My nephews and I are big fans of Red Letter Media and their various online shows.
There're a million of these kinds of series online now, but the RLM guys are definitely the best of the bunch, both in content and production value. Most of these online shows consist of a guy sitting in his bedroom, speaking directly into a GoPro camera. The RLM guys have their own studio, filled with honest to goodness sets!
Their most popular series is probably Half In The Bag. If you've not seen it, the premise is simple. Mike Stoklasa and Jay Bauman are employees of Lightning Fast VCR Repair. Because no one owns VCRs anymore, they have a lot of free time on their hands, which they spend reviewing current movies.
This is Mike. Note that he's wearing a shirt with a Lightning Fast VCR Repair patch above the pocket.
This is Jay. He's also wearing a Lighting Fast shirt.
You're probably wondering where all this is going. I'm gettin' there, I'm gettin' there!
As Xmas rapidly approached this year, I wracked my brain trying to think of suitable gift ideas for my two nephews. And then it hit me! I'd get them Lightning Fast VCR Repair work shirts, just like the ones Mike & Jay wear on the internet!
I went to the Red Letter Media website, but alas, they don't sell them there. The only merch they have for sale are t-shirts, posters and bottle openers.
I really think they're missing out here by not selling replica shirts online. I know for a fact that people would snap 'em up in an heartbeat! If nothing else, the least they could do is sell the patches!
Anyway, since I couldn't just buy the shirts, I decided I'd make them! I poked around online and found someone selling Lightning Fast patches and ordered some. I honestly wasn't expecting much from them, as I figured they'd turn out to be printed stickers.
Thankfully when they arrived in the mail, they were honest to goodness embroidered patches. Pretty good quality ones too!
The next step was to visit the local Rural King and buy some Dickies brand work shirts. These are the exact same ones Mike and Jay wear on the show, right down to the little orange logo on the bottom front.
Once that was done, the only thing left to do was figure out how to attach the patches to the shirts. I considered using iron-on adhesive tape, but... eh. I've used that stuff in the past, and it never seemed to stick very well. Maybe I just didn't use it right.
So that left actually sewing the patches on (!). I wasn't quite sure how to go about it, so I fired up YouTube and watched a couple of how-to videos. Armed with that knowledge, I sat down and commenced to sewin.'
There's a certain amount of skill involved, but it wasn't too terribly difficult. It took about an hour to sew each one on. And I only jabbed my finger with the needle several dozen times, prompting me to have to tape up my fingers so I didn't get the shirts bloody.
Here's the finished product. A perfect replica of Jay's Half In The Bag shirt!
I boxed and wrapped the shirts and patiently waited for the big day to arrive. On Xmas morning I passed out the packages, confident my nephews would never guess what was inside them.
They were both genuinely surprised, and with good reason! As I said, you can't buy these shirts anywhere, in stores or online. They seemed to really like 'em too. My youngest nephew immediately put his on and wore it all day.
His shirt even caused him to crack a rare smile, something not seen much on his sullen teen countenance these days.
I warned them both that I couldn't guarantee my sewing handiwork wouldn't come off in the wash, so maybe run 'em through the gentle cycle and air dry them.
I'm glad the shirts were such a hit. Now the big problem is... how the hell am I gonna top 'em next year?
UPDATE!!!:
Ever since I wrote this post, I've gotten a steady stream of inquiries from readers begging to know where I bought the patches, so they could make their own Lightning Fast shirts. Unfortunately I couldn't be much help, as the person I bought 'em from seems to have stopped selling them.
Welp, Good News, Everyone! At long, long, LONG last, I'm happy to report that Red Letter Media is FINALLY selling Lightning Fast patches of their own!
All I can say is it's about time! Based on the number of inquiries I got, there's definitely a demand for them out there. I don't get why it took the hack frauds so long to start selling them.
Anyway, you can now buy your own patches & make your own Mike & Jay cosplay (Dickies shirts not included). They're embroidered, and look like they're pretty good quality, and the price isn't too awfully bad. Check out the link to the patches here.
