submission for the 5+5+5 competition.
True story:
In 1976, Cosmonaut Nikolai Peckmann was sent alone to an orbiting space station for what would be called Mission Six- to study the radiation levels and strange circumstances that killed all four crewmen of the last research mission.
By the third day, Peckmann's broken transmissions were coming back to ground control filled with increasing paranoia and delusion. He claimed that the spirits of the dead cosmonauts were coming to claim him, and that he had to keep moving to evade them. He shouted that if he could capture consume these spirits himself while he still had strength, he could move to the next level of consciousness...Truly the rantings of an insane man.
Indeed, video recovered later would show Peckmann running around the confined but maze-like station, downing emergency sedatives like a madman....pausing in a corner momentarily, only to throw back vitamin pills and give chase to his invisible demons.
He had exhausted the entire cargo of vitamins, pills, and fresh fruit well ahead of schedule. There was no way another crew could be assembled to rescue him before he starved. After one rather violently garbled transmission, the static cleared and the last live image on record is that of Peckmann's empty, wilted spacesuit on the cabin floor.
It was determined that another mission to recover any remains or gather any more research would be a waste of the people's money, and the station was allowed to drift out of orbit and into space- a failure never to be mentioned again. It was ordered and assumed that all video and paper evidence had been destroyed.

..then, at the dawn of the eighties, a fledgling arcade game company called NAMCO would stumble across the transcripts of these events, and the rest -as they say- is history.

okay i just made all that crap up, but with or without a story, I hope it's a cool design.

They just keep getting better!! Love your art man!!

That story is simply awsome.

Oooh, this is AMAZING! 5$

Really cool. I hope they don't make this one a 12 club too...!

reminds me of the old EC horror comics. I would love to own this! 5$

Amazing work, as usual!

ph-ph-ph-PHANTOM SPACE MEN!!!!!! $5

Ahhh!! This is awesome. $5.

Reallly awesome.

I simply love this one.

On navy!

lovely....needs a big 6 though!!

dude, you are killin it lately! 5$

you should write scripts - they would be much better than anything that is coming out now - and your shirt should get printed

oooh, cool story! this is really neat

BRILLIANT $5

Love it.

i see ur genius in both the design and misleading story
5$ best tee since 1976

For a second there I thought you were serious...

Oh yeah. I want a tee and a major motion picture.

This is the shirt I MUST HAVE! I love this, although I do miss the faded maze behind the ghosts.

$5!

Excellent! 5$

if ross and the gang want this printed and take a look at the blog options, i'll put the maze in or whatever they want. i liked the maze too, but the masses said without. :/

This is awesome. Brillaint use if limited colors. the whole design kicks ass. I really wish your story was true.

haha, i love it

I haven't bought a shirt from Threadless in a long time, but you can be sure that I'll be buying this on day one!

Dude, you didn't make that up. You're not the only one that has seen a Russian movie before. Cool reference though.

I am so onto you, Travis76.

Please Add Computer Maze Again . . . . Not !

I was just having fun with letters. The design does well with or without the halftone maze in the background.

Are you kidding me?! I totally fell for the story. I feel so gullible now. Hahaa. That was simply amazing. I'd almost buy the shirt just for the story.

Please print this on black! $5

Yeah..omg I was so fooled lol. That was like the best little story I've ever read! :) This is crazy cool, but the ghost/demons look exactly like ones off some old Scooby Doo episode... :)

this will be your highest score ever.. you can count on that

$5

Winner!!

You rock! This is awesome Tavis!

$5

on Navy, PERFECT!

I'm a fan for the story

this shirt is siiiiick. you're the man

dude - sleep deprivation, excessive consumption of sugar and caffeine, too much ziggy stardust, and a marathon of 1970's russian space scifi flicks - is not advised.......... or maybe it is... cuz this is an awesome design

this blows my mind! $5

Great Design! And i think that story should be printed in the back of the shirt where the size label is.

Great story & idea but the composition is bugging me for some reason... I think it's that patch of space above Peckmans feet /pill box & it still feels too heavy bottom left... that aside, yet another nice piece of work

THAT'S A TRUE STORY. I JUST GOOGLED IT. IT'S THERE, I PROMISE.

I

JUST

WANTED

TO

STRETCH

OUT

THE

PAGE

!!!!!!!!!!!!

!

Nice again, Travis!

I do love the story very much. five dollars.

you are THE MAN

Your story and design are both brilliant!!

great!!!beautiful!!! $5

great colors and illustration, looks awesome on navy

perfect story/design combo! i'd buy 5$

I completely took all that in. Your design is top notch

i love it, i love it, i love it, 5$...

Dig it on black.

nice story!... you're on fire lately... on navy.

WHAT A STORY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!

5!!!!!!!

