt
        design that I’ve always thought looked really cool and wanted to buy…
        but I don’t actually listen to the band. Now I can wear a similar shirt
        and not feel like a total hipster!”

        And that’s exactly what it is, a cool design. If you don’t like it, don’t order it.

    • Sam Marshall-Smith  → Adam

      ADAM! On the old 6P T-shirt, what is the active Pokemon??? I cant figure it out and its been bugging me for months! 

  9. Ryan Graham

    The phrase “I’m a 20-something and I’m not ashamed to say that I play the Pokemon Trading Card Game competitively” would be best. ;)

  10. Taylor Pagani

     Yea, gotta cast my vote for “Unown Pleasures” 

  11. Travis Yeary

    “Special Dark, Crobat, Sorry Bro”

    Edit: Add a picture of a guy being choked from over a table.

  12. Travis Yeary

    “Special Dark, Crobat, Sorry Bro”

    Edit: Add a picture of a guy being choked from over a table.

  13. Chase Nieman

    I just gotta say, if it’s not mountains it’ll lose all it’s awesomeness and referemce. I say start selling them as is and wait for the Cease and Decist before you change things.

    • Adam Capriola  → Chase

      Ehhh I really don’t want to get into any legal stuff.  Even if I knew there was no chance of getting in trouble, morally I still don’t feel good about ripping the design too much.

      I might see if Jordan can redraw similar looking mountains if he has time.  Right now the 6P is kinda carved out of the original ones if you look closely.

  14. Anonymous

    You wouldn’t be able to use unown font would you? that would be cool for “unown pleasures”

  15. tim h

     TOP:

    Poketurn Crobat
    Poketurn, Bright Look
    I run Luxchomp
    I start; Overeager (or, I start; Overconfident)

    BOTTOM:
    ‘Good Game’
    ‘L O L’
    etc

    TOP: 
    Six Prizes

    Bottom: 
    Master’s Division
    Senior’s Division
    Junior’s Division

    Top:
    Team Sixprizes

    Bottom:
    Metagame is Key

    Top: SixprizesBottom: Where Luxchomp is rogue

    • Adam Capriola  → tim

       Nice ideas! I really like “Good Game” as a bottom phrase, wish I thought of that earlier!

      I won’t be able to get shirts produced with the different divisions unfortunately, I’m trying to keep things really simple.  Price would go up if I had 3 different bottoms (they would count as 3 different designs for the manufacturer).

  16. Frank Donovan

     how about the phrase “Just Tech It”? Kinda like playing on the Nike slogan 

  17. Brandon Bittinger

    Uhh… I really don’t like the designs. I liked the one you had last time.

    • Adam Capriola  → Brandon

      I didn’t want to do the same design again because I’m sure some people didn’t like that one and were waiting for a new design.

  18. Jair Ramirez

     No one should listen to Joy Division, they’re the epitome of depression. If you’ve even read anything about Ian Curtis, you wouldn’t exactly jump for joy.

    That being said Unown Pleasures would have my vote, it would be silly and still pay homage.

  19. Sam Marshall-Smith

     Top: SixPrizes.com

    Bottom: Terrified of copyright since ’09

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