Threadless‘s weird April Fools tees

Threadless‘s weird April Fools tees are one of my favorite April Fools internet traditions, and this year’s batch of new prints is definitely up to the level of wackiness I’ve come to expect. Here’s a quick look at the new designs:

I Juan to Believe by Pauline Acalin (pacalin) is a surprisingly complete parody, with both a pun in the text and a smart comparison of the shapes of a UFO and a sombrero in the artwork. The use of cacti instead of the poster’s usual spooky trees does a great job of setting the scene in a simple, understated way. There’s even a (verging on uncomfortable) other-worldly aliens vs. immigrating aliens joke, although I think the design does well to focus on the wordplay and visuals instead and thus avoids coming off as dehumanizing.

Hail Pizza by Collin James Diederich (robotboot) strikes me as a design so fun and appealing that it could easily have been printed on any day, not just April Fools. Pizza is such an absolutely harmless food, a soggy mass of cheese and sauce, that it seems ridiculous to see it in the context of a pentagram. And yet, the shape is absolutely perfect so it’s easy to see how a conspiracy-minded person might begin to suspect something demonic might be afoot. Plus, pizza and heavy metal are always a good fit.

TacO’Clock by Adam Rajcevich & Jess Hanebury (ADD_LTD.) is interesting, because I think the main thing keeping this an April Fools print (rather than an any-time print) is the execution. I mean, wanting to eat tacos all the time is a pretty universal feeling, and the pun works. It’s really just the clip art look of the tacos and huge amount of white space that makes this feel gimmicky. A single, well-drawn taco with clock hands on it and that same text might have been a way to use the same concept, but make it more wearable for more people.

Yellow Naked Man Offers Free Parking to a Worried Green Creature by dikvandie (dikvandie) is by far the most April Fools-y of this batch, and as such is probably only wearable for a pretty slim slice of the population. It’s kind of gross and weird, which is also what fans of the design will like best about it. While it’s nothing I could imagine wearing, I do think there’s a nice level of quality (despite the rough and tumble doodle style). Both characters feel extremely expressive, from the yellow guy’s troll face and taunting posture to the resigned, disgusted look of his green friend. Even the thinness of that front bike wheel seems to suggest that the brakes have been slammed on that bike very quickly (and can you blame him?).
EVILS by pesi (pesipop) is my favorite design of the bunch, a genuinely clever twist on both the Elvis lives and Illuminati conspiracy theories. It’s a simple collage, but that just means that every element packs a big punch. The Elvis-style Evils headline is an immediate attention grabber, and use of red again in the lightning bolts below directs the eye to the meat of the joke, Elvis’s new pyramid eye head. Sure gives a new meaning to all his strange dance moves!

Bacon Heals by Aust22 (Aust22) leaves me a bit torn, because I’m not sure if the humor works because of the roughness of the art or if it would be even funnier with a little fine tuning. For example, the bacon really isn’t very bacon-y looking- I think using a more realistic, veiny pattern there instead of the solid stripes might have been a stronger choice. But at the same time, first aid graphics are often ludicrously poorly drawn so maybe that just helps this to feel more authentic? In conclusion, bacon is a land of contrasts.