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Overwatch League fans are thoroughly confused by a new line of t-shirts added to the league’s merchandise site this week. The new line, called the “Profile” collection, launched on the Fanatics website this week and, boy, did the memes come in hot.
One design in particular is drawing the most ire: the down low shirt. It’s a white, short-sleeved T-shirt that’s going for a very specific kind of design. Most of the action is on the right side of the shirt, in a single line that lines roughly ⅓ of the corner. If you’re looking quickly, it might pass as minimal. But the longer you linger, the more details come into focus. Can we call it cyberpunk hypebeast? That feels appropriate. See for yourself:
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The shirt isn’t all too bad at first glance. But just wait. Siri, enhance:
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fanaticsLUL.mp4 pic.twitter.com/yPHXA4EuZY
— Bluebell (@SGBluebell) May 22, 2019
Atlanta is ■■■ capital was destroyed during the ■■■ ■■■ Rising from the ashes, The Phoenix has ■■■ a ■■■ of their strength.”
Let’s break this down. It’s clear that the designers were going for some sort of redacted text look—something to add some intrigue and interest to the shirt. OK. That’s fine. But they’ve redacted in such a way that it looks like a single word should be missing, but in most changes, it reads like nonsense.
The fun part is, you can play Mad Libs with them! It’s something to do between matches at the Blizzard Arena, I suppose. With the Atlanta one, you might be at it a bit. What does the Phoenix have? A unicorn purse? A slice of pizza? A sick jump shot? I just don’t know. Who among us can claim such knowledge?
Los Angeles is the most [fucking crowded] city in California [home to too many juice bars and the] American film and [pornography] industry. Known as the City of Angels [by anyone not driving in it]. pic.twitter.com/DQbarsct6Z
— Liz Richardson (@mizliz_) May 22, 2019
And if you’re not into Mad Libs, try word searches.
I really can't wait to order this dope #OWL2019 shirt from Fanatics. Like... they really get us as a community, ya know? pic.twitter.com/I0uPC3qix5
— Mand0lyn (@CapnOA) May 22, 2019
The Overwatch League announced the Fanatics partnership in December; it’s a multi-year contract that’ll have the company doing all the retail merchandise for the league. Gear is sold on a Fanatics site, but also in the Blizzard Arena and through other retailers, like Walmart. Fanatics special projects lead Ross Tannenbaum told Variety in December that it won’t be until 2020 that Overwatch League fans see the “game changer” merchandise the company has in store — and I can’t wait to see what that means! And judging from the fan response, neither can the the Overwatch League’s fans.