$!!!!!!!

$$$$$ . i also really want Pin-Up Meltdown to get printed because i would buy that too.

oh, you little fucker! XDD I was reading the story and was all like, 'oh my god! oh my GOD! OH MY GOD!' and you made it up! XDD I loved it all the same. You should write stories. I'd buy this shirt. 5

Nice story, nice design, nice pacman reference.

hahahahahaha alright well never tell anyone that story is a lie. people will be awed and amazed. great design. i think it would make lil more sense if you had like a banana or cherries lyingon the ground, too.

fivensky:
i stated elsewhere, never got to see the old russian solaris movie. dis read alot of sci-fi novels and old science/horror comics though, and i won't lie that they're my inspiration for alot of things. i think the min point is, that the story was just for fun, and obviously isn't needed to sell the tee, the main basis of which is pacman and old sci fi comics. so, all in all, nothing is truely original, it's all in how you juxtapose it.

oh my god i mistype so much! it looks like my mind is going!

luckily, your art skills are not going too...this is classic, and I want it. 5$

love the design. you should write a book too. :)

work of genius.. TOTALLY 5!

BOOM! $5

The story scares me, but I think it's awesome.

Yay, finally subbed. I still say with the maze though.

I totaly believed you, you have my $5, I will tell the story every day I wear this shirt.

no one noticed i misspelled "mission" so far except adam antium.
phew!
oops!

Incredible...$5

PRINT THIS! best sequel shirt ever... $5

haha, I like the referenceto pac-man

Wow, I'd buy this in a snap.
I

Is awesome...$5

I think this would be super awesome with just the dead cosmonauts.

Yes! 5$.

oh man! this is grrreat! it supports my aniexty :) 5

Travis Strikes Again!

Perfect concept and design, love it! $5

a terrific, fantastic t-shirt !!! travis is an incredible t-shirt designer: I love him...

GREAT $5

Yes, you are my favorite artist here.

This is because I dont feel you are insulting my intelligence with all these purposely poorly executed designs, and the cutesey stuff that doesnt have a point. You just make awesome designs that are just plain cool to look at.

You are so talented--I envy your vision.

Love the old school comic style. You got skills. 5

I'm going to buy this.

PRINT IT! PRINT IT! PRINT IT!

5$ nuff said

this'll get up for sure! $5

THREADLESS: I love travis so much that I even went offsite to buy one of his prints you REJECTED! Please let me give you money for this!

NOICE! $5

That story made me groan harder than I have ever groaned before! I love it! $5

$5

Love the design, colours work really well for it, good job

i'm thinking if this one gets called up i'll add cherries, a banana and orange in the scatter so it doesn't just look like it's about DRUGS.

haha the story is great. awesome illustration.$5

Great stuff again man. 5, as always.

well done!

Absolutely awesome. I'd be all over it. $5
Still love my Mission 5.

love it. $5!

:D!

I love it on black!! $5

Take away the pills and box, put it on Dakota Slate, $5.

You deserved well over the 3.0 mark for this one. I hope Threadless sees the genius in this design and prints it. It's really amazing!!!

i'll never break a 2.8 again, i think

I don't understand why anybody would give this anything under a 3.

Something is very wrong when kids in animal suits scores better than this...

Loving the revamped Pac Man tale!

One of the few sequels I like better than the first! $5

pure gold! gimme or ill cry!!!

If this is printed I will certainly get one.

lets hope it gets printed. I'm buying one if it is.

I'll never understand why Threadless only prints your designs that I have the least interest in. Otherwise there have been a number (like this) that would make my top 10. Of course, those never get printed.

i think another site has this now?

another site has this? do tell! i haven't given it to anybody!

oooh i thought you were printing it soon from your site. i misunderstood that.

oh - whew! thought i was going to have to get legal on some asses.... no plans yet. i'm waiting to see if threadless picks it up before it's 90 days, or at least the 555 is announced.

Brilliant, just brilliant. lets hope this is printed

wow i cant believe i missed that its pacman..wow i feel that im a disgrac to all gamers...btu now that i get it i could kick myself for only giving this a 3....but after looking at it, i began to like it and im glad i went back to read it, amazing, im gonna buy it!

Congratulations. I had already more or less given up hope that it would get printed because Threadless always manages to ignore the shirts I love. Yet, right after getting an order in the mail today I checked and found that it was a new release. Form of... no self control! Shape of... my credit card!

Now if only they'd reprint "This is the Way the World Ends"

That is pure greatness. I think despite my having no money I will have to order this. And when people ask what it means I will tell the story (and where I got it of course).

heh. they should send out a printed slip of the story with every shirt.
or heck, just print this page, misspellings and all.

Actually, they should have printed it on the back a la Star Wars crawl.

Man Im obsessed with it, every time I watch it keeps getting better. Of course they should print the story, thats what makes it awesome!!! But I dont have money aaaaaaaaaaaaaarggh

dude im pretty slow when it comes to hidden messages.
i ordered the shirt after reading the story and seeing how cool the picture was. about a day after ordering it i was looking at it again... you are one sly dog. the fact that its pac man makes it even cooler!

what an amazing story (^_^)/

I just got mine in the mail today and I love it!! The colors are even more vibrant in person! And I've already told the story 3 times!

i liked the story

I just thought this was an amazing design - but I only just realised how many layers this illustration has and it just got a little more amazing. When I first saw it, I did notice the different helmet shapes, but the penny has just dropped that Cosmonaut Nikolai Peckmann's helmet, in profile, is Pacman! The visor hinge is the eye! Fucking hell dude.

PS: I'm not really stupid, I just never scored this design - or read the comments / story before today.