(Autographed) Honeysweeper Tour Merchandise In Hand!

The package has arrived. One official Honeysweeper tour t-shirt, one amiyumidas - HIT FUN t-shirt (autographed), and one honeycreeper CD (with autographed card).

Let's break it down. Details follow the jump!


Yes, that's the shirt I've mentioned in previous posts, now in the flesh. I was happy to see that it's "autographed in pen"... though I did not have a bad day, so I won't be selling Puffy's soul on Ebay. Either click through to the larger image or visit the link above for a better view of the autograph.

Incidentally, I was surprised they were selling this shirt on this tour - it's an album old. Maybe they were just clearing out old stock. Supposedly they had it in large size in Vancouver, but only M and S by the time they made it to Anaheim. Doesn't seem like a new run was printed.

Here's the honeycreeper CD with autographed card (a little worse for wear from the trip to the east coast):

I gotta admit, while I would have preferred an actual signed CD insert (like they did with Splurge last year), it's pretty neat how big this card thing is. And it's like it was made for autograph signing; it's just a white card with the record label's name on top. I've never seen a Puffy autograph this big before.

That's a second printing CD with a different front and back cover than the first, and most likely a different insert. I'm debating whether to do a post comparing the two print runs; I probably will, but I haven't been able to bring myself to open this one yet.

The official Honeysweeper tour t-shirt:

Kinda "eh", really. I was hoping to get one of the Ami-designed "Puffy the Monster" shirts, but goddammit, they didn't bring any to North America. I do like minimalist t-shirt designs that don't scream out the name of the band, so I like this shirt in that regard. But it's just a little too much plain grey. I liked their 2005 tour shirts the best - they were obtuse enough to make someone wonder "what's that for?" and of course, a big-ass kanji on the back makes any shirt look cool in the US. The 2005 shirts were also customized for each leg of the tour.

Here's the back of the Honeysweeper shirt:

I like the back better than the front. It's a pretty cool lyric out of context. I do wish it was a little easier to read. They had plenty more room to use here. I guess it was a design choice.

I'm a little disappointed in the shirt's quality:

Brand-spankin' new and already the lettering's cracking. Well, looks like I'll be wearing this thing once and then putting it away for safe keeping.

A few details on the rest of the shirt... the city list on the back bottom (click the image for a larger view):

The honeycreeper bird on the front:

That kinda makes me laugh.

The little badge on the bottom right (the shirt-wearer's right):

Yes, if you're a member of the puffyamiyumiworld.com forums, you know I think Puffy are not an "issues" band. But one thing I will cop to them being at least indirectly involved in is the "green" movement. I don't know if they actually do anything other than produce merchandise (which is hardly carbon-neutral), but this is not the first thing they've put out there to try to raise awareness and promote the issue.

And lastly, the only other bit of Puffy branding anywhere on the shirt (besides the tiny little city list) - the right sleeve badge:

Clearly, this is a band secure in their position in the world. Nobody's even gonna see that unless you specifically show it to them.

I do wonder what the symbol is supposed to mean.

Well, that's about it! Thanks one more time to Alkulp for picking all this up. I think I made out pretty good considering Puffy didn't have a concert within 2,500 miles of me